Business world is undergoing massive change. Rules are changing every day, at dizzying pace.
While businesses witness transformation due to rapid digitalisation, it is not just the operations that are changing. There is a major shift in the roles of the managers and leaders too.
With disruptions happening around us as we speak, competition increasing and employee expectations changing, managing a team is not an easy task anymore.
New age managers need more than just leadership skills to manage and engage a successful team.
Let us look at some of the skills that you as a new age leader must possess in order to navigate the ever-evolving business environment.
Work With Unknown & Adapt
The biggest challenge facing the new age managers is the uncertainty, ambiguity and the fast-changing business and technology world.
Most often the decisions taken by the leaders are based on their own imagination and creativity since very little information and data is available about the changing situation.
The new age managers will have to work with the unknown without relying much on past experience. They must learn to work with the data available, connecting dots as they move forward and stay open to unexpected scenarios.
Learning to adapt and steer the team towards the latest in business processes and technology are the most critical skills that every manager should possess in 2022.
Pandemic forced companies to adopt digitalisation and implement changes within a few months as opposed to pre-pandemic long term 5-year plans. This proves the urgent need to be adaptable and open to changes in the present world full of uncertainties.
Unlearn And Relearn New Skills
Digitalisation has created an urgent need for everyone to unlearn what they know and learn new skills – technical and non-technical. It may be as basic as learning to use social media or more complicated like learning a new technology.
Leaders today must learn new processes, tactics, customer & employee behaviours to operate their business successfully.
You might also need to go back and learn the basics again to get a fresh perspective on the changing business rules.
Technology Oriented
There is no escaping technology. It has taken over every business function and process.
As a business leader, you should be able to understand the role technology can play in the business and quickly adapt to the latest.
Leaders who are technologically oriented possess the ability to solve business problems and help create innovative solutions. They are more open to new ideas and solutions with the help of the latest technology.
This is a very critical skill that any leader is expected to have in the current business world which has adopted digitalisation in every business function.
With remote & hybrid workspace, being tech-savvy is not just a good skill to possess but imperative to the success of the team & business.
Emotional Connect
Empathy and vulnerability are 2 very important aspects of a new age leader. Leaders are no longer expected to be strong and unmoved by emotions. On the contrary, they are expected to be as human as anyone else.
They are expected to connect with the team members and show empathy while dealing with people. During the pandemic, employees very clearly indicated that they would like to work for organisations that value them and take care of their wellbeing.
The same is expected from today’s leaders. The best leaders must show empathy, actively listen and share their fears and concerns openly. They are expected to be vulnerable and have emotional conversations.
Social Intelligence Skills
Social Intelligence is your ability to understand and manage interpersonal relationships.
In today’s complex business environment, roles are no more linear. There are many aspects to a team – freelancer, project based assignments, gig workers, flexible, hybrid, to name a few.
Teams are based across the globe & time zones, working remotely. Given these complexities, social intelligence skills play a very important role for a leader.
Leaders need to develop exceptional collaboration skills to ensure successful completion of projects and achievement of business goals.
In conclusion, modern leader must be open-minded towards people and the changes happening around them. They need to be ready to learn, adopt and evolve with the changing scenarios.
