Why modern leaders need to be connectors (and what this means for business)

Leadership is changing. The pandemic has shone a light on the most successful types of leader and traditional leadership which focuses on control and power, is no longer in favour. In fact, employees are demanding that leaders show compassion and understanding and this is forcing a sea-change. David Danzig explains the desired qualities of the modern leader, including why they must be ‘connectors’, and what this means for today’s businesses

What are modern leaders and why are they the future?

Many organisations still follow age-old traditional leadership practices that concentrate a dangerously high percentage of decision-making power and control in a small percentage of designated leaders’ hands. Such leaders focus on authority and gatekeeping, often micro-managing their people and commanding rather than collaborating.

The fallout from the pandemic has highlighted poor traditional leadership styles in a way that can’t be ignored with more than a third of UK workers (36%) admitting that they’ve lost confidence in senior leadership since the start of the pandemic (O.C. Tanner’s 2021 Global Culture Report). In addition 37% of UK workers admit to feeling unsupported by senior leaders since the start of the pandemic with the same number feeling isolated and vulnerable in their job.

And a traditional leadership approach doesn’t just effect the immediate teams, it causes a ripple effect across the business leading to a 33% drop in employee engagement, a 58% drop in incidences of great work and 84 per cent less chance of revenue growth (O.C. Tanner’s 2020 Global Culture Report) .

The fact is that workers have essentially tolerated (and resented) traditional management styles for decades and today’s workforce is now rejecting such a leadership style outright and is expecting better. So what does better look like?

Modern leaders are the alternative to traditional leaders. Currently only 17% of leaders are bona fide modern leaders, however the impacts of the pandemic are likely to accelerate the uptake of this new leadership style.

Modern leaders lead with compassion and act more like mentors than bosses. They care deeply about the growth of their people, helping individuals to feel valued and appreciated. So instead of spending time accelerating their own organisational position and stroking their ego, they advocate for their teams, helping them to develop and grow, giving them recognition and working hard to ensure they feel part of a close-knit team. Importantly, modern leaders are effective ‘connectors’. This means that they focus on finding ways to connect their teams to organisational purpose, accomplishment and one another.

Modern leaders as connectors

Modern leaders connect employees to purpose. This means helping employees to understand the organisational purpose, how they fit into the ‘bigger picture’ and how their role contributes to the company’s success. Leaders need to ensure that how they approach this is easy for their people to understand and done in a meaningful way, and of course, to achieve this they need to have a real understanding of what their employees do. As fewer than half (44%) of leaders completely understand what their employees do, they are unable to effectively link company purpose to employee job roles, leading to poorer cultural and business outcomes. In fact, when leaders fail to connect their people to purpose, engagement is likely to decrease by 89 per cent and burnout is likely to increase by 532%.

Modern leaders must also connect their people to accomplishment, regularly communicating what success looks like. Recognition must be a high priority, with leaders regularly appreciating employee efforts, successes and career landmarks. In fact, modern leaders must ensure recognition is a part of everyday workplace culture, with peer-to-peer recognition encouraged just as much as leader to employee recognition.

Currently, only 57% of employees feel appreciated by their leaders and so there’s still a lot of work to do. And leaders who do not connect their employees to accomplishment see diminished outcomes, including a 490% increased chance of severe employee burnout (O.C. Tanner’s 2021 Global Culture Report).

Finally, modern leaders need to connect their employees to one another. They must recognise the importance of strong peer-to-peer relationships and work hard to encourage collaboration and team-building, ultimately fostering a sense of belonging. When employees feel isolated, excluded and different, this has a detrimental impact on the whole employee experience, reducing engagement levels and the feeling of being appreciated by 92%.

O.C. Tanner’s research has found that currently only 35% of leaders connect their employees to purpose, 36% connect employees to accomplishment, and 38% connect their employees to one another. However, to be a true modern leader, it’s important that all three are given equal consideration. 

The need to develop modern leaders

When leaders are effective connectors the organisation is 10 times’ more likely to have a thriving culture (O.C. Tanner’s 2021 Global Culture Report). This is a compelling reason for organisations to nurture the next generation of modern leaders, however as a survey of CEOs by Fortune found that only 7% of CEOs think their company is building effective global leaders, there appears to be much work to be done.

To develop the next generation of modern leaders, organisations must focus on the following:

Adopting a culture in which everyone is a leader – Modern leaders develop in cultures that believe every employee is a leader, and requires every employee to take ownership of their work and sphere of influence. The companies most successful at developing modern leaders don’t consider leadership to be an exclusive club but nurture the potential in everyone.

Making leadership development inclusive – To fully incorporate leadership development into the culture, it must be inclusive, abundant and meaningful. This means ensuring everyone has access to development opportunities that can genuinely advance their knowledge and experience, not just an elite few. And the definition of leadership development opportunities isn’t limited to formal training classes. Much of the development happens when people have new experiences in the workplace, such as being allowed to lead special projects

By investing in everyone’s careers and allowing the continual practicing and perfecting of  leadership skills, employees feel valued and included and the idea that everyone is a leader is constantly reinforced. And when everyone can participate in leadership development, a company with modern leadership is five times more likely.

Modelling leadership behaviours in everyday culture – The old adage that actions speak louder than words has never been more true when it comes to developing modern leaders. When senior leaders model the practices and principles taught in leadership programmes, employees see what good leadership looks like and adopt the right behaviours.

Filling leadership positions from within  – It’s not good enough to provide development opportunities to all employees to then recruit leaders from outside the organisation. This suggests that leadership development is not being taken seriously.  Employees need to see that the efforts they put into their development are rewarded and so filling leadership positions from within must always be a priority. 

Leadership at a turning point

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that leadership needs to adapt to new ways of working and changing employee expectations. Organisations simply can’t succeed when leaders have a ‘command and conquer’ attitude as all areas of the business are damaged, from engagement levels and burnout rates through to innovation and revenue. Modern leadership, which focuses on creating ‘connections’, is the only way forward if organisations are to truly thrive.

David Danzig joined the O.C. Tanner team in 2019 with over 20 years’ experience in leadership and senior management roles. His passion for delivering excellence has enabled David to gain extensive knowledge and understanding of how creating a successful workplace culture enables his team to thrive, both personally and professionally.

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