Essay: The Challenge of Leadership Today

Since the beginning of human society, leaders have played a pivotal role in the establishment of social structure, social order, and pioneering ways to advance in the various fields of life. Traditional leadership of the past had several common qualities with present leaders. However, their leadership pertained to governance, ruling and command of armies and nations. The skill these leaders from history possessed, included good communication, charisma to keep friends on their side and most important of all: a will to lead. Life was simple, and straightforward. 

In the modern world, leaders can be found in every part of society. Today, leaders are present in youth federations, organizations, firms, businesses and industries. Leaders today have to face several new constraints and challenges that were not there in the past. In each organization, leaders have to be very steadfast to lead them across these challenges (Gentry, Eckert, Stawiski and Zhao. 2016). 

Perhaps the most important challenge that a modern day leader has to face is managerial effectiveness. Present day organizations operate like pendulum clock but instead of harmonic motion, leaders have to maintain the balance. Time management is a crucial challenge for present day leaders. Sometimes, due to natural circumstances, only a few important things can be done. Prioritizing effectively is also a dire skill amongst modern leaders. Leaders have to presume that anything can go wrong and constantly try to get things done before schedule, revise their plans to the adjusting changes and motivate others to follow their lead (Bennis, 2007).

All good leaders know that their organizations are as good as the people who operate them. This is why, every modern leader has to persistently improve the performance of his team by guiding, motivating its members and by analysing the weak points for improvement. All modern leaders have to compete with other companies and rely on the optimal performance of their selected individual. A modern day leader gets familiar with his team and helps them improve along the way. 

There are several times when companies and organizations have to face defeat, chaos and loss. High risk businesses, corporations and even young startups that are formed today have to face uncertainty when it comes success. Leaders in these communities not only have to guide their teams to ensure best organizational performance, but have to uplift the spirits of their team members as well (Levasseur, 2004).

At times when the organization is having trouble with resources related to capital and HR, leaders have to fulfil those positions by bringing in the right people for the void. The leaders need to be able to determine what they need to fill those gaps and what kind of additional members will help him do so. The leader has to steer the organization right out of chaos by filling in the voids himself as well.

With the widespread use of technology, organizations are finding it much harder to compete out in a rapidly changing environment. Companies and corporations are racing to achieve organizational efficiency. Leaders have to constantly search for new developments in their field to stay ahead of their competition. Moreover, they have to tailor new developments to their benefit organizational structure and performance. They have to take decisions to invest time and other resources to develop new things and research new methods.

Present day organizational structures allow business owners and industrialists to hire leadership positions within their companies. This allows them to pursue other hobbies. Those leaders have to adapt to the changing environment and have to present valuable insights to their stakeholders. Not only do they need to maintain their entire organizational flow, the hired leadership also has to justify their decisions to the stakeholders. Young leaders sometimes experience conflict of methodology and approach when working as hired leadership and can’t always get to do what they want. They have to make do with the internal politics and be a role model to their teams at the same time.

Present day organizational leaders have to do undergo personal effectiveness as well. They have to challenge themselves every day, question their every move and be aware of their work at all times to become better at the tasks that make their organizations work. Leaders have to set goals for themselves and then tune their team’s performance to achieve those goals (Rosenbach, 2018).

If we consider altering some of the ways in which organizations operate to assist modern leaders in achieving their potential, then we have to consider what leadership truly means. A leader is a person who knows the way, shows the way and goes the way. Leaders in modern day organizations should be given clear mentorship and instruction for managing the entire state of an organization during uncertain times. The leadership role should be a decision making that should be autonomous. In present day work culture, leaders are taken for granted and blamed if something doesn’t go as planned. This needs to change. The leadership role should be considered just another peg in the machinery that makes it operate. 

Organizations should set SMART goals for their hired leadership. SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timed. Most stakeholders do not relay what they want out of their companies and make the leaders struggle in the long run. Stakeholders should clearly define their expectations in terms of growth and revenue. 

Modern leaders are well versed in protocol. In fact, it is this discipline that allows them to be great at management (Goleman, Boyatzis & McKee, 2002). Organizations need to set clear protocols for what a leader is supposed to do. This means that the leader is given as much authority as his willingly trying to take on. This way, leaders can feel more responsible as they are putting their own careers at stake.

In present day work culture, leaders have to deal with a constantly changing environment. Modern leaders should build a network of trust and reliance within the organizational hierarchy (Chughtai, Byrne & Flood, 2015). This allows the leader to become better aware of the strengths and weaknesses of his team. That way, in difficult times, the leader can understand how to steer the ship.

Several leadership development programs provide guidance and mentorship to organizational leaders working in different sectors. The leadership development programs equip them with the technical knowledge they need to steer companies in the right direction. Within these programs several improvements can be made.

Most programs teach organizational leaders decision making by reviewing case studies or by correlating decision success with existing data. Development programs need to teach organizational leaders by giving them real-world situations. For example, practical demonstrations, group activities, measuring responses and decision making abilities of individuals can help them get better. Moreover, the program coordinators can get valuable insight pertaining to the strengths and weaknesses of the participants and how they affect their respective organizations (Skipton Leonard & Fang, 2010).

The way a leader measure success is very important. Modern leaders need to run their companies in this highly competitive environment. Development programs need to instruct modern leaders to use data-driven analysis to make decisions and come up with new ideas. Business analytics, marketing analytics and business intelligence are some of the various techniques with which modern businesses and industries are thriving. 

Development programs can help modern leadership by remote mentoring services for struggling leaders. They can assist these leaders with their problems and help provide a revision of the principles and responsibility of leadership (Mumford, Marks, Connelly, Zaccaro & Reiter-Palmon, 2000). This can not only allow leaders to seek help from other leaders but also share the burden and release some stress related to their work. 

Development programs should acknowledge the various types of skill each leader has and should allow them to make those skills work in the leader's’ own favour. For example, if a firm manager happens to be good at accounting, he should be encouraged to keep know-how of how his organization’s finances work (Amagoh, 2009).

Leadership has drastically changed in the last hundred years. A century ago, leadership meant commanding armies, nations and troops. Although several of the ancient requirements for leadership do remain intact, the term leadership has a whole new meaning. In present day organizations, leaders have to maintain organizational effectiveness by constantly responding to changes in behaviour of the company and the employees. Leaders have to set goals for their organizations and constantly innovate in order to steer their companies and organizations in the right direction. They have to reach out for organizational and personal efficiency. They have to persist and be resilient to competition and attacks and use their skills to manage the people and the organization. They have to define clear metrics for their personal and their organization’s growth and then plan to improve those metrics in a given amount of time. Modern leaders take several training programs, both academic and technical to gain leading positions at big organizations and industries. The leadership development programs need to include several new skills and practices in their programs to improve the readiness of modern leaders. Development programs need to teach modern leaders by setting real world examples and provide them with personal counselling.