Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2020 - 3

KEN TAYLOR

FROM THE
EDITOR

DO LEADERS SKILLS
NEED TO EVOLVE?

This edition of Training Industry Magazine
assembles a collection of perspectives on
how the role of the leader needs to evolve.
Whether you're a sales leader or head of
a business unit, you're responsible for
driving results and maximizing the impact
of your team.

AS THE BUSINESS
MARKET EVOLVES
SO MUST OUR
LEADERSHIP
DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIES.

Business today demands that leadership
teams bring a holistic, people-centric
approach to team development. This will
require leaders to become coaches with
high levels of emotional intelligence.
Leaders must become comfortable with
less formal structure and quickly adapt
to changing business environments. So,
where do leaders find these new skills,
and how can learning and development
(L&D) help?
Soft skills like adaptability, agility,
emotional intelligence and presence are
emerging as critical skills at the core of
good leadership for the future of work.
Effectively leading with empathy, agility
and contextual relevance allows leaders
to help employees achieve their full
potential. By actively working on these
skills, leaders are more likely to have
engaged teams that understand the
company's direction and how they can
support the company's goals. Leaders
who are focused on L&D create a
psychologically safe environment that
allows employees to thrive in the absence
of fear. They encourage innovation and
risk-taking, because they can envision the

future state of the company and have a
plan to get there.
So back to my question, where do leaders
find these skills, and what can L&D do
to help? L&D needs to identify the core
skills that leaders need to be successful
and create development opportunities
to instill those skills in all employees -
not just leadership. These core skills can
help every employee in the execution of
their jobs. For example, if an employee
is trained on the same skills as their
manager and their manager's manager,
they are more likely to recognize cues
for adaptability and handling change,
understand the value of having managers
who are present with the right attitude
when challenges arise, and be familiar
with the language used to develop vision
and strategy for the company.
As the business market evolves so
must our leadership development
strategies. By developing leaders
who can effectively manage change,
organizations are well positioned to
thrive in a competitive market.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts
on the evolution of today's leaders
required skill set. Please send along any
suggestions for us to consider in future
editions of Training Industry Magazine.
Ken Taylor is the president and editor
in chief of Training Industry, Inc.
Email Ken.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - MODERN LEADERS 2020 I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - March/April 2020