Leadership_Evolution

LEADERSHIP
EVOLUTION
The 7 Greatest Challenges for
Leaders in the Next 15 Years
Leadership Evolution
The 7 Greatest Challenges for Leaders in the Next 15 Years
It is so apparent that we are now living in a constantly

changing world. In fact, the business industry has
changed dramatically over the last few years. This brings
greater challenges to existing and future organizations.
Hence, the industry needs leaders who can keep the ship
afloat and adapt to the dynamic market and industry
changes.
However, the road to business success isn’t easy. It is

rough with lots of twists and turns. Leaders also often face
different challenges, from operating and running the
business to managing their workforce. Being aware of
these challenges is crucial to prepare for possible solutions
that lead to success.
If it is too difficult to predict the weather, imagine the

challenges of the leaders in the coming years, but talking
to hundreds of leaders in different countries where I have
facilitated courses and workshops, I will share with you a
little of what I have seen and heard.
So, what are some of the greatest challenges that leaders

need to prepare for in the future?
Leadership Evolution - The 7 Greatest Challenges for Leaders in the Next 15 Years 2
1 2 3
Creating a Collaborative Culture Fostering An Innovative Environment Dealing With Technological Changes
Your organization should be a place In this highly competitive business industry, We know how dynamic the world as
of collaboration where every you either innovate or fail. These are the become due to technology and its
member feels confident to share only choices you have, so if you want to continued advancements. It has changes
experiences and knowledge, provide lead successfully, fostering an innovative the ways businesses are conducted and
and receive feedback and generate environment is the key. Everyone seems to the way leaders lead, manage and
new ideas. However, leaders face keep to themselves and communicate interact with its team. Keeping up with
the challenge of keeping everyone only when necessary. How are you going such changes can be a bit daunting, so
intact. How are you going to to survive in today’s battle through are you prepared? Effective leaders are
maximize such a diverse group and innovation? How can you extract your technologically-advanced leaders. What
foster development? team’s creative juices and generate new are the steps you can take to become
ideas? one?
4 5 6
Leading Virtual Teams Optimizing The Usage Of Managing Digital Native people
As the professional and business world The power of social media, the Internet, The Digital Natives are creative, playful and
becomes increasingly global, people are often digital marketing strategies an Connectivity innovative. But, they can also be distracted
required to perform and work as a virtual tools are great. They can be an asset, but and hard to manage. How can you take
team. This affords tons of benefits, but it also they can also be your biggest nightmare as a advantage of their unique attributes while
has its own sets of concerns and challenges. leader. Learn about the tips on how to minimizing the disadvantages?
Communication problem is one of the optimize the use of these tools and services.
common issues of leading a virtual team. But,
you know that effective communication is
crucial for your success as a team. If you are
leading a remote team, there are some
adjustments to be made and strategies to be
used to make it work. How can you maintain
effective teamwork and collaboration when
managing your virtual team?
Developing Emotional Intelligence
A successful leader is not all about having a

brilliant mind; rather, it is about being able to
connect with your team members in an
emotional level. Train and develop your EQ
instead of focusing on your IQ. What are the
best ways you can do to better connect and
7 interact with your team?
Leadership is an incredible responsibility, calling and opportunity. Develop the right skills and
attributes to be more prepared than ever when facing and overcoming the challenges that come
your way.
I will share with you a little more of each of these 7 challenges so that you can reflect on your
current performance and how to prepare for the future.
How to Create a Collaborative Culture
As a leader, we have to find ways to create a collaborative culture in our teams in order
to innovate and improve operations. Collaboration is vital to lead a successful path
forward. Issues and internal constrains within an individual and the organization occur
when there’s no proper collaboration with processes, habits and regulations. Therefore,
the key component to innovation is through creating and developing collaborative
culture.
So, how can a leader do this? With a diverse group within an organization, how can we
maximize diversity and use it to foster development in the company? Here are some
important tips to achieve this endeavor:
Lead on Principle
Leaders must operate or lead not just according to structures, rules or
personality but also on principles. Your role as a leader is to help your team turn
the values of self-accountability, integrity, alignment, trust and mutual respect
into behaviors agreed upon by everyone or into operating agreements. This
refers to the conscious choices you agree as a team 100 percent.
Create a Culture of Openness

