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The achievement of work-life balance can be challenging for people in leadership positions as they have put a lot of effort into achieving positions of increased exposure, influence, and accountability, so spending any time away from that could feel like going backwards or showing weakness. Organisational leaders can be burdened with a lot of responsibility since they frequently have to manage owner or stakeholder expectations in addition to looking out for the interests of their staff and the company as a whole.

Therefore, if a leader wants to have a long and fruitful leadership career and help their team succeed, they need to commit to unravelling that Gordian knot.

Leaders, like any other successful person, are not immune to mental health problems. The ability to relax is essential for those in positions of authority, and this begins with striking a good work-life balance. Achieving work-life balance at the executive level can have a trickle-down effect, encouraging a more adaptable and balanced approach to work among all employees.

All businesses and their leaders should pause for a moment to consider the important issue of work-life balance. A company with a great work culture rewards its employees for their accomplishments and encourages them to maintain a healthy work-life balance. It’s crucial to remember that a company’s success can be guaranteed by leadership that strikes a healthy balance between work and personal life, which in turn leads to increased productivity, better personnel management, and greater returns.

Having a good work-life balance means not letting your personal life suffer because of your job. When time, energy, and resources are not allocated fairly to the various facets of life, difficulties emerge. This could manifest itself in a leader who works 15 hours a day but is too worn out to enjoy time with loved ones at the end of the day. Their partner and children suffer because they are emotionally distant because they work too much. A lack of work-life balance typically affects more than just one area of a person’s life. Just like a domino falling, it can cause havoc in other places and disturb their entire existence.

If leaders are overly workaholic, it could put unnecessary stress on their staff. It can be distressing for employees to watch their leaders prioritising work over personal life. Leaders should provide a good example by balancing their own professional and personal lives. All employees, regardless of their level of responsibility, benefit from having a healthy mental state in order to maximise their output.

For this reason, it is essential for leaders to establish clear boundaries and priorities. Time limits must be established, and the day must be segmented properly in advance. Leaders need to put in a lot of extra effort to strike a perfect work-life balance to manage the extremely demanding and competing demands on their time.

Strategies that can help leaders achieve work-life balance

The following are strategies for leaders to help them strike a healthy work-life balance.

1) Leaders need to work smart, not hard

Leaders can lessen the impression that they have to put in extra hours by making the most of their time during regular business hours. One tactic is to focus on doing one task at a time. Even when it may feel like individuals are making progress on several fronts at once, research suggests that multi-tasking slows down productivity and increases the likelihood of making mistakes.

Instead, leaders should learn to concentrate better by creating to-do lists, ranking each item according to priority, and adopting measures to reduce interruptions and distractions. They can leave work on time, secure in the knowledge that they can take up exactly where they left off since they have kept organised lists of what needs to be done.

2) Leaders need to delegate tasks

Delegating tasks is a terrific way for leaders to help their teams and their employees. When leaders are able to build trustworthy teams, they produce employees they can rely on. A leader should focus on building a competent and dependable team and then assign responsibilities to them. This might provide employees with a sense of ownership while taking some tasks off the leader’s plate.

3) Leaders need to set strict boundaries

It’s a blessing that we live in an era of advanced technology and widespread digital connectivity. But technology’s downsides are often overlooked.

Being reachable at all times makes it more challenging for a leader to strike a healthy balance between work and personal life. Leaders should not assume that their teams will automatically work together on projects over the weekend or after office hours just because everyone has access to a computer or smartphone at home.

Leaders should enforce stringent guidelines for their teams about working beyond office hours. They should push for better work-life harmony among staff members so that people may give their full attention and effort during work hours. For leaders, technology should serve to simplify their lives, not to add stress.

4) Leaders must use technology in a way that benefits them

A mental adjustment is necessary for achieving an ideal work-life balance. The goal of process automation is to free up time for leaders to rest and refuel as necessary. For instance, there are countless apps available to assist users with everything from calendar management to automated lead follow-up.

If leaders can endeavour to become more thoughtful and creative in how they integrate and leverage technology, it will provide them with a greater balance between their personal and professional life.

Wrap up

There are many positive outcomes when leaders achieve an ideal work-life balance. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance improves efficiency, dedication, morale, and creativity across the board. Teams that are exhausted often produce subpar results and can become disillusioned with the companys overall vision.

Leaders, like everyone else, need to make money to pay the bills while keeping their minds healthy to do their jobs effectively. Like all employees, leaders require and have the right to experience work-life balance for themselves and their families.

