workforce
Six steps in the right direction
Remember these‘ Cs’ for guiding workers and the organisation as both evolve in coming years. By Andrew Henderson
The foundation for success for workplace leaders can be built around three critical beliefs: people need something to believe in, someone to believe in and someone to believe in them.
Employees have changed and their needs in relation to their organisations and their work have evolved. Leaders and managers also need to evolve and change, whilst retaining the three critical“ beliefs”.
Managing present realities is a different proposition to handling past ones. Leaders and managers must develop their skills to an exceptional standard to build trust across the organisation. The extent to which they can adapt will determine their ability to create their desired future realities.
So what will it take to lead or manage in the workplace of 2014?
As a starting point, leaders and managers can focus energy on developing their competencies around the‘ Six Cs’. Understanding the intrinsic links between these six factors – and how they build upon each other and underpin the qualities, attributes and behaviours of true leadership – will help people lead the way in 2014. The Six Cs are:
• Connected: Leaders and managers will need to invest the time and energy needed to truly know their people’ s needs and aspirations. Armed with this understanding, they can set about creating the environment that fulfils those needs while building strong relationships for the future.
• Communicating: They will need to devote significant attention to communicating – listening and opening their minds to other people’ s ideas and suggestions. The willingness of employees to provide input openly depends upon the leader’ s ability to listen actively to what is being communicated.
• Concerned: They will need to be concerned with the direction and vision for each individual as well as with the direction and vision for the organisation as a whole. There is a clear need for leaders and managers to think ahead and take the organisation and its people on a carefully crafted journey.
• Caring:“ People don’ t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” so the saying goes. The leaders and managers of the future will care as much about the welfare of their people as they do about their own welfare. In demonstrating empathy and sincerity, they will enjoy respect and trust from their people. They will also enjoy the associated benefits in terms of commitment, performance and productivity.
• Consistent: The key to leading and managing people towards a vision or goal is consistency. Being consistent means being ready to make the hard calls when necessary and being prepared to accept that you don’ t always get things right. Consistency is about being fair and even-handed. It’ s about responding to changing circumstances to deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Competent: Putting it all together, the leaders and managers of the future will need to be adaptable and looking to evolve constantly. They will have to remain competent in the role and fulfil the expectations of the people being led or managed. This will be evident in their retention of the right people to make the organisation as productive and efficient as possible and sustain its operations into the future.
Only through adapting to expectations and fulfilling
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