Being open is not just about having open ears to your team’s suggestions and
recommendations. This is about building trust among each of you. Developing
trust might mean taking risk, but it is a risk that’s definitely worth taking. Let them
know they have the freedom to learn, fail, question, experiment and even to
keep progressing. If your team are willing to delve deeper to find solutions, they
are more likely to be more committed and confidence.
How to Create a Collaborative Culture
Develop a Culture of Sustained Effort

The professional and business industries are very dynamic. The work is absolutely limitless and there are things that are
unknown. Developing a culture of sustained effort can lead to new ideas and discoveries. Though the path is rocky and
unclear, a sustained effort among the team can help everyone focus on the best solutions for success. Agreeing direction
and being aligned on similar mission is crucial. Make things simple by focusing on the result and not the path utilized to get
there.
Understand why your Team doesn’t work

Often, creating a collaborative culture also requires the leader to determine the problem and realize what is not working. A
leader must also view trust as a significant resource. There are several reasons why your team often does not work. The list
may be long, but perhaps isn’t surprising. These include poor relationships, the team history, ineffective meetings, no proper
team governance process, inadequate information sharing, unhealthy competition, poor engagement among the members
of the team, etc.
Once you have identified the root of the problem, you will know what to address and which issue to focus on. Keep in mind
that your team will not thrive if they have these concerns and conflicts. Look closely at what’s going on in your team,
diagnose what is not working and deal with the problem. it might also be a good idea to get your team members take a
look at what is going on and think about how genuine collaboration would resolve the problems.
Build Trust
Trust is vital for a collaborative team. It is also the foundation of a culture of collaboration throughout an organization. Most of
reasons teams do not work come down to the lack of trust. Without this, individuals work out of obligation or fear. It is an
essential tie that binds your team.
Collaboration is often viewed as an activity involving team members that work together on a project. However, note that
collaboration is more than just an activity. It’s an ongoing process with behaviors that can be developed and taught.
Fostering an Innovative Environment
We cannot survive in the organizational arena if we, as leaders, do not promote an

environment among our team with innovation and creativity. In today’s highly
competitive market, you either innovate or fail. Processes and procedures that have
been successful in the past may be different today. Thing go obsolete very quickly. A
stubborn refusal or the inability to do something new, although signs indicate that the
old way does not work anymore, is a surefire way to fail.
A good leader possesses the ability to adapt with the changing times. This is a type of
leader in a thriving organization with cultures that foster innovation and creativity, from
team development to executive leadership. We set the tone of the culture, as leaders
and our team execute the vision.
Now, the challenge is finding the right ways and doing the appropriate approach to
foster an innovative environment in an organization. We know how important it is and
what it can do for our organization and team’s success, especially in the next years or
decade. However, we often struggle to identify a perfect strategy that works.
If you ever find yourself in the middle of this difficult situation, don’t fret. You are not
alone. For this reason, we have highlighted some of the best ways to evolve as a leader
and foster innovation in your organization.
Become the Leader you would Want to Follow yourself
If you are one of your team members, would you follow yourself as a leader? Innovation starts with the qualities of the
leadership in an organization. Leaders have to be passionate and dedicated about their work, have a genuine drive and
clear vision, display an optimistic outlook and more importantly, have the ability to embrace change. They also need to be
bold thinkers.
Establish Effective Teams

High-performing teams have become the business world’s Holy Grail. Different key requirements must be in place, which
include effective structure, objective clarity and dependability among the team members. They also have to establish a
sense of safety where honest and open communication prevails.
Having an effective team means being able to generate new ideas from them and becoming more productive. They also
develop a common goal of helping your organization succeed.
Encouraging Risk-Taking
Taking risks can be frightening and daunting. But think how groundbreaking products and revolutionary services came into
being. Individuals who, perhaps were scared at the beginning, but were able to overcome it, tried and took the risk often
make them. Encourage your team to expand their horizons and get out of their comfort zone. Let them see the limitless
possibilities and what they can do.
Effective Collaboration and Communication

