41% of employees are currently considering quitting their jobs* – ‘The Great Resignation’ is coming – so how do you and your leadership teams plan to buck this trend? The ability to lead teams with empathy has become a critical skill for people managers during the pandemic. This shift away from technical skills will need to be a key priority for organisations in the future.
When we interviewed a group of executive leaders to gather their perspectives and insight on how their roles have changed during the pandemic, what they told us was enlightening. Human skills are now at the forefront of their minds; the currency of effectiveness moving forward is people.
We found that the ‘human’ skills and mindsets now being prioritised by leaders fell into four distinct but connected traits; each equally valuable. The ideal is to possess a combination of all of them, dialling them up or down in response to the challenges ahead.
Over the next few months, we will introduce you to the 4 critical traits of successful leadership that we identified and give you the opportunity to find out more about them.
You will be able to discover the skills and mindset underpinning each trait and how to spot the signs that an employee needs help with their development.
If you identify a need for help, Wharton’s Top Talent Transformation Programme coupled with its Gold-Standard Speaker Programme can support your teams to build capacity in each of the 4 critical traits of successful leadership in your organisation.
Let’s start with the ‘Connected Influencer’.
The ‘Connected Influencer’ thrives on engagement. They act as a partner to their leaders interacting with all parts of the team and keeping an active pulse on the organisation to challenge and influence decisions on how to maximise delivery.
Their key skills and mindsets are:
- Emotional Intelligence
- Listening
- Influence
Do you have a talented ‘Connected Influencer’ in your team or organisation? Do you get the best from them allowing them to play to their strengths?
How do you spot the signs that an employee struggles with this mindset?
If members of your team lack self-awareness, find it difficult to manage their work:life balance, cannot articulate what their ‘purpose’ is as a leader and/or are finding it hard to translate their technical/role specific skills into leadership/management ability then they may benefit from support in becoming a stronger ‘Connected Influencer’.
Next, let’s consider the ‘Authentic Disruptor’.
The Authentic Disruptor displays a growth mindset, constantly challenging existing ways of working to inform strategic changes. They do this in an authentic & purposeful way to become a highly trusted partner to the business.
Their key skills and mindsets are:
- Growth orientation
- Challenge
- Authenticity & Clarity of Purpose
Do you have a talented ‘Authentic Disruptor’ in your team or organisation? Do you get the best from them allowing them to play to their strengths?
How do you spot the signs that an employee struggles with this mindset?
If members of your team tend to:
- ‘play it safe’
- persistently see limitations rather than opportunities
- struggle with change and ambiguity
- don’t create a safe environment that allows mistakes and experimentation to occur
- find it hard to articulate what purpose drives them at work
they may benefit from support in becoming a stronger ‘Authentic Disruptor’.
Next, let’s consider the ‘Inquisitive Storyteller’.
The ‘Inquisitive Storyteller’ joins the dots between multiple sources of information to tell an honest story to the business. Their curiosity leads them to constantly question the data, challenge assumptions and insist business decision making is informed by insight. They also understand the value of crafting an effective story to engage, inspire and influence others that places the audience front and centre.
Their key skills and mindsets are:
- Curiosity
- Critical thinking
- Storytelling
Do you have a talented ‘Inquisitive Storyteller’ in your team or organisation? Do you get the best from them by allowing them to play to their strengths?
How do you spot the signs that an employee struggles with this mindset?
If members of your team tend to struggle with:
- Questioning data and assumptions – taking things at ‘face value’
- Making connections and thinking outside of their silo
- Creating and selling a compelling vision
- Engaging hearts as well as minds
They may benefit from support in becoming a stronger ‘Inquisitive Storyteller’.
WHARTON’S TOP TALENT LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMATION PROGRAMME
On the back of a successful Leadership programme delivered to one of the world’s leading insurance companies, Wharton have created a dynamic and engaging virtual Top Talent Leadership Transformation programme. It combines a unique line-up of expert speakers who really get to the heart of what it means to ‘lead with purpose’, to connect with others and how to translate this into meaningful change.
“To be a great leader, you need to know yourself (to be authentic and to live to your strengths orientation), connect to your own purpose (to inspire and influence), recognise your influence on the organisational culture. This will enable you to lead in a mindful, resilient way that keeps you curious, agile and able to navigate an ambiguous, dynamic world.”
