Empathy
To such a question, managers now answer most often: empathetic. Complementing this with a term attentive to emotions. During the opening discussions before conducting a development project for a large organization in the banking sector, one manager told me, “gone are those days when you could manage in a hard way, without paying attention to how people feel.” And even if we now doubt that there ever was such a time, it’s interesting to hear it, from so many managers, who nevertheless are still responsible for delivering results, and mainly questioned about it. We had to go through a threshold of understanding during the COVID era (or maybe even earlier, only during the pandemic it became more apparent) that the results depend on people, and people are emotional beings, and it is worth taking this into account, and maybe even more – to profit from it.
Listening to
Other desirable qualities/skills of a leader that managers themselves now point to are listening, attentiveness and openness. Without them, the manager has limited knowledge to what he knows himself. If he ignores the signals from his team, from the organization, he will become deaf and blind. He will pursue his vision, his ideas, and being cut off from any feedback will lead him deep into dead ends from which it will be difficult to return with a raised brow. Despite this awareness, I still encounter managers in love with their voice and their view of the world. Perorating how one should actually do this or that, handing out unsolicited advice right and left, while a question would definitely work better. But then they would have to take the crown off their head and hand it to their colleagues, and not everyone is ready for that.
Calm
What kind of leader should I be now? A poised, calm demeanor says directors and managers. Someone who is impulsive, easily carried away, and instills fear with his reactions will build neither authority nor trust in the team. Reacting nervously will not encourage people to be open and honest. They will begin to doubt “that you don’t kill the messenger,” and when trouble and difficulties come (and they will surely come) the manager who lacks calm and composure will be the last to know. Perhaps it will deprive him of the time needed for an effective response. Times are turbulent, so how do you build peace within yourself and your team? In my opinion, the way to peace of mind is through noticing and understanding your own emotions. And it seems to me that leaders and organizations understand this more and more, asking and agreeing in development programs to content on emotions at work or how to communicate with emotions like Non-violent communication (NVC).
Forbearance, patience
Forbearance and patience are other qualities that leaders themselves point to as essential in this day and age. “We live in a world we don’t understand,” – says Nassim Taleb – so how can we act quickly and unreflectively in such a world? Many of the situations that employees face are new. New customer behavior. Other risks. Such a world does not allow for automatic action in most cases. Old ways don’t work, new ones are needed. And coming up with them takes time. Therefore, patience is needed. Not every new idea will work – so forbearance is needed. Team members need to be aware that they can make mistakes. And it would be even better if they were aware that “there are no mistakes, there is only feedback” to redirect efforts in another direction.
Engaging
The current leader is an engaging leader. We can see this in Kingmakers by the number of requests from many organizations in various industries for “Participatory Management Style” workshops and trainings. The current leader consults, includes, engages, delegates authority and decision-making. Of course, in a smart way that is adapted to the development level of the employee. Structures in organizations that want to be effective and efficient are flattening. It is the specialist, the consultant, the front-line employee who is closest to the customer, and as long as he has the tools and is properly equipped to do so, he can make the most accurate decisions. This gives him a sense of responsibility, autonomy, purpose and meaning. And do you have the ability to engage? What is your barrier to engaging others?
The qualities of a leader listed above are not based on any theoretical model. These are the qualities that leaders themselves point to as desirable these days at workshops organized by Kingmakers. This is probably not an exhaustive list of the issue. What feature do you think is missing on it?
Kingmakers supports organizations in leadership development by working with leaders to help them increase their awareness, expand their knowledge and develop their skills in working with people.