Use every opportunity you have to converse with the team to tap your contacts and valuable resources for creative ideas.
A welcoming, open and honest dialogue on ideas generation will motivate and engage teams. Let them present their
ideas before making important decisions. Give them feedback, even when you do not use their ideas. This is necessary for
them to know that they’re not disregarded or dismissed.
Encourage effective communications among departments. Keep in mind that the people you are working with, such as
your supplier, clients, team and colleagues are your most significant resources. Therefore, get ideas from them. Sometimes, it
is just about setting the right tone and letting them know you can always be approached.
Indeed, fostering an innovative environment can be a big challenge. This is especially true in the future, as more and more
people greatly rely on technology. When you do this effectively, you will be surprised about how this can turn your
organization into a thriving one.
Dealing With Technological Changes
Nowadays, it is impossible not to be affected by all technological changes in the

organizational structure. As a leader, we should be in front of these changes and still be
in control.
Technological advancements have changed the way businesses and organizations work.
The approach and strategies for success used before may no longer as effective as they
used to be. With the increasing demands for innovative products and services today,
manufacturers are always looking for ways to provide newer and better goods and
services. Technologies never cease to change.
Now, the challenge for leaders is to could keep up with these drastic changes and
continuous developments in technology. There’s no room for resistance. The key is to
adapt in order to effectively deal with such changes.
Allow us to present to you some ideas to maximize technological changes and use these
for your overall success.
Recognize the Reality of Technological Revolution

First, we, as leaders, should recognize that we’re in the middle of technological
revolution in the world of business. Most flourishing leaders and successful
organizations aren’t just doing similar things more efficiently with technology.
Instead, they use it to conduct business in a whole new way. This means
creating and developing a culture of collaboration using technology with
better processes and more production operations to achieve success.
Encourage Everyone in the Organization to Embrace the Change in Technology
There’s no room for technology resistance if we really want to succeed in our leadership roles. This also goes the same with
other members of the organization. Thus, you must also encourage your older employees, executives and managers to
embrace these technologies and think about using them to improve their work and advance the business.
In order to compete in this highly complex business market, everyone should maximize the emerging technologies. Don’t
get wedded to the old, traditional ways (though you can still use them.)
Be Equipped with New Technologies

Does your company have the essential technology so that it will have a more productive workforce in the industry? If so,
does your organization really have a deep understanding of it and how to use for success? Is the management truly
immersed in the use of technology to advance the company? If not, then you probably have to consider a change in your
leadership.
Make sure that you are equipped with these modern advances. However, keep in mind that it isn’t enough to have them; it
is also vital that you have the RIGHT ones and that you use them.
Maintain Effective Communication

Today’s technology-based leadership enables employees to work remotely. Technology allows improved freedom, which
can actually bring new challenges. The key here is having improved communication with the team.
Thanks to technological advances today, maintaining good employees with the team and your employees has become
easier than ever. It is also a lot easier to keep a catalogue of communication with the team.
The Benefits of Effectively Dealing with Today’s Technological Changes
Unfortunately, a lot of leaders think that technology is only a tool to help employees perform their jobs better than before.
They also have this idea that investment in the latest software or hardware will keep their organization competitive in the
market. However, such belief may actually be fatal to the organization or team they lead.
A study says that large businesses with strong leadership that promote innovative technology were twenty-six percent more
profitable than the competition. They also had nine percent higher revenue. It just goes to say that companies that make
technology a crucial part of their culture become the leader in their industries.
Lead Virtual Teams
Today, I would like to draw your attention to a form of leadership that is increasingly
common in many organizations. This is about leading virtual teams, which have become
a fact of professional and business life. Thanks to impressive technological
advancements today, building and leading a virtual team has become possible and more
effective than ever.
However, success in leading virtual teams doesn’t come without challenges. And as a
leader, you are often faced with a number of concerns when it comes to dealing a
virtual team. These challenges and solutions will be discovered here, so read on.
Clarify Processes and Tasks

