Since its inception, every business has encountered specific challenges that have threatened its survival. Companies must trounce these problems to enhance their profitability and become more successful. It’s estimated that one-fifth of organizations collapse two years after their establishment. Survival seems like the principal challenge faced by business leaders. However, today’s technology-dependent age has caused leaders and managers to tackle several unique issues that are the product of our environment. It’s enough to claim that the Fourth Industrial Revolution presents as many challenges as opportunities. The pandemic has also created the need for companies to refurbish their business concepts to adjust to the current times.
What’s a “business challenge” from experts’ perspectives? It’s any situation that prevents a business from pursuing success. Thus, anything that derails your quest for higher productivity or better profitability today can serve as a business challenge for leaders. They all are tasked with establishing modified definitions of “productivity” and complementing technology with human endeavors. Moreover, leaders must future