About SeraphCorp

SeraphCorp is a Singapore-based leadership consulting firm that provides leadership development training, coaching, and bespoke programmes.

We see facilitating the art of growing leaders as our mission. Day in and day out, we work hand in hand with our clients to boost their human potential and organisational performance. Our goal is to have every organisation and every leader come away from our programmes fundamentally changed in some way.

Our clients include leaders and managers from diverse sectors and industries, while the companies we work with range from SMEs to corporate giants. We carefully curate and assemble our faculty from the ranks of leaders. Our faculty boasts extensive experience in the diverse fields of aviation, civil service, engineering, banking, manufacturing and property development.

Book an obligation-free consultation with one of our learning advocates today to find out more about our programmes.

Book your consultation here.

The goal of learning and development (L&D), a systematic organisational process that is a crucial part of talent management strategy, is to enhance the skills and capabilities of employees by coordinating group and individual aspirations with the organization’s overarching vision.

Employees can develop their abilities and excel in current roles with the aid of training and development (L&D). A dynamic workforce is more important than ever due to the worlds transition to a digital economy. Employees responsibilities are continuously changing, and therefore, they must pick up new skills to keep themselves employable.

In order to effectively upskill and reskill the workforce, L&D operations must move beyond just formal training. It should aim at building a culture of continuous learning in which coaching, mentorship, counselling, leadership and ownership play central roles and are encouraged throughout the entire organisation. It should come as no surprise that establishing a robust culture of continuous learning does not happen overnight and calls for substantial adjustments to methods and perspectives.

When done well, L&D can be seen as a desirable extra advantage of working for a company. Employees feel valued and encouraged when employers provide personal development plans and defined career routes. Training programmes can significantly advance interpersonal communication abilities, assist workers in achieving professional goals more quickly, and establish a psychologically secure workplace with adequate planning, execution, and follow-up.

Unfortunately, a lot of L&D programmes do not live up to expectations and generally do not result in long-term improvements in competence, management, or compliance. Unengaging training sessions, inadequate teaching strategies, and leadership’s inability to set a good example are a few of the major contributors to disappointing results.

Where do companies go wrong with their learning and development (L&D) initiatives?

Each company has its own unique system for teaching employees new skills and expanding their understanding of old ones so that they can better carry out their jobs. Companies spend a lot of money on the L&D process in an attempt to cater to every employee’s unique requirements, but the results are often less than satisfactory.

According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review, 75% of the 1,500 managers from 50 different companies who participated in the study were unhappy with the L&D offerings at their respective companies.

Similarly, a McKinsey study found that only 25% of people thought that training significantly enhanced their performance.

Despite the fact that businesses spend a lot of money on staff training, they do not, unfortunately, do so in an efficient manner. The bulk of training in today’s organisations is not just unproductive; its goal, timing, and content are also flawed.

Here are a few reasons that contribute to a company’s L&D program’s lack of effectiveness:

1) Most companies still follow a one-size-fits-all approach

Knowledge and skills in the business world have a much shorter lifespan now than they used to two decades ago. Employees education and development are now more crucial than ever. Employers need to abandon their cookie-cutter approaches to corporate learning and development (L&D) if they want their staff to adapt swiftly enough to the ways in which RPA and AI are altering their industries.

Since the last decade has brought about huge shifts in how we get things done, how we have fun, how we stay in touch with our friends and family, and so on, it is imperative that businesses adopt individualised/personalised training procedures. Despite the fact that we live in a world where personalization and customization are the norm, very little of this trend has made its way into the method in which firms design training programmes that can assist in educating staff.

It is an unfortunate reality that in many companies the training programmes, which attempt to foster growth and development in their staff members, fail because they adhere to a one-size-fits-all model that does not work for everyone.

The world is currently experiencing the 4th industrial revolution, which means workers must rapidly adapt their skill sets. But the traditional classroom approach to L&D is a roadblock; because it fails to take into account the unique learning objectives and styles of each employee.

In the modern corporate world, personalisation and customisation are extremely important components. Personalisation in the L&D setting allows for the development of a learning path that is tailored to the learner’s specific needs, goals, and interests. By making connections between the learner’s past actions and their future objectives, personalization can increase the learning’s relevance. Developing a personalised learning experience through customised content may also increase employees retention and engagement.

Organizations must understand that a prescriptive training methodology will not address their pressing demands. It is critical that they make the transition from a controlled to an autonomous training framework, from instruction to discovery. They need to empower their employees by giving them a road map to follow as they hone their expertise in a field that truly interests them.

