The definition of leadership has evolved over the years and today, it is more situational than generic. In the post-COVID world, the importance of leading is the pivot for productivity, agility, and humanity. The leaders of today have evolved after going through multiple shifts and challenges – both technologically and otherwise.
The focus has gradually shifted from Me to They to We to Us. With “Us” as the way forward, leadership for tomorrow will demand the building of organizational relatedness, which is a combination of social cohesiveness and sense of belongingness. This will call for the development of certain business-related competencies and skills which will be a key to ensure profitability, wholesome growth, and collective success.
The leadership of tomorrow will be more focused on ethics, empathy, empowerment, and energizing. All of this will be woven around the acceptance and use of transformative technology.
Ethics
This has always been the cornerstone of leadership and shall be so going into the future. The behaviours of leaders and their words and actions in multiple situations are keenly observed and recorded by people and the same is emulated. Leaders will have to ensure consistency and transparency in their say/ do.
They have to align their personal behaviour to that of the defined organizational behaviours so that they can inculcate contextual alignment to facilitate growth.
Empathy
Simply put, empathy can be defined as following the “aligned way”. This means doing whatever is best suited for the organization. It calls for situational understanding and explaining the context as well us being open to other people’s viewpoints and perspectives.
“My way or no way” is certainly not the way anymore. Success in the future will depend on how committed, collaborative, communicative and cohesive leaders are.
Empowerment
Leaders must decentralize decision-making to make organizational processes more agile and robust. The trust in people must be demonstrated by genuine delegation of authority and letting people fail fast, thereby inculcating a sense of responsibility and accountability in them.
Leaders have to believe that if you fail fast, you realize fast, correct fast, action fast, reorient fast – thereby succeeding fast. It helps to rapidly progress in achievement of the objectives.
Energizing
One of the key facets of leadership for tomorrow will be how effectively leaders are able to energize their people by building tenacity, boosting confidence, upskilling, competency development and ensuring enhanced performance. A leader is as effective as the team they build and nurture.
A paradigm shift in leadership for the future should be to focus on hiring inclusive people who bring unique competencies thereby enhancing capability. Leaders also have to consciously develop people by ensuring purposeful alignment.
As an organization invested in enhancing youth capabilities, Aptech has been a leadership engine in ensuring that QUGs (Qualified Unemployed Graduates) are transformed into SEPs (Skilled Employable/ Employed Professionals). Millions of students have built their skills after undergoing various courses offered and have made their mark as leaders in their respective fields.
The House of Aptech focusses on #HarGharHunar, which recognizes that every youth in every house has talent. At Aptech, we help our students and employees in nurturing and channelizing their talent for success and future leadership.
Leadership for tomorrow will call for increased productivity by creating, nurturing and encouraging an environment of respectability and zero territoriality. Irrespective of their functional domains, leaders will have to focus on the overall employee experience and be conscious of the following aspects:
- Speaking to their people – politeness, courteousness, connectedness
- Treating their people – fairness, empathy, appreciation, dignity
- Responsiveness towards the business requirements and people needs
- Acceptance and celebration of failure
- Living the values they profess – both individual and organizational
- Learning, imbibing, practicing and propagating the use of advanced technology to simplify processes
