Just 26% of employees in the UK feel that their managers lack the right skills to lead their teams to a successful future. The main reason being that working remote appeals to a different skill set from managers. This is shown in research conducted by Markeffect on behalf of GoodHabitz, a European market leader in the field of online courses. The research was carried out amongst 13,615 employees in 13 European countries. Employees feel that their manager can improve the most in the areas of communication skills (28%), creating a team spirit (24%) and empathic leadership (23%).
Concerns about a hybrid leadership
Over the past two years, almost half of the employees (46%) in the UK have seen their work situation change. Only 21% of them changed from working solely on-site to working from home completely. While another 25% now spend their working hours partly on-site and partly remote. Now, the impact of these changes due to the pandemic doesn’t need further explanation. However, what is striking from the results of the GoodHabitz research is that 83% of the working population feel that they will continue to work (partially) from home in the future. This means remote work is here to stay, and with that in mind, over a quarter of employees not having confidence in their manager to lead them towards a successful remote future is concerning.
Motivation, support and team spirit
Luckily, not all employees feel the same way. Just half of UK employees (50%) feel their managers are perfectly capable of leading them into a remote future. Additionally, the research also proves that many employees (53%) feel that working remotely has not affected the relationship they already had with their manager over the past two years.
Furthermore, almost a quarter of employees (24%) feel that these challenging times even brought them closer together. They indicate that the relationship has improved over time. Only 14% of employees in the UK feel a bit of distress in their relationship with their team lead. While 11% indicate that their relationship has become worse or much worse (3%) over the period of working (partly) remote.
Skills for the future
However, if we learned one thing over the past two years, it is that success from the past doesn’t automatically guarantee an equal future.
Respondents were clear on the fact that their managers still can improve certain skills. The most pertinent improvements were needed in communication (28%) and creating team spirit (24%). Next to that emphatic (23%) and inspirational (22%) leadership and more focus on mental health at work (22%) need some extra attention too. All of these skills can easily be linked to a new kind of leadership and the future of (remote) work.
So, Intelligent CXO spoke to three experts about how a CEO can retain talent and have strong leadership skills. They gave their insights into what qualities make a good CEO…
Tim Robinson, CEO at Doddle
A good CEO needs to have the tools to inspire and motivate in and around an organisation whose destination isn’t always clear. This can mean having the ability to verbally lay out an exciting future and energise your team. Doddle has a crazy goal which is ‘to be the most sought-after delivery partner in global e-commerce’. It’s not specific, in so much as it doesn’t describe what we do, but it paints the picture around the size of our ambition and our direction of travel.
I think it is equally important to be able to engage colleagues, clients and investors on ‘paper’ with succinct pitch decks, intros and content that nail the proposition. Too often I see long, confusing pitch decks from smart founders and CEOs, who never quite get to the why of their proposition.
The ability to reinvent but to portray as redefinition is also a critical skill. The word pivot is overused when it comes to the growth of businesses; it’s quite rare that a business would pivot, as what they often do is redefine how they are going to achieve the original goal. This does require some reinvention but if you promote a shift in your model too widely as reinvention, you risk spooking colleagues, investors and clients when it isn’t necessary.
And finally, I can’t answer a question like this without referring to ‘nerve’ which is, maybe, more commonly known as resilience. I think the ability to hold your nerve in different circumstances and scenarios sets the best leaders apart.
It is sometimes important to let unplanned circumstances play out before reacting, so you know where you are. This doesn’t just apply to difficult circumstances. On several occasions in my career, I would jump in headfirst, to a new business opportunity, partnership or investment because it seemed too good to be true or just plain exciting.
However, if it seems too good to be true then it often is and while excitement is a light I run towards, it doesn’t always mean you end up with an opportunity that fits your business model or your future direction. The launch of Doddle Runner and Doddle Neighbour back in 2016 would be good examples of ideas or opportunities that I went doughy eyed over when in practice they ended up being massively distracting and a poor fit with the direction of our business. I learned a lot from the pain that ensued from those two!
