{"id":4953,"date":"2021-04-06T11:16:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-06T11:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/uncategorized\/how-global-leadership-is-evolving-and-what-needs-to-happen-next\/"},"modified":"2025-03-06T15:43:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:43:28","slug":"how-global-leadership-is-evolving-and-what-needs-to-happen-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/developing-leaders\/how-global-leadership-is-evolving-and-what-needs-to-happen-next\/","title":{"rendered":"How global leadership is evolving – and what needs to happen next"},"content":{"rendered":"

To celebrate TPCL\u2019s 20th anniversary, we\u2019re catching up with colleagues around the world. In this blog, we hear how the leadership scene has evolved over time.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In the leadership game, a lot can change in a decade. New approaches come and go, coaching strategies develop, client demand drives progress. To keep ahead of the curve, leaders must be nimble, innovative, and open to new ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the conclusions of three TPCL partners \u2014 Annelieke Jense and Frouke Horstmann in the Netherlands, and Andrea Cardillo in Italy \u2014 a trifecta of leadership experts who recently met to discuss the company\u2019s global presence ten years since expanded beyond the UK.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keeping up with the market<\/b><\/p>\n

For Andrea, most of the changes have come from the market side as businesses get to grips with new concepts.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThings like coaching and emotional intelligence are nowadays much more mainstream than they used to be,\u201d he says. \u201cI think leadership is understood much more as a soft skill rather than just managerial.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere has been a shift in companies, even in management and strategies, which requires a company to be much more purpose-oriented and to ensure that the brand values and internal culture are authentically aligned.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The onset of the principle of \u2018shared value\u2019 has been critical too, Andrea believes, resulting in TPCL pivoting away from conventional leadership training and towards consulting \u201ctop management and senior management to create a kind of alignment as a strategic resource.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Frouke agrees. She has noticed a change in coaching language \u2013 \u2018purpose\u2019, \u2018meaning\u2019, \u2018self-development\u2019 are all becoming more common. It used to be our coaching language and the case that clients had to be convinced to take the time to monitor their employees\u2019 well-being and progress, but not anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

This, Frouke says, is especially true in the COVID-19 era.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the pandemic, the word \u2018thrive\u2019 \u2013 how do you make your people \u2018thrive\u2019 \u2013 has become common business language as well and is fundamental because it\u2019s about how to unleash the potential. These were words we didn\u2019t typically want to use because they were so \u2018coachy\u2019, and we wanted to talk in the language of the client.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Working within an ecosystem<\/b><\/p>\n

Leaders also appear to have broader awareness than they used to, says Frouke, as companies have learnt the importance of working in an \u201cecosystem.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about them being the best, instead they have to work together with the competition. On the whole that softens a culture and changes the mindset of the leaders.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The TPCL mindset has shifted as well, says Annelieke, with a determined effort to improve scalability by taking a more focused approach to clients. Likewise, with the proliferation of social media, the firm has had to find its voice \u2014 \u201cnot shouting and being arrogant\u2026 but letting people know we\u2019re here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A new approach to HR<\/b><\/p>\n

Recent changes in the HR scene have been significant, too. From round table meetings with industry leaders, Frouke has learned that personnel teams are being folded more and more into corporate strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we started, it was more HR knocking on management\u2019s door, asking \u2018can you please listen to me? I have something important to say\u2019. Now the leadership comes to them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, HR is the element of leadership that has evolved the most in recent years, says Frouke \u2014 transforming from an operational, function to a more strategic and crucial role that encourages leaders to create a culture where people thrive.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately though, with budgets crunched by the pandemic, there\u2019s been some backsliding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as the crisis hit\u2026 all L&D budgets were cut straight away. I\u2019m talking, for example, about the big four consultancies,\u201d says Annelieke. \u201cSo it is still the case in many places that if L&D and HR are not embraced at the top, those people don\u2019t have a lot of influence.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That being said, Andrea believes HR has stamped its place on the stage of corporate strategy \u2014 a move aided by the onset of new technologies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHR work cannot just be administrative or operational,\u201d he says, \u201cbecause nowadays, typical administrative functions within HR can be easily robotized or automatized.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s been an equally significant shift in how leadership as a whole is viewed, says Andrea. \u201cCompanies are moving beyond the principle of one, unitary leader, exploring the idea of \u2018network leadership\u2019 \u2014 leadership as a function that is played into a social system at every level, even at the shop floor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Leadership decentralized\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

This trend of decentralizing decision making is likely to continue in the years ahead, predicts Andrea, with a move to enable staff to make judgments at all levels of an organisation. This isn\u2019t an ethical or philosophical requirement, he says, but a necessity owing to the complexity and change in company environments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe closer you are to the shop floor or to the client, the easier it is for people to make choices because it\u2019s impossible for the top of the organization to gather all the information and make wise decisions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Curiously, this evolution is likely to encourage some of the leadership\u2019s oldest principles, says Annelieke: innovation and entrepreneurialism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese key leadership skills continue to be really important. Being innovative also means that you need to have corporate rebels, because it needs to be embraced, and that means that you\u2019re allowed to rock the boat, you\u2019re allowed to say where things could be done differently, those wild new ideas are listened to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On a political front, too, today\u2019s business leaders are having to make themselves heard, points out Frouke. Energy giant Shell is being sued over carbon emissions in the Netherlands, for instance \u2014 a flashpoint in the sustainability debate that corporate leaders are speaking out on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re asked to take a stand on political, societal issues. I don\u2019t know what to think about it, but that\u2019s a trend that you really see. Some seem to feel very comfortable about it, and some are more defensive about it,\u201d says Frouke.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think this will be even stronger in the coming years, that leaders are asked to take a stand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Keen to keep ahead of the leadership curve? Don\u2019t hesitate to get in touch<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate TPCL\u2019s 20th anniversary, we\u2019re catching up with colleagues around the world. In this blog, we hear how the leadership scene has evolved over time.\u00a0In the leadership game, a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_title":"How global leadership is evolving - and what needs to happen next - TPC Leadership","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"","editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"featured-blog-post":[],"page-type":[],"class_list":["post-4953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-developing-leaders"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"featured-blog-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured-blog-post?post=4953"},{"taxonomy":"page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tpcleadership.com\/tr-en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/page-type?post=4953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}