The COVID-19 pandemic not only changed the way we do business in U.S. and the world over, it’s presented business leaders with new challenges. No longer were individual workers or teams conveniently housed inside a four-walled office. Company meetings relied on the internet and the Zoom app. In a word, the successful companies were quick to adapt not only to an unstable environment, but a dangerous one.
Even business leadership courses met the new stay-at-home challenges by offering comprehensive online courses—something that had been occurring for a long time, but that took on a new importance after March of 2020.
Say the experts at Talent Keepers, business engagement and retention skills leadership development programs have been available to organizations for years. That said, the positive impact of this learning has been rigorously studied and is proven to increase employee engagement and retention as well as operational performance metrics.
This leadership training is also said to be a boon to operational performance metrics. Something that was desperately needed during the pandemic.
According to a new report, senior and leading industry professionals are constantly on the lookout for ways to develop their leadership skills so that they can make not only a greater impact on their company, but also on their individual career. Earning an Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) can help in this regard.
One business executive recently stated that prior to earning his EMBA, he’d worked at numerous managerial roles in the credit insurance business. But after a time, he was ready to take a major new step in improving his career outlook. When several executives announcing their retirement, he took the bull by horns, so to speak, and took on the necessary coursework that would earn him an EMBA and in the process give him a brand new set of leadership skills.
His efforts proved fruitful since he is now in charge of his organization’s non-commercial and commercial functions. A big step up in his career.
With this in mind, here are three leadership skills that need to be learned in order to change your career for the better.
Focus on Leadership and Not the Individual
A leadership professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) claims that businesspersons have tended to romanticize leaders over the past half-century or so. But now, leadership has become “an identity project that’s focused almost entirely on the self.” This manner of thinking is incorrect says the professor. In plain language, a good leader is one who leads and has the talent for leadership.
He further states that when examining a leader, it has little to do with leadership as a title. Instead, leadership is a practice that happens between people. There needs to be a real distinction between leadership and actual leaders.
During the first two semester at the CBS EMBA, leadership geared modules are engineered to build up students’ leadership skills along with executive capabilities. Model one is said to focus on contemporary leadership practice and theory that will assist you with the basic understanding of your position in your company. It will also teach you how to manage your Human Resources more efficiently.
The second module is designed for executive students to reflect and give meaning to their own leadership hurdles and challenges.
Says a student, leadership was the one major course that really affected him. It had a big impact as his company position and ended up being a major help when it came time to step up as a manager. He was better able to understand himself and his role in the context of the leadership position.
Ability to Adapt to Difficult Situations
It’s become obvious that the greatest leaders of this or any other time in history, be it business, sports, or politics are those who excel at crisis management and who are also able to adapt to new, difficult situations and environments.
Say the leadership experts, we tend to rely on theory when it comes to challenging our everyday situations and our understanding of them. Theories have their role in the “capacity to challenge” but not confirm our own unique belief system, and therefore produce more complex and positive results.
Because we’re all individuals, leadership coursework is said to include leadership theory debates between classmates. There are also said to be forums where students are able to discuss leadership issues with their peers. Students are said to adapt not only through leadership training, but also when delving into the many different disciplines while earning an EMBA.
The disciplines include but are not limited to, marketing, financial statement analysis, and corporate finance. But when a crisis arises, students are taught not to act on their own, but to mobilize their people to work the problem and resolve it.
Decisive Action
Experts say that a crisis needs decisive action. Most decisive action is a direct response to panic and anxiety. But it’s important observe yourself, be open to listening to those around you, and to control your emotions. In other words, keep calm and carry on.
EMBA students are encouraged to work with other students to work the problem at hand, as opposed to quickly attempting to solve it by removing the uncertainties, one by one. In the long run, this kind of trainng should assist you with mobilizing the teams you’re in charge of.
