We live in difficult and uncertain times. The challenges are extraordinary, and everything is changing so rapidly that sometimes it is difficult to manage pace with the changing scenario. Management styles are changing. Work culture is changing specifically during COVID-19. It is getting difficult for traditional leaders to keep pace with changing working styles. For many of the managers, the change has become their biggest enemy. Whatever knowledge gained by managers and leaders previously is of less value. Only those leaders and managers are surviving who have updated their skills keeping in mind the rapid transformation in managing businesses. This period of learning new skills and unlearning old working styles has rejuvenated the managers and leaders.
Change is permanent and the managers who resist the change are the ones who are suffering and cannot be transformed into leaders. In today’s scenario leaders do not bother about the title or designation given to them by the organizations and they lead the organizations with great zeal and enthusiasm.
Leaders and managers collectively or separately facing challenges to operate businesses due to the rapid change in technology and work from home culture. Whether you are a manager or in a leadership role you must try to excel in whatever you do or has to vision to expand the businesses and horizons without losing sight from the basic aim of business that is profit and growth. It requires the leaders to have sufficient skills and knowledge to lead from the front and show the right path of excellence to their managers and workers.
Few of the challenges faced by leaders are:
Skill Development and Time Management: As suggested earlier leaders need to develop the skills which are relevant to their businesses and otherwise also to show the progressive path and time-saving techniques to their managers like managing their time effectively and quickly by thinking strategically and prioritize their work schedules. Learning new techniques to help them taking quick decisions. It will add up to their effectiveness on the job. And it has been rightly said that if you have more than 2-3 priorities, you don’t have any priority.
Managing and inspiring change: Peter Drucker said once said if you want to do new something, you must stop doing old something. If as a leader we face the challenge to manage change, we must overcome the resistance to change and inspire, motivate our managers and workers to embrace change with an open mind. Even if some of the managers show resistance to change, we must deal with those employees with empathy and positivity by informing them of the consequences of not changing with time.
Developing and Inspiring Managers and Employees: It is very important for the leaders to constantly mentor and coach their employees and managers to develop and impart knowledge and new techniques developing in the management world along with the new skills required to keep pace with the changing times. Always keep on reminding them that working hard is now an old generation thing and working smart is the new thing to make the things swifter and better for the organization. This is the real challenge and it’s a continuous process to inspire and motivate the employees to get the best out of them. Leaders must understand the need to keep this challenge in mind because of different distractions in the environment. This is very important for their satisfaction levels also.
Building, Managing, and Leading Teams: One of the most challenging areas in any organization is retaining employees keeping in mind the current job markets. Employee turnover has been on the rise for long because of a few factors like job satisfaction, working atmosphere, wrong leader, etc. So, it’s important to build strong teams and leading and managing the team and to make sure the team is inspired and motivated all the time. The grievances must be addressed by the leader quickly with empathy by supporting the team members and knowing what to do when the leader takes over a new or fresh team.
Managing relationships with different stakeholders within and outside the organization: One of the major areas of challenge for the leaders includes getting and gaining managerial support, getting support from all the departments, different groups and individuals to gain experiences. The challenge to get experiences from middle level and senior managerial colleagues is very important to understand the real-time situation of the organization and it helps to take decisions accordingly. By doing so the middle and senior-level managers feel important and confident to meet these challenges. This is a win-win situation for managers and leaders.
We do not invite problems. Problems will enter your life and organization automatically in different forms. The great leaders are always cool to understand the problems and usually call these challenges as situations and opportunities to do better and overcome the challenging times. When you are trying to figure out the challenges and finding solutions-it’s not that people would like to look at you as a hard-working or smart working leader it’s about how you capture the minds of your employees by taking the decisions and overcoming challenges the way they would like to see.
Correct Response matters when Top leaders Respond to challenges:
There are few concrete things the top leaders around the world can do to address some of the leadership challenges. The first step inside the gate of your organization or towards solving and overcoming challenges is to identify the aim and knowing where you want to end up as a leader.
Setting Goals and Understanding the purpose: Meeting deadlines and establishing the time frame to keep your team on track is as important as setting the goals. It is important because any distraction you face can make you lose focus and sight of the short term as well as long term goals. Most of the time employees can get distracted while dealing with urgent matters rather than focussing on the outcome of the matters which value more to the organization. Always be proactive. No leader can avoid surprises yet setting a road map will make him refocus on top priorities time and again while handling serious challenges.
