Leadership Excellence In A VUCA World

Executive Leadership in a VUCA World by UCLA

Having goals is an essential part of life. In order to achieve them, you need a strategy. However, what we need to understand is its significance. Strategy, derived from a Greek word, means a general plan that helps in achieving goals under any circumstances. Strategy is important because it helps in setting up the priorities, controlling the actions, and executing the plans. For example, our daily routine is all about strategy. We plan our daily routine, waking up early in the morning, doing all our morning chores, going to the office, having lunch, etc. All these are a part of strategizing in order to make life more effective. These are personal life goals. This helps in knowing how to achieve your aims in the most efficient and effective manner.

Having known that strategy is of great consequence in one’s personal life, it is imperative that its significance in other global spheres is immense. Talking about the business world, the art of designing a plan holds great substance. In the words of Alfred Chandler, a former business history professor at Harvard Business School, "Strategy is the determination of the basic long-term goals of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals."
 

What are Strategic Management and Leadership?

Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, once sent a personal letter to his managers, stating, “As managers of people, we need to put ourselves in others’ shoes. We should try to understand their needs, desires, and strivings from their point of view. Only then we will be able to motivate associates by appealing to their drive to become better individuals and more productive associates.”

Strategic leadership is an essential part of any company and is needed in every field. It helps in achieving the company’s aims efficiently and effectively. Strategic leadership is defined as the process of forming others to make decisions to then increase the possibility of the long-term success of an organization and simultaneously maintain short-term financial steadiness.
 

Leadership:

Some believe that a leader is born not made, but leadership is not inborn, it is a learned behavior; a skill. Leaders are made because of the books they read, the people they listen to, and the ones they connect with. Although there are no specific qualities that truly define a leader, strong leaders usually perform and behave a certain way. Those who enroll in strategic management and leadership courses learn how to become effective leaders.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” - John C. Maxwell
 

Important Leadership Skills one must develop

In order to be a leader, certain skills must be attained. These skills will be useful in leading the team in an effective and structured way.

Top leadership skills

Communication skills

It is needless to say that when leading a team, having the necessary communication skills to edify the teammates with what needs to be done is crucial. A slight miscommunication may have a negative impact on the goal. Hence, enhancing communication skills shall help you lead the team in the right direction. Our courses in strategic management and leadership will help you hone your communication skills.

Planning and organizing: Planning and organizing are just as important as having communication skills because they help in simplifying the process of reaching the goal. These are mainly acquired through practical experience rather than theoretical knowledge.

Problem-solving and decision-making: Professional development is enhanced through problem-solving and decision-making. This shall lead to the team contributing more effectively. Faster accomplishments and stronger commitments lead to employee satisfaction, Thus, saving time and making better use of resources.
 

Top ways to acquire Strategic Management and Leadership Skills to become an effective leader

In order to become a successful leader, there are certain skills that have to be incorporated. Following are some steps that can be practiced in order to inculcate leadership qualities. These steps include prediction, challenges, translation, and decision making.

Predict- As a leader or a strategist, you have to foresee or predict complexities. Failing to identify such possibilities that commonly result in company losses, is one issue. Although, this can be avoided by:

• closely interacting with your clients
• identifying potential opportunities for growth
• predicting which issues the company may face in the future
• performing market research
• examine the behaviors and outcomes of competitors
• identifying the cause of client loss or gain
• participating at conferences and conventions

Challenge- To overcome challenges, you have to improve your ability to understand the task and analyze the problem from various perspectives. To cope with challenging situations, you should:

• focus solely on the problem, rather than identifying the root cause
• conduct brainstorming meetings with other strategic leaders to identify and resolve difficulties.

Those who join our strategic management and leadership courses learn how to overcome challenges and turn them into opportunities.

Translate- For becoming an effective strategic leader, you need to have the ability to break down a big issue into multiple smaller ones. These interpretation skills can be developed by:

• examining complex information and noting essential factors that you notice
• looking at the big picture as well as the details, and discard material that you believe is unrelated to the root cause of the problem
• implementing quantitative analysis

Decide- Being able to think quickly is essential when working in a fast-paced commercial environment. You have to make decisions based on insufficient information at times while keeping both short-term and long-term goals in mind. You must be able to make solid decisions and:

• be open to a variety of solutions that can help you solve the challenge at hand
• recognize the different little components that comprise an option
• prioritize tasks depending on long-term and short-term needs

Thinking about developing leadership skills? Join a range of strategic management and leadership courses that we offer.
 

Types of Leadership

With each company being unique, it is essential to have well defined goals, strategic management and leadership style.  It should also be known that leadership cannot be explained in terms of personality traits but instead, expressed through actions and various leadership styles.

Laissez-faire Leadership: Derived from a French word, Laissez-faire means “let (it/them) do” but here, the meaning of this phrase is “to let go”. A laissez-faire leader provides little to no direct oversight to their employees. It is distinguished by its hands-off style, which allows the team members to complete work as they deem fit.

