We are on the threshold of a changed image of the leader. Intuitively, we feel the need not only to think about new corporate structures, but also as leaders to consider what qualities and self-image we may develop as leaders in the coming period. The expectations of a manager have increased in recent years and the requirements profile causes a perceived pressure situation that makes classic management tasks less attractive.
According to a study1 by the Boston Consulting Group, successful leadership is characterised by “head”, “hand” and “heart”. “Head” stands for clear thinking and intelligent planning for the future, “hand” for assertiveness, decisiveness and action activity, while the “heart” describes emotional skills such as consideration, empathy and motivation of the leader.
In the study, 4,000 employees from Germany, France, England and Spain from the public and private sectors, including the associated companies, were asked which skills are most important to them in their managers:
Summarised by Pauline Breitner / Redaktion finanzen.ch
| company | Employees | |
|---|---|---|
| “Head” competence | 69% | 14% |
| “Hand” competence | 44% | 20% |
| “Heart” competence | 25% | 37% |
It is astonishing to note that there are differences in the human qualities of the employees with regard to the “heart” competences and with only 25%, the self-reflection of the managers is least important to the respondents with regard to the emotional abilities.
This raises the question of whether this has anything to do with the idea that 64% of respondents believe that leadership skills are partly innate, but can certainly be developed and acquired through experience and training.
The American management professor Scott Quatro and his research team describe the dimensions of leadership in their ACES model2 , which is quite similar to the BCG study, and expand the competencies of leadership to include spiritual leadership.
For these models, as well as for all concepts or ideas of the new age, it is about the holistic development of being human and the leadership skills to be acquired, or as Aristotle already said: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts”.
Self-leadership is an integrative approach to approach a holistic view and to acquire mindful leadership behaviour for oneself. It is the rediscovery of a mental and spiritual compass for the access of one’s own understanding regarding a meaningful and sense-giving work and to unite the competences described above in a self-determined way.
Our holistic leadership programmes support you to follow your own career path in a self-determined way. It is about acquiring the key competence of consciously dealing with perception and working out one’s own identity.
Networked thinking and increasing resilience helps you to make the power of a company’s collective knowledge more visible and ultimately increase business performance.
And what applies to managers should be given access at all levels of the company.
1 Summarised by Pauline Breitner / Editorial office finanzen.ch
2 ACES = analytical, conceptual, emotional, spiritual domains of leadership practice
