Leadership Challenges in the Next 10 Years, Essay Example

Founded on my experience while working in mining industry in South Africa, I came to understand that leadership constantly presents challenges both to the leaders’ capabilities and to the followers. This is because things continue to change in the business environment, which in turn bring different challenges to the managers who are charged with the responsibilities of managing the affairs of the business and at the same time providing the needed leadership. Therefore, I learned that the way a leader handles a given challenge would definitely define his/her leadership style and eventually the success. Some of the challenges faced by leadership come in the form of persons in the business or problems, which present hurdles to attaining the set goals in the business. Therefore, leaders are obligated to resolve problems that arise and come up potential solutions to counter the challenges. While in South Africa, the majority of the leadership problems that I encountered were very visible in small and medium-sized businesses. However, these leadership challenges should serve as strengths and help the leaders use this opportunity to resolve them to avoid recurrence in future (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).

While managing the small micro and medium companies in South Africa, I came to understand that one of the challenges was lack of motivation to employees by managers. Lack of motivation by leaders towards their subordinates will continue to a problem in many companies in the next ten years if leaders will not recognize the importance of motivation. Managers as leaders should be in the forefront towards motivating the employees towards achieving the set goals of the companies. Lack of motivation among the employees was associated with low productivity because the employees lack the morale to perform as expected. In my experience, I believe that motivation is an important component of leadership and managers have no option to embrace strategies that strives tom increase motivation among the employees. I learned while working in South Africa those managers as leaders lacked the fact that they did have specific goals. Motivation is high when the objectives are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. Goals fashion motivation when they are challenging but achievable – not impossible to achieve, otherwise the failure to attain the goal will irritate individuals. In addition, it is necessary that the employees accept them and feedback on goal accomplishment is provided. The leaders have a role of ensuring that the employees are motivated at a given time. For instance, based on my experience of more than eight years, I believe that giving rewards and incentives to employees who will feel motivated and increase their productivity. The rewards will work positively because the employees will feel that the business treats them fairly and are part of the business. The management can also increase the motivation of the employees by increasing their wages and salaries, thus raising their morale in job. This is because leaders with effective problem-solving skills will be able to identify these problems and fashion solutions (Dubrin, 2007).

In addition, while working with small micro and medium companies in South Africa, I came to understand the role played by leaders that have effective problem-solving and decision-making skills. However, in the companies I worked these skills were lacking among the mainstream of the leaders and managers. The majority of the managers in these companies did not posses adequate problem-solving and decision-making skills that made it hard to deal with the challenges they were facing during that time (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). The challenge of absence or inadequate skills in problem solving and decision-making will continue to persist in the next one decade if the current leaders will not understand the importance of these skills. Furthermore, problem solving normally entails decision-making. The leaders should use problem-solving and decision-making sessions to build consensus among the employees to promote the element of unity. Due rapid and impulsive change is the norm nowadays, it is vital that adequate resources be obtainable to manage it. Individuals and organizations to solve a wide variety of problems may utilize process. As there is incessant diversity in the types of problems to be solved, it is imperative to have a general, but flexible, process to resolve them. In addition, while solving a problem, there is the need to incorporate all the stakeholders, especially employees because they will be involved in the decision-making, as they will air their views. Think-aloud method is one of the most precious means to develop problem solving and decision-making. When individuals are active and contribute in a group-based, problem-solving procedure, it may result to the development of the skills necessary to make better autonomous decisions (Dubrin, 2007).

Furthermore, while working with different companies in South Africa I discovered that leaders face the challenge of communication. Many leaders could not effectively communicate with their employees resulting to miscommunication in the business. Leaders have a role of ensuring that they develop effective communication strategy to reduce cases of problems that will arise because there is breakdown of communication. Ineffective communication will make it impossible for one to make realistic and make consistent decisions each and every time. Therefore, leaders should ensure that the business environment or workplace allows open communication between the management and the subordinates. This will allow the leaders to link effectively with the employees making the employees feel that they are part of the organization. The employees should be given chances to input their efforts into the business decisions through two-way form of communication within the organization (Kouzes & Posner, 2007).

Finally, with my experience with South Africa’s firms, I came to learn that one of the challenges the leaders face is their inability to understanding the role played by corporate social investment. Corporate social investment is a business concept that has presented challenges to many leaders because they do not recognize its importance, especially in the next ten years. With my experience, corporate social responsibility is a worth investment and one of the secrets of effective leadership in the present and future business world. Corporate social responsibility is whereby business takes into consideration the interests of the community; education and impact on the environment. Most leaders in the companies I worked never have policies governing corporate social responsibility. Therefore, it is a high-time the businesses around the world adopt corporate social responsibilities, especially in the immediate communities where they can take their efforts to conserve the environment, promote educational programs, implement awareness programs, or assist communities affected by natural disasters. This will allow the business to continue because it will establish a long-lasting relationship with the community (Gariga, 2004). In addition, an ethical business practice of businesses will boost the quality of life of its employees and gives back to the society.

References

Bossink, B. (2007). Leadership for sustainable innovation. International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 6 (2), 135-149.

Dubrin, A. J. (2007). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Gariga, E. (2004). Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory. Journal of Business Ethics, 53, 51-71.

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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