Would it surprise you that nearly three quarters of organisations in England reported a deficit of management leadership skills? Or that this deficit is contributing to the UK’s productivity gap with countries like the US, Germany and Japan?
This was the finding of recent research by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) published last year. The bottom line is that Leadership is key at all levels in an organisation. So what are those five trends, which make leadership ever more vital in 2014 and which will have a major effect on businesses and other organisations?
1. Uncertainty Makes Leadership More Difficult but More Important
With a continuing unpredictable business and economic landscape, the vast majority of leaders reported significant increases in uncertainty in their businesses, with ever more change programmes being launched. The result? Lower employee confidence and less effective change initiatives.
2. Developing First-Line Leaders Is Key
The traditional route to developing new leaders is to recruit from existing employees – people who often have exceptional technical ability, but few management skills. With first line leaders directly managing 80% of the workforce, they are the most important group of managers. Does your company invest enough in developing these first level managers?
3. People-Leadership Skills Are Vital In All Employees
With people leadership skills being three to four times more important to a leader’s career success than other skills, developing those skills must be placed at the top of the agenda. For success, these people need to think like a leader, have coaching skills, be effective delegators and make employee engagement a priority.
4. Employee Engagement Is Still Critical in 2014
A recent Gallup survey showed that engaged employees lead to better attendance, lower staff churn and fewer accidents. The result being higher productivity and better bottom line results.
5. Learners Will Require More Thoughtful Training
Engagement is just as important in training. With the high levels of workload that are often the norm, employees need learning that is relevant, practical, but challenging. The days of the training boot camp training are gone!
