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 Is your DE&I strategy setting you up for success? Part 1

IS YOUR DE&I STRATEGY SETTING YOU UP FOR SUCCESS? PART 1

 

Ensuring the Assessment and Selection process is equitable for diverse candidates.

The benefits of a diverse workforce are now widely acknowledged.
 
A greater variety of perspectives facilitates better decision-making, enhanced innovation and a deeper understanding of the pain points faced by customers. With positive impacts on both productivity and profit, many organisations are opting to do things a little differently.
 
We’re partnering with more businesses who are opting to look beyond traditional platforms and sourcing methods, connecting with affinity groups and auditing their marketing materials and job descriptions to ensure they are encouraging applications across a broader spectrum of the population.
 
 

Taking the next step

 
It’s a positive – and long overdue – step in the right direction. But the conversation can’t stop there.
 
Even with ‘active’ diversity and inclusion initiatives in place, some organisations are still falling short. If you aren’t seeing the diversity of your talent networks reflected in your workforce, you may be unintentionally disregarding or deterring candidates during key stages of your selection process.
 
But in the face of chronic skills shortages, it’s more important than ever that organisations are designing and implementing strategies that attract, onboard and develop candidates based on their capabilities and potential, not preconceived notions or inherent bias.
 
In this blog, we’ll examine the importance of enabling inclusive assessment and selection practices, with three key strategies from our experts.
 
 
Level your playing field: For many years, organisations have focused on making the process of selection and assessment fair. But how recently have you reviewed your processes to ensure they are equitable?
 
While you may deploy a standardised set of questions and train your teams to ensure they can identify the impacts of bias or groupthink, many diverse candidates will face barriers before they even engage with your organisation.
 
Consider the parent returning to the workforce after an extended period of leave, or the promising graduate who attended a low achieving school. Both candidates may be lacking relevant interview experience, leaving them unable to showcase the breadth of their capabilities under controlled conditions.
 
Consider implementing a coaching programme, made available to applicants prior to the interview process. The intention isn’t to give applicants an ‘edge’ in the race, but rather to ensure that every candidate has a foot on the same starting line.
 
 
Wherever possible, get personal: Rather than relying on blind screening CVs to mitigate the impact of bias, consider how you can adapt your processes to enable diverse candidates to showcase their ‘best self’.
 
For example, we’ve partnered with a number of clients to implement ‘assessing for potential’. This method focuses on future capabilities, rather than relying on past experiences. Organisations must consider the capabilities that are critical for Day 1 – and those that can be taught or developed to enable success.
 
Our trained assessors then deploy behavioural exercises and aptitude testing to identify an applicant's soft skills, motivation and desire to learn. Shifting the focus away from often non-essential entry criteria and instead homing in on potential means candidates are less likely to be excluded on the basis of educational attainment or previous job history, factors which disproportionately impact diverse applicants.
 
And with the shelf-life of many technical skills contracting as technology evolves in shorter cycles, this model of assessment enables organisations to identify people with the ability to adapt, upskill and thrive in tomorrow’s world of work, rather than simply leaning into the talent that has traditionally dominated certain industries or roles.
 
While this level of personalisation may not be possible for all organisations, there are small adjustments that can be made to ensure diverse applicants feel comfortable and confident heading into the process. Prioritise flexibility, allowing candidates to select the format (in-person, virtual or at specific times of the day), best suited to their unique circumstances.
 
 
Don’t settle for the status quo: We partner with a range of organisations across the globe to develop and refine their assessment and selection processes.
 
A huge array of factors will impact our advice, from the volume of applicants to the complexity or seniority of the role. But regardless of size or scope, we always advise our clients on the importance of collecting high-quality feedback.
 
Because what works for diverse candidates today, may not be suited to their needs tomorrow. Anonymous surveys, interviews with new-starters or leavers and dedicated consultation groups enables organisations to remain sensitive to the evolving and additional challenges that diverse applicants face.
 
And while you’re requesting responses, don’t forget to offer unsuccessful applicants the constructive feedback they deserve. For diverse candidates, these interactions can build confidence and prepare them for future opportunities – and offering a positive candidate experience ensures your organisations stays front of mind.
 
Enhancing the depth of data available in your organisation can help you make better decisions when it comes to your diversity commitments. Equipped with a detailed understanding of your processes, you can identify areas for improvement, mitigating candidate ‘drop-out’ rates and ensuring the diversity of your talent networks is reflected within your organisation.
 
 

Hard work, high reward

 
Reviewing and refining the assessment and selection process for diverse candidates must form part of a recruitment process which is equitable from end-to-end.
 
Katherine Evans, Head of Assessment and Development at Hays (UK&I) adds:
 
Evolving challenges will require organisations to think differently.
 
The skills and expertise needed tomorrow may not come from traditional sourcing channels. Opting to assess for potential enables organisations to unlock access to previously untapped or overlooked talent networks.
 
But before diving in, organisations will need to define what ‘high potential’ truly means - and then how they’ll transform these skills into success. With a clear understanding of what is required from Day 1, businesses can build a selection process that allows people, regardless of background and experience, to showcase their potential.
 
This will require organisations to confront many established methods for sourcing, selecting, assessing and onboarding diverse talent. But forward-thinking organisations will reap the rewards, leveraging a broader network of talent in the face of skills shortages and unlocking the innovation and creativity drawn from a greater variety of perspectives and expertise.
 
And the hard work can’t stop at the doors to your organisation. In the second part of this series, we’ll examine how companies must craft a culture that empowers employees to champion diversity.
 
Ready to elevate your approaches in selection and assessment? A workforce solutions partner can challenge, inform and guide your thinking, offering the insights and expertise to build a better experience for everyone.
 
Get in touch for a discussion tailored to the challenges you face.
 
 

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