SMART- A time tested approach when establishing Goals: It is important to remember and make sure to follow SMART.
The Goals must be with detailed description and how to accomplish the goals and what are the important parameters would be needed and involve. Be SPECIFIC.
Quantify goals to check progress, the goals must be MEASURABLE.
Extending or stretching the goals is fine. Make sure that it must be realistic and can be achieved without getting out of focus from the main objective. It must be ATTAINABLE.
While setting or establishing goals, make sure what do you need to accomplish, and achieve the goals in terms of resources, talent, skills, information, and time. Be REALISTIC.
To achieve the goals and objectives, make sure to divide them into short term goals , and set the deadlines. Creating deadlines and hitting milestones on the way will make you more determined and will fill a sense of achievement in you and motivate you further. Be on TIME.
Delegation is the key-DELEGATE: The most important point a leader must keep in his mind while delegating a task to his colleagues that the leader must empower them to take more ownership. Delegation is not just getting a task off your workstation. To be more effective in delegating it must follow a process of 4 steps repeated cyclically.
Effective leaders delegate after making their priorities and workload with clarity and make a decision to delegate tasks to someone else and expect the regular feedback from them. This way the leader understands his PREFERENCE.
Effective delegation requires, the people you are delegating and assigning tasks to must have required knowledge and skills along with the willingness to accept the assigned task as a challenge. That means a leader must understand his employees and allowing them to learn as they take on fresh tasks. KNOWING STRENGTH/WEAKNESS OF YOUR TEAM IS MUST.
The Objective and purpose of the goal, task, or the job give them meaning and opportunity for personal growth. Great leaders make sure that the purpose of the task in hand must be aligned with the team or individual beliefs. PURPOSE OF THE TASK MUST BE VERY CLEAR.
Keep an eye on your colleagues and team members. Catch them doing something right. If the task has been completed successfully and you are satisfied, appreciate them and if there are some shortcomings, encourage, motivate them, and show them the way to show how the aim can be fulfilled. Keep on ASSESSING AND REWARDING your team regularly. DELEGATE TO BUILD TRUST IN YOUR TEAM MEMBERS.
Focusing on the major or main task must be prioritized. The most important tasks must be prioritized and only you can and should do, and delegate everything else. There are always more challenges competing for your attention than you have energy and time to perform. THIS WAY YOU CAN MAXIMIZE YOUR TRUE AND UNIQUE VALUE. This will also help you to understand your personal leadership style and brand and subsequently increase self-awareness in you and inculcate and maintain enthusiasm.
A leader must make sure that he understands clearly what are the primary, core , and secondary responsibilities. There is no harm and stopping you to take additional responsibilities and duties may be required due to circumstances or might be important for your personal and professional growth. But the most effective leaders and managers understand that they will be judged based on how effective they are at core responsibilities and how good are they to overcome leadership challenges. ROLE CLARITY IS MUST. Too many things can spoil the core areas handled by the leaders.
Knowing when to say NO is important too. Sometimes saying NO can make you feel uncomfortable. Saying No should be practiced and you must find ways to do so with tact, diplomacy, and professionalism. Turning down the work which is not part of your role will keep you focussed and will distract you from the primary objective. Communicating effectively is an important and critical skill of effective leaders.
Live and lead your professional life in such a way that as you take on the most challenging leadership roles you'll be remembered for the aforementioned key behaviors you show in the organization along with your kindness, compassion, fairness, character, benevolence, and a force for good who has much respect for life, in general.
In addition to this, a leader must be aware of cultural the difference in different place of work and must be cross culture sensitive to be more effective.
If a leader aligns the real challenges with the developmental initiatives, it becomes more effective. I suggest that most of the training and development content be the same, no matter the organization where the training is taking place. I also understand that some of the behaviors are accepted in one culture and are looked upon differently in another culture. So, it is important to be aware of the cultural differences must be understood with empathy.
Leaders and managers are both equally important for the growth and development of the organization. If we find both the qualities of manager and leader in the same person, it’s like hitting the bull’s eye and JACKPOT.
In all walks of life and profession, there are challenges and constraints. We have to devise and develop our own strategy to overcome the challenges and constraints. each constraint.
Think Great: Be Great! ― Lailah Gifty Akita
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