There’s no doubt about it – the workplace is changing, and leadership is adapting. Everything from boss-employee dynamics, to job titles and scope of role, are undergoing a dynamic shift. Modern workplaces are no longer individually success-focused, but rather, promote a team-minded, collaborative atmosphere. Perhaps it has something to do with the globalization of our world, where hybridity and diversity are newly celebrated. Good thing employees love this! It makes for more transparency in the visioning of the business, opportunities for communication between entry-level employees and top leadership, and often a better work/life balance.
Do you want to get on board as leader in today’s exciting organizational business culture? Let us pass along a few tips to help a leaders be most successful at their job, and reinforce the positive benefits of effective leadership for an organization.
1. Ability to Thrive with Change
Any organizational leadership degree should include education about facilitating, surviving, and thriving through change. Change can be a real “make-or-break” moment for organizations large and small. Instead of being fearful of change, the most successful organizations build their system around it. In fact, it’s the one thing we know is inevitable!
The modern influential scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb explores such theories of change as it pertains to systems. He proposes that integrating “antifragility” can help organizations grow instead of crack from randomness. Such theory is no stranger to modern organizational leadership practice. Carsten Tams, Forbes contributor, touts modern methods of modeling businesses for change. In “Bye-Bye, Heroic Leadership…,” he explains that the old standard of valiancy set in the C-suite and translated into steps carried out routinely and devoutly by employees, is out. A more flexible, creative approach is in!
Seizing the power and creativity of employees at all levels of the organization is the best way to integrate improvements. Leadership, rather than being exercised by just a few people with big titles, is instead dispersed throughout the organization, thus empowering workers and using collaborative strength. The first big benefit of effective leadership for an organization? Implementing systems and empowering employees to not crack, but rather embrace and flourish in moments of change.
2. Organizational Growth Potential at Scale
You guessed it: the most positive result of change is growth. Don’t most organizations simply want more? More members, more customers, more market and industry share, more valuable employees. Retaining and increasing is the name of the game. Therefore, it’s extremely important that leaders be knowledgeable in scalability.
The Center for Creative Leadership enforces that isolated, solo talent at the top no longer holds the torch of importance in today’s global business world. This is because scaling is an initiative that affects the entire organization at all levels. Therefore, effective leaders must be strong coordinators, who engage others at all steps of the scaling process. Strategic visioning should include all departments to ensure how much “more” is logistically feasible at the current scale of the organization. The topic of scalability goes hand-in-hand with an alignment of resources: a balance which you can learn more about through hands-on practice and education with a leadership degree.
3. Effective Resource Management
Organizations are built on resources. An office or manufacturing facility, equipment for the space, utilities, additional assets like vehicles. Managing those tangible costs is one skill that leaders need to learn, so that they can be counted on to make smart future decisions. However, the most important resource is the one you reinforce with payroll: employees! Investing in this resource garnishes the best returns.
The 2018 Workplace Learning Report, led by LinkedIn, found some fascinating discoveries about learning in the workplace. Executives surveyed said that talent development leaders should identify and build on employee skills that look towards the future. This rings of a growing trend towards retention and a more holistic engagement with work and the workplace. If an organization makes it known that they are training employees for growth, it increases confidence within the employee – that they are valued and spending worthwhile time in this job – while the organization is simultaneously investing in this most valuable resource.
So, thinking of hiring fifteen more employees? Well, besides things like chairs, desks, parking spaces, laptops, and another microwave in the community kitchen, successful leaders in organizations will need to account for an onboarding, training, and professional development plan that suits each new worker, and keeps them engaged, challenged, and happy.
Do you think you’re ready to tackle the complexity that is a multi-layered organization? Get equipped with the right skills for the job, with a degree that gives you a boost in all the right facets of leadership. Goodwin College’s Masters of Organizational Leadership is not only efficient, but it’s a flexible, online program that meshes seamlessly into your lifestyle and helps you reach your personal leadership goals. Give us a call today at 800-889-3282 to get started!
Goodwin University is a nonprofit institution of higher education and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), formerly known as the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Goodwin University was founded in 1999, with the goal of serving a diverse student population with career-focused degree programs that lead to strong employment outcomes.