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 How to mitigate co-employment risk when engaging contingent workers

HOW TO MITIGATE CO-EMPLOYMENT RISK WHEN ENGAGING CONTINGENT WORKERS

Many companies ask “Can I contract out co-employment risk?
 
This is a common question when any company begins to develop their contingent workforce programme. Unfortunately, it’s near impossible to escape co-employment risk entirely. However, there are ways to mitigate and minimise the risk to your business.
 
Please note before you read on: The information and opinions contained on this website has been prepared by Hays for general information purposes only. The information does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on or treated as legal advice. It is important to obtain your own independent legal advice. 
 
 

What is co-employment risk?

Co-employment risk is inherently part of any working relationship where a non-employee worker is engaged and performing work for a manager or organisation.
 
It can be challenging to establish and enable best practices with in-house contingent worker management solutions. The legislative landscape continues to shift and evolve, the composition of our workforce changes at pace, and we are faced with an increasingly unpredictable economic environment.
 
Engaging a capable and experienced workforce solutions provider can support co-employment risk mitigation. An external partner can also provide organisations with access to highly skilled, top talent.
 

Common risks associated with co-employment

We often see organisations hit a pain point – they need access to the right talent at the right time for a fair price – including the growing contingent worker population.
 
However, a lack of processes for engaging contingent workers can leave HR and Procurement teams completely overwhelmed. In an attempt to resolve this issue, it’s common to see teams completely prohibit the use of independent contractors. But banning subcontractor-like relationships often leads to the loss of highly valuable talent.
 
Ironically, we’ve seen many examples of co-employment when independent contracts are banned. Misclassified workers might be paid through various loopholes in an organisation.
 
For example, they might:
 
  • Pay off an invoice.
  • Produce a Statement of Work.
  • Outline time and materials needed in the SOW.
 
Other co-employment risks include independent contractor misclassification, exemption status and other regulations.
 

Mitigate co-employment risk by choosing the right provider

The first step to mitigating risk is to choose a progressive Managed Service Programme (MSP) service provider. Partners such as Enterprise Solutions at Hays play the role of ‘middleware’ between an organisation and all of its non-employee workers.
 
Experienced MSP partners help to:
 
  • Share broad industry experience and best practices.
  • Reduce rogue spend.
  • Provide compliance.
  • Access top talent at the right time and place, regardless of worker classification.
 
Some MSP providers also offer oversight of workers who they sourced from online staffing solutions, marketplaces, and direct sourcing channels.
 

Invest in Contractor Management Office services

A Contractor Management Office (or CMO) service is an important component of a contingent workforce programme, and often integrated into an MSP contract. This additional support includes the ability to classify and engage non-agency sourced workers, as well as payroll support.
 
For second and third generation programmes, CMO can also include vendor qualification and sub-vendor engagement services. Learn more about Contractor Management Outsourcing services.
 
 

Reduce co-employment risk by categorising employees

 
To mitigate risk in a contingent management programme, you need to define a clear separation between your full-time employees, and the non-employee workers who are completing projects for the organisation.
 
Partnering with a contingent workforce management provider can mitigate risk. They’ll ensure that:
 
  • Policies are in place, tracked and mandated.
  • All non-employee workers are engaged compliantly. This may be as qualified independent contractors or a payrolled worker through a supplier.
  • All suppliers and companies can focus on their day-to-day operations.
 
Make no mistake, contracting a supplier to offer payroll services does not eliminate worker classification or co-employment risk. Risk still applies to anything the supplier may be doing incorrectly. This is why there is such importance placed on having a capable and experienced partner.
 

Eliminate co-employment risk

An effective partner will help to minimise co-employment risk, creating an effective and enabling environment in which you measure supplier partners for being compliant and delivering the best talent.
 
Get in touch with Enterprise Solutions at Hays today, to find out more. You may also be interested to read our guidance on offboarding contractors.
 
 

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