It is one of the least interfering forms of leadership in which they seek to empower their employees by delegating work and, on occasion, authority to their subordinates whom they trust the most.

To exercise this leadership style, you must have team members who are highly skilled and experienced and do not require a lot of monitoring. If this leadership is applied incorrectly, there is a risk of diminished productivity, misunderstanding among team members, and a delay in the company's or the team's success and growth.

To succeed, laissez-faire leaders need to treat employees as motivated self-starters, actively monitor group performance, provide consistent feedback, and, as previously stated, hire highly skilled team members.

Learn more about this form of leadership by joining one of our advanced strategic management and leadership courses.

Democratic Leadership:  This is a style of leadership in which decisions are made in collaboration with members of a group. This style is very participative, with leaders frequently asking for feedback from team members before making a final decision.

To be a democratic leader, you have to encourage your team members to express their thoughts and ideas, empower them, allow them to contribute, collaborate with them to construct a plan, and then vote on the best course of action. Although the final decision is made by the leader, each team member has an equal say in the project's direction. Because this style encourages collaboration and affirmation of team members, democratic leadership can be one of the most effective types of leadership.

Coach Style Leadership- Coaching is yet another form of management style and is often used as an effective approach by leaders. This is the leadership style in which leaders take the time to nurture and develop their subordinates' knowledge, skills, experiences, and confidence. Coach-style leaders are more concerned with developing individuals for the future. Those who join our strategic management and leadership courses learn about coach-style leadership in detail.

A skilled coaching leader allows the team members to work freely while simultaneously making them feel supported. Some strategies for adopting a coaching style of leadership include demonstrating empathy, which is when you connect with others without judgment or a particular agenda. Another thing you can do is recognize their strength. Coach-style leaders assist their employees in identifying and amplifying their talents. When you adopt a coach-style leadership, you can help improve employees’ performance and increase enjoyment at work through pace and tone.

Strategic Leadership: Strategic leadership is a method of influencing others and making decisions that will contribute to the long-term success of a firm. To be a strategic leader, you must have great communication skills, particularly for strategic vision, but you must also assist your team members in pursuing that goal by using the suitable tools and platforms, as well as adopting the appropriate methods.

This leadership style is more suited for you if you have a team of highly skilled and well-trained individuals. They should also be capable of handling unforeseen scenarios.

However, if you want to be a strategic leader, you can do so by knowing your organization's strategic aims and contributing to them, guiding and motivating your team to be strategic thinkers. Discuss initiatives, recognize when the team sees a strategic opportunity, and include others in putting the strategy into action.

Want to become a strategic leader? Join from a range of certifications in strategic management and leadership that we offer.
 

What are strategic management and leadership course?

Strategic leadership is a management style involving long-term goals for a firm or team of employees and putting plans in place to achieve them. It differs from common strategic management and leadership education, which focuses on managing employees and directing work rather than long-term strategy.

One of the most significant advantages of taking a strategic management and leadership course is the possibility to obtain new insights into business management. Incorporating some of what you learn in the course into your day-to-day leadership style allows you to set more ambitious goals for your firm and provide staff with a clearer vision. You can also maintain a competitive advantage in business while working full-time. Not only that, online learning is a convenient method to take a certificate in strategic management and leadership courses on your schedule.

Advanced strategic management and leadership courses are designed for people who are already in positions of leadership in their organizations as well as those who want to advance to management. These kinds of courses are excellent to stay competitive. Managers from a wide range of industries can benefit from learning more about strategic management and leadership and applying what they've learned in a strategic leadership course back at work.
 

The Role of Strategic Leadership in Organization

There are different strategies for strategic leadership. WG Rowe distinguishes between strategic, visionary, and managerial leaders since strategic leadership is such a large topic. Strategic leadership is predicated on a shared vision of what an organization should be so that day-to-day decision-making or emergent strategy processes are compatible with this goal. Managerial leaders only have an impact on the actions and decisions of people with whom they work.

They are involved in circumstances and scenarios that are typical of day-to-day activities, and they are more concerned with functional areas of responsibility. Visionary leadership, on the other hand, is future-oriented and concerned with risk-taking, and visionary leaders are not dependent on their organizations for their sense of identity. Visionary leaders operate from high-risk positions and seek out risky endeavors, particularly when the stakes are high.

It is commonly defined as the practice of existing abilities and skills while persuading others to train in new formats for new leadership models. To be more specific, to achieve successful educational management within the organization, executives must think strategically about where and why adjustments are required.

New leaders, for example, should have three key skills: problem-solving, decision-making, and creative/critical thinking. Educators, administrators, and other practitioners should also be taught in educational management and be able to apply this knowledge in new leadership roles regularly.

