Why you need lead differently?

When asked what they want from a company, many millennials want to be heard. Millennials want to participate in company decision-making and will prefer to be intensely involved in any form of organizational change. This is already coming to pass. In fact, organizational hierarchies have already begun to flatten and will continue to do so.

The Social age

Social media has a great influence on communication, relationships and the accelerating momentum of globalization. Social media also has a big impact in the way leaders lead.

This socially created information forces leaders to immediately respond to queries, which often leads to mistakes. To prevent this from happening, leaders must constantly be in the know; be current, astute and possess high business acumen.

Generational and cultural diversity is also thrown in the mix. Because of its high impact on communication and organizational behaviours, leaders must learn how to deal with a combination of five generations in the workplace, as well as employees from around the world.

Defining trends

The exponential rate of change is asking leaders to be more flexible and innovative. Innovation must not be treated as a lip service. It must be ingrained in the organizational culture. It must be accepted as a behavioural concept of trials and errors. For innovation to have some meaning, leaders must reward successes more than ever in the past and acknowledge those employees who try new things legitimately, and make mistakes (as long as these mistakes don’t repeat themselves).

Leadership challenges

Leadership competency models need a major facelift. Not only on the surface, but also in their behaviour and ability to adapt to the rate of change. There are three competencies leaders must pay more attention to:

1. Leaders must be better communicators. They must have more productive conversations as well as more productive actions. You can’t afford to be less productive in this day on age.
2. Leaders must grow by having the courage to approach challenging situations. Whether confronting their boss on making changes or supporting their employees with their innovative ideas–even if they fail.
3. Leaders must train their mind to be prepared for growth—rapid growth. This Includes cultural and generational growth.

Leading differently in the 21^st Century is leading in partnership with your employees. Gone is the age of dictatorship. Welcome to the age of inclusion, diversity and innovation. Today’s workplace thrives on communities rather than hierarchies. By mastering these challenges, heads of organizations become social leaders and take part in the movement of leading in this complex social age.