Talal Bayaa, Co-founder and CEO of Bayzat
Having guided Bayzat from a start-up to a high growth company, I’d like to offer a unique perspective, based on my own experiences and learnings, on just three essential abilities that CEOs, particularly those at start-ups and scale-ups, need to build strong businesses.
1. Focus
CEOs should always define their company’s purpose within the context of its customers. Mission, vision, operations, messaging – everything should be built around the customer. Often in business – especially with digital technologies introducing previously unimaginable levels of agility to industries – we hear the word ‘pivot’. Reacting to changing markets is certainly tempting when you operate in a competitive space but leaping before you are ready is not prudent.
Keeping your focus often means saying ‘no’ more often than you say ‘yes’. In the era of Digital Transformation, more and more businesses do not begin life in a factory, mall, or high street; they are born in the cloud and surrounded by opportunities to build out their capacities. But always remember the fundamentals. Any pivoting should align with customer needs, with the value proposition of the change put front and centre.
None of these practices stops you from prototyping and experimenting, but such testing should occur in such a way as to not drain resources from your core areas. If your experiments bear fruit, then they can deliver value in future operations, but your feasibility studies should not be thought of as core operations.
2. Champions of culture
Culture should be top of mind for CEOs as they look to build the teams that will lead their organisation to success. When hiring, alignment with culture is vital, but you need to consider how you build that culture in the first place. Never be afraid of feedback, as your employees can let you know the pros and cons of your current corporate environment.
Also, remember that you cannot please everybody every time. So do not try. Instead try to build a diverse, inclusive workplace where everyone can feel heard. The ‘right’ corporate culture can vary greatly from one organisation to the next. No matter how you choose to define this, it’s vital to ensure the people you hire buy into your organisation’s culture.
3. Commitment to continuous growth
A successful CEO will remain reflective of their strengths and weaknesses through day-to-day team interactions, feedback and their ongoing research. There are many mentorship resources in the UAE and beyond. Never be afraid to leave your comfort zone for the sake of education.
Founding a business and making it grow is not easy. But as we often hear, nothing worthwhile ever is. Entrepreneurs who make it will falter and learn and grow themselves before bringing that progress to their enterprise. If you are one of these, reach out to those who come after you. Share your failures and successes to ensure the next generation can peak more quickly.
Laurence Parkes, CEO, Rufus Leonard
Humility is a powerful quality for a CEO to have in their arsenal, but one that is sadly lacking in many. The most successful, secure CEO isn’t afraid to listen to dissenting voices – they appreciate that diversity of thought and opinion creates a valuable, collaborative environment where teams can thrive uninhibited, individuals feel empowered to speak their minds and an abundance of fresh ideas leads to a wealth of revenue opportunities.
Delegation is also key. Find an effective way to entrust your team – your whole team, from leadership level to the junior cohort – with the projects and tasks you simply don’t have the bandwidth for. Without micromanaging. A CEO too invested and involved in business-as-usual activity, or too often interrupting their team with questions or direction, will inevitably become too focused on the granular and lose sight of top-level strategic leadership. Not to mention create a frustrating and ultimately undesirable culture. Put the right people in place, give them a clear brief and the space to explore it, then get out of their way.
Underpinning these qualities is the essential ability to build trust. Be it with colleagues, clients and partners. Great things happen when trust is abundant; things fall apart when it’s in short supply. Yes, you have encouraged your teams to disagree with you and in claiming to be a hands-off leader you’ve given them the space to explore. But do they believe you? And do your stakeholders believe in your leadership style? Find a way to show your people that you trust them and they should trust what you say, your decisions and how you lead. Whether it’s making clear you understand the needs and motivations of your stakeholders or communicating your strategy to the wider team in a transparent, influential way.
The ultimate goal is to have company-wide engagement – involving everyone from board level to front-line staff – in your vision as a business, with your C-suite driving it. The organisations that flourish will have a C-suite that thinks to the future and embraces changes as they come.