Research findings: shifting attitudes and meaning for leaders and leadership

Having completed my research report in March I have been sharing it with groups of Principals as well as People, HR and Marcomms leads through a series of roundtables.

These were wide ranging discussions but the points which arose repeatedly were:

• Uncertainty makes planning difficult and places an extra demand on leaders to support teams. It also exacerbates mental health challenges in the workplace.

• Balancing and aligning individual needs with those of the organisation is challenging and evolving.

• There’s a shifting definition of leadership towards something more relational and distributed.

• Lots of people struggle with feedback (giving it and receiving it), difficult conversations and setting expectations in a way that is appropriate in a modern workplace.

• Junior people are in the office more than the senior people they can learn from.

• Levels of busy-ness are becoming unsustainable, AI presents an opportunity here if embraced in a positive way.

• Neurodiversity and how it’s really embraced is an increasingly discussed topic.

• Motivation is very individual and has shifted since the link between effort and reward has changed. Leaders need to master this and not be tempted to lean into unhelpful generational stereotypes.

• Adaptability, curiosity and ability to lead through uncertainty are other core skills needed from leaders.

• Demands on leaders have increased. Leadership needs to be specifically valued and developed.

Thank you to Bennetts Associates, Allies & Morrison, ING Media, Hawkins Brown and Buro Four who kindly hosted the discussions and to the 100+ leaders who contributed.

If you would like to see more of the findings report or understand how you and your organisation can respond to these shifts please get in touch.