The perception of leaders
Any discrepancies here would highlight a potentially problematic disconnect between the two parties. But the data suggests that both are in fact on the same page.
When we asked leaders how they would describe themselves, positive (32%), adaptable (17%) and resilient (15%) were the top three attributes they cited; a viewpoint the wider workforce shared, with positivity (35%), adaptability (13%) and resilience (10%) coming out as the most important qualities employees expect from their leadership team. It appears, at least at a glance, that leaders recognise what employees need from them and are responding accordingly.
Then, when asked to name the top behaviours they believe they display, building trust (31%), inspiring passion (21%) and enabling inclusion (19%) were the three most leaders mentioned. After putting a similar question out to employees – asking them to identify the top three behaviours they associate with impactful leadership – building trust, inspiring passion and enabling inclusion were identified as the most important.
No two businesses will require the same type of leadership, the same way no two leaders will possess the same innate qualities. But when it comes to ensuring each business has the right leaders in place, it’s important to firstly understand what defines success, and how the organisation wants this success to be achieved. Each leader, whether a new hire or an internal development candidate, can then be assessed against these criteria to establish their suitability for the role, as well as their readiness to achieve the goals set out by the business.”
So again, leaders seem to understand how they’re expected to behave in response to current challenges, and are meeting the expectations of their workforce with flying colours. But it’s upon looking a little closer at the data that questions begin to arise, and underlying issues within leadership in general begin to emerge.
Leaders within the 55+ bracket were far more likely to identify themselves as continuous learners (21%) compared to their younger counterparts – with the next highest being 17% of those aged 25-34. This is arguably unsurprising, considering the Chartered Management Institute found that just 42% of managers are open to hiring older workers, as many would prefer to bring in young talent.
Senior leaders of a certain age are clearly recognising the need to future-proof their employability and are wanting to showcase their commitment to their employer, long-term.
However, those aged 55+ are the same demographic of leaders most likely to believe they exercise sound judgement when making key decisions (45%), while being among the least likely to ever question their own leadership (21%) – second only to leaders aged 45-54 (25%). Surely you cannot be committed to learning, nor trust your ability to make sound decisions when you’re unable to reflect on your own performance.
Oscar Wilde once said “with age comes wisdom” and yes, often experience will help inform decision making – but “sometimes age comes alone” and it’s important to retain a sense of humility and be open to learning something new.
The data also seems to reflect the ongoing issue of insufficient female representation at a senior leadership level. Female leaders are far less likely to believe they exercise sound judgement (17%) compared to their male counterparts (30%) and are lacking confidence in their ability to drive social & environmental responsibility – with just 7% of women citing this as a strength of theirs, compared to nearly 14% of men.
Despite positive steps being taken in recent years to address gender disparity, recent analysis by MSCI suggests that gender inequality in boardrooms will not be eliminated until 2038 if the current rate of improvement in female representation is maintained.
So, it begs the question: is their sense of self-doubt a direct result of gender bias limiting women’s experience at a leadership level, or is it down to the fact female leaders have fewer role models available to them to benchmark their decisions against?
Both possibilities are equally worrying, and with ESG responsibilities being a major priority for the emerging workforce, it’s vital for leaders to build their ability to drive social and environmental responsibility sooner rather than later, in order to attract and retain talent.
Lloyd’s of London wanted to create a leadership model that reflected the leaders they needed to take the organisation forward and identify the skills, capabilities and behaviours that would guarantee success.
We worked with them to identify the leadership ingredients required for future success and created an overarching leadership profile that employees could be assessed against.
Since the programme’s inception, over 120 leadership assessments have been completed, supporting the development of internal talent and facilitating a significant number of external appointments – enhancing the capability of their senior leadership team.