Leaders of the future should expect more virtual teams to be formed. They
need to know how to work effectively with them in order to succeed. One way
to do this is by clarifying processes and tasks, not just roles and goals.
Virtual team members must understand the company goals, vision and mission,
but this isn’t enough. Leaders must be sure to align their team on responsibilities
and roles in the first ninety days. Though it can be a real challenge since every
member of the team isn’t located at the same place, this isn’t impossible.
It is important that you focus your attention more on the task design’s details, as
well as the processes to be used to complete them. Simplify the work and
ensure that the work processes are clear, with specifics about their roles and
due dates.
Lead Virtual Teams
Establish Team Member Relationships
Healthy relationships in the workplace are built upon shared goals, common interests and mutual trust. They don’t just
happen, but develop over time. This is through positive interactions that happen naturally within teams that are located at
the same place. When they are in a similar physical location, they can somehow see the personal side of the team
members.
Virtual teams lack such information opportunities to connect. Therefore, your role as a leader is to help establish relationships
among team members, which can be done in various ways. You can connect each one of the through social media,
partner your team members from different locations to increase their opportunity to connect and build trust.
Develop Accountability
One of the most important things you can do as a leader to manage and lead your virtual teams is to help develop their
sense of accountability. They need to take individual responsibility to work with quality and meet deadlines. However, it can
be a real challenge on your part because you only have a few opportunities to observe them.
In order to address this dilemma, use project management software for your help. Software programs are designed to make
every project visible to the whole team. This will allow everyone to understand where their work fits into the whole picture.
Being able to assign tasks, check due dates and share files also enable them to communicate next steps easily.
Lead Virtual Teams
Motivate your Team
Virtual teams often face frequent distractions and a lot of unique challenges can affect their motivation. This is especially
true if they are working from home. They can also feel isolated, which can lead to losing sight of their purpose.
If you want to keep your virtual team motivated, here are a few things you can do:
ü Make it easy for them to access data and the documents they need remotely.
ü Be available outside the normal business hours.
ü Reward them for success.
ü Be an active listener.
ü Make sure that your instructions are clearly understood.
Leading virtual teams can truly be challenging. Following these steps can help you achieve success in leadership and thrive
in your industry.
Optimized Usage of Connectivity
The social media, e-mail and the Internet in general help us, as leaders, to manage our
day-to-day business. However, these could also become a nightmare if we not control
how to deal with it.
Everyone is now trying to improve online presence every single day. If your company or
organization does not have at least one active social media account or doesn’t use any
online marketing tool, you’re surely behind. In today’s highly technological world, it is
very easy to connect. But how can you maximize these tools and optimize usage of
connectivity?
This digital industry requires more digital leaders who can take advantage of the
modern advances available today. Collaboration tools and social media open doors to
more extensive and faster sharing of knowledge. They also allow organizations become
more flexible and efficient. Organizations should adapt or they risk loss of customers.
However, not all leaders are able to keep up with these massive changes and though
efforts are made to optimize usage of connectivity tools, they are not enough. This is
the real challenge. While leaders are maybe trying to learn one tool, other new
advances come in. But the process does not have to be too complicated if you have the
right guide. This is why you should definitely keep the following tips in mind:
Build a Strong Social Media Presence
The social media can be your biggest asset instead of a nightmare if you know what to do. You have to remember that
social media has become strongly ingrained in society. Large businesses are also successfully adapting. Today, there are
now over one billion Facebook users and millions of Twitter users. You could reach out to them by maintaining a strong social
media presence for your organization.
Leaders like you must learn to be social with your customers. Engage and connect with them to establish trust and let them
know that their reviews and opinions are important to you. It is also a great time for your team members to bond together to
improve teamwork.
Conduct Trainings
Employee training is one of the common issues that leaders must address. The problem is that when new technological
advances are introduced in an organization or company, the expectation and work from team members change a lot as
well. Employees must be trained with the use and power of new technology and tools like social media, email, newsletters,
etc.
However, team member may be reluctant to change. There are also evidences proving that employees actually have
negative attitude to undergoing training. Such attitude increases or arise the problem of motivating them towards training
for their leaders.
Leaders are able to get support for addressing this concern. They can implement learning management system to connect
and train employees. Team members can just register online, be part of other training activities and personal training
records through document trainings, meetings and conferences. This is undoubtedly a new way of optimizing the use of
connectivity tools and services.
Take Advantage of the Digital Tools for the Organization
Give your team the right digital tools they require to work more efficiently and faster. Invest in digital communication
methods and in computers for speedy and optimized work. Many digital tools available today work as a support for your
team and will surely minimize the number of errors or mistakes they make in their job.
Optimizing usage of connectivity services and tools is a challenge you, as a leader, can overcome with these tips. Do not
put off or resist technology and the tools that have become accessible as a result of it. Be a respectable leader by taking
advantage of the digital world and its great tools.
Managing Digital Native People
Managing digital native people is one of the biggest challenges for leaders in the coming
years. Technology has already permeated all aspects of their lives, instilling a need to
stay connected 24/7. Email, social media and phones established a fusion of the social
and business spheres, making the boundaries between work and life a bit blurry.
The advanced technological skills of the digital natives support them when it comes to
dealing with a plethora of information placed before them. With their mobile working
mindset and the need for more flexibility, Digital native people no longer want to be
tied to an office. Instead, they expect to work from different locations to do their work.
This becomes a real challenge to leaders today, and will continue to be a huge problem
in the future. Today, the workforce still has a mixture of the millennials and the
traditionalists, but things will change in the future when the business and professional
world will be filled with Digital Natives.
But, who exactly are these Digital Natives People?

