With a younger generation now making up around 50% of the workforce, the way we lead and manage has to evolve. The directive style of management has long gone, or should be, replaced by a leadership style that is heavily skewed to coaching.
I have been following the management consulting firm Gallup, for some time and find their research-based articles offer tremendous value. Around the old topic of management versus leadership they have found the traditional role of a boss as a command-and-control function does not work for today’s workforce. The expectation is for the manager and leader to be more of a coach than a boss.
This change has been driven by the pace of change in globalised business and an evolving workforce that prioritises development and flexibility, today’s business world is agile and dynamic. As a result, a manager’s role is far more than supervisory — and Gallup finds that 70% of the variance in a team’s engagement is influenced by the manager.
The changes in leadership style can be reflected in the following key points:
| Our Past | Our Future |
| My pay check | My purpose |
| My satisfaction | My development |
| My boss | My coach |
| My annual review |
My ongoing conversations
|
| My weaknesses | My strengths |
| My job | My life |
As you can see there is quite a change in the above key areas and it’s up to today’s leaders to adjust and adapt their style to better suit the needs of their team. As I have mentioned numerous times before, leadership requires hard work and focus, particularly with the new way of leading.
However, the hard work will result in a more focussed, motivated and empowered team. And this is definitely worth the extra effort required.
Roger Simpson – CEO, The Retail Solution and Author of “The Ultimate Retail Sales Experience” With over 35 years’ industry experience, Roger Simpson is recognized as Australia’s #1 Authority on customer ROI in the retail industry and as a global expert on staff coaching, customer service, and selling skills.
