As readers of this monthly leadership insight, we vary in years of experience, age, and approaches. We bring diverse viewpoints to the definition of good leadership—what WE think it means to be a great leader. I’m challenging all of us to look at leadership from a different perspective. Instead of seeing it through our own eyes, considering what benefit we bring to those we support, let’s get curious: what do those we serve NEED from our leadership?
If you’ve been in the working world more than a decade—even if you haven’t served in leadership that whole duration—you recognize the work environment has changed. Recent research is clearly telling us today’s workforce requires a different kind of leader. Fight the truth if you like, but the old days of being a super-hero rescuer, a top-down decision-maker, and command-and-control leader no longer meets the need. Good leadership now involves a more inclusive, technology-driven, and employee-centric approach.
A decade ago, employees expected our formal/structured communication, our cautious approach to technology, annual performance reviews, traditional hours on site, reactive change management, formalized training regimes, and clear-cut career progression paths. The work setting has evolved: Employees today need leadership that offers…
- Focus on foresight
- Purpose-driven work
- Agility and flexibility
- Real-time and transparent communication
- Continuous learning opportunities
- Routine feedback
Why the change? Much has to do with after-effects of COVID-19 forcing change upon the working world. The rest comes from our digital evolution that enables at-the-fingertip information and immediate reactions to each person’s ideas. It’s the world we live in and employees have adapted. So must we.
Why should you want to modify your approach? Many of us went into health care because we genuinely wanted to help people. We accepted leadership positions because we desired to make an even greater positive impact for others. Why deny employees, then, the very approach they need to be well-served? If we still want to be the servant leader we set out to be, we must shift. If not, it would be like continuing to coo and talk baby talk to our children once they’ve grown into adults. That could be a bit “cringy” (my teenager son’s language). So is leading today with yesterday’s mentality.
Test these approaches out for yourself. If you’ve already mastered them, seek out a leader colleague who you could mentor so they too can maximize their benefit.
- Model agility and change readiness. Steadily align with your true organizational or departmental purpose. Yet be adaptable and ever-ready to pivot quickly with options to respond to unanticipated disruptions. Proactively prepare for future changes.
- Embrace openness. Invite the expertise of your teams to the table for decision-making. Empower their influence. Withhold judgment to enable you to remain curious about their views. You don’t have to agree but do genuinely hear them out.
- Communicate with frequency and transparency. Offer regular updates as often as allowed. Share reactions about performance in the moment with candor and respect.
- Practice empathy and support. Spend time interacting with employees—know who they are, not just what they do. Develop your emotional intelligence. Create psychological safety among your teams. Promote wholistic well-being practices. Design open channels of learning.
- Enable digital transformation. Protect against cyber threats while investing in the technology that improves efficiency and collaboration, and that allows work-site and schedule flexibility. Encourage innovation—work smarter, not harder.
As leaders, our job is to serve others so they can effectively do the important work of their roles. To do so, we must understand needs from their perspective. We must see their needs differently—through THEIR eyes, not ours!
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“Leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in our charge.” - Simon Sinek
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You might consider one these upcoming RWHC sponsored workshops to further enhance development along these lines:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Corrie Searles, MPT, Leadership Development Educator
In Corrie’s role as Leadership Development Educator at the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative (RWHC), her aim is to empower leaders--formal and informal--to create positive influence that enables others to serve well.
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