‘Modern leadership’ other than ‘traditional leadership’ is absolutely valid right now.
The traditional leadership approach of trying to exert control as ‘the boss’ is not an effective way of leading, particularly when teams are working remotely. Modern leadership requires key qualities and styles of working. All of which are needed for effective management of today’s workforce.
The Blunders of Traditional Leadership;
Leaders are critical to building the right employee experiences. They build their teams, make provision for direction and help their employees to grow and develop. They are also crucial to both setting the tone and defining the culture of the company.
Traditional leaders mostly focus on themselves – their power, control and their ‘egotistical’ way of living. With age-old leadership practices. Giving a dangerously high percentage of decision-making power and control to a small percentage of assigned leaders.
The outcome is a toxic and critically stressed workplace and leaders globally have found that traditional leaders are still evident in many organizations.
With such a stifling leadership approach, employees become scared, resentful, disengaged and unproductive. This can result in disaster for any business, particularly when it comes to managing a workforce during a pandemic.
Kingdom Leadership Dynamics Part 1
Examples of Leaders Who Failed in the Bible:
Kingdom Leadership Dynamics Part 2
The Gibeonite Ruse Lesson For The Christian Soldiers
Modern Leadership Vis-a-Vis a Modern Workplace
Nowadays, employees are looking for far more than a micro-manager. They want a mentor and cheerleader who inspires them to strive for greatness. A modern leader is all about connecting employees to purpose, accomplishment and one another. They show how their employees’ work makes a difference, how it furthers the company’s purpose and why it is important. And modern leaders give their employees the skills and encouragement to achieve great things while bringing people together. They also ensure the growth of their employees in relation to the fact that they connect their employees to purpose.
The best leaders don’t try to manage, they provide direction and then step out of the way. They encourage collaboration, shared leadership and innovative thinking and provide ongoing support and encouragement. A good leader has these few key qualities I will mention;
1. Humility;
Displaying humility shows you to be ‘more human’ and is about sharing authority and inviting feedback rather than imposing change and leading by decrees or inapplicable laws that can be severe on the rights of the employees.
2. Transparency;
Transparency must work hand-in-hand with trust. Without honesty and openness, trust can never be achieved. When leaders are transparent with their team about how they can collectively work together to achieve the company’s purpose, there’s a 103% increase in the perception of employee experience and an 87% increase in the amount of great work happening. The transparency of a leader can lead to the effectiveness of employees regarding their knowledge of the company’s statistics and so on.
3. Trust;
Leaders must earn the trust of their teams through their actions and they must trust employees to make decisions and work autonomously. With this effect, the employees can put in all their best and boom!! The company goes beyond its level to a higher productivity level.
4. Prioritizing wellbeing;
40% of employees are experiencing moderate-to-severe burnout and so the wellbeing of staff must be a priority for leaders. This means getting to know employees on a personal level – understanding what makes them ‘tick’, how they like to work and what support they may appreciate. By having a ‘people first’ culture in which leaders focus on people as individuals, the likelihood of burnout is significantly reduced. Checking up on staff to know their health status, giving them advice on the benefits of taking in nutritious meals and supporting them to get these foods with the little you can; this is a very rare qualities of a good modern leader.
5. Recognition;
Appreciating others and giving regular praise is key to nurturing a happy and healthy team who are more willing to go ‘the extra mile’. Recognising people regularly, and not just when an accomplishment has been made, leads to an 83% increase in employee engagement. When employees are appreciated regularly, this will increase their effectiveness coupled with a practical mindset that their contributions are recognized.
In conclusion, practising a modern form of leadership in your modern workplace is the best way to keep your company above the ground level. The world is becoming Technologically advanced which has resulted in people preferring to work remotely. You need to understand these things to know how to lead a set of virtual professionals and achieve a good level of productivity.
Thank you!
