What Kind of Leader Does the New Normal Need?

If you were to ask me some time ago what kind of leader do businesses need, I’d probably have said “constant learners, empaths, and risk takers.” Thing is, I certainly don’t have to imagine what I’d have said, as I discussed that very same topic in an article I shared here on LinkedIn in 2019—a lifetime ago!

In it, I said that there were 5 skills leaders should develop for the post-digital workplace: tech savviness, curiosity, empathy, self-awareness, and risk taking. And while I still think all of those skills are essential for today’s leaders, I also believe that there are other abilities that complete the ideal leadership profile for the new normal.

The Leaders We Have Today

But first, let me share with you why I think it’s time to look for a new leadership style. It’s no news that the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped virtually everything, from the way we work to the way in which we relate to each other. There are new habits, needs, and desires. There are new objectives and aspirations. There is, in short, a new world emerging.

Such a context calls for new structures, methodologies, and approaches. That’s why I think we have to develop a new leadership style that better meets today’s challenges while also aligning with societal needs as a whole.?

I’m sure some of you might feel that there’s no need for a change. Maybe that’s because things are working just fine for you. That’s great! I’m not saying we all should radically change. But I do believe that we can all get better at some level. Besides, there are plenty of leaders (be them C-execs or middle managers) that still adhere to old paradigms.

Think about it. You surely know leaders that still have that authoritarian style that has them believing they know better than everyone else. What about those leaders who are charismatic but end up showing authoritarian tendencies? On the other side of the spectrum, there are leaders who do everything in their power to please everyone to a point where they end up being indecisive—you’ve surely come across one of those!?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put anyone down: I know that different scenarios call for different attitudes. However, I think that we, as business leaders, can do better. That’s why I want to talk to you about systems leadership.

Dealing With Complexity

I got to thinking about leadership styles after one of my colleagues sent me an article about systems leadership she felt would interest me (she was right!). In the article, the authors discuss the need for systemic change at all levels, pointing out that such an endeavor is “often driven and supported by people who fit a certain profile – those who are able to catalyze and empower collective action among others, rather than controlling or directing the action themselves.”

Those are the system leaders.

System leadership implies a set of skills that go beyond the traditional abilities we’ve come to expect from people in leading positions. This approach focuses on collaboration and enablement—it’s all about using one’s abilities to facilitate engagement between different people that bring diverse and relevant skills to the table.

That’s why I said earlier that the 5 skills in my previous article are essential but not enough. Sure, tech savviness, curiosity, empathy, self-awareness, and risk taking are pillars of modern leadership. But they need to be complemented with traditional skills (like management) and soft skills (like humility and the ability to connect to people and expedite work).

System leadership has a clear goal: to bridge the gap between different team members and their often divergent agendas, priorities, and perspectives. The underlying belief is that the 21st-century world calls for collective action where no single individual has the control nor the ultimate say. It’s all about leveraging the know-how and talent of all the people in a specific team (and even in third-party teams that might be empowering our businesses at any particular time).

I love this approach as it shoves aside the egos and the “me-centric” methodologies and replaces them with team efforts. In that framework, leaders have to develop their collaborative capabilities, as they’ll be occupying a role that will have them catalyzing and supporting widely diverse team members.

What’s best about system leadership is that you, me, and anyone can learn it. Sure, there’ll be people more naturally capable of empowering teams but leaders already have some of the traits this kind of leadership needs to thrive. It’s only a matter of evolving the particular characteristics they lack to get to the right frame of mind for them to become systems leaders.

Towards A New Leadership Style

As great as I think this style is, it isn’t without its challenges. Supporters of system leadership well know that the approach almost exclusively works with complex problems. It doesn’t make sense to bring a lot of people together to make a simple or straightforward decision.?

Additionally, system leaders need the rest of the leadership team to buy into it, as it’s all about collaborative efforts. The biggest part of the burden naturally falls on the shoulders of CEOs and C-executives but any company trying to adopt a system leadership needs to collectively walk towards this approach or risk failure.?

There are also operational challenges. Coming to an optimal solution for a complex issue through this leadership approach means long timeframes, potentially large costs, and ambiguous results. Yet, you shouldn’t shy away from system leadership because of these challenges—you’ll always pay a higher price for solutions to complex problems.?

All in all, I think that you can become a systems leader even if you don’t use its methodologies at all times. Adopting the style will help you adhere to a new mindset that will seep into everything you do, to a point where even smaller or simpler problems will find collaborative solutions (even if you or another leader have to put your feet down at the end).

I’m aware that there might be some downsides to using this approach and that blindly adopting it can lead to challenges I haven’t considered here. Nevertheless, I think it’s a good starting point for discussing what kind of leadership style we want to follow in the future, especially once the pandemic is over and we have to deal with its consequences—both the ones we know and the ones we can’t foresee.

What do you think?