Leaders are getting leadership wrong in today’s disrupted world

Will leaders be led by disruption, or lead their teams through it?

Seismic shifts in the business and social environments, evolving hybrid working models and a wealth of emerging technologies are creating the need for a new kind of leader. While many senior leaders accept this reality, there remain significant disconnects between intent to change and meaningful action. That’s a problem, one that creates an even greater risk for the layer below: managers who directly lead teams but have no role models to demonstrate the ways of working they’re meant to champion. An organization’s future success depends on the ability to flip that narrative now. 

What key leadership characteristics are needed to thrive today?

“Command and control” leadership styles have dominated the working world forever. Many managers leading teams today came up through this model, which is based heavily on tenure and technical expertise.

But even before the pandemic took hold, social, technological and economic forces were already changing that paradigm, from the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to renewed focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) and environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities.

What’s more, the workforce itself is changing. The talent base is now increasingly multigenerational, and we’re seeing more contingent workers fueling a gig economy. All the while, disruption has become a continuous force for businesses everywhere.

People now expect to be led empathetically and collaboratively, with leaders modelling these behaviours and leaning in to help drive change. Professionals want to work with organizations where they feel inspired and connected to purpose, under the guidance of leaders who foster psychological safety, empower execution, enable others to flourish and collaborate without boundaries. While many leaders are ready to embrace this change, they often lack the skills to lead in this way, and struggle to find existing role models in their organizations.

How is that reality playing out from day to day? Work is no longer a consistent experience. Leaders have lost the luxury of giving orders according to personal preference. New technology continuously disrupts traditional ways of working and employees expect more, backed by increased negotiating power due to the greater likelihood of people to change industries.

All of this change is compounded by cyber threats, market disruption and a pace of competition that can make it downright impossible to keep up with a distributed decision-making approach and executive alignment across silos on important shared priorities.

We’ve definitely moved away from the era of “leader as hero,” when leaders were deemed to have all the answers and teams followed their direction. To be clear: this was never really an optimal leadership style. Put it in today’s context, though, and leading in this way is no longer a feasible way to operate. Leadership models and strategies must put humans at the very centre to work well over the long term. 

How can we evolve leadership models to succeed in this environment?

The real question is: how can organizations help senior leaders embrace these behaviours and enable middle managers coming up through the ranks to do the same?

Innovation and transformation require next-generation leadership. That can be brought to life through a deliberate approach that combines group learning with leadership coaching, and intentional practice in the flow of work. 

Developing this requires you to:

• Mobilize senior leaders. Organizations need to be bold about leading differently. Those that are willing to make courageous moves can win talent, for example through innovative approaches to hybrid, sound modelling of work/life integration. Doing so requires organizations to take a targeted approach to preparing leaders at all levels with the structures, skills and mindsets they need to adapt and perform. In practice, this means finding ways to coax executives out of traditional “Do as I say, not as I do” mentalities, and move them towards doing more than simply telling middle management what is expected of them to thrive.
• Guide people through new ways of behaving. In the past, you could relegate change management to a specific program, one with a beginning, a middle and an end. Not so in today’s operating environment. It’s time to move away from the change management focus and start thinking about employee experience overall, systematically transforming the way people work. This requires you to think holistically about leadership, and then enable people with the skills they need to lead effectively. That might include upskilling, reskilling, mentorship, coaching or other activities that — offered and encouraged consistently and meaningfully — begin to empower leaders with the tools they need to succeed today.
• Go beyond leadership. Teams need great leaders. Great leaders need impactful support at the very top of the house. Executive buy-in is critical if you’re going to successfully reframe leadership in your organization. Leaders at every level must actively model the change in behaviours and ways of working to encourage uptake. You can’t will new leadership styles onto people; you must become part of the transformation for it to work.

What’s the bottom line?

Workforce expectations have been transforming for years, but leadership models haven’t kept up with that pace of change. Organizations must double down and invest to help leaders close skill gaps and adopt new ways of thinking, acting and reacting. Anything less could put these leaders, and the organizations they serve, at the risk of being left behind.

We work with clients to ensure they have the right leaders and strategies in place to thrive in today’s working world. We create and deploy plans that build essential learning skills, unlock new competencies and unleash the power of coaching to develop the next generation of leaders. 

Leadership: Evolving skills and competencies for the new working world

How EY can help

EY teams work with clients to help ensure they have the right leaders and strategies in place to thrive in today’s working world. We help create and deploy plans that build essential learning skills, unlock new competencies and unleash the power of coaching to develop the next generation of leaders.