It is challenging to see a clear picture of the work environment right now. While there are a record number of people in employment, job vacancies fell on the quarter for the 11th consecutive period reflecting uncertainty across industries according to the ONS. The squeeze being felt in the economy (and at home) is creating caution when it comes to recruitment.
The picture is further muddied by rapid changes. Digitalisation has transformed the workplace, providing employees with the ability to operate effectively whether they are in the office, or remote, affording them more freedom of choice. Meanwhile, as talent becomes harder to secure and budgets are being squeezed, companies are moving to new models, building hybrid teams that comprise freelancers working alongside permanent employees.
These shifts mean that old style leadership practices no longer work in the new hybrid world. Businesses today need to be driven by a different set of principles with leaders who are understanding and empathetic. Consistency, focus and fairness are the new expectations, and the following guidelines will be helpful in enabling leaders to become standard bearers for the workplace of the future.
Setting a clear and common purpose
Operating with a sense of purpose is key to helping team members understand why they engage in work each day. Establishing a common purpose means being clear on the objectives, achieving buy-in from everyone, and trusting them to find the right method of achieving the objectives. Teams need to feel confident that they have support from leadership and the opportunity to collaborate in decision making, as well as being updated on progress as it happens.
Trust must be earned
Where once employees followed a leader based on their title or their role, today more emphasis is placed on earning trust. As a leader, it’s important to always act with equity, and to take time to gather context and understand the situation. Teams expect leaders to be consistent and reliable, but situations will sometimes call for courage and decisiveness. To really build trust and get the best out of a team, leaders must make their wellbeing a number one priority and serve to lead. Leaders are no longer expected to know everything, and good management relies on recognising the expertise in the team and trusting them to apply their skills.
Reinforce the human connection
Today’s best leaders are selected carefully across a range of attributes, and investment should be made in their development. Subsequently, they are equipped to take on the responsibility of making sure their team is happy and has a sense of belonging. It is important to be authentic and provide psychological safety and this means listening, demonstrating care, and addressing bad behaviour. Leaders can share their experiences in a way that encourages and boosts team spirit. Additionally, leaders should accept views that are different to their own, demonstrate open-mindedness, allyship and collaboration. Most importantly, leaders must acknowledge and celebrate successes. This is what makes teamwork worthwhile.
Maintain personal integrity
Leaders might have more experience, they might have shone in a particular role, but they are themselves still learning. The hybrid workplace is new and the rules for managing disparate teams are not set in stone, so leaders are still feeling their way towards establishing environments that work best for their teams. This means asking questions to establish what is functioning well and what is not and avoiding complacency by sticking to traditional practices or assumptions. Bravery is needed to put in place a ‘challenge’ culture of feedback that will encourage diversity of thought and creativity. Intelligent disobedience, in which teams can counter leadership decisions to offer an alternative approach, is key to success.
Knowledge is power
It is part of a leader’s role to develop individual potential across departments and teams and the best way of enabling this is by disseminating information up, down and sideways across the organisation. Equipped with facts, data and insight, teams are optimally positioned to make decisions and work effectively. If a leader makes it clear that they can fail fast in order to succeed, teams will relish the challenge and learn quickly. In hybrid environments, leaders will get more out of their teams if they prioritise the channels of communication across which they deliver information.
Managers are typically appointed based on tenure or experience in their role, and not necessarily their experience of managing teams. As our working environments adapt to hybrid approaches, organisations will need to invest more in training leaders and building a new style of company culture. At Malt, 30 of our managers have embarked on our School of Leadership programme aimed at exploring individual leadership styles, empowering team members and optimising decision-making and delegation. As leaders become less physically or geographically integrated with teams, the emphasis will be on inspiring collaboration, commitment and creativity virtually, but serving as an inspirational role model will remain a top priority.