Sarah Jepson-Jones, Wharton BC Director – Leadership
To develop the ‘Connected Influencer Trait’ in your team, our programme brings together Peer Learning Groups, 360 assessments and psychometric analysis along with our programme of speakers designed to inspire and motivate change.
As part of our offering we work with leading thinkers in this space, such as John Higgins & Megan Reitz, recently nominated for the Top 50 Thinkers Breakthrough Idea award and authors of ‘Speak Up; Say what needs to be said and hear what needs to be heard.
To develop the ‘Authentic Disruptor’ trait, our leadership development programme brings together Business challenges, ‘not for profit’ immersions and purposeful keynote speakers tailored to your needs and designed to inspire and motivate change.
As part of this programme we work with gold-standard speakers, Matt Beadle and Dr. Campbell Thompson.
Matt Beadle is a facilitator, speaker and author. He has trained or moderated over 20k executives of over 40 different nationalities in over 20 countries and is one of the most renowned leadership experts working out of mainland Europe today. He is the author of two books, including best-selling ‘Strengths Orientated Leadership- a World through Bee Glasses’ and is a regular speaker and presenter for business events, panel discussions, and TV shows.
Matt Beadle
Dr. Campbell Thompson is a performance psychologist supporting organisations and leaders to set the conditions for teams to thrive and excel when competing against the world’s best. As a coach, Campbell helps high performing individuals to connect to personal purpose, to navigate personal growth, to free themselves from mental barriers, and to develop the habits that their aspirations require. He was recently New Zealand Team psychologist for the Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Dr. Campbell Thompson
To develop the ‘Inquisitive Storyteller’ mindset, our leadership development programme brings together Business Challenges, Not For Profit immersions, fireside chats and purposeful keynote speakers tailored to your needs and designed to inspire and motivate change.
As part of our offering we work with gold-standard speakers in this space, such as Alex Gregory MBE and, as referenced above, John Higgins.
Alex Gregory MBE
Alex Gregory MBE is a double Olympic Gold champion and 5 x world champion coxless fours rower. His inspiring story of striving for personal and professional excellence has many parallels for the modern workplace. He uses his journey to bring to life themes such as the value of connecting to purpose, setting clear shared goals and the criticality of honest, courageous conversations in creating team performance that regularly goes beyond expectations. Through the power of storytelling, these themes become memorable and tangible, allowing translation into day-to-day change.
John Higgins
John Higgins is an independent researcher, author, coach and consultant who encourages leaders to find ways of marrying their personal and professional contexts, enabling them to uncover the ‘unspoken truths’ in the boardroom. An expert on cross-industry issues concerning speaking-up, power, leadership, team dynamics, and their interplay with organisational culture. John is a published author for the Harvard Business Review, Dialogue Review and European Business Review. His work focuses on the themes of ‘speaking truth to power’, the power of inquiry and team resilience. John has researched and written widely with the faculty and students of the Ashridge Doctorate and Masters in Organisational Change. His latest book on speaking truth to power was co-authored with Professor Megan Reitz and is out now with Financial Times Publishing. He has been shortlisted alongside Megan for the breakthrough idea award with Top50 Thinkers.
If you are unclear about what purpose underpins how you lead or you may need to begin thinking more actively about how to pivot your business then you too may wish to invest in strengthening this insight.
The list of skills that employers believe are key for employees are changing. A WEF report** sites analytical thinking, innovation, problem solving and creativity as skills that they think will grow in prominence in the next five years.
At Wharton Business Consulting we are passionate about supporting organisations to ‘maximise potential through people’. Through collaboration, responsiveness and high quality output we deliver transformative results.
Contact us today to understand more about how we can prepare you and your team for the future. For a limited time, we are offering a free face-to-face consultation and planning lab for VIP clients.
*The Work Trend Index survey was conducted by an independent research firm, Edelman Data x Intelligence, among 31,092 full-time employed or self-employed workers across 31 markets – between January 12, 2021 to January 25, 2021.
** WEF (World Economic Forum) The Future of Jobs Report 2020 (Chapter 2.3 Emerging/ Declining skills) – https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020/in-full/chapter-2-forecasts-for-labour-market-evolution-in-2020-2025#2-2-emerging-and-declining-jobs