Future Leaders – Understanding Mediators

The opportunities created by new technologies and globalization trends promise to change not only the daily lives of workers but also the way companies are managed and work is organized within them. This means that middle and senior managers will also need to adapt and acquire new skills.

HR specialists and futurists have already outlined the operational model of future companies, where today's strong leader and their vision for the company's development direction will be replaced by greater openness to employees' innovative ideas and more democratic decision-making. Companies' goals will no longer be solely about generating profit through core business activities. Successful companies will be those that can continuously generate new solutions and directions, as in a rapidly changing world, it is no longer possible to hold consumer attention for long with a single product.

Becoming More Open

With the new demands of the business environment, the profession of managers will undergo fundamental changes. The ideal leader of the new era will be an understanding, open mediator. A person who listens to employees' ideas and helps turn them into something entirely new and innovative, rather than pushing forward strategies approved many years ago. This means that the paradigm of previous centuries, "the boss is always right," will gradually fade away, replaced by a new, more democratic one.

One of the most important qualities of future leaders will be openness and the ability to spot new opportunities. Already today, many brilliant ideas have "perished" because short-sighted bosses have nipped employee initiatives in the bud. Tomorrow's business environment will require a more careful evaluation of the potential of subordinates' ideas and greater trust in employees, giving them more freedom in organizing work, setting goals, and achieving them.

Comfortable in an Information Overload

Managers will need to make decisions based on vast amounts of information gathered by machines and subordinates. Therefore, they will need to develop strong analytical thinking and the ability to critically evaluate facts. Essentially, many managers will have to work in conditions of apparent chaos, where so many things are happening simultaneously that it is difficult to grasp them all. As a result, the best career prospects will open up for those who feel comfortable enough in such conditions to achieve the company's goals while continuously developing new ideas and improving efficiency. Needless to say, managers will also need to understand machines and people equally well. The time is not far off when managers will become a kind of mediator between employees and machines. Therefore, they must develop communication and leadership skills.

Since routine tasks will be handled by machines, humans will be left with the most important questions. As a result, every decision will carry immense responsibility. Even middle-level managers will bear a heavier burden of decision-making than they do now, and every choice will tip the scales of the company's development towards success or failure with greater amplitude.

Friends of Employees

Emotional intelligence will play an extremely significant role in the lives of managers. While in previous decades, a manager could afford to be authoritarian and "put subordinates in their place," in the future, they will have to deal with an increasingly diverse audience and strong personalities. Teams will see more and more so-called exclusive employees who possess rare skills in the job market. As a result, these individuals will be difficult to replace. Therefore, managers will need to learn to coexist with employees' expressions of individuality and very different needs. A military-style management approach will no longer work, and managers who can maintain friendly relationships with employees will achieve better results.

This will simultaneously create a more pleasant work environment but will also place more responsibility on employees. In other words, the manager will only help the employee realize their ideas and potential, rather than act as a taskmaster. This will essentially be the main task of the future manager.