Practice what you preach! – In times of increasing uncertainty and rapid changes, we need a new leadership culture, the attributes of which should be more closely monitored by HR.
After almost 25 years of activity in the recruitment industry, I am always surprised how stubbornly the autocratic leadership style still persists – despite other rhetoric.
A constantly and rapidly changing work environment, grappling with societal developments that are becoming increasingly difficult to predict and geopolitically new facts, must place different demands on leaders than the familiar ones. In my experience as a recruitment specialist, many HR departments – whether from global players or SMEs – still have not adjusted strongly enough to the new requirements, which are accompanied in many Western countries (especially in Europe and Japan) by a negative demographic trend and a shortage of skilled workers. HR professionals should pay much more attention to these „new“ qualities in leaders than they have done so far.
In the “old world of work”, the leader takes the leading role and works from the front. The leader is motivated by his own ego and determines a future plan of action himself.
Of course, every modern company now associates itself with “New Leadership” in their external presentation on their homepages, on LinkedIn, XING, Facebook, Instagram or any other social media forums.
And most companies know that they must change if they are to meet the challenges of an increasingly dynamic and complex world of work.
Managers often describe on social media that their main task is to support colleagues in doing their best. Terms such as agility, new work, new mindset, empowerment or trust are no longer missing in any statement.
But as soon as it comes to the concrete implementation of the “new leadership principles” and the readjustment of leadership behavior, the rhetoric quickly gives way to the everyday process.
HR plays a crucial role here. As an institutional body, HR should play a much stronger role in companies to ensure that the traditional image of the authoritarian, self-centered leader is finally transformed in reality in favor of an empathetic and genuinely entrepreneurial leader. Such a leader should involve employees with expertise in specific areas in decision-making and communicate decisions understandingly.
In my opinion, there are three main areas in which the autocratic leadership style is often reflected: Control vs. trust, the assessment of mistakes and the abscence of humilty.
Control vs. Trust
Involving employees in decisions, benefitting from their commitment and their different perspective on processes, quickly fails again due to micromanagement and a KPI culture, which has made the company so successful in recent years. However, we all know that historical success is no guarantee of future success in a world of work that is changing ever faster.
Conflicts of interest are inevitably unavoidable. Maybe you work in a company which values empowering employees to resolve their own problems. If your managers are micromanaging, it’s going to be hard to create the kind of environment and results you’re looking for. How many managers there are who speak of personal responsibility and trust at one point, but who often do not trust even experienced employees to set and achieve KPIs for themselves. When push comes to shove, the phrase attributed to Lenin still applies all too often in reality: “Trust is good, control is better”.
In order to be able to successfully manage a company, continuous monitoring of the individual units is certainly indispensable. However, those who overdo it with control or act out of a false understanding of control, betray the innovative potential of their employees and equally burden the success and career of these employees. Employee participation and employee motivation is quickly lost at the latest when purely leading according to KPI specifications.
Assessment of mistakes
Companies like Google allow their workforce to make mistakes, and in some cases even force them to make mistakes. The idea behind it is to come back to the trial and error principle – we try something, analyze it, improve it or discard it – exactly the right way to innovate. This principle leads to a very important principle for success: action!
At the same time, serious mistakes should be avoided in a targeted manner. Manager should open the view of there employees that mistakes per se are not bad. Perfectionism takes a lot of time and energy and often leads to exaggerated expectations. The result is that employees are not relaxed enough and more likely to make mistakes. Be satisfied with good performance, do not always try to be perfect.
Do you have a manager or are you a manager who trusts his employees more than pure KPIs? Do you have a manager or are you a manager who sets an example of a good error culture and talks about own mistakes?
The importance of humilty
In our current societal, economic, and political turning point we should focus more on the importance of being modest and humble, especially with executives.
Take a moment to check your yesterday’s LinkedIn, XING, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok posts. Surveys have shown that nowadays around 70-80% of all posted content are so-called “ego posts.”
Whether individuals, companies, or parties – a social media world without “ego posts” seems to have become hard to imagine. When such an ego post is published, the author only focuses on themselves. In the case of larger companies, it’s framed in the plural, making it about “us.” We are great, we are the best team, our products are superb, our achievements are the best, etc.
In a self-obsessed world where people are increasingly becoming narcissistic, obsessed with their appearance or achievements, and seeking attention, it’s much harder not to boast than one might think. Therefore, I also admit to occasionally falling into this trap.
But who outside our bubble is interested in this kind of self-aggrandizement? Who wants to hear, read, or see it? Exactly: Nobody!
Being humble and modest means more than not boasting about one’s own life and achievements. It’s also about listening to others, accepting one’s own and others’ mistakes and weaknesses, and working to improve. Humble individuals don’t demand special treatment from others and often recognize positive attributes in others more quickly, as they usually have good self-awareness.
Humble individuals know they are fallible. So when they make mistakes, it’s not a blow to their face or a loss of face for them, but a normal part of their lives. Therefore, it’s easier for them to talk about mistakes, analyze them, and learn from them. Consequently, the likelihood of fixing those mistakes is greater for them than for people who consider humility and modesty unimportant. In the long run, humble individuals therefore have better performance than others.
Humble and modest people are not—falsely often associated—submissive or passive; they are exactly the opposite: full of self-confidence and belief in themselves. They strive to help others and listen to them. According to Forbes, humble people have significantly higher emotional intelligence and stronger empathy than those who see themselves as superstars or irreplaceable.
Gratitude, humility, and modesty are not peculiar quirks of billionaires who can afford them; they are the basic prerequisites for today’s success.
Conclusion
In 1964, my favorite singer Bob Dylan wrote: „The times they are a changing“. The song is about social and political change, and the phrase is meant to suggest that things are in flux and that the world is changing.
I feel like when it comes to political, social and economic developments in recent years, we can practically apply the message of this song directly to the current time: Many people feel a sense of uncertainty or upheaval, so we are in need for a call to action for people to adapt and work towards positive change.
That is, in my opinion, exactly the main task that a leader has to follow today. A leader nowadays must have the ability to constantly adapt to (unpredictable) changes and also make sure to develop this skill in their employees. This is no longer possible with the mindset: “I can do everything by myself because I am the strongest, the biggest, and the most powerful in the group…I am the leader of the pack!”
Leadership in times of change and unsecurity primarily means finding the right balance between trust and control, admitting (inevitable) mistakes, learning from them, and being aware of the strong importance of humility.
HR should take on a sparring role for this new leadership style and not only focus on these attributes when selecting new leaders but also regularly commit existing leaders in the company to the importance of these qualities and review their performance in relation to these important “new” skills.
By Giordano Righi – Founder and CEO of Liberty Morgan GmbH
