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 3

THE FINANCIAL SERVICES SECTOR IS MISSING OUT ON MULTI-SKILLED PROFESSIONALS
THE FUTURE OF FINANCIAL SERVICES – PART 3

Organisations can no longer bank on reputation, regulation and a risk-averse mindset if they are to compete in a new era of financial services.

For the first installment in this mini-series, we offered an overview of the current state of the market, from Super Apps to sustainable operations.

In part 2 and 3, we dive deeper into the specific trends that are reshaping our understanding of the industry, creating space for competition and prompting an overhaul of culture, offering our insights and guidance to help shape a workforce strategy that is good for both people and profit.

 

Delivering a digitised service:

Financial firms are facing unrelenting pressure to boost productivity through the digitisation of operations and the wider workforce.

In a story reflected across many industries, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated several tech-based transformations. As customers faced financial turbulence, banks integrated Artificial Intelligence across a number of functions, including chatbots that could offer round-the-clock support and a greater range of self-service options within mobile applications.

Front-end delivery has been matched by the streamlining of back-office functions, as Robotic Process Automation strengthened the governance and accuracy of financial information at a time when remote applications and digital signatures became a new – and necessary – norm.

As banks adjust the scope and scale of their services to incorporate digital advancements, customers expect value to be created beyond simply speeding-up tasks. In exchange for valuable information, individuals are increasingly looking for a personalised and intelligent service delivered via the channels they choose.

 

What this means for your workforce strategy:

Digitisation is driving the need for a ‘different breed’ of talent in the financial services sector.

Aligning technology with the needs and expectations of customers will require organisations to not only integrate roles that have traditionally sat outside of the sector, such as Data Scientists, Solution Architects and Artificial Intelligence Engineers, but also to ensure that this tech-savvy talent have the innovative, entrepreneurial and customer-centric mindset that will be critical to delivering relevant services and solutions.

But as more industries compete for tech talent, simply ‘buying’ in these essential skills will not prove sustainable. Organisations will need to build a more holistic workforce strategy that also explores the scope of upskilling and reskilling.

The good news? Research indicates that by 2025, 75% of workers within the financial services sector will be millennials, a generation ‘ready to learn and work with new technologies.’

Some organisations have already looked to leverage these digital natives, identifying skills adjacencies and deploying microlearning and AI-driven nudges to upskill individuals and encourage transitions into high-value roles.

For those forward-thinking organisations who can scale a training solution at pace, a new type of ‘multi-skilled’ professional will emerge, reskilled in close alignment with an ‘inherently innovative’ strategy.

 

Competition is fierce:

With the COVID-19 pandemic having swept away many of the preconceptions surrounding remote and hybrid work, more organisations are benefitting from the ability to source and select talent from more diverse, global talent pools.

But a seemingly worldwide workforce means that we are seeing more companies competing for the same talent. Data Analysts and Developers, Robotics Engineers and Artificial Intelligence Specialists are all in high demand.

Banks are being forced to battle for skills not only with their direct competitors, but also alongside ultra-modern industries such as biotech and wearables, at a time when their appeal as first-choice employers has faded.

 

What this means for your workforce strategy:

To separate themselves in a tight talent market, organisations should consider rewriting their Employer Value Proposition to appeal to the innovators, change seekers and leaders that will be pivotal to success.

Companies must look beyond compensation to gain their fair share of access to the talent pool, creating a culture with flexibility and diversity at its core. For an industry that has previously maintained a poor record when it comes to women and those from minority ethnic backgrounds (especially in senior leadership roles), a serious shake-up is needed.

And as climate change continues to raise concerns across the globe, an increasing number of individuals want to work for companies with strong Environmental, Social and Governance credentials. Rather than focusing solely on compensation, more workers are also wondering how much positive change their role will allow them to affect.

‘Green loans’ to support consumers investing in renewable or sustainable technology and premiums to promote shared ownership or subscription to services are soaring in popularity.

Banks will need to review and report on operations and commit to reducing emissions, but also ensure that the range of services available – and the people responsible for delivering them – are best placed to help the world to ‘change its ways.’

 

The future is bright

Many banks are still sifting through the changes that have occurred over the last two years in order to understand the trends that are temporary, and those that will be a feature of the financial services sector moving forwards.

But a certain uncertainty will be the continued disruption brought about by technology, forcing organisations across the globe to rethink their workforce strategies in a bid to attract – and retain – top talent.

Talk to the team at Hays Talent Solutions today to discuss how we can help you navigate the challenges ahead.

 

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