Is a new style of leadership required post pandemic?

Answering the big questions from our Work Reimagined festival

For the last few days we’ve been answering your questions that came up in our Work Reimagined Festival a couple of weeks ago and today we’re focusing on leadership and managing people in a hybrid work model. There’s one thing we’re hearing time and again; legacy leadership is dead. Based on old ideas and tools — the pandemic, along with accelerated digital adoption has seen the dawn of a new era of leadership — and its a place where presenteeism is no longer a thing.

Shifts to remote working early last year dispelled many long-held-myths and increased autonomy and trust between managers and their teams. The intimacy and honesty of being ‘in’ each others’ homes has perhaps led to subtle break down in hierarchy and more mixing of voices. As remote working continues and many leaders are starting to think about how hybrid working will actually work in practice, thoughts are turning to what will happen when we start to return to the office. It’s clear that the office as we know it has changed forever, and our work and homelife will continue to be intertwined giving rise to the need for a whole new set of rituals and leadership practices.

Research on leadership in the digital age reveals that certain qualities such as deep domain expertise, decisiveness, authority and short-term focus are giving way to softer skills and a number of agile leadership competencies will be needed to navigate the hybrid workplace; humility, adaptability, purpose, communication and empowerment. You can read more about this in the Great WFH research report.

Hybrid working creates an exciting opportunity for leaders to create the right environment for employees — one where they have the autonomy to flex and choose which working environment is best suited to their task. An environment where they are being judged on outcomes as opposed to how long they are sat at their desks — and this requires a new era of leadership.

Fluxxer Shriya Bishnoi, has been working closely with one of our clients build a purposeful workplace strategy for the future, and is really passionate about the role leaders can play in shaping the hybrid workplace of the future:

One change we’re seeing with many leaders, is the lack of adhoc desk-hops and corridor catch ups. It was a quick and efficient way for leaders to stay abreast with their team’s work and general wellbeing and with that gone, managers have to be more deliberate and considered about one-to-one meetings to check in. Coupled with that, the traditional (and very prevalent) micromanagement style is not sustainable in the hybrid world, where leaders aren’t able to constantly supervise to ensure work is being done. Most leaders are now recognising that their teams are struggling with balancing everything in the midst of a pandemic and this is taking a toll on mental wellbeing. The office represents a social and mental release for so many, and in its absence it’s falling to leaders to bridge that gap — and the majority are neither confident, nor equipped to have the required conversations in this space.

With a lot of this piling onto the manager’s plate, there is a constant stream of firefighting problems and ensuring teams get the right support first, leaving this group at higher risk of extreme burnout.

Organisations need to consider the importance of capability training and empowering managers to exemplify wellbeing.

It should not be limited to pointing to the right resources, managers need to be capable of having regular and honest conversations, with deliberation. Managing the day-to-day shouldn’t feel like it requires constant supervision. Leveraging useful tools and technology and experimenting with rituals that work well will enable teams to work with trust and autonomy more effectively.

If you’re interested in the other big topics on reimagining the way we work, catch up on yesterday’s big question; D&I — will hybrid work help or hinder?

Jenny Burns is an Executive Partner at Fluxx. For more info on the work we’re doing to reimagine the workplace check out these links or get in touch at Jenny.burns@fluxx.uk.com.