As a result, total quality leadership will have an impact on the educational environment's outcome. Among the scholars, the widely accepted definition is “Strategic leadership is represented by persons in all sectors of the educational environment who possess talents to establish and express vision and effect change through participatory leadership."
 

Top job opportunities after completing Strategic Management and Leadership Course

Once you have gained the certificate in strategic management and leadership, you will find various job opportunities ranging from a team leader to a director. Some of the prominent job opportunities are:

Senior Director:  A senior director is responsible for ensuring the delivery of industry-leading technical support and meeting the company's mission-essential support goals. Collaboration with Technical Support executives in other locations is also required to create and implement global programs. A senior director will give oversight to the support team for customer escalations to achieve expectations in their 24/7 service-delivery model.

Operations manager:  One of the primary responsibilities of an operations manager is to manage the team to meet departmental goals by allocating workload and successfully managing resources. Not only that, but creating a talent pipeline through coaching, training, and performance management is essential.

Vice president: As a vice president, you must develop and implement a best-practice manufacturing vision, strategy, policies, processes, and procedures to aid and improve business performance. In addition, one must provide strategic leadership and lead culture creation within the Unit. Filter, align and drive organizational policy and goals.

Strategy manager: A strategic manager is in charge of analyzing a company's present strategy and goals to discover potential strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. They usually lead and manage one to multiple business divisions to fulfill specific problems and goals, such as production, finance, human resources, and marketing.

Strategy lead:  A strategy lead needs to collaborate with teams to develop strategic plans and share media intelligence. In addition, he/she must establish a chapter layout for activity reports other than dossiers to guarantee that the team executes and presents work well to the client. It is also vital to keep the customer up to date on sector developments and critical media movements.

Deputy general manager: As a deputy general manager, you will be responsible for developing, executing, and owning the performance of a portfolio of exhibitions or events. Customer client insights will be used in the development and execution of creating new service product solutions or brand extensions depending on client needs. The performance will be defined as the ability to deliver positive business outcomes to B2B and B2C customers (exhibitors and visitors) while driving revenue and profit growth.

Senior manager: A senior manager will review and ensure that all proposals in their portfolio are aligned with client objectives. Owning customer presentations by laying the framework and guiding the team to create the content must also be done. A senior manager is also responsible for establishing presales standards and norms for the team.

Summing up: All things considered, it is now known that pursuing executive strategic management and leadership course will help you achieve long-term goals for a firm or team of employees and put plans in place to achieve them. One of the most significant advantages of taking a certificate in strategic management and leadership is the possibility to obtain new insights into business management.

Not only that, online learning is a convenient method to take a strategic leadership course on schedule. These kinds of courses are excellent to stay competitive. With each company being unique, it is essential to have your own set of employees, goals, and management style, which makes it important to completely understand each type of leadership before picking the most suitable one for you.
 

FAQs on Strategic Leadership

Q. What is strategic leadership?

Ans. Strategic leadership is a practice wherein executives use different methods of management to develop a vision for their organization that will enable it to adapt to or remain competitive in a changing economic and technological climate.

Q. Why is strategic management and leadership important?

Ans. The primary goal of strategic management and leadership is to shift an organization's trajectory from one that leads to its default future to one that leads to a better future: a process that includes establishing strategy and executing strategy.

Q. What are the characteristics of strategic leadership?

Ans. The characteristics of a strategist or strategic leader are:

• Articulating
• Thinkers
• Delegators
• Motivating
• Self-aware
• Compassionate
• Fair
• Open-minded

Q. What are the functions of a strategic leader?

Ans. As a strategic leader, one must be:

• Determining the course of action
• Making strategic decisions
• Putting strategies into action
• Communicating better in the internal organization
• Ensuring that efforts are directed in the proper manner
• Developing strategic capabilities

Q. What are the main components of strategic leadership?

Ans. The role of strategic leaders in five main areas:

• Creating organizational and strategic processes
• People development and leadership
• Creating a culture and value systems
• Creating distinct organizational capabilities
• Creating a strong network

Q. What are the job opportunities after pursuing strategic management and leadership course?

Ans. One can become a senior director, operations manager, vice president of the company, strategy manager, and strategy lead amongst others.

Q. What are the four types of leadership?

Ans. Following are the fours types of leadership:

• Laissez-faire Leadership
• Democratic Leadership
• Coach Style Leadership
• Strategic Leadership

Q. How can one develop strategic leadership skills?

Ans. In order to acquire the strategic leadership skills, one should:

• Predict
• Challenge
• Translate
• Decide

Q. What are the top leadership skills?

Ans. Some of the top leadership skills are:

• Communication skills
• Planning and organizing
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• How to develop strategic leadership skills

Q. What is the benefit of pursuing strategic management and leadership course?

Ans. One of the most significant benefits of taking a strategic leadership course is the opportunity to gain new perspectives on business management. Incorporating part of what you learn in the course into your day-to-day leadership style enables you to set more ambitious goals for your company and present a clearer vision to your employees.