10 leadership competencies for 2023

1. Mental resilience

   The number of difficult situations faced by managers has increased dramatically. Stripped supply chains, shortages of raw materials, workers, etc. These problems are generating much higher levels of stress today than before the pandemic. Being resilient, including dealing with the pressures of constant change, will be a key skill in the coming times, according to those surveyed. Added to this is the ability to adapt to difficult situations and to know methods and techniques to find oneself in a crisis and focus attention on the most important directions.

2. Innovation and a broad perspective

   Knowledge of trends, ideas and cultures are essential in creating solutions, as well as in analyzing and understanding opportunities and threats, according to the respondents. It's not about deep knowledge, but about knowledge that will be useful for business. Access to knowledge is widespread, so the challenge turns out to be fishing out the most important ideas from the ocean of information, i.e. those that will determine the competitive advantages of the organization.

3. Analytical thinking and business intelligence

   Managers are overwhelmed by the mass of information. Access to knowledge at a certain level is no longer a competence asset, so the role of analytical skills and data-based decision-making is growing. And this requires the ability to read and interpret them correctly.

4. Managerial courage

   This is a competency that some respondents have begun to pay more and more attention to. It covers 3 areas:

   • Making decisions with incomplete data in a changing environment has become standard and requires courage not only to make a choice, but also to take responsibility and bear the possible consequences.
   • Managerial courage also means that one speaks up about difficult things. For example, we reject someone's project idea because it has no chance of success, or we give negative feedback or communicate changes in the team/organization.
   • After all, courage is the willingness to admit one's weaknesses and mistakes. Courage is admitting what is difficult for me, what I don't know how to do, what I can't do and what I struggle with. It builds a leader's credibility. It creates an opportunity to enjoy the respect of subordinates, who unerringly recognize the mistakes and weaknesses of their bosses. It also provides space for reflection, which is necessary," said one survey participant.
5. Coalition building

   This is another important competency of a manager. A leader should be able to exert influence, which he can do by building alliances. It is important to define in advance with whom one should form coalitions and relationships in order to exert influence.

6. Strategic management

   The approach to long-term management is changing. Now it is not about developing a ready-made pattern of action, but more about setting a direction. The path to get there may look different, because the business environment is very volatile, so the ability to create scenarios in developing new strategies and building business models is gaining importance. There is also a shift away from long-term strategies to medium-term strategies.

7. Seeking feedback

   Until now, HR has focused on making sure that leaders know how to construct and give feedback (this is the focus of most training). Now the reverse issue has been added - the manager's ability to receive feedback.

8. Wellbeing

   For managers and employees, this is an advanced trend. Over the past two years, it has been the area in which HR has most often conducted training and webinars. According to those surveyed, it means social, emotional, professional and financial development, as well as physical health

9. Ability to adapt quickly

   Learning and unlearning. It is based on the idea of agile mind, creative adaptive thinking and flexible use of knowledge and own skills.

10. Technological agility and digital security

    Openness to the use of digitization, writing automation into processes, consciously eliminating manual labor.