2) Corporate training is often times treated as a one-and-done event

Corporate training is frequently treated by businesses as a one-time activity, with no formal possibility for trainees to receive ongoing support. This not only leads to disengaged workers but also makes it more difficult to instil a belief in the importance of continual learning throughout the company.

Corporate training and development programmes that aim to bring about lasting change should promote an internal culture of learning and encourage employees to always be on the lookout for new ways to improve the organisation.

A learning culture promotes attitudes of intellectual modesty and long-term improvement. They encourage teamwork by arranging cross-departmental education and information-sharing opportunities. All around, this helps employees improve their abilities.

3) Companies focus more on developing hard-skills than human skills of the employees

Providing employees with opportunities to learn the tools they need to do their jobs, such as software training and professional development workshops, is crucial.

Nevertheless, to achieve genuine success over the long run, it is essential to start investing in the growth of the human skills of the employees. A company will have an easier time developing leaders who are able to steer it in the right direction if it places a greater emphasis on the human skills teamwork, communication, feedback, and others required to construct a people-focused workplace.

Training in hard skills is, without a doubt, something that should be available to all employees. However, a significant amount of team work, particularly in hybrid or remote environments, is dependent on human skills.

Because of this, training the entire workforce to communicate and collaborate better, and to be more sympathetic, thoughtful, and inclusive, will ultimately aid the company to achieve overall business growth in the long-run.

4) Flawed learning and development (L&D) content

A common mistake that companies make is the inclusion of a plethora of content in L&D sessions. Training programmes are overloaded and frequently pointless. For example, someone who is naturally gifted in communication may nevertheless be required under the rules to undergo time-consuming communication training. Such an employee gets nothing from the time invested in such training. Such L&D programmes result in uninteresting and disengaged workplaces, which in turn increase churn and are linked to depression and employer anxiety as revealed by Gallup in a 2010 study.

5) Lack of commitment and involvement from executives

L&D will be ineffectual and employees will fall short of expectations without the dedication and engagement of senior executives. Commitment is essential, which translates to resources being allotted to the function of training and development and its unique advantages. Participation encompasses both the physical presence of concerned executives as well as the activities they undertake during the process.

Senior managers can play active roles in a variety of ways, including designing the roadmap of the companys training initiatives as well as leading certain segments of the training programmes. When leaders with a high public profile take on a visible role in the L&D process, it inspires and engages the entire team. This mindset ultimately permeates the entirety of the organisation, which results in a significant improvement.

Conclusion

These five problems may sound familiar. If organisations want to see L&D live up to its potential and produce satisfactory returns on investment, they must address each one of these issues.

Employees who can quickly adjust to new situations are invaluable in today’s dynamic corporate world. As a result, L&D has evolved into an ongoing strategy for improving and advancing employees.

Businesses that invest in developing learning ecosystems set themselves up for long-term success. They are effectively remaking L&D departments from money pits into profit generators for their organisations.

About SeraphCorp

SeraphCorp is a Singapore-based leadership training institute that provides leadership development training, coaching, workshops, and bespoke programmes. Were a boutique consulting firm specialising in leadership, and we work with leaders and managers across industries and sectors.

For SeraphCorp, leadership development is a mission we have embraced since our founding. Day in and day out, we work hand in hand with our clients to boost their human potential and organisational performance through a three-prong approach of consulting, training, and coaching and counselling.

As a firm and as a faculty, SeraphCorp is committed to facilitating your leadership learning. At the end of the day, our purpose is to equip leaders so that they can make a positive impact on their communities, their companies, and their families, and to strengthen the ecosystem of quality leadership training in Singapore.

Our clients include leaders and managers from diverse sectors and industries, while the companies we work with span the spectrum from SMEs to global corporations. Our faculty is recruited from diverse fields & industries and have previously been CEO, CFO, general manager, founders of companies, head banker and director.

Book an obligation-free consultation with one of our learning advocates today to find out more about our programmes.

Book your consultation here.

One of the most underappreciated abilities in the workplace may be emotional intelligence. The capacity to properly manage one’s emotions is frequently ranked lower than one’s technical proficiency and commitment to the organisation. To completely embrace the job of a leader, as opposed to merely being a task manager, both new and existing leaders should assess the full extent of their emotional intelligence.

As a result of the widespread expansion of remote work caused by COVID-19, its value in the workplace for leaders and project managers has increased significantly in recent years. It is impossible to succeed in project management and handling cross-functional remote teams without emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence in the workplace enables leaders, project managers and executives to negotiate challenging circumstances with grace, encourage and motivate others, and ultimately, bring their best versions to the office.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to comprehend and control one’s own emotions, as well as to identify and influence the emotions of other people. It is the capacity to hear what is being said, comprehend the meaning behind the words, and respond with compassion and empathy. The ultimate goal is to make emotions work in your favour rather than against you.

