Director Digest: Shane Little, Regional Managing Director APAC - Part 2

What defines a good leader? Look for these six qualities

WHAT DEFINES A GOOD LEADER? LOOK FOR THESE SIX QUALITIES

Modern business challenges can require new approaches. Leadership will need to evolve in order to continue to guide organisations in tomorrow's world of work. But what are the characteristics of a good modern leader in the workplace - and how can organisations develop them?

Many studies draw parallels between effective leadership and solid organisational performance. But whether they’re a junior manager or a senior executive, the qualities that leaders need are changing.

Nearly 1,500 HR professionals ranked leadership development as the number one priority for 2025, with managers feeling 'overwhelemed' by the expansion of their responsibilities. In today’s unpredictable world, you must combine traditional leadership skills with new abilities. So, what does an effective modern leader look like?

1. Remember what makes a good leader

Before looking at the new skills future leaders may need, it is worth reflecting on what a leader actually is.

What are the qualities of a good leader? It’s not what you may think.

Being in charge of colleagues does not necessarily make you a ‘leader’. Former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg explains: “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”

Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield believes that good leadership is: “Not about glorious crowning acts. It’s about keeping your team focused on a goal and motivated to do their best to achieve it. Especially when the stakes are high and the consequences really matter.”

There may be varying opinions on the strengths and weaknesses of leaders. But overall, most people believe that great leaders motivate their team members to perform their best and achieve common goals.

What traits do you need to achieve this in the modern workplace?

2. Use blended leadership styles for a VUCA world

Stacey Philpot from Deloitte Consulting maintains that the core skills needed historically in leadership roles have remained unchanged.

“These skills allow someone to become a leader faster than their peers. This is even true in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment,” she says.

The core skills for leading in a VUCA environment include:

Pattern recognition
Motivation
Agility
Emotional intelligence
Ability to understand, control and express emotions

This represents psychological assessments of 23,000 senior leaders globally over the past 25 years.

Consider introducing servant leadership:

Leaders need new styles of leadership to deal with changing cultures. Being comfortable with not having the answer and owning failure can create an environment of trust and openness.

Collectively, these behaviours form ‘servant leadership’. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) defines servant leadership as emphasising behaviours and values such as:

Active listening
Empathy
Leading by example

These are instead of opting for a more authoritative, ‘command-and-control’ leadership style. Leaders create the conditions for team members to excel by displaying vulnerability. But given the stigma around servant leadership, how can organisations encourage it?

How to combat stigma surrounding servant leadership:

Alsu Polyakova, HR Leader for GE Healthcare, says reducing stigma around servant leadership will take a specific strategy. Most importantly frequent performance appraisals for leaders.

“We give leaders lots of opportunities for self-reflection, so they understand how they behave,” she says. GE Healthcare’s most successful leaders help to encourage behavioural change, Polyakova says. The company measures success by how well employees rate leaders on achieving GE Healthcare’s ‘cultural pillars’. These pillars include inspiring trust and empowering employees.

3. Create a culture of trust in the workplace

Gaining workers’ trust is more important than ever. One way to build trust is for leaders to take action on issues such as climate change. 71 percent of employees consider their CEOs’ social awareness as critically important, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer.

Social awareness may yield rich rewards. The Edelman poll shows that workers who trust their employers are far more engaged and remain more loyal than their more sceptical peers.

Leadership styles are clearly changing. The most effective leaders will need to tailor their styles to suit different scenarios, says Professor Sattar Bawany. “Leaders need a broad repertoire of management styles and the wisdom to know when each style should be used,” he says. “In crisis scenarios like cybersecurity breaches, for example, leadership should be authoritarian because the scenario is unstructured.”

4. Adapt your leadership style for different generations

Managers must also balance leadership styles to suit different generations. Modern workplaces will soon house up to five generations under one roof. Therefore, there will be many people with differing preferences on leadership style.

As of 2023, millennials are the biggest group in the UK workforce, at 35 percent. Modern leaders must mix old and new leadership styles that meet the needs of younger generations. Doing so will future proof organisations. However, new leadership approaches cannot come at the expense of alienating older workers.

5. Commit to lifelong learning

With the workplace evolving so rapidly, leaders cannot rely on past experience alone to get by. Ben Farmer, Head of HR at Amazon UK agrees: “Experience is not always synonymous with wisdom and judgement. And naivety doesn’t always engender novel thinking and openness to change.”

Organisations should look for leaders who understand the future as well as those with experience. “Success comes from the ability to combine understanding of exciting, new trends with the experience required to put that knowledge into action,” says Farmer.

But what is the right balance? There is no one-size-fits-all approach when balancing experience with adaptability. Achieving the right balance will mostly depend on the organisation and the sector it operates in.

6. Be conscious of culture

Organisational culture is an important factor. Risk-averse firms may prefer experience over novel thinking. Leaders may be fearful of a backlash from stakeholders should novel thinking fail. To lower risk, companies should seek leaders who use both scientific evidence and intuition when making decisions.

