Council Post: 15 Vital Skills And Traits Every Leader Needs To Manage Tomorrow’s Workplace

By Expert Panel® 28. April 2021 by Forbes

In the wake of the pandemic, the workplace as we once knew it is changing. Whilesome companies plan to return to full-time onsite work, others are considering a permanent shift to a full-time remote or hybrid arrangement. Whatever decision companies come to about where and how their teams will work, there are new health and safety, technology, communication, and employee engagement concerns that come with the reimagined workplace.

These changes call for a different approach to leadership and management, so leaders need to ensure they update their skills and methods. To help, 15 members of Forbes Human Resources Council share essential skills leaders should develop to effectively manage the future workplace.

Members of Forbes Human Resources Council share skills leaders will need to manage their teams in the new workplace.

Photos courtesy of the individual members.

1. Whole-Person Leadership

Leaders must humanize their leadership styles—they’ll need a high EQ (emotional intelligence) and AQ (adaptability). The ability to lead the “whole person” as our day-to-day life blends the work and personal sides is crucial. Equally important is the ability to embrace flexible work environments to enable continuous change and support healthy team dynamics. – Britton Bloch, Navy Federal

1. Listening

Listening is a vital leadership skill. This may sound simple, but it is not. Leaders must hear the voices of the staff—not just relative to flexibility, compensation and benefits, and so on, but also concerning the core business. The workforce is most often a reflection of society. Its members will help organizations determine the future of the business, including new products and services and methodologies for reaching new consumers. – Misty Johnson Oratokhai, Events DC

1. A Sense Of Humor

The courage to keep a good sense of humor makes life better for leaders and their teams. At the end of the day, as a team, we have to laugh and push through together. What happens at work is work. We spend so much time together that being able to add to each other’s lives with a smile makes a difference. – Léa Baltzinger, iHerb

1. Empathy

Managing with empathy is key. We still see leaders ruling from above and not getting into the trenches with their employees. How can you lead without knowing the work? Leaders also need to go beyond the workplace and connect with employees. With remote work, our work lives and personal lives have blended. Leaders need to have empathy for all employee influences. – Bill Smith, BitTitan, Inc.

1. Flexibility And Open Communication

We have grown more disconnected and isolated over the past year, and an increasing number of people are struggling with their mental health. Employees need to feel they are understood, heard and wanted at work. To address this challenge, leaders should be flexible in expectations, practice active listening, provide constructive feedback and create an environment of open communication. – Monica Bua, Morgan Samuels

1. Receptivity

Though they may seem simple, empathy and adaptability require constant work and an ability to see the world from the humble eyes of the learner. Each person is a world in themselves, and factors such as gender, age, background and so on make people even richer in diversity. Leaders must be open to seeing others with the eyes of one who seeks to know and receive. Only in this way can we all grow together. – Marcela Pizzi, Atlas Renewable Energy

1. Continuous Learning

The skill that leaders most need to develop is that of continuous learning. Prompted by digital transformation and Covid-19, knowledge is changing faster than ever before. This calls for a continuous approach to learning. Leaders are key to this because data clearly show that when employees see their leaders actively engaged in continuous learning, they are much more likely to follow suit. – Steven Dineen, Fuse

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1. Prioritizing Diversity

Leaders must recognize that prioritizing diversity is critical for a company to be successful. Part of valuing diversity is constant self-reflection and making necessary changes to your organization to stay on pace with employee needs. Ultimately, our companies, our homes and our communities are made better when we empower, listen to and learn from unique perspectives. – Zoe Harte, Upwork

1. Appreciation And Gratitude

Regularly practicing appreciation, gratitude and curiosity activates the brain regions associated with dopamine (the feel-good neurotransmitter) and help lock us into a virtuous cycle with others. A deliberate effort to normalize these kinds of interactions will help forestall the increasingly transactional nature of our virtual experience by feeding our basic social and psychological needs. – Leeno Karumanchery, MESH/Diversity

1. Embracing Soft Skills

The pandemic has greatly accelerated trends that were already changing the workplace and how we work. To manage the future of work, it is imperative to be a lifelong learner and to embrace soft skills such as mindfulness, empathy, communication and more. The future of work depends on being able to develop relationships and being able to evolve into new roles as the world keeps changing. – Yolanda Lau, FlexTeam

1. Harnessing Feedback

As we navigate the workplace of the future, it is more important than ever to develop listening mechanisms to harness feedback from all employees, not just the vocal few. In the war for talent — especially in a virtual world — the employers who listen to and take action on feedback will have a competitive edge. – Mary Ainsworth, Medallia

1. The Ability To ‘Let Go’ Of Employees

The most important skill future leaders will need to develop is the ability to “let go” of their employees. As workplace hierarchies become flatter and more democratized, employees will increasingly become companywide assets, and “talent-hoarding” leaders will soon find others are playing by different, more collaborative rules. – Danny Shteinberg, Gloat

1. Cross-Platform Communication

With the future of the workplace looking to be a hybrid between remote and in-person, a leader’s ability to communicate across multiple platforms is a vital skill. Communicating in email is different from Slack, which in turn is different from text, video, phone and other technologies. Clearly communicating the same messages across different platforms requires different formatting, vocabulary, context and so on. – Courtney Berkholtz, Anvyl

1. Hyper-Transparency

In a time when trust in all forms of leadership has eroded, we as leaders need to become comfortable sharing both what we know and what we don’t know. The future workplace is increasingly intolerant of being managed by message versus being led by example. – Mark Stelzner, IA

1. Change Management

Leaders need to be perceptive enough to know where things are headed, be adaptable and then move quickly to drive the success of the company. If leaders are not able to adapt to change, it will be difficult for them to be effective or to lead. The ability to adapt to change should be normal. – Tobin Cookman, ON Semiconductor
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