Two eminent psychologists, Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, first proposed the concept of emotional intelligence in the early 1990s. With his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, scientific journalist Daniel Goleman cemented the theory’s position in popular discourse and leadership education by tying it to business leadership.

Although the concept may appear to be self-evident at this point, his ideas about emotional intelligence have had a significant impact on how we see emotions and behaviour, especially in the context of the workplace.

Many people attempt to suppress their emotions, yet no matter how much we hide, reject, or alter our feelings, we will always have them. Failing to understand this can negatively impact how we act and interact with others. As a result, your team experiences a lack of communication, dissatisfaction, worry, and even hostility.

Why is it important for Leaders to have Emotional Intelligence?

In the workplace, emotional intelligence is essential for leading cohesive and productive teams. It has been hypothesised by researchers and behavioural scientists that emotional intelligence influences both the manner in which leaders interact with their teams and the manner in which members of such teams engage with both the leaders and each other.

Since leading others to a goal is what it means to be a leader, so to achieve better results, leaders must gain a greater understanding of their own and their colleagues’ emotions. When it comes to leadership, having a high level of emotional intelligence makes it easier for a leader to communicate and interact with his team and work with others. His interpersonal style can have a significant impact on the way he is perceived as a leader. Leaders who lack emotional intelligence have a harder time connecting with and understanding their teams, which leads to lower employee satisfaction and a greater staff turnover rate.

5 Signs that show High Emotional Intelligence in a Leader

Effective leadership requires emotional intelligence. It is selfish to try to lead without it. It might get the job done, but will not inspire followership.

A leader is always accountable for his team. He assists and guides people through transitions and obstacles. Nonetheless, many leaders seek to avoid confrontations. They do not wish to address emotional issues at work and believe avoiding problems is much simpler than confronting them head-on. Leaders must manage their subordinates with emotional intelligence, which includes maintaining composure when everyone else is panicking.

The following are the five most important attributes that an emotionally intelligent leader possesses.

1) An emotionally intelligent leader has Self-Awareness

It is the fundamental component of emotional intelligence. The self-awareness of a leader with strong emotional intelligence enables him to recognise his own strengths, emotions, shortcomings, and ideals and to comprehend how these affect others. Through self-awareness, this type of leader brings out the best in himself before bringing out the best in his followers.

The value of having leaders who are conscious of their own emotions is immeasurable for a company. Such a leader takes a deep breath when faced with a difficult or stressful circumstance and attempts to address the root cause of the problem rather than allowing it to influence his choices.

Such a leader is also open to feedback from his peers. For instance, if his coworkers provide him with constructive input on a project he laboriously completed, he not only considers the negative criticism but also the positive feedback. He recognises that his coworkers are merely attempting to assist him.

2) An emotionally intelligent leader has Social-Awareness

Compassion and empathy are qualities that advance social understanding. Empathy is the top leadership skill according to the global leadership development firm DDI. Leaders who have mastered empathy outperform others by more than 40% when teaching, engaging people, and making decisions.

Understanding and controlling ones own emotions are crucial, but a leader must also need to be able to read a room. His capacity to discern the feelings of others and the organisational dynamics at work is referred to as his social awareness.

Empathy is a skill that socially adept leaders use. They make an effort to comprehend their coworkers’ thoughts and viewpoints so they may interact and work together more successfully.

Great leaders have excellent interpersonal skills that are underpinned by their high emotional intelligence, and this aids in their ability to attract followers. They can read people and situations to respond appropriately because they have empathy for others. Even though they focus on attaining work objectives, they never lose sight of the fact that their coworkers and subordinates are human beings, and they treat them with respect and regard as individuals first and coworkers second. This assists them in gaining trust and respect.

A leader can motivate and inspire his team while also increasing his own performance through empathic communication.

3) An emotionally intelligent leader has Self-Confidence and High Motivation

Highly driven and inspirational leaders have mastered the art of ignoring criticism. Instead, they would want to draw lessons from the experience. They have high expectations for their employees’ performance. Leaders with high emotional intelligence are aware of their own motivations as well as that of their team members. They inspire their workers to commit to achievement by maintaining a perpetually upbeat attitude. It is because of their ability to balance confidence and arrogance that their peers respect them as leaders and pay attention to what they have to say. To learn and effectively handle challenging situations, they gather information by asking open-ended questions and engaging in active listening exercises. They do not argue or challenge. Instead, they continue to be inspired by their confidence, which helps them succeed.

