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Why Leadership Development Is the Key HR Priority for 2023

Employees are an organisation’s most important resource. But according to a DDI study from 2021, employees are burned out. The report found that out of 1,000 high-potential employees,  86% said they were exhausted   by the end of the day, and 26% said they were thinking of leaving their jobs within the next 12 months.

59% of the participants in a recent study by happyness.me titled ”  How Happy is India’s Workforce?   ” said they were not satisfied with their jobs. This high number speaks for itself, and that is where the major challenge for HR lies.

Employee dissatisfaction, high employee turnover, and absenteeism can impact an organisation’s productivity. To stop this, HR priorities are evolving to nurture better corporate culture and raise retention rates. The HR division’s priorities and areas of focus for improved human resource planning will be evident in 2023.

To that end, it’s noteworthy that leaders are crucial in managing the workforce, attending to their needs, and ensuring that employees enjoy working for the company. Unsurprisingly, leadership development will be the department’s top priority in the coming year.

Reasons for Making Leadership Development a Top Priority

Changing Dimensions of the Workplace

A whopping  76% of the Indian workforce would prefer to join another organisation if they’re forced to return to the office – cites The Times of India while stressing the case for a hybrid workplace. Indeed, workplaces are evolving quickly, and that needs to be reflected in the way they’re managed.

Then, of course, there’s the need for:

  1. Striking a balance between the full-time and part-time roles
  2. Creating a space that promotes gender neutrality and welcomes people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ+ community
  3. Amending the traditional hierarchical setups to establish a more egalitarian corporate culture

Quite naturally, organisations need leaders who can manage such new-age workplaces and make them productive. These leaders must be equipped with skills that are crucial to managing teams across time zones, on diverse platforms, and with unique job profiles.

Required Transition from Managers to Leaders

The difference between a manager and a leader is obvious: a manager executes, whereas a leader motivates. The transition from managers to leaders doesn’t necessarily mean changing the function they perform, but rather an evolution in their role – from a traditional repetitive role to a more strategic one.

To realise the same, it will be necessary for human resource professionals to be able to inspire others, communicate effectively, and disseminate emotional intelligence.

Undivided Focus on Employee Growth

According to a recent McKinsey survey,   87% of executives felt that there was a significant skills gap. It appears that the impending boom in automation and digitisation will force the workforce to upgrade. That being so, an intense focus on employee growth and skill development is essential for the future of employee satisfaction.

Future leaders must be able to guide this growth curve by discerning which learning path is best for each employee. The key to improving relations between management and employees would be to cultivate leaders who are aware of this aspect of employee management.

Leadership Roadmap for 2023

The roadmap for 2023 must position at the helm a leader who can manage their team with impeccable support and emotional intelligence. For that reason, the key HR strategy will be to train leaders to support employees in the future while also ensuring that productivity doesn’t suffer.

Here is an example of the leadership development roadmap for 2023:

Preparing for Succession

The future lies in carefully mapping out the succession roadmap because of the risk of workforce shortage. Many businesses begin succession planning at an early stage, and this leadership development trend will be one to pay closer attention to in various industries and market segments. It is vital to ensure that when a leader changes, there is no conflict between the teams; this is a healthy way to ensure that changing leaders is not going to hamper productivity.

On-the-Job Skill Development

The habit of on-the-go learning for and by leaders must be given top priority by the HR department. The significant skill and expectation gap can be closed through independent decisions rather than coerced ones. Leaders are thus crucial in laying the groundwork for others to develop the habit of accountability. Setting an example for others can be accomplished by involving leaders in various programs for better succession graphs.

Digitisation Is the Key to Success

Our perception of the world is changing as a result of digitisation, and leadership development might follow a different path as well. Evidence-based research, creative methods, and cost-effective models can all be very beneficial. With the advent of new technologies, leaders can use a variety of strategies to better understand performance and problems.

The development of leaders will be done by and for the employees. This human-centred strategy will pave the way for the future. Although every organisation will approach leadership development in a different way, the key is to be open-minded. For continued success, the HR function must focus on one aspect of leadership development and incorporate learning at any feasible step.

We at Coreintegra are aware of the above-outlined paradigm shifts and work with businesses to improve their HR practices and strategies. Contact us to learn more about our talent acquisition services and how you can use our knowledge to obtain first-rate HR planning.