Ultimately, there’s no single blueprint for an effective modern leader. Each organisation must tailor their approach to leadership development. There must be a focus on organisational culture, industry nuances and employee mix.

But above all, leaders should recognise that today’s reality may be old news tomorrow.

For more expert advice, take a look at the following articles:

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null Director Digest: Shane Little, Regional Managing Director APAC - Part 2

DIRECTOR DIGEST: SHANE LITTLE, REGIONAL MANAGING DIRECTOR APAC - PART 2

People power our success.

And we’re fortunate to have some of the very best leading our operations across the globe, showcasing innovation, creativity and a real passion for solving the problems our clients face when it comes to sourcing, attracting and retaining top talent.

Their experience and insights are fundamental to Hays and sharing this vision enables us all to deliver the tools, technology and insights that will inform your workforce strategy.

In Part 1 of our new series ‘Director Digest’, Shane Little, Regional Managing Director for the APAC regions, shared his experiences of overseeing operations across Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The second half of this series, Shane explores the difficulties presented by diversity across these regions – and the efforts of organisations to break down barriers and create a culture in which wellbeing and inclusivity sit at the centre.

As we come to the end of the Financial Year here at Hays, Shane also reflects on the opportunities that lie ahead, both for Hays Talent Solutions but also the companies who commit to developing a truly agile talent function.

Deliberations over diversity

Asia plays host to a range of cultures, languages, religions and legislation. The main challenge for our clients is how to create and implement an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) policy that accounts for the nuances between regions.

In some regions, organisations are very focused on equity and inclusion from a sexual orientation perspective. LGBTQ+ participation is front and centre for many organistions in places such as Australia. But in Singapore, it is illegal to be homosexual.

This must frame how you approach that diversity pillar in Hong Kong, compared to Malaysia, Australia or New Zealand, for example.

Another nuance is mental health. We encourage people in lots of the regions across Asia to speak openly about their feelings and create an environment that means people feel comfortable asking for help when needed. However, mental health is quite culturally sensitive in Japan, so how you drive a mental wellbeing programme will look very different.

ED&I is one of the most interesting considerations for any organisation that transcends multiple countries across Asia. Of course, just because it’s difficult, it doesn’t mean you should shy away from it - if anything, it means you should double down on your efforts!

A million-dollar question

Many of the conversations I’m having at the moment are focused around finding the tech talent organsations need in order to compete.

While I wish there was an easy answer, there simply isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all' solution. Organisations will need to be agile and fluid in their talent strategies, continually reviewing where they need to get to in the next 6, 12 and 18 months – and what this means for their business.

Location strategy will form a key pillar of any strategy. Singapore and Tokyo are sometimes seen as emerging tech hubs – but arguably they emerged over 10 years ago and now the focus is on newer areas, such as China and Bangalore in India.

Equally important will be how you choose to mobilise this talent. If in the past you’ve strictly hired 95% of your people on a permanent basis, with just a few temps or contractors to supplement these skillsets, you may need to rethink the agility of your approach. It no longer matters where they are ‘sat’ - what matters is whether they can get the job done.

Organisations will also need to be brave – challenging the competency levels and skills that exist within their organisation today and how that needs to look in a year. Rather than always trying to acquire new talent, businesses need to think about how they build their own. People want balance and purpose – but they also want an opportunity to progress.

It also needs to go beyond simply developing a great EVP or creating a great candidate experience. These things are almost ‘hygiene factors’ for developing a strong talent acquisition strategy for technology. You’ve got to layer on top of that some slightly more innovative and agile strategies that speak to the desires and demands of the employee, encouraging them to pursue opportunities in their career that they may never have considered before.

Looking ahead

We’re coming to the end of the Financial Year here at Hays, which always marks a time of reflection and planning for our teams.

There are so many exciting opportunities as we look ahead to the next 12 months.

From a personal perspective, I’m excited to spend more time face-to-face with our clients. It’s a fantastic opportunity to reconnect.

When I look at the business, Hays is on the brink of what will be one of the most exciting points of our journey so far. This opportunity will throw up opportunities for all sorts of people across our business, whether they’ve been here for 2 days or 20 years.

While this will bring its own challenges, if we can cut through the challenge of change and invest the hard work required to get us there, the opportunity is mindboggling.

In 12 months, when I’m looking back over the year, success for me will have meant spending a lot more time reconnecting with customers, clients, candidates and suppliers – and feeling like a different business to the one we have been for the last 10 to 15 years. That’s hugely exciting.

Let’s talk talent

For more insights from the Talent Solutions team, take a look at our ‘Dickason Debrief’ series. Global Managing Director Matthew Dickason reflects on market trends, current events and evolving workforce strategy in a quarterly article shared across our social platforms.

AUTHOR

Shane Little
Managing Director APAC, Hays Talent Solutions
As Managing Director for APAC at Hays Talent Solutions, Shane is responsible for the delivery of market leading Talent Solutions to a range of clients across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. He has a unique insight into total talent management, talent acquisition and contingent workforce programs having been involved in early stage PSL arrangements, first generation programmes and mature workforce solutions.