Before we delve deeper into the solutions to handle the challenge of
managing digital natives people, let’s first understand who they are and what
they do.
In essence, Digital Natives are those who were born after the popularity and
widespread adoption of digital technology. These are the people who have
grown up with the use of technology like mobile devices, computers and the
Internet.
Digital Natives are able to bring new working cultures that businesses can maximize for their benefit. With new
communication styles and the demand to stay connected wherever and whenever make them ideal networkers and
collaborators. They rely heavily on the technology and are confident that anything can be found online.
So, what are leaders facing today when dealing with the Digital Natives? Are they an asset or a liability? Or, can they be
considered a threat or a opportunity?
How can Leaders Manage Digital Native People?

Leaders can leverage the positive characteristics and attributes of digital natives to boost collaboration and improve
efficiency. But, you can’t expect integration to occur organically. You need to plan for ways to attract them, but not at the
expense of disregarding skills and talents from all generations into the organization.
Dealing with digital native people could mean dealing with distracted individuals. Thus, there’s a great need for integrity
and professional trust between the leader and digital natives. With easy access to the internet, social media and mobile
devices, leaders need to trust their team to spend their time working and accomplishing their tasks.
However, keep in mind that digital natives are particularly renowned for having the ability to multitask, especially with
regards to technology usage. There are tons of studies, though, that show that multitasking it not really effective, so it is not
really easy to manage.
Maintaining Balance in the Workforce
We have mentioned that today’s workforce is still a unique mixture of the digital natives and older generations. While it can
be tempting to have more creative and fresh digital native people in an organization, attracting and retaining previous
generations is still equally important. Hence, leaders should encourage effective collaboration between generations across
the business. The key here is finding a perfect balance within the workplace and taking advantage of new technologies to
improve work relationships.
Indeed, managing digital native people is not easy, especially in the next fifteen years where they will be more of them in
the workforce. Finding the right talent, making correct decisions and using effective leadership tools and techniques are
crucial to achieve your desire as a productive and efficient leader.
Develop Your Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is a true mark of being a good leader. The reason why other
leaders perform better than others has something to do with emotional intelligence. It
is very common to hear about the significance of a leader to have emotional
intelligence, but do you know the impact of this on our team or organization? Find out
the response to that question through reading this article up to the end.
How Emotional Intelligence Affects Your Leadership Abilities

