Leadership and Management Trends

Leadership is a big part of any successful organization. It’s the pivot that helps integrate a team and focuses their collective potential and energies towards a common goal.

Successful leaders are adaptable and know when to change their approach depending on the circumstances.

Here are some predicted trends for leadership in 2018.

1. Creating employee ambassadors: management has woken up to the potential of using their workforce as a powerful social media presence. The workforce can increase brand awareness, provide PR, and word of mouth advertising, which tends to resonate more with the public as it comes from people just like them.
2. Human capital: what successful leaders have in common is the realization that the right team gets the job done. Great leaders are effective communicators who are involved with their employees. They tend to capitalize on investing in the right people and keeping them happy, creating a productive and creative working environment.
3. Empathy: successful leadership and management are empathic. A top leader can foresee the needs of the workforce and collaborate to address those needs.
   This engagement creates a more pleasant work environment in which people are invested in the business. 2018 will see a marked increase in this trend.
4. Leading from the front: long gone are the days when leaders could issue orders from afar and expect employees to fall on their swords. 2018 is the year of leadership by example and individual responsibility. This follows many publicized scandals of abuse of power and misconduct, and sexual harassment.
5. Becoming customer-centric: with big data and improved technology, businesses are received better and better feedback. This allows businesses to hone in on what their customers want and how they want it. Expect this trend to rise.
6. Remote working: the trend toward flexible working is growing and will continue to do so. Rather than resisting the movement, management will adapt, following the examples of firms like Amazon and Apple.
7. Internal harmony: successful leaders are attuned to changes in the market, but they are also tuned into internal changes within their organizations. This trend in awareness is predicted to spike in 2018 as management accepts that counting on a robust team is the best option to adapt to a changeable marketplace.
8. Gender equality: following the” me too” campaign; it shouldn’t be a surprise that gender equality will continue to be an important trend in 2018. Expect a focus on women leaders.

There’s no right way to be a leader. This is why there are various management styles out there. Successful leadership styles are the ones that work best for both management and workforce.