The 12 biggest leadership trends for 2022 (and beyond!) - Dr. Alice Granholm (2023)

I don't know what your schedule looks like at the moment, but I have a day off next week to plan for 2022 before I take my Christmas break off.

What should leaders focus on in 2022?

If you want to discover the best ideas for the future of your business, increase team engagement, reduce turnover and discover the superpower of management in 2022, you want to hear my predictions about how management will change.

Not only are some major leadership changes upon us in 2022, but it is the future of leadership as we know it.

Watch the video here (or read below):

1. Experiments are permanent.

Now, I know many managers are not happy when I tell them this, and I understand because there is an inherent level of error in experiments, but only when we see that the results of the experiments do not go as they are imagined make a mistake. Then it is definitely true. If we think of it as a learning experiment, then it is not true, because an experiment cannot fail, and any experiment can lead to learning.

Therefore, experiments are permanent. As technology continues to advance exponentially and globalization continues to increase, we will see change, ambiguity, uncertainty and even volatility become our norm, and when change, especially change and ambiguity, is our reality, we need to start experimenting because there are challenges. Problems will arise that we don't actually have solutions for yet, and so we have to find those solutions, and the only way to find those solutions is through experimentation.

Based on the past 21 months alone, I can guarantee you that in 2022 and beyond you will face challenges that you have never faced before and that others are unlikely to master either. So can you imagine that it will be really important for managers to experiment to find solutions to challenges that none of us have faced before?

2. Being an expert does not necessarily mean what he has done in the past.

That's what I mean by that. With the speed of change and all the information becoming more and more available to us every day, it is simply impossible to know everything there is to know about every topic available today. Future leadership skills will be much more about who you are as a leader and how you lead than about having the right answers in a specific area or topic.

3. Listening to others is a must for effective leadership.

I want you to consider listening as a leadership superpower. You might think I'm exaggerating, but let me tell you something about listening. What has long been said about children will also apply to adults in the future: they don't care what you say or what you know until they know you care and that they are not just children. And the only way to truly care about others is to listen to them first.

4. Building trust actually requires your intention.

People naturally used to trust people in leadership positions. In the future, you must earn their trust. It will not be taken for granted as more and more people distrust the institutions as a whole. More and more people distrust people in leadership positions. This does not mean that people stop trusting you as a leader, but it does mean that you must become credible in their eyes, which requires intention on your part as a leader going forward.

#5. The people on your team, including yourself, must be treated as whole people.

One thing the Great Recession taught us is that if people can't express themselves fully, they will immediately stop. Each of us has a professional life, a private life, a family life, a relationship life, a hobby life, a volunteer life and everything in between. And people expect to be treated as whole people, not isolated parts of themselves. That doesn't mean lowering your expectations of people, but it does mean creating spaces and environments where people feel more comfortable on your team than they do. may appear. Gone are the days when people willingly checked a part of themselves at the door.

That's why self-care is more important than ever. As I said before, it depends on who you are as a leader, and just as the people on your team have to present themselves as a whole, so do you. The reality is that as a manager you will never find time to take care of yourself. You have to take your time. And let's face it: the demands on management sometimes increase day by day. So as a manager, you must set aside time for self-care. Your mental health, emotional health, mental health and physical health are critical to who you are and how you perform as a leader.

And the great thing is that when we take time as leaders to take care of ourselves and as leaders, we value ourselves and our health, it has a domino effect in our organizations and in our teams because when we set an example for others, as it appears We like to value, love and take care of ourselves. Seeing other people do this can be a catalyst for others to do the same for themselves. It's a win-win situation.

6. Your team can see your intentions from every interaction with you.

You can see it in your conversations, in your emails, in Zoom calls, in messages and in text messages. So make sure your intent is clear, and really be clear: is it for me and about me, or is it for her and about her, or maybe a combination of both? People know if you really care about them or if you're just someone else on the team.

