Core Competencies for Today's Business Leaders
Winter 2020
Leadership expert
and author Kevin
Groves serves up
essential traits
shared by today's
top professionals.
One of the essential qualities for long-term
success in today's business world
is strong leadership — a broad category
that has myriad components. And many
of those components are constantly
shifting and adapting to ever-changing
global and cultural considerations, regardless
of industry, NGO or non-profit.
It's essential for up-and-coming leaders
to stay abreast of the changes and new
assessment tools available, while brushing
up on timeless competencies and
strategies necessary to excel in 2020,
said Kevin Groves, leadership expert and
noted author, as well as UCI Division of
Continuing Education instructor and
Pepperdine professor.
Groves has identified core competencies
that all leaders need to master in order
to build a strong foundation for success.
“It's critical to develop competencies
across three primary levels: leading self,
leading teams, and leading organizations,”
he said. “The most important leadership
competencies for demonstrating
influence and impact across these levels
include integrity, strategic insight, self-awareness,
collaboration skills, leading
with purpose, mission and values, and
inspiring others through a shared vision.”
Groves points out that collaboration skills
are among the most crucial. Evolving
technology and changing organizational
structures require increasingly close
coordination across business units and
geographic regions, placing a premium on
leadership styles that drive collaboration
and influence without direct authority.
“The collaboration skills and competencies
that are most critical for leaders in today's
complex, diverse stakeholder environments
include communication and listening
skills, consensus-building, managing
conflict, and cultural intelligence.”
Groves elaborated on several key qualities
he has researched and identified as
essential for today's leaders:
Strategic Insight
Leaders must demonstrate strategic
insight and avoid “silo thinking” in their
decision-making. “This way leaders can
consistently adopt a ‘big picture’ view of
the issues and challenges facing the
organization,” Groves said. “Strive to
consider multiple departments, business
units, and/or regions and countries when
making decisions.”
Collaboration Skills
Always seek input from stakeholders and
invite a varied range of viewpoints.
“Leaders who demonstrate collaboration
skills can effectively seek contributions
and input from a range of internal and
external stakeholders. This facilitates a
collaborative work environment that's
open and receptive to the suggestions
of others.”
Mission-Values Purpose-Driven
Remember who you work for and what
the organization stands for — and act
accordingly with a strong sense of
purpose. “Leaders who are focused on
their organization's mission and values
and are purpose-driven demonstrate
passion for the institutional mission.
They demonstrate core company values,
selflessness and orientation.”
Inspire Others
Strive to inspire others to adopt all of
these competencies. “Leaders who
inspire others can effectively articulate a
clear vision for the team, department or
project, and inspire coworkers to execute
a shared vision.”
Embrace Agility
Accept change as inevitable and adapt
proactively. “Leaders who demonstrate
agility can adapt to changing situations
and stay flexible and open-minded. They
work effectively with new people and
teams and demonstrate an openness to
new ways of doing things.”
Exhibit Self-Awareness
Above all, know thyself, be honest and
constantly work on self-improvement. Leaders who exhibit self-awareness have
an accurate understanding of their
strengths and limitations and actively
seek to learn as much as possible from
experiences, successes and mistakes.
“This competency involves the willingness
to develop any limitation in
leadership skills and knowledge bases.”
Integrity
“Leaders who demonstrate integrity
maintain a very high level of excellence,
honesty and standards concerning all
ethical, legal and regulatory issues. This
competency also involves the willingness
to make moral decisions despite the
potential for negative consequences.”
“The collaboration skills and competencies that are
most critical for leaders in today's complex, diverse
stakeholder environments include communication
and listening skills, consensus-building, managing
conflict, and cultural intelligence.”
Kevin Groves
Leadership Expert
and Author
Two emerging competencies have
become increasingly relevant for
effective leadership in the 21st century:
Emotional Intelligence (or EQ) and
Cultural Intelligence (CQ), Grove said.
“Leaders who demonstrate Emotional
Intelligence are equipped with the skills
to address setbacks and obstacles in a
positive and constructive manner while
maintaining a positive attitude throughout
difficult circumstances. Leaders with
Emotional Intelligence remain poised
during highly charged or stressful periods
and effectively role-model constructive
approaches to pushing through setbacks
and disappointments.”
There are validated tools for assessing
EQ that can prove critical for leadership
development. Groves’ company, Groves
Consulting Group, uses the Leader
Emotional Intelligence Assessment to
measure EQ skills that include self-awareness
and self-regulation, as well as
interpersonal skills such as motivation,
empathy and influencing.
“The combination of a validated leader
EQ assessment and targeted development
plan is an important part of leadership
impact in today's organizations where
relationships and knowledge/data are
the currency of the business.”
Cultural intelligence includes the ability
to effectively lead across different
cultures in terms of ethnicity, nationality,
and group cultures such as generations —
mainly Baby Boomers, Generation X and
Millennials. It also considers occupational
or professional cultures, academic background,
political views and industry sector.
“Leaders with strong cultural intelligence
possess the skills to influence others in
cultural contexts that differ from their
own personal background and worldviews,”
Groves said. “Rigorous research
on leadership effectiveness in culturally
diverse communities and regions
supports cultural intelligence as a critical
factor for successful collaborations and
partnerships.”
It's important to recognize that today's
workplace can be a mix of highly distinct
generational cultures. For example,
Millennials, who will comprise over
70% of the workforce by 2030, share
a unique set of values that strongly
distinguishes them from Gen X and
Baby Boomers, according to Groves.
“Millennials value diversity, work/life
balance and an enjoyable workplace,
along with high frequency of performance
feedback, team-based work, and
high autonomy in work roles,” he added.
They are also far more loyal to their
own profession or calling compared to
company loyalty.
“In general, leaders in today's organizations
must possess the CQ capabilities to
navigate across multiple cultural groups,
including multiple generations, cultural
backgrounds, geographic locations,
functional and professional groups, and
other forms of cultural groups.”
UCI Division of Continuing Education's
leadership programs address these
competencies and are designed for
professionals at all levels.
Learn more at ce.uci.edu/leadership