Recently I’ve been looking at trends in leadership and development to identify relevant solutions for people. I’ve come across the idea that leaders need to be ‘ready for anything’. This brought two things to mind – the image of a super-enhanced human being who could tackle everything or that it was beyond our abilities given the challenging times we’re experiencing.

However, there is something in this. Since the pandemic people have been more open to working differently. We’ve seen a desire in people to work more purposefully and heightened awareness to safeguard against burn-out and stress with a focus on wellbeing. Hybrid working has become our norm as we’ve seen how flexibility can improve productivity.

Re-thinking readiness

On re-thinking this, being ready for anything can be achieved, if we focus on the right things. These include things that are important and meaningful for ourselves, the people we serve, and the purpose of the organisation.

Leadership is more than a position, skill or expertise. It’s the person who can influence, inspire and empower people around a specific strategy and plan. It’s the person who can engage and be engaging because they are self-aware, credible and trustworthy. It requires being genuine and having gravitas.

To explore what has changed and why there’s a call for leaders to ‘be ready for anything’, I’ll briefly draw your attention to the complexities that may have started this. Two frameworks have been used to describe our world – VUCA (Volatile-Uncertainty-Complexity-Ambiguity), and more recently BANI (Brittle-Anxious-Nonlinear-Incomprehensible). These have influenced us to review how leaders need to show up and they have shaped the future of development.

Where it might have started

Birthed in the late 80’s / early 90’s VUCA was a term economists, academics and the US military used to describe the changing conditions in our world. This included technology, environment and anything that could cause uncertainty. Later two D’s were added to include Diverse and Dynamic. For leaders and organisations, this meant looking at the need for good decision-making and the best way organisations could thrive through the lens of a VUCA world.

BANI is a term introduced by the author and futurist Jamai Cascio who used the acronym to describe the reality of the chaotic and unpredictable world we now live in. He started talking about this just before the global pandemic, expressing how things have developed beyond the idea of a VUCA world. In this BANI world, we need more resilience, transparency, better communication, adaptability and soft skills to survive.

In many ways, this thinking has influenced the idea that leaders need to be ready for anything. We have already seen a shift from an emphasis on leadership skills and abilities, beyond academic and technical knowledge to the need to demonstrate a higher level of emotional intelligence. So, this could mean an escalation of what it takes to be an effective leader; a review of their approach, style, engagement, communication, values, resilience and trust etc.

How to get ready

It could also mean there is a requirement to change the focus of leadership development to take a fresh look at the approach, and how best to build those skills. This might include different and creative interactions, to engage leaders who might be resistant, to embracing new skills. And finding ways to ensure development is designed based on how they learn best.

I believe this will require:

• a more personalised development approach based on individual needs
• new ways to assess abilities and identify the gaps, offering a wider range of formats
• diverse ways to access development to suit time constraints and learning styles
• support for those who recruit at that level to prepare and upskill candidates.

Coaching will have an increased role as it is the most effective way to bring personal change and embed skills and behaviours, to grow leaders who are fully equipped to be effective and ready.

In closing I’ll re-share my EDGE Framework again as there are themes here that clearly describe some of the areas mentioned for development:

*The EDGE Frameworks is trademarked to Colinear Ltd. and can only be re-used/re-published by permission.