Daily Times

Disruptive business models, invasion of digitisation, cross-cultural turbulence and regional security threats haven’t only shaped our society, but they have also premeditated the organisational appetite for effective leadership. This culture of fragility chews us up and spit us out and leaves us with uncertainty, rage, betrayal, and fear. There are glimpses of it in every corner.

Now, as a researcher myself, I see the landscape of today’s social and economic systems is generally erratic and exhausted. For example, transforming complex systems such as healthcare, energy and food systems in the prevalent global financial crisis is a monumental task, but our approach is horrifyingly outdated. Now, we see organisations are uniquely burdened with the dead weight of their failures. And leaders are powerless either to deal with danger or to make a better future.

Nevertheless, it illuminates a list of challenging issues of our day that have become a burden and that are now the responsibility of leadership. This is why organisations are not only facing irreversible impact, but also testing overslept leaders’ determination be considerate toward culture, religion, and freedom. That alone has proved its time for us to teach leaders differently.

However, the tragic pity is that we are going to find out the hardest way through financial calamity, global health emergencies and humanitarian crises – just how wrong-headed our leaders have been. The organisations are passing through a vale of tears, and for once, it is not entirely the fault of leadership. So where do we go from here?

The traumatised business environment and labour market have caused leaders to review their leadership compass. Following this, leaders are reflecting on the significance of “active listening” not only to navigate people’s talent but also to address social challenges with an empathetic approach. In a world which is confused by opinions and divisions, imperfect leadership often underestimates the talent and potential of individuals. What comes next? By undervaluing the talent, not much.

The traumatised business environment and labour market have caused leaders to review their leadership compass.

It is a leader’s responsibility to cultivate an environment of trust and happiness where talent is respected not scrapped. Today, effective leaders are continuously in action to identify and develop talent by placing it in the right position. Meanwhile, leaders’ willingness to trust and power to delegate have inspired coalition building and a collaborative leadership approach to bring change.

We have learned that leadership is primarily bound to influence people to get them involved in the planning and decision-making process. In response, effective leadership profoundly spins around 3D’s diplomacy, development, and dedication. Whereas, in the past, the leaders showed too little interest in 3Ds and took misguided actions and utterly failed. These days, leaders are expected to architect robust strategies of diplomacy, development, and dedication to drive people to reach great heights of performance.

Additionally, the strategic responsibility of leaders is not only to act as a “Role Model” to promote collaborative teamwork but also to ascertain the undiscovered vistas of diversity, cohesion, and inclusiveness. As a result, both political and business organisations in the 21st Century are struggling to employ leaders who can inspire others to dream more, learn more, and do more.

Meanwhile, the ideological preferences of effective leaders in the present time are broadly styled to cover the subjects of emotional intelligence, freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), equality and diversity and existential crisis arising from climate changes. The deeper truth is such implications were never part of the old-fashioned leadership manifesto but are becoming increasingly important.

That’s why we don’t need heroes and super intelligent brains, we need a piece of guidance.

To achieve extraordinary results from ordinary people, leaders are not only required to introduce attractive reward systems but also to offer psychological and emotional support beyond organisational boundaries. As a result, emotional intelligence cannot be side-lined which relentlessly emphasises establishing new benchmarks and cultural trends to steer the wheels of organisations into a success machine.

Similarly, a growing body of evidence suggests the key focus of effective leaders is on the growth and wellbeing of their employees which wasn’t the case before. Hence, leadership has to swim in the currents that breed issue after issue to transform the organisation into a care cathedral. Furthermore, effective leaders aim to embrace an ethos of servant leadership which is significantly important to yield a new kind of power: a power that mobilises our faith and actions. In the past, we have failed to acknowledge the potential of servant leadership, but now effective leaders have adopted this to harbour extravagant gifts.

From surging workplace challenges, particularly discrimination, harassment and racial abuse, the need for genuine leadership is foremost. Therefore, the top priority of leaders is to create a space for their teams to have their say and to engender opportunities for cohesion.

According to Deloitte’s research about leadership in the 21st Century, traditional leadership theories will have a very of place in the present time, but they should be combined with other modern techniques and tools of leadership. The rapid changes in the business world demand organisations to sense, lead and extend their capabilities to meet their financial objectives. The constant influx of new technological innovations means that organisations need to be able to operate and lead in an environment of continuous innovation and improvement.

In reality, the multifarious socio-political environment and the list of above challenges provide a wide-open playfield for leaders to display their abilities to reshape the future by mentoring their teams on how to fish instead of giving one.

The writer is based in UK, and has specialization in health informatics from Johns Hopkins University.