By Chris Mandzufas
Business leaders continue to face a challenging business environment in 2021. However, opportunities abound for leaders who can effectively manage the changes required, harness their leadership skills and deliver strategies for sustainable success.
After a rollercoaster ride in 2020, 2021 will be an opportunity for business leaders to reflect, reset and take advantage of a wealth of new opportunities driven by changing consumer demand, economic shifts and lingering COVID restrictions.
Mindshop has once again completed a survey of global business leaders. The insights from this report are drawn from the results of a global survey of Mindshop leaders and advisors undertaken in late 2020.  It explores the capabilities, behaviours and traits needed for leaders to navigate 2021 successfully, inviting leaders to reflect on their own gaps and mapping their training and development needs to address each gap.
The survey results highlighted that business leaders who had their resilience tested through 2020 have good confidence to push for growth in 2021, but need to lock in the lessons learned navigating COVID-impacted markets to get the most from their teams (through improved coaching) and importantly themselves (through improved productivity habits and behaviours) to achieve their goals.
The capabilities, traits and behaviours to succeed
The strategies and plans leaders develop for 2021 also need to be ‘change-ready’ as market and customer demand will evolve rapidly through the year.  Leaders also want to spend more time discovering what is working and what is not from experienced fellow leaders to help shape their 2021 strategies.
A November 2020 McKinsey article entitled ‘Closing the capability gap in the time of COVID_19’ draws attention to an evolved, blended way of building capability that focuses not just on learning but also the importance of behavioral changes that only come from regular, practical application of that knowledge.
The report discusses capabilities, traits and behaviours to succeed in the evolved business environment of 2021. Â Along with a wealth of insights from the survey, the report challenges leaders with five questions:
- How will you boost your business value and scale up in 2021? – Whilst disruptions will continue in some industries, many leaders will review and reset strategies to boost business value.
- Are you building the right high-performance behaviours or are you just ticking capability boxes? – Anyone can complete a course, but do you have the right habits and traits behind you, practicing what you have learnt and taking advantage of your learning in the real world?
- Are gaps in foundational traits your Achilles’ heel? – You can have all the capability, capacity and technology in the world, but if you are not authentic and likeable you will struggle to succeed.
- How will you reset your daily habits to ensure you stay productive, not just busy? – What are you going to do to ensure you have time to look at strategic opportunities, avoiding getting burnt out on day-to-day tasks?
- How will you pivot in 2021 to drive greater innovation across your organization? – You have a rare opportunity to pivot your business, how will you ‘step change’ your team and go-to-market?
What are your top three development priorities for 2021?
If you would like to discuss how you can improve your leadership capability, or if you are interested in joining our Business Growth Network with other growth-focused business leaders, please contact us today.
