By: Rocky White
Speakers you Need (SyN), an international learning and development firm, identified four top trends for the L&D industry in 2018, all pointing to the effort organizations need to undertake to empower employees to work at the highest level. It makes sense that the first trend focuses on the competitive advantage organizations gain from highly trained leadership.
While today’s organizations are smarter, increasingly agile, and more digitally proficient, they face many challenges including a mobile workforce, talent and skill shortages, and a changing global culture. In 2018, SyN believes it will be more important than ever for businesses to develop highly motivated leaders that can coach and train talent to sustain and grow their organizations. Future-focused companies will make leadership training a priority, thereby developing effective managers that will successfully implement strategies and motivate those around them. Leadership in 2018 will focus on listening and understanding as not only best human resource practices but also as key in developing competitive advantages.
Listening to what’s needed within teams, even spending more time there, will empower leaders with the information and relationships hey need to direct the company’s mission. That team-centered approach also offers leadership the opportunity to encourage all team members to become brand ambassadors, a technology-driven trend SyN recognizes as a key overall business strategy for 2018. Organizations are starting to view, and rightly so, every employee as a spokesperson who can provide insights into the culture, quality and standards of an organization, service or product. By leveraging social media, particularly LinkedIn, every employee represents an opportunity for the company to embrace a unique, powerful and authentic voice in brand messaging and awareness.
“It’s effectively free PR but more powerful, because it’s authentic and believable,” says Tyron Giuliani of Selling Made Social.
The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer Study shows that employees were seen as the most credible source by the public to report on key business findings — higher than CEOs. Developing this type of authentic, organic, leadership will require intentional effort on the part of organizations, starting with the listening piece and incorporating specific team building and mentoring strategies. More than charm and a dynamic personality, leaders will need highly developed communication skills that embody transparency, engagement and open feedback channels.
Mark your calendar for April 23-27, Administrative Professionals Week, and begin thinking about how you can best recognize and celebrate Office Professionals. SyN will help you do that, by focusing on the eight skills areas that turn ordinary employees into extraordinary talent.
Mark your calendar for April 23-27, Administrative Professionals Week, and begin thinking about how you can best recognize and celebrate Office Professionals. SyN will help you do that, by focusing on the eight skills areas that turn ordinary employees into extraordinary talent.
Understanding diversity, especially generations, culture, and gender is equally important to leadership development in 2018. How do diverse cultures perceive leadership? Who’s job is it to make decisions? How will the up-and-coming workforce relate to hierarchy, organizational structure, etc.? What kind of work lives do they see for themselves? And then there’s gender. What types of organizations support gender balance? How do we encourage more women to expand their careers?
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Speakers you Need recognized that not all talent arrives on the job equipped to effectively lead. Developing leaders who listen and understand their team members is key to success in 2018. For more information about leadership, team building, goal setting, mentoring or any topic facing businesses or organizations today, please contact Rocky White, SyN CEO and President at 913.815.1494 or http://speakersyouneed.com/.
SyN is a professional development and live stand-up training company headquartered in Kansas City with more than 100 subject matter experts positioned throughout North America.
