2021 placed a premium on everyone’s leadership abilities—especially young leaders.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented another economic and global threat that tomorrow’s youthful leaders need to address.
“Millennials are a resilient generation. Amid the pandemic’s unparalleled health and socio-economic upheaval, millennials stay loyal to their ideas and views,” says smartphone and laptop for rent distributor Karina Wolfin of Direct Appliance Rentals.
Young leaders have the power to guide us through challenging times and lead us toward better futures. Here are the top six skills we believe will make them stronger leaders in the 21st Century
1. Self-awareness
Everything begins with you.
The first step in being a successful leader is to understand who you are: What motivates you? What are your skills, interests, and values? Gaining self-awareness can help you identify your blind spots and hidden prejudices, increasing your credibility and earning you the confidence of your peers.
Self-awareness, fortunately, can be learned and practised. Young leaders need to reflect on their talents, interests, and beliefs to create a vision of the kind of leader they want to be.
2. Goal-Driven Mindset
Effective leadership is enhanced with a clear purpose. Many leaders think that an organisation’s goal is critical to its success, yet its meaning isn’t embraced as a reference when making decisions.
Young leaders are looking for a sense of meaning and purpose in their personal lives and work lives. Essentially, young leaders whose goals and purposes are linked with the objective of their organisations are more likely to succeed.
3. Visioning
Visioning is what we mean when we say “coming up with ground-breaking ideas.” Today’s complexity necessitates innovative ideas and solutions, yet having a vision does not necessitate being a visionary.
Young leaders should incorporate a range of visioning techniques, including reframing, backcasting, and brain sketching, to develop large, bold ideas that will have a beneficial impact.
While everyone’s visioning process is unique, here are some pointers to get you started:
- Go at your own pace.
- Seek inspiration in unlikely places.
- Get used to taking chances (and experimenting!).
- Allow yourself to get carried away by the experience.
4. Adaptability
Adaptability is perhaps the most critical skill to master as a 21st-century young leader. In an ever-changing economy, you must be prepared to learn and adjust as needed. Of course, it’s a challenging process since you’re forced to compromise your beliefs or organisation model to remain competitive.
For one thing, you need to make your whole organisation adaptable, which includes encouraging individuals to voice their concerns and ideas about where the organisation ought to go next.
5. Emotional Intelligence
Your EI must be excellent if you want to be a successful leader. Put another way; you must be aware that people’s emotions can influence their conduct and push them in a particular direction. Also, mainly when the circumstance is severe and unpleasant, you must learn how to cope with and control these emotions—whether these emotions are yours or your colleagues.
6. Creative Problem-solving
As a leader, you’ll encounter various challenges as you progress, from resolving difficulties to formulating new strategies. No two issues are alike; in fact, complications are divided into archetypes, each of which necessitates a distinct problem-solving approach.
Creative problem-solving skills enable leaders to deploy the appropriate tool for the right job at the right time, resulting in increased productivity and success.
Take Steps To Become A Better Leader
Don’t be concerned if you’re not confident in your present leadership skills. These abilities, fortunately, may be taught and improved through time. There are a variety of methods to learn, develop, and advance your leadership skills. Attending Burn Bright’s Leadership Camp is one of the most dependable ways to enhance your leadership abilities and prepare you to handle the rigours of life. Give us a call, send us an email, or drop a message using this form to learn more about our leadership camps.
Written by Maya Carter
