No matter where you are in the organizational structure, in order to be a manager or leader in 2024, you will need to devote yourself fully to your continued professional development. You just cannot afford to coast through this year with the assurance that you will be a successful leader at the end, with your company, profession, and reputation recognized as exceptional trailblazers in your field.
Every year, leaders and managers face a fresh set of problems. To meet these demands and effectively lead your teams through uncertainty, internal dangers, and external threats, you need to possess a skill set that is constantly evolving.
As demonstrated by LinkedIn’s 2024 Most In-Need Skills report, which ranked management and leadership skills third and fifth, respectively, on the top 10 list, we already know that there is a great need for these abilities.
So what particular leadership abilities are most in demand worldwide across all businesses and workforces?
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The AI boom has garnered a lot of attention in the last year, and with good reason. AI is more than just a fad. It’s a solution that is starting to lead to more output, greater income, lower expenses, and the ability to do tasks more effectively.
Even though it is still too early for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to include jobs connected to artificial intelligence in its occupational handbook, the job outlook for the computer science sector shows a highly promising 10% growth rate when compared to the average annual rate of job growth. To enable more productive businesses overall, managers and executives must possess a fundamental understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) and know how to incorporate it into their workflows and processes, even if they do not work directly in technology.
The intelligence of emotions
This year, emotional intelligence, or EQ, as it is more often known, is another skill that is becoming increasingly important. In order to produce highly engaged, highly motivated, and high-performing workers, organizations worldwide are in high demand for emotional intelligence traits like resilience, curiosity, lifelong learning, motivation, and self-awareness. These traits are linked to emotional intelligence and are included in the Future of Jobs 2023 report from the World Economic Forum.
Creativity
Fostering an innovative culture within your team requires creative thinking. Because it makes it possible for an organization to expand into new markets and continue to grow, this is one of the most important components of a successful one. This is the top “skill on the rise,” according to the World Economic Forum report. As a leader, you can set an example for this skill by promoting a diversity of viewpoints, questioning conventions and presumptions, taking calculated risks, and having the curiosity to ask the correct questions.
Adaptability and agility
In addition to emphasizing the need for leadership skills, LinkedIn’s In-Demand Skills report for 2024 also highlights adaptability as the “skill of the moment.” This means that, when comparing a six-month period in 2023 to the same period in 2022, employers have placed a high value on this skill. More than ever, it is evident that aspiring leaders must have the ability to be adaptable in an era of significant upheaval and change.
Workplace Involvement
In a poll conducted by Gallup among U.S.-based companies, best practice organizations, and global organizations, the company tracked employee engagement from 2009 to 2022 and found some extremely interesting facts.
Notably, worker participation in workplaces around the world has reached a record high of 23%, which is encouraging but still far below what is required. With 34% of the workforce assessed to be totally involved, 50% not engaged, and 16% actively disengaged, the US is among the nations with the highest rates of employee engagement.
According to Gallup, “higher wellbeing, better retention, lower absenteeism, and higher productivity” are all made possible by engaged employees. Therefore, it’s critical to develop a deep grasp of how teams function, what your team members’ performance drivers are, and how to use your leadership style proactively to empower and maintain their high levels of motivation and engagement in their work.
In general, you will need these five highly sought-after leadership competencies—AI, EQ, creativity, flexibility, and employee engagement—to build a prosperous leadership career this year. If you do anything less, you become outdated and disconnected from your company (and the market it caters to), which depends on your judgment, management, and experience to help it overcome obstacles in the business and stay competitive.
