Create feedback loops for effective leadership

2022 is a unique year full of opportunities as the world recovers from shocks caused by the pandemic. 2020 and 2021 are years that will go down in history as years of untold uncertainties. These are years that have changed the scope of doing business and hence the need for leaders to look for ways to become better so that they do not waste the opportunities ahead.

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Leaders are supposed to master leadership skills even though knowing the technicalities of their business may be also important. Nowadays it is not rare to see technocrats taking on the headship mantle as opposed to old days when they were packed in their little corners of respective expertise while some people who knew little about everything called the shots.

In 2022, while it may assist to know a little about everything else as a leader, it would be even better to concentrate on one technical skill that you want to be in charge of and create collaborative teams to help you oversee other aspects of the business. If you have one team, these will be individuals that are tasked with specific parts of your operations. You need to create feedback loops that deliberately share important information and have teams decide their own course of action rather than waiting for you as leader to give commands of what needs to happen next. I hear someone shout that’s chaotic!

Well yes and no. It would be chaotic if you have not shared the goals of the organisation as such there is no shared mission of what needs to be done. The business world is being filled with millennials who demand independence and think that being told or directed to do the things in a way they don’t subscribe to may be a cause to leave your business. Business leaders who value independent thinking are the ones that will thrive in the coming years.

And yes, we still have the baby boomers hanging around the offices and always whining about how good things used to be in the 80’s 90’s or the previous decade. This group of people requires to be led and they expect that leadership is giving commands on what needs to be done. Leaders need therefore to have a fluid style of leadership that incorporates every individual’s need.

That means leadership nowadays is no longer about managing people as a group but individuals separately. The one-on-one sessions will be crucial to the success of any leader because during these sessions you get to learn expectations of each person and that will be your guide of how you are going to manage that person.

Remember though that this does give a license to playing favorites because once caught in that game you will lose the trust of your team. Team? But you said manage individuals? Yes, these individuals are still part of the team and that is the message that needs to be emphasized to all. By managing individuals, you are only trying to get out the best from each one so that they can be helped to achieve goals of your firm or department together. In the end it is not one man’s goal but shared vision amongst the team members. This needs to be done in a knowledgeable manner so that the leader does not end up disintegrating the team. Good leaders bring people together and not separate them.

At Wellingtons Insights, we help leaders or organisations to create effective feedback loops so that strategic goals are achieved as planned. We analyze team members based on their personalities and advise leaders on how best to manage them. This is invaluable information that leaders may not be able to discover on their own. Send us an email at wellingtons@wellingtonsinsights.com for more information.