And if you're not sure how your communication is doing, do a four-week review of your communication over the past four weeks with each of your team members, as it may be true that you are actually communicating value and worth to a team. members, but not others. So look back at your communication with everyone over the last four weeks and see what it says about them. Do you think that indicates that they are valuable and play an important role in the team, right? And looking back at how you've communicated with your team over the past four weeks, what better time than now to do something about it?

7. Cooperation with others is a top priority.

Going forward, if you want to find the best ideas for your business to not only survive but thrive in these changing times, increase team member engagement and reduce turnover, focus on collaborating with others. Gone are the days when managers sat alone in their offices and made decisions on their own. People really want to be involved, and the reality is that you can't find the best ideas for the future if you don't work together.

And when I say collaboration, I don't just mean with your team. I also believe that the more you can collaborate with others in your community, in your neighborhood and around the world, the more successful your organization will be in the future. I believe this will not only be the case in 2022, but certainly in the next decade. Collaboration is critical to the success of any organization, both internally and externally.

8. Risk-taking must be accepted.

This goes back to the number one prediction that experiments will last. The reality is that risk is an inherent part of experimentation when we engage in it. When we try something new, we cannot be 100% sure that we know exactly how things will turn out, which means that there is always a risk involved in experimenting and trying new things and taking on new challenges in order to find new solutions. As such, leaders moving forward into 2022 and beyond must embrace risk-taking as the norm and as a core value of their personality. Even if you take calculated risks, there will always be a part of your job when you try something new that you're not sure how it will turn out. So take that risk as you evolve.

9. Trying new things is still more important than not failing.

To move forward, leaders must move beyond perfection and embrace progress instead of perfection. If you are willing to wait until you have all the information you think you need before making any decisions, you are actually missing out on one of the most important factors when making decisions, and that is to get feedback. Yes, you need the right input before you can make a decision, but the reality is that you don't know if it was the right decision, a good decision, the best decision or not until you get feedback from them, that touched them.

So don't wait for everything to be just right and perfect before you move on, prioritize progress over perfection and get the feedback that really matters to make really good decisions later.

10. Taking responsibility when things go wrong or when mistakes are made will be more important than now.

People have much less patience than ever before with managers who shift the blame. As a leader, the culture in your organization goes up and down with you. So if mistakes or errors happen as a manager, you have to take responsibility for it. It comes back to you, period. If you want an example of how leaders still blame their team for errors or mistakes, check out my video of Rachel Hollis' "apology" after her TikTok statement went viral and offended countless people. So I recommend that when mistakes are made or mistakes occur, sincerely apologize for them, admit them, take responsibility for them, learn from them, grow from them, make the necessary changes and move on.

11. Sharing your power is something you should use.

This means that people are more aware than ever of the value they really add to your business and your team. This means that if you don't entrust them with more responsibility and ownership, they will go somewhere else where they want to be. Gone are the days when people waited for years for more responsibility. People don't want you to rush in and save the day. They want to know that you trust them enough so that even if they make a mistake, they can take responsibility for it, learn from it, and try again.

12. You must embrace your own unique leadership style.

Now there are leadership skills that need to be taught and I believe that anyone can learn to be an effective leader, but the reality is that each of us is unique and therefore seeing the way these leadership skills actually need to be lived , different for each manager. We should not copy the management styles of others. I will always be a vocal leader, running down the halls when I am excited and in a hurry. As a leader, I probably want to be the loudest person in the room, laugh the loudest, but that's because I am, and I'm not. I don't expect anyone else to lead like this and show their leadership skills. As leaders, we must find our own authentic, unique leadership voice and draw on our unique leadership methods. The reality is that there is no right leader.

So in 2022 and beyond, I really encourage you to learn the leadership skills that are essential to being an effective leader and to embrace your own unique leadership style. So these are my 12 predictions for leadership trends in 2022 and beyond.

I am very curious which of the 12 you will implement immediately or do you disagree with a number of them? Let me know in the comments below and you could be our leader in 2022 and beyond.