Marcia's Leadership Q&As: The Future of Leadership
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Q. What does the future of leadership look like?
A. For decades and generations, leadership styles have been emerging. As society faces new challenges, people learn, work, and improve together differently. Concerns, values, and technologies evolve as people experience more disruptions in their family and professional lives. The pandemic has impacted people from multiple perspectives (physically, emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually) in a short period of time. For those who thrive in predictable, structured environments, this can be very stressful as they struggle to gain more control and certainty. In the past there was a deep commitment to “work at any cost” as a priority.
Now values are changing as more uncertainty has shifted values and mindsets. Values were shifting in the workplaces with new generations of workers. But the pandemic disrupted and accelerated new leadership thinking. More employees now seek being connected to a purpose and will follow leaders who are authentic and who they trust will care about them and invest in their development. They want their managers to respect their flexibility. Traditional leaders need to adapt their styles, and it can be quite challenging for managers who have focused on goals and the bottom line to pivot and care about their people. Future leaders will develop a new level: to love learning, serving and caring about their employees and their customers.
Q. Our president has adopted paying people to make and report the mistakes they’re making. Is this a good approach?
A. This is a well-meaning approach that will be useless and short-lived. Do you pay a child $5 every time they fall off of their bike when they are learning to steer, balance, and brake? Failing is an essential step in the learning process. The most creative and innovative leaders and organizations will make thousands of “mistakes” as they experiment, learn, and improve. How far have we come with automobiles, computers, phones, baking, and building smart homes? The pandemic has helped expedite telemedicine, virtual learning, and delivery services. But no system begins with perfection. When the focus is on learning together and creating learning organizations (from the classroom to the manufacturing or assembly floor to distribution), leaders are developed. Mistakes, failures, blame are all concepts that need to be ousted—at home and work.
Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!
