How do you develop leaders to lead effectively in a world where normal isn’t normal anymore? The answer lies in developing the people and skills that will give you the best chance of success in a number of possible futures, and more importantly being clear that these may not be the same as those that brought success to date. As the phrase goes, ‘what got you here, won’t get you there’ and this applies as much for leadership as it does for individual leaders.
The key is for organisations and their leaders to pause and reflect on what has changed following the pandemic in terms of leadership and talent in order to identify how to forge a more positive future. So, what does leadership for tomorrow look like and how can you develop the right leaders to deliver it?
Developing your leadership strategy
No one knows for sure what 2022 will bring so the only certainty is that your leadership development strategy needs to take into account broader and more flexible skills in order for leaders to deal with the rapid shifts brought about by Industry 4.0 , as much as the unpredictable events that upset our versions of normal. As outlined in our recent article on the new leadership capabilities, ‘metacompetencies’ such as learning agility and adaptability become much more important than defining specific skills that might lead to success today – if the world changes around you, current skills alone won’t do. Ensuring any leadership framework includes a capacity for learning, adapting to new environments and moderating one’s own skills and behaviours will therefore be key.
Secondly, we need to move away from the idea that we can identify leaders of the future simply by looking at the people who have succeeded in those roles in the past. Seeking previous experience, over and above future potential, may address the need to deliver quickly today but is a guaranteed way to miss many of the right people to lead the business for tomorrow. Many leaders with the agility to succeed in new environments, learn quickly in role and may progress rapidly through organisations or functions without building the years of experience that often act as shorthand for capability. Moreover, we know from decades of research into systemic bias, that talented individuals from minority groups may not get the same opportunities and experiences to progress . Looking for leaders in the same mould as have gone before risks perpetuating these inequalities and missing out on the critical talent you may need for the future.
So if you have built the right framework and identified the right individuals, how can you develop those people to lead for tomorrow? Our approach identifies several key steps in developing leaders for an as yet unknown future: