I would imagine that by now, meaning the end of 2023, many businesses would have charted their strategic directions for 2024. While there will be many goals that fall into the operations, human resources, finance, governance, sales and customer success buckets, I’m hoping that one area will be given extreme attention in 2024. Leadership evolution.
I’m not just speaking about leadership development and the practices that accord with functional improvement. I’m directing attention to the deep-seated, emotional and psycho-social effectiveness at the executive suite level, that is essential to healthy leadership. I use the word “healthy” here, intentionally.
It’s not just the era of pervasive technology that is disrupting how businesses function. There is another parallel evolution happening that is just as impactful, that of people evolution.
It’s easy to solve business needs through the strategic use of technology. Just reach out to a strategist and follow a formulaic process. It’s not that linear an operation when it comes to solving the people needs of the business.
There’s been a lot of discussion about how people, customers and employees have changed over time, with an acceleration in that momentum particularly during the past three years. Within the employee universe, however, I believe that the build-up of this shift will begin to effervesce in the near future. Some thought leaders believe that it’s happening already. After all, if something is boiling, at some point it’s going to erupt.
Leadership evolution is the salve that will moderate this waxing workplace effervescence, with several prongs of this evolution requiring new levels of mastery.
Leadership evolution is the salve that will moderate this waxing workplace effervescence, with several prongs of this evolution requiring new levels of mastery.
Emotional evolution is a major area of mastery. When individuals begin to evolve emotionally, they are no longer controlled by their impulses. They contemplate how their behaviour impacts others and therefore, become selective in their words and deeds. In fact, their intentions towards others becomes more gratuitous and helpful. When this happens to leaders at the executive level, they begin to transform into benevolent leaders. Their intent is to cause no unnecessary dissonance in their relations with other individuals.
Now, this is not to say that these leaders become pushovers. In fact, they become more resonant with the principles of fair play, social justice and interactive parity. They become so at ease with themselves, that egoistic behaviour is neutralized, self -aggrandizement is no longer a need and pompousness, becomes a thing of the past. These leaders begin to emit signals of humility and humanity, whilst championing the uplifting of others.
They become so at ease with themselves, that egoistic behaviour is neutralized, self -aggrandizement is no longer a need and pompousness, becomes a thing of the past. These leaders begin to emit signals of humility and humanity, whilst championing the uplifting of others.
By now you may be thinking about how this persona will affect the workplace. Well, with a low tolerance for negative human energy pervading the air, we’ll be witnessing business environments boasting cultures that are not ravaged by continuous upheaval and embattlement. Instead, we’ll be witnessing a surge in connection to the foundational values of respect, trust and human upliftment.
Creating a collective consonance is another area of mastery. This is the common thinking that “if we want to go quickly, we can go alone as individuals, but if we want to go far, we will need to go together.” I believe that the leaders who possess the untainted amplitude to build well-oiled employee communities (not simply teams), will be the big builders of the new era of cultures that serve and not devastate an employee’s spirit.
The most powerful area of mastery to my mind, is becoming the leader who does not need followers to validate his or her identity. This is the leader who understands the power of releasing brilliance at all levels of the business and is the most enthusiastic cheerleader of employee effort.
This is the leader who creates the conditions for harvesting evolved leaders, who continue the legacy of building businesses that cause their internal communities to thrive and flourish.
I believe that the leaders who possess the untainted amplitude to build well-oiled employee communities (not simply teams), will be the big builders of the new era of cultures that serve and not devastate an employee’s spirit.
These are the leaders who understand that within the multi-generational workforce lies the power to use diversity to augment cross-generational strengths and to build businesses that honour values that help to evoke the highest levels of human effort.
In all of this commentary, I’m saying really that the most effective leader of tomorrow will possess the qualities that allow him or her to resist the gravitational pull of self-absorption.
To me, this is the highest level of human evolution. When a leader’s impact is rooted in creating the conditions that allow others to rise to their level of greatness.
So, what’s the pivot for future leadership intention? Leaders who are more preoccupied with their leadership evolution journeys and less distracted by cosmetic performance theatre.
I’m saying really that the most effective leader of tomorrow will possess the qualities that allow him or her to resist the gravitational pull of self-absorption.