3 key leadership skills to future-proof your organisation

A critical challenge facing many organisations today is the ability to identify and develop the leaders of tomorrow. This challenge is exacerbated by talent shortages, difficulties retaining key staff and operating in a VUCA world; where organisations are often slow to react to change.

HR teams have the unenviable task of attempting to balance talent development and succession planning with the current needs of the organisation and limited development budgets. However, there are three key, intangible skills which top performers possess that are sometimes overlooked when performing this juggling act.

These three transferable skills differentiate top performers from their peers, they are essential leadership qualities that must be nurtured and they can dramatically affect a leader’s influence over the behaviour and performance of others.

1. Accountability – The most successful leaders and teams embrace a culture of open and honest accountability. A culture of accountability requires three core elements: clear expectations, ownership of responsibilities and the skills to effectively hold others to account when expectations aren't met. 

Accountability is sometimes disguised as a blame culture. However, when implemented correctly, as a mechanism to create transparency, consistency and continuous improvement, the permission to speak up openly and honestly removes the culture of silence, reduces the fear of retribution and stops teams falling into the trap of “that’s the way we’ve always done it”. A culture of accountability focuses people on incremental improvements and creative problem-solving, rather than protecting themselves from blame and hiding shortcomings.