The average duration for C-suite posts is roughly 4.9 years, and executive recruiters are generally the first port of call for firms and executives when seeking qualified individuals. While selecting a new leader, one must ensure that they exhibit self-motivation, critical thinking, deep analytical thinking, and the capacity to learn continually.
A new leader entering a team is a time of enormous significance for the leader and the company. The expectations from the job are great and the penalty of a possible error is rather significant.
Although some companies do a fantastic job of promoting and managing internal talent, in many circumstances, especially for certain development phases and for specific talents, external appointments are required at leadership levels.
With time, the duration of the jobs has likewise shrunk. A KornFerry analysis of 1,000 of the top US corporations by sales revealed the average duration at 4.9 years for C-suite posts, with certain CXO roles having significantly shorter tenures.
So, what qualities do executive recruiters — who are typically the first port of call for firms and leaders alike when they hunt for such people — look for?
Anil Thankachan, Co-Founder, Director of PeopleAsset, explains a few things he has found vital. It begins with self-motivation. Thankachan thinks individuals should not be expecting external nudges or motivators to achieve their best in their work. Instead, they should attempt to be ahead of the curve in terms of the demand from the position.
Of course, the leader has to possess strong critical thinking abilities and profound analytical skills established by years of experience.
Thankachan stresses another crucial skill: No matter how prepared the new leader is, there remains a learning phase when the individual transfers into a new company. A capacity to consistently learn from many individuals and numerous settings becomes vital.
Enough has been said about the value of communication. Thankachan explains that it is not only about speaking excellent English but the capacity to communicate views that puts a leader in high favor. It is crucial to communicate at the proper moment with the correct effect. This might hold for positive news as well as for sad news so that workers can take it properly.
Real empathy is another crucial trait excellent leaders have. This allows them to listen to their teams, assist their teams to accomplish objectives, interact with them more effectively, and even recognize particular difficulties such as indicators of burnout. This, according to Thankachan, is a vital talent for the success of leaders today.
Going that further, sincerity and vulnerability are odd leadership attributes that are becoming increasingly crucial in today’s times. Asking for assistance and accepting that we may not have the solution constantly are attributes that make a leader more personable. The team looks up to you as a person rather than simply as a title bearer.
Mukesh Batra of Marketscope, a hiring business, says in today’s circumstances, another crucial thing to evaluate is how a leader can manage complexity. This might vary from change management required in scenarios like mergers and acquisitions to crisis management, which could be the consequence of internal and external sources.
Leaders need to be able to steer themselves, their teams, and their organizations through tumultuous times. This needs not only a focus on strategy and execution, but on particular parts of important communication right from what information should be transmitted to whom, and even taking painful steps for the organization such as laying off people if necessary.
Alongside excellent functional and domain abilities, these talents will assist the leader to stay steadfast when the organization needs them the most.