4) An emotionally intelligent leader maintains Self-Discipline and Focus

The capacity to control urges, stay focused, and see a task through to completion is known as self-discipline. It can be characterised by a leader’s tenacity and resolve to focus on a task until it is effectively completed. Self-disciplined leaders are rarely distracted from the tasks on which they are working.

At work, having self-discipline enables leaders to offer their undivided focus to whatever task is currently being worked on by them. It has been demonstrated via research that leaders who have a strong sense of self-discipline and tenacity are more likely to be conscientious and engaged in the work that they do.

As a result, a leader who excels in self-control projects poise and assurance, maintaining task concentration in a challenging scenario.

5) An emotionally intelligent leader has Vision

A clear, distinct, and particular image of the future is what we mean when we talk about a vision, and it is often associated with the advancement of an organization’s strategic goals. By clearly defining a goal and effectively communicating it, emotionally intelligent leaders inspire passion and commitment within the organisation. A leader who possesses emotional intelligence distinguishes himself from those who do not by having the capacity to articulate a vision and use it to motivate others.

When articulated compellingly, passionately, and clearly, the image in the mind of a visionary leader with strong emotional intelligence inspires people to action.

A leader’s plan for the organisation heavily relies on vision. A vision emphasises the importance of all parts of a business cooperating toward the same objective by providing direction. Aligning people’s actions and behaviour is essential to realising a leader’s vision since it typically requires changing what is done and how it is done. A vision provides clarity and reduces ambiguity, two advantages that are particularly helpful in tumultuous or fast-changing times.

Conclusion

Leadership success requires emotional intelligence. Leadership is guiding others to a goal. To do so, a leader requires followers. Emotional intelligence helps a leader to influence and manage his followers to complete tasks.

A leader with emotional intelligence possesses outstanding interpersonal abilities. They are also skilled at inspiring others. This type of leader is also adept at maintaining self-discipline and has an expansive vision for the organisation. A leader who has no emotional intelligence, on the other hand, cannot effectively assess the needs, desires, and expectations of his team members. This creates an environment that is unproductive and ineffectual. Consequently, emotional intelligence is essential for effective leadership.

About SeraphCorp

SeraphCorp is a Singapore-based leadership training institute that provides leadership development training, coaching, workshops, and bespoke programmes. Were a boutique consulting firm specialising in leadership, and we work with leaders and managers across industries and sectors.

For SeraphCorp, leadership development is a mission we have embraced since our founding. Day in and day out, we work hand in hand with our clients to boost their human potential and organisational performance through a three-prong approach of consulting, training, and coaching and counselling.

As a firm and as a faculty, SeraphCorp is committed to facilitating your leadership learning. At the end of the day, our purpose is to equip leaders so that they can make a positive impact on their communities, their companies, and their families, and to strengthen the ecosystem of quality leadership training in Singapore.

Our clients include leaders and managers from diverse sectors and industries, while the companies we work with span the spectrum from SMEs to global corporations. Our faculty is recruited from diverse fields & industries and have previously been CEO, CFO, general manager, founders of companies, head banker and director.

Book an obligation-free consultation with one of our learning advocates today to find out more about our programmes.

Book your consultation here.

In this day and age of rapid development and advancements in technology, curiosity plays a great role in determining who leads and who follows. From the beginning of time, curiosity has allowed the human race to conceive and build some of the most incredible tools and inventions. Whether you think of the telephone or electricity, none would be here had their inventors not been curious.

So, why is it important for a leader to be curious, you may ask? Curiosity allows a leader to dive deeper into questions and emerge with more viable and unique solutions to solve problems and innovate. Being curious also advances the flow of communication and information within the organisation and helps with better decision-making.

How is Curiosity important as a Leadership trait?

High levels of curiosity in the workplace have been connected with increased innovation, healthier relationships between employees, better decision-making, better solutions to company problems, and overall better performance. Lets take a look at all of these in turn:

1. Increased Innovation
Curiosity encourages a leader to explore more and discover new and innovative ideas. It also pushes leaders to encourage their employees and peers to be more inquisitive. Thus, it promotes a culture of innovation within the organisation, allowing every member of the team to ask questions, seek knowledge, and be more creative.

2. Healthier Work Relationships
As surprising as it may sound, curiosity encourages empathy. When one has a curious mindset, they are likely to consider another persons situation and put themselves in their shoes. A curious leader keeps an open mind about other peoples ideas, opinions, and suggestions, which leads to healthier work relations, smoother collaboration, and fewer conflicts in the workplace.