Leaders with great emotional intelligence are those who successfully interact
with their team. They can able to manage their emotions and moods to
produce positive results in their organization. As a leader, your emotional
intelligence is an essential element to contribute to the accomplishment of the
goals of the organization you belong.
It is a fact that leaders and executives who apply good emotional intelligence
are those who attain a high level of efficiency. Moreover, the level of your
emotional intelligence is a big factor in your success both personally and
professionally.
Emotional Intelligence Can Be Developed

Emotional intelligence is not inborn, but it can be developed. Through practice,
you can enhance your emotional intelligence. It can also help you to hone
your leadership skills. Fortunately, if you want to build great emotional
intelligence level, there are also available executive coaches, who can help
you towards emotional mastery, self-insight, as well as social skills.
Emotional Competencies
To be a good leader, you must possess emotional competencies. Improving the level of your emotional intelligence is
necessary. These competencies are as follows:
• Self-Management
Leadership abilities are not limited to critical thinking; it also encompasses your emotional skills. Therefore, you must learn
how to manager your emotions, impulses, and reactions, to positively adapt to a particular situation. Your ability to manage
yourself is connected to your leadership capabilities. Self-management is also equivalent to being a mature person. Being
mature means, you can manage behaviors and actions after experiencing an emotion.
• Self-Awareness
You must know how to recognize your emotions. It is also important to understand its impact in the different aspect in your
life. More importantly, it is not advisable to make a decision based on your emotions. Instead, make decisions through the
mind. If you make decisions when you’re upset or sad, it will lead to confusions and failures. Handling your emotions well can
help to boost your leadership skills.
• Social Management
As a leader in an organization, you must also know how to interact with your team. Thus, teamwork and good
communications skills should come together for the accomplishment of goals of your team. Furthermore, you must also
improve your relationship management abilities. Gaining the respect of other people is crucial. It can also encourage and
inspire them to follow your decisions and concepts. In return, the organization will have more chances to gain success.
Meanwhile, it is also important to maintain your integrity and reputation as a leader.
• Social Awareness
You must also develop your Empathy to recognize and understand the emotions of others. It will support you to make
effective decisions as well as build strong and genuine relationships with other people. It is the key to support and
appreciate your decisions and efforts.
These emotional competencies are important to increase your emotional intelligence. As a result, you can also perform your
responsibilities as the leader of the organization or team. When you successfully develop emotional intelligence, you can
have the chance to succeed in managing crisis situations that may arise in the future.
Emotional intelligence is not just important for building your leadership abilities, but it also a key towards personal
development and awareness.
I sincerely hope that you have had some insights through this reading, certainly this is not a closed list and many other
challenges are already reality today and will be in the next years in your daily life as a leader. My contribution to you is that
you have reflected on some points that are recurrent in discussions and research that we carry out with leaders in various
parts of the world through LeaderArt International. Thank you very much and see you soon.
By Cicero Carvalho
Leader Art International
www.leaderartintl.com
facebook.com/LeaderArt.International
instagram.com/leaderartintl
linkedin.com/company/leaderart-international

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LEADERSHIP

It is so apparent that we are now living in a constantly

However, the road to business success isn’t easy. It is

If it is too difficult to predict the weather, imagine the

So, what are some of the greatest challenges that leaders

A successful leader is not all about having a

7 interact with your team?

Create a Culture of Openness

Develop a Culture of Sustained Effort

Understand why your Team doesn’t work

We cannot survive in the organizational arena if we, as leaders, do not promote an

Establish Effective Teams

Effective Collaboration and Communication

Nowadays, it is impossible not to be affected by all technological changes in the

Recognize the Reality of Technological Revolution

Be Equipped with New Technologies

Maintain Effective Communication

Clarify Processes and Tasks

But, who exactly are these Digital Natives People?

How can Leaders Manage Digital Native People?

How Emotional Intelligence Affects Your Leadership Abilities

Emotional Intelligence Can Be Developed

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