The New Age Leadership - Leadership Competencies for 2030

In a disruptive business ecosystem, change is the only constant. But the term ‘change’ takes on a different meaning in the business context. It signifies the need to transmutate; and this is an imperative today. With the altering workforce demeanor, the imperative for organizations is to curate leadership competencies that can manage the evolving organizational ecosystem. “Leadership roles will evolve as competing forces shape the future of work in India.” This is a sentiment that is reflected in PwC’s new report ‘Reimagining leadership: Steering India’s workforce in 2030’ that aims to connect three critical dots related to leadership for organizations in India — the intersection between the India’s growth paradigm and the workforce of the future; the non-negotiable leadership capabilities that leaders will need to succeed in the workplace of the future in India; and the development models, capabilities, commitment-building mechanism and organization ecosystem that are needed to develop the future leaders within corporations in India.

The report reveals that “The definitions of various constituents of the workplace as we knew them 10 years ago have changed and are constantly evolving… And the world of work in India is likely to be characterized by the competing and often conflicting priorities and demands of its key constituents—the organization, the employee, the CEO and HR. This results in a ‘work model’ which is not only complex but also interdependent.”

On the competing forces shaping the future of work in India, the report reveals that 58 percent say that the workforce will comprise humans aided by technological platforms; 48 percent state that innovation with a few rules, new products and business models will be the key; 50 percent say pivotal people with specialist skills will command higher rewards; 31 percent say that employees seek purpose and meaning in their work; and 64 percent say that continuously building capabilities within the organization to stay relevant in the future will be the single most important contribution of the CEO.

So what will a future leader look like? The report states that “Given the unprecedented change that the world and India are witnessing, the uncertainty around the future and the unintended consequences of actions taken, the future leader will be of a totally different order.” 

The report calls out six new or emerging leadership capabilities and three core capabilities that will assume a greater significance in the future. These are:

Leadership Simultaneities

While emotional and cognitive intelligence have proved to be critical to leadership success in the past, in the future workplace, “learning intelligence” will be the new leadership edge or the learning intelligence quotient, which will be needed to be understood, measured and incentivized. The report also reveals that about 66 percent of the respondents believe that the onus for building capabilities for the future lies with an individual, while 61 percent of respondents believe that critical exposure to diverse environments, including working with client, partner and grass-root level organizations, will help leaders develop new perspectives and become accustomed to navigating the unknown and unpredictable.

The report also takes into consideration the leadership simultaneities that are needed by leaders that revolve around the decisions and choices that leaders would need to make to navigate through the future. According to the report, “these simultaneities are characteristics sitting at the two ends of a spectrum and will test the leader’s ability to move across the spectrum in order to successfully lead. The simultaneities reflect the business of the future, the evolution of India as an economy, and the changing paradigm of leadership as leadership styles change from ‘following the developed economy approach’ to our own indigenous approach.”

The study asked leaders to rank the simultaneities they believed were most significant in the context of the future of work in India. And the top five simultaneities are:

• Courage to try new things and resilience to survive
• Highly strategic and agile in implementation
• Technically savvy and humane
• Politically astute and maintaining integrity
• Confident enough to move forward and humble enough to admit that they are ‘not experts’

The report also includes a ‘3E’ framework for leadership development — enrichment, enhancement and enablement which provides a safe environment for leaders to fail fast, look beyond the rule book and engage in active experimentation. It not only means a very different approach towards how leaders are nurtured within an organization, but also necessitates that the belief and commitment to this process be reflected in the culture of the organization. Blair Sheppard, Global Leader – Strategy and Leadership Development, PwC said that “The most difficult thing for the leader is going to be keeping an eye on the long term perspective versus the short term pressures. It is the responsibility of the leader to look into the future when making decisions today, to ensure they are solving the immediate problems, while also preparing their organization for the future.”

The report emphasizes that the future workplace in India is will  be marked by competing and conflicting priorities and demands of the organization, the employee, the CEO and HR. And though “organizations will continue to demand innovation-led growth from its CEOs, the CEO will have to focus on differentiating human capabilities and striking the right balance between humans and machines/bots. On the other hand, HR will become the guardian of the brand, focusing on creating the right culture and protecting the organization against sustainability and reputational risks.”