What’s next for leadership?

By Liz Needham

Developing strong ethical leadership cultures and the role of Organisational Development (OD) in supporting this shift 

Leadership has always been tough as well as extremely rewarding. You get to experience the highs, but it can be lonely and isolating. Leadership can also feel loaded with responsibility, especially in the current global context.

Leadership and the impact of Covid-19

The pandemic has changed when, how and where we work. Organisations have had to manage increased complexity and ambiguity whilst simultaneously revisiting their fundamental purpose and changing at pace. Leaders have faced unknown unknowns and have had to reconcile themselves with no longer having the answers to the many questions they face every day. At the same time, conversations about wellbeing, mental health, equality, inclusion and the broader connectedness of the communities we belong to have moved front and centre.

Shared cultures in remote/hybrid organisations

Leaders are being called to move beyond demonstrating their emotional intelligence to having much deeper values-based conversations that go to the very heart of personal beliefs. This was a theme that surfaced during our Organisational Development session in Sept 2021 on OD’s role in Inclusion and Diversity (I&D). At the same time, leaders are being asked to create shared cultures and feelings of belonging with and between people they now rarely interact with person to person.

From an OD perspective, leaders are an essential part of the organisational system. They shape how individuals experience the organisation every day.

So, what is next for leadership?

As part of our OD thematic programme, we have been working on a series of sessions exploring how leadership might evolve ‘What next for leadership?’ Our exploratory sessions, will provide an opportunity to be curious and engage with the topic to help you to identify what is next for you.

What’s next for leadership sessions

Our first session on 14 October will focus on Ethical Leadership and whether this really matters to us. on 25 November we will be looking at shaping change that teams welcome.

Is there a topic you’d like us to explore?

If there is a leadership topic that you would like us to explore as part of this thematic programme or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Liz Needham who leads the Organisational Development Special Interest group for CIPD Manchester Branch.