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 The future of financial services – part 2

RADICAL CHANGES NEEDED IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY
THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES – PART 2

The pre-COVID inclination for incremental change and cautious experimentation has given way to a faster digital metabolism in the financial services sector. Organisations must not only reimagine their processes, but also embed a people strategy that champions agility and instills the innovation needed to better meet customer needs.

In the first instalment of this mini-series, we explored the current trends within the industry, detailing the opportunities and threats in the form of ‘Super Apps’, digital currencies and a desire for more streamlined and sustainable operations.

In part 2 and 3, we’ll consider the implications of an evolving market and emerging technologies, offering our insights on the challenges ahead and the progressive workforce strategies and solutions that organisations should ‘bank on’ amid a new era of finance.

 

Bigger isn’t always better

Finance is one of the most interconnected industries in the world, with many banks overseeing operations on a global scale.

But for many key players, size is no longer a source of clear competitive advantage. The rapid evolution of digital technologies and a need for new sources of growth and profitability means that the market is favouring the institutions that can respond at pace, with the skills and strategies to leverage the scope of change.

The challenge for many incumbent banks will be incorporating agility into an organisational architecture that has traditionally favoured rigid hierarchies and risk-averse practices.

 

What this means for your workforce strategy

Many organisations, in the banking world and beyond, are flattening structures and decentralising authority in a bid to boost the metabolic rate of operations.

As organisations face mounting pressure to work rapidly, release products often and change them constantly, companies are adopting a more flexible infrastructure that encourages accountability and streamlines the lifecycle of products and services.

These structural shifts must be matched by a more strategic approach to talent attraction, management and retention. Many banks are integrating contingent workforce solutions at scale in order to inject much-needed agility, creativity – and capacity.

Organisations of all sizes will need to consider how they expand their workforce ecosystem to include non-permanent talent, from contractors and freelance staff to members of the ‘Human Cloud’.

Those who pivot quickly will be best placed to navigate the seismic shifts currently surfacing in the post-pandemic world of banking, from branch closures and back-office automation to the opportunities in high-growth economies such as China, India or Mexico.

 

The Not-So-Wild West

In part 1 of this series, we explored the proliferation of digital currencies and the need to incorporate these forms of finance, including cryptocurrency and Bitcoin, into existing models.

Having moved into the mainstream, the ‘race to regulate’ is now underway. For governments and legislators, the challenge will be overcoming a previously ad hoc approach and attitude towards digital currencies, wide-ranging definitions and the ambiguity of assets.

Although much of the regulatory framework is still in development, most countries have now found ways to tax gains and income derived from the ‘crypto’ universe, and yet more legislative changes are on the horizon.

 

What this means for your workforce strategy

For many banks, the implications are two-fold.

The first, and perhaps more pressing concern, is to keep abreast of changing regulations and restrictions. While tighter regulation may offer greater guidance, it also reduces the tolerance towards those who do not abide by such rules.

The challenge facing many banks is how to disseminate this information to an increasingly diverse and disparate workforce, and the complexity increases for organisations operating on a global scale. Communicating the nuances of payment and tax to colleagues in Canada (a country that has approved bitcoin exchange-traded funds) will differ to the advice given in Mexico, where cryptocurrencies are currently prohibited.

Organisations must implement defined processes for implementing emerging regulation, with communication channels and training materials that can flex to the speed of change.

As attitudes shift across the globe, banks must also adjust their appetite towards risk. With a rising number of consumers eager to incorporate digital currencies into their wealth portfolio, those organisations looking to better serve their customers may need to consider adopting and advising on digital currencies in a bid to remain relevant.

Technology could lend a helping hand here, with some organisations opting to invest in ‘robo-advisors’. Equipped with the ability to process data at an enhanced rate, these chatbots can offer asset allocation support at a lower cost, making investment strategies more accessible to all.

A holistic workforce strategy that balances the implementation of emerging technology alongside securing the talent to facilitate adoption will be necessary to ensure organisations can leverage the full benefit of 'bots’. Project Mangers, for example, will be central to assessing the scope and direction of change and overseeing implementation, while Developers will play an important role in reviewing and refining both process and performance.

Companies must consider how they can source, attract and retain the individuals who will be pivotal to their AI-powered advancement.

 

The challenge of change

As banks settle into a new era in which bigger doesn’t always equate to better, many traditional organisations will need to review and realign their workforce strategies, opening the door to a growing contingent labour market and global talent networks.

In the final part of this series, we’ll tackle two more challenges facing the financial services sector. We’ll consider the implications of a digitally driven future, the skills needed to boost productivity and our insights into how organisations can compete at a time when tech talent is in short supply.

To discuss how the team at Hays Talent Solutions could support the evolution of your workforce strategy, get in touch today.

 

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