Transitioning from Leadership 4.0 to 5.0
With “smart manufacturing” and new technology in cyber-physical systems at its core, the main objectives of the current Industry 4.0 stage, are increased efficiency and flexibility of production. These are enabled by increased automation, digitalization and connectivity.
The Leaders of the Future
Virtual Leadership:
A Pandemic Phenomenon
Digitalization in the workplace has never been more important than in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. In April 2020, when the virus forced everyone into their homes and life as we knew it came to a crashing halt, companies relied exclusively on virtual leadership to get work done.
A concept in making since many years, virtual leadership has achieved structure in the last two years, with a majority of organizations shifting to a hybrid work culture.
Actions of Leaders and Followers
Executive Summary
The objective of our project study has been to encapsulate adequately Leadership 5.0 and what it spells for current and future leaders - how decades of varying phenomena have resulted in modern leadership, a changing scope of business and the road to effective progress.
The starting point of our research comes from the concept of Society 5.0 which stipulates that human beings are at the heart of innovation and change. An example of how world events can alter global economic and structural models is best explained by an examination of the approach to company success post-WWII, where the 3 main pillars of strategy, structure and culture were united by a core of leadership. (See Figure below)
A new century has brought with it new changes- reimagined leadership, the advent of technology, a more globalized mindset and a pandemic. The post-pandemic aftermath is an interesting position from which to analyze what Leadership 5.0 entails, how company culture has changed, which leadership values get precedence and what to expect for the future.
The determination of major driving forces proved to supply interesting revelations with the context of purpose and purpose gap ranking high in the order of precedence. Of the more than 4000 manager and executives surveyed, 72% strongly agree that it is very important to them to work for an organization they believe in, but only 49% strongly agree that they believe in their organization's purpose (MIT Sloan Management Review and Cognizant, 2020).
The advent of technology combined with business disruption has induced a changed dossier of skills. Studies indicate the same, with a recent LinkedIn Learning research showing that 59 percent of learning and development professionals highlight the importance of upskilling and reskilling programs.
Finally, we investigated the rapid emergence of virtual teams and hybrid formats of work- a phenomenon that was accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
What, then, is required of modern leaders?
To highlight how traditional competencies have undergone changes, we researched extensively into leadership skills, mindsets and tools. Even though typical competencies for a leader have, for the most part, remained the same, the evaluatory factors are altered with greater focus on qualities like flexibility, foresight, effective communication skills, curiosity and authenticity. The change reflects the need for accountability, the importance of honesty in the context of execution and a diverse economy.
A further analysis led us to examine leadership theories, and their evolution. We started with traditional leadership theories that originated in the 19th century. Leadership theories have since developed considerably, and evolved into distinctive concepts that espouse different mindsets. An observable shift in focus lies in how traditional theories were centered around the personality of the leader and his individual capabilities while current leadership theories branch out to employees as well: behaviour, engagement and motivation.
They form the foundation for future planning and have given way to what can be called emergent models of leadership; a modicum for future generations to come. Our research into the same generated interesting results.
One of them; the reimagination of VUCA leadership is primarily headlined by professors Jennifer Jordan, Michael Wade and Tomoko Yokoi, who assert that the future of leadership requires leaders to extract theories from both traditional and emergent styles.
At this juncture in our research, we were confronted by a question that bases itself on practical application: What do leaders need to do? What lies ahead in the future of business leadership?
Leadership 5.0 is a two-way street. What is evidently clear from the aforementioned emerging models is that it is important to have clear, defined actionable that apply to leaders and also to followers.
Actions from leaders encapsulate what a modern leader needs to do, in the present moment and in order to equip himself/herself for the future. The importance of leading with the purpose (Deloitte 7) is instrumental to company success as well as to establish a presence as a leader in times of uncertainty.
Purposeful leadership requires a leader to adapt quickly to the present moment. Upskilling and reskilling are the need of the hour, with special focus on people, identification of present skills and required skills, and the leveraging of current capabilities.
Then, we arrived at the subject of followership and what Leadership 5.0 means for employees, concretely. A study conducted by McKinsey&Company attempts to answer this question, by identifying 56 essential skills divided into 13 skill groups that are later classified into 4 categories namely Cognitive, Interpersonal, Self-Leadership and Digital.
The concluding point of our research deals with the subject of Leadership Development. One of the points we focused on when embarking on our project study was to have the finished product serve as an instructional guidebook of sorts. Our key takeaways touch upon the issues we deemed most relevant for providing context to new leaders, in addition to summarizing Leadership 5.0 in a way that effectively encapsulates its origins, trajectory and scope.
Some examples of successful training approaches include the Personal Learning Cloud (PLC), a many-pronged approach such as taken by the likes of the Harvard Business Review and custom curated learning solutions offered for leaders at different levels adopted by MNCs and start-ups.
