How is the new leader? 5 characteristics that will stand out in 2023

Leadership has changed in recent years, as the pandemic prompted the creation of a resilient leader who cares about the physical and mental well-being of consumers. Now that the sectors have been reactivated and work is hybrid, it is worth asking ourselves: what should it be like to be the new leader in 2023? What characteristics should be highlighted?

Respectful, humble, resilient, global and cosmopolitan are some of the characteristics of the new leader, since Covid-19 has shown us the limitations we had and what we must change to face future challenges.

“The leader has to be global and cosmopolitanbecause we cannot attack global problems with a strictly local approach,” said Santiago Álvarez de Mon, a professor at the IESE Business School, in an interview.

Flexible

Álvarez stressed that the new leader also has to be flexible, since hybrid work is here to stay and managers need to know when it is necessary to go to the office and when to work from home, and to encourage the discipline of collaborators because the more freedom the greater discipline is required.

close and human

Álvarez recommends that leaders respect the hours of disconnection and combine leisure with business, because the second should not destroy family life. “You have to find a balance based on the sector, industry and task, define when to be in the company together and when to work from the freedom of our homes.”

Although flexibility and the ability to telework often depend on the company and sector, because there are jobs that require the presence of the collaborator, companies must create a close and human organizational culture. “Because therein lies the commitment of the collaborators, to celebrate the fact of being together and working in a culture that welcomes the best of the human being.”

Promote talent and create new leaders

Incentivizing the creation of new leaders is not an easy task, but it is possible if initiatives are taken, questions are asked and mistakes are addressed, if you delegate and especially if you are transversalbecause by having a horizontal vision, where each of the tasks is understood, complex decisions can be made in a changing world.

“You have to look up, understand the keys to your boss’s style, give your collaborators play so they can grow and then look to your left and right and be a good partner. Not only have a vertical vision, but a transversal one”, highlighted Álvarez.

Knows how to recover from mistakes

There will always be mistakes, the important thing is to know how to recover from them. Álvarez recommends starting with observe the mistake, analyze why it has happened and what learning can be obtained. Adopt a sportsmanship, because being requires humility and humor to handle mistakes well.

“Don’t look for a scapegoat, don’t hide, do not somatize it in the key of failureknow oneself as human and learn, so that the next mistake is different, not repetitive”.

In the event that the mistake is made by a collaborator, the leader needs to be self-critical and not hide, do not dilute the responsibility and ask yourself why you have committed it? It may have been because he performed a task without having the corresponding preparation, because he is tired, because he did not understand the instruction well.

“The sources of the error can be various, but if you handle it well, it allows you to access different knowledge.”

knows how to delegate

Learning to delegate is another characteristic of the leader of any business, especially if they are small companies. Alvarez recommends choose well the tasks to be delegatedin whom those responsibilities will fall and a defined person will train him, give him feedback and follow-up so that this person can grow and attend to the tasks without the need for the boss to be present.