3. Better Decision-Making
A leader with a curious mind is likely to have better decision-making skills than most. This is because genuine curiosity allows them to rise above stereotypes, move past confirmation bias, and discover the facts even if they go against their own ideas and strongly-held beliefs. A curious leader is more interested in acquiring information and gathering facts rather than always being right.

4. Improved Communication
Curiosity is all about discovery and learning. This means that curious leaders are as open to sharing information as they are to receiving it. A curious leader will be more likely to hold open communication with subordinates and peers, and this will lead to an accelerated exchange of ideas and information amongst teams and individuals within the organisation, resulting in better performance.

5. Learning Opportunities
Needless to say, curiosity provides a leader with a multitude of learning opportunities. Without a curious mind, leaders wouldnt be eager enough to capture as much information as possible. Curiosity is what allows leaders to stay up-to-date with all changing market trends and keep a tab on competition to ensure their own company is doing well.

Curiosity also enables leaders to gather useful resources for their company and employees which can lead to speedier processes and increased productivity.

6. Effective Problem-Solving
With a higher learning rate in an individual or a company, they will be able to come up with better solutions to the pressing problems and challenges their organisation is facing. Curiosity allows for creative thinking and problem-solving as it equips you with enough information about the problem and how to deal with it. A leader can then use that information to counter problems and overcome organisational challenges.

How to instil Curiosity in your workplace?

So far, weve looked at the benefits of curiosity. But how can a leader foster a culture of curiosity in the workplace? Here are some tips:

1. Empower employees & eliminate their insecurities
One way to foster curiosity amongst employees is to encourage them to care more and fear less. Caring about everything will allow them to raise more concerns, question procedures, and learn about things that they wouldnt have otherwise. But all of this would be impossible if you dont remove their fear of speaking up.

Employees can get insecure when voicing their concerns or opinions for fear that you may reprimand them or not like their suggestions. To eliminate this insecurity, you need to encourage open communication and reward people for being expressive. Once your employees know that there is room to question, it wont take them long to put on their thinking caps and curiously search for facts, answers, and solutions.

2. Create learning-based goals
Another effective method is the use of learning-based goals. Learning goals focus on skills, proficiency, and advancing your knowledge, whereas performance goals focus on more tangible outcomes such as hitting target numbers. Since learning-based goals focus on the skills being acquired instead of the outcomes, these goals usually help with long-term success rather than short-term accomplishment. Learning-based goals can promote inquisitive thinking and encourage employees to ask the right questions, explore new ideas, and solve problems on their own.

3. Slow down to create time for research and reflection
In todays fast-paced work environments, employees wrestle to balance a demanding work schedule with constant interferences like emails and meetings, meaning that they often dont have time for research and reflection. Leaders should make it a point to schedule some time each workday for the team to preserve some of their energy to look at problems from new angles and deliberate over potential solutions, as well as carefully consider new ideas. This could take the form of unstructured brainstorming sessions where the most pressing problems and the most interesting new ideas are put up for discussion.

Conclusion

Curious leadership can make a leader more effective in a number of ways. This single trait can completely change their outlook and how they approach questions, challenges, and problems. Therefore, curiosity is crucial in a leader and every leader should strive to hone this trait.

About SeraphCorp

SeraphCorp is a Singapore-based leadership consulting firm that provides leadership development training, coaching, workshops, and bespoke programmes. Our goal is pure and simple: to strengthen the ecosystem of quality education and training in Singapore, to impact communities by building up leaders, and to have every organisation and every leader come away from our programmes fundamentally changed in some way.

Our clients include leaders and managers from all sectors and industries, while the companies we work with span the spectrum from SMEs to global corporations. Our faculty is recruited from diverse fields & industries and have previously been CEO, CFO, general manager, founders of companies, head banker and director.

Whether you need your organisations leaders to engage better with its employees or identify the leadership capabilities essential for your organisation to continue to thrive and grow, we can help you accomplish your leadership goals.

Book an obligation-free consultation with one of our learning advocates today to find out more about our programmes.

Book a Consultation here.

It can be quite nerve-racking for an employee or a subordinate to speak up about work-related issues, differences, conflicts, and new ideas. This is mostly due to the fear and anxiety of upsetting their peers, their boss, or their manager. A leader must forge a healthy working environment where employees are encouraged to voice their troubles, opinions, and ideas, without the fear of repercussions and ill feelings. Here are a few ways in which leaders can encourage their employees to speak up.

1. Take their concerns seriously
One of the best ways of encouraging your employees to be vocal is to show them that whatever they have to say deserves your time and attention and will be useful for you in drawing out your leadership strategy. Additionally, you can reassure them that voicing their concerns will not get them in trouble. A positive attitude and approach towards those who speak up and their problems will motivate more of them to speak up.

Reactions that negate their concerns or discourage new ideas will deter employees from speaking up in the future. If you dont understand their input or dont agree with some parts of it, be gracious and ask encouraging questions to learn more about the problem or the idea theyve brought up.

2. Reward employees for speaking up
Reward systems are important in all walks of life. They incentivise people to do things they wouldnt normally do. This technique can be used with employees by establishing a policy that recognises and rewards employees for sharing their ideas, opinions, and concerns. A special reward can be allocated for employees whose suggestions or input help create a healthier work environment or save the company precious time and money.

3. Engage your employees periodically
To encourage your employees to speak up, it is crucial to make it a norm. When talking about conflicts and having healthy discussions is a norm in your workplace, it will motivate everyone to participate and share their ideas. You can do this by having weekly meetings or brainstorming sessions with your employees and encouraging everyone to open up. You can also take rounds in the office and chat with different people to learn more about their concerns and opinions.

4. Inaugurate a discussion forum or board
While chatting up employees is a great way to communicate, it can be limiting. Some people in your midst may feel more comfortable writing down their queries or posting them (anonymously or otherwise) on a discussion forum. Hence, it can be quite productive to have a system where employees can leave notes or comments when they dont necessarily feel like opening up about their concerns vocally.

5. Set the stage clearly
Having clear boundaries and rules is imperative in every relationship. In your case, as a leader, you need to set the scene for your employees where you establish clear expectations, boundaries, and rules to navigate the process of speaking up. This should include formal guidelines on how to voice their opinions and how your employees can do that without dismissing or belittling fellow employees or their managers.

6. Foster a company-wide inclusive culture
None of the above-mentioned tips will help if youre solely focusing on one department or cohort. Make sure that people from all positions, departments, and backgrounds are made part of this exercise and ask for their opinion on whats working for the company and whats not. This would greatly help in generating more good ideas for the company to run more productively and efficiently.

7. Set up inclusive rules
While setting up rules may feel inhibitory, it is actually quite essential for maintaining decorum amongst your employees and making sure that everyone gets a chance to speak up. These rules may shed light on how long a person is allowed to talk within a meeting so that more people can get to be a part of the conversation, and how many times a certain topic can be discussed, to ensure that the team doesnt get fixated or bogged down by an issue. However, the onus of ensuring that the rules do not curb freedom of expression is on the leader.

8. Be genuine and earnest
You can go on and on about the importance of voicing your concerns in the workplace, but if your actions don’t encourage your employees, your words will not make up for them. To show your employees that you truly care about them and will cheer them on, you need to be truly sincere and authentic with them. You need to personally listen to every single person working with you, or under you, and empower them in whatever way you can. It is only when they see that you truly care about them and their views that they will be able to share with you comfortably.

Employees are quick to follow their leaders, and for them to be comfortable around you, you need to share your thoughts and insights with them as well, preferably on a regular basis.

You may spark up a conversation about a problematic issue, or you could interest your employees in a new topic of conversation that they may not have thought much about.

In the end, it is entirely the leader’s or manager’s responsibility to ensure that their employees are not scared of speaking their minds and can make a valuable contribution to the company through their ideas and opinions. In letting them speak up, you promote growth and inclusivity within your workplace which will always foster great results.

About SeraphCorp

SeraphCorp is a Singapore-based leadership institute that offers leadership development training, courses, workshops, and bespoke programmes.

Our goal is pure and simple: to strengthen the ecosystem of quality education and training in Singapore, to impact communities by building up leaders, and to have every organisation and every leader come away from our programmes fundamentally changed in some way.

Our clients include leaders and managers from all sectors and industries, while the companies we work with span the spectrum from SMEs to global corporations. Our faculty is recruited from diverse fields & industries and have previously been CEO, CFO, general manager, founders of companies, head banker and director.

Whether you need your organisation’s leaders to engage better with its employees or identify the leadership capabilities essential for your organisation to continue to thrive and grow, we can help you accomplish your leadership goals.

Book an obligation-free consultation with one of our learning advocates today to find out more about our programmes.

Book a Consultation Here

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, our once-systematic world was thrown into chaos and confusion. The global lockdowns and closures caused disruptions in every individuals life, be it personally, professionally, or academically. As a result, the normal of the post-pandemic world is much different than that of the pre-pandemic world.

The pandemic created the need for interventions that would have otherwise taken years to materialise. Such tremendous changes have put a lot of burden on the leaders inside organisations since the employees are dependent on the leaders for guidance and inspiration. It is now tougher for leaders to keep inspiring and leading effectively in a world that was turned upside down.

As of 2022, 16% of companies globally have gone fully remote following the Covid-19 pandemic. Even in the present day, the effects of the pandemic linger, and most systems adopted during the pandemic have not gone back to normal. The onset of the pandemic has also raised various mental health concerns. A study shows that at least 50% of adults believe that their lives post-pandemic are much different than pre-pandemic.

With such huge changes and shifts, to be impactful leaders in a post-pandemic world, a new approach needs to be constructed. We have gathered 4 ways that leaders of the present day can adapt to be more impactful and inspirational.

1. Act as if you are on the verge of big changes

It has been more than 2 years since the outbreak of the pandemic, but things have hardly gone back to being exactly as they were in the past. Every now and then, the world is struck with the news of a new variant of Covid-19, and uncertainty still looms large.

Being prepared for change and having a high level of flexibility and adaptability to cater to unforeseen circumstances is how a leader today can be more impactful. The leader needs to be ready and well prepared for any upcoming changes. We witnessed multiple businesses that came crumbling down during the pandemic due to a lack of adaptability. On the contrary, businesses that were able to adapt swiftly to the new normal flourished.

An impactful leader is required not just to stay flexible himself, but to instil a degree of flexibility within his team and prepare them for change and new challenges.

2. Become a better communicator.

When thrown in the midst of chaos and confusion, organisations had to take significant steps to avoid losses and shutdown. Some had to go fully remote, others had to lay off a huge chunk of their workforce. It was an overnight shift of systems and methods. Adapting to remote working was a big challenge for many firms and their employees. Had it not been for leaders with effective communication skills, an even greater percentage of organisations would have had to shut down.

To be effective in a post-pandemic world, leaders need to reevaluate their interpersonal and communication skills. In the midst of confusion, leaders should be able to carve out a clear path for their teams towards business objectives. Leaders need to be more transparent and honest with their employees to increase engagement among the team.

3. Show empathy and concern for employees mental health

The pandemic has severely affected the mental health of many individuals, leading to long-lasting stress and anxiety in most cases. To be more impactful in a post-pandemic world, a leader needs to demonstrate genuine empathy. Emotional connection and understanding are needed now more than ever before.

Covid-19 has affected each and every individual in some way. Being more aware of employee needs and circumstances, and treating employees with empathy needs to be part of the new normal. Impactful leaders must let go of the rigidly enforced plans and set realistic goals for both themselves and their followers.

4. Stay ahead of the curve by being open to new technology

Remote working was a new concept for most organisations and wrapping their heads around this new way of working was a big challenge. However, organisations and particularly employees who were technologically savvy did not find it daunting to adapt to the new work setting. On the other hand, organisations that were totally dependent on in-person and office-based operations suffered, with many of them calling it quits.

Staying ahead of the curve and being adept at technology, as well as new tools and software, is essential for a leader in a post-pandemic world.

Key Takeaway

The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be nearing its end in many nations worldwide. However, uncertainty and ambiguity are not going to end any time soon. The word normal is interpreted differently in a post-pandemic world. Hence, traditional ways and approaches of leadership are not a good fit for the present and the future world. The 4 ways weve outlined above can help leaders to be more impactful in the post-pandemic world.

About SeraphCorp
SeraphCorp is a Singapore-based leadership consulting firm that provides leadership development training, coaching, workshops, and bespoke programmes. Our goal is pure and simple: to strengthen the ecosystem of quality education and training in Singapore, to impact communities by building up leaders, and to have every organisation and every leader come away from our programmes fundamentally changed in some way.

Our clients include leaders and managers from all sectors and industries, while the companies we work with span the spectrum from SMEs to global corporations. Our faculty is recruited from diverse fields & industries and have previously been CEO, CFO, general manager, founders of companies, head banker and director.

Whether you need your organisations leaders to engage better with its employees or identify the leadership capabilities essential for your organisation to continue to thrive and grow, we can help you accomplish your leadership goals.

Book an obligation-free consultation with one of our course facilitators today to find out more about our programmes.

Book a Consultation Here

Links to studies/researches:

1. https://www.apollotechnical.com/statistics-on-remote-workers/
2. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/09/17/about-half-of-americans-say-their-lives-will-remain-changed-in-major-ways-when-the-pandemic-is-over/