Local business leaders believe their organisations face challenges with disruptive management and leadership behaviours, according to a recent poll of attendees at The Boardroom Agenda event series. Businesses must adapt and transform to maintain their long term sustainability, and leaders and managers must be ready to adapt their approach and style in order to respond to this change and lead their people through potential disruption and transformation.
The poll shows that 82% of respondents believe they face challenges with management or leadership behaviours that are disruptive, either consciously or unconsciously. This is a stark result and emphasises the need for leaders to be aware of their organisation’s culture and to understand the impact of disruptive behaviour on productivity, engagement and efficiencies.
Three key takeaways for business leaders seeking to build awareness of their current culture:
Understand and manage culture: Culture is defined by the self-sustaining patterns of behavior within an organisation. Leaders play a crucial role in setting the tone and managing these behaviors through their actions and decisions. Everything leaders do, say, and allow to happen sets the culture, making it crucial to understand how cultural traits support or hinder change and take steps to activate the right behaviours in order to drive change, transformation and support longer term strategic goals. Identifying the traits and behaviors needed to best support strategic goals can help proactively manage culture and develop and embed the new capabilities to ensure leaders are firing up all the relevant culture enablers — both formal and informal — for future success.
Address workplace conflict: Ineffective management practices can lead to significant workplace conflict. It's essential to have effective procedures for conflict resolution and ensure managers understand company policies and procedures, enabling employees' to have the confidence to take forward a complaint and seek resolution. Recent research by the CIPD shows many employees experiencing conflict at work reported that they 'just let it go,' indicating a need for better conflict resolution mechanisms.
Build an effective culture: Promoting transparency, communication, and ongoing feedback is vital for a positive workplace culture. Upskilling leaders in transformative leadership is necessary to enhance this culture and manage conflicts effectively. Leaders today must understand the current culture, identify and manage constructive behaviors and traits, and treat conflict resolution as a strategic priority if they are to motivate and engage their existing workforce and retain and attract talent for the future.
As businesses continue to adapt their value propositions and operating models to meet their strategic goals and ensure long term sustainability, leaders who embrace self-awareness and make time in their busy workloads to prioritise transforming workplace culture will be the ones best positioned to drive long-term success.
If you want to discuss how to drive change and create a future ready workforce for your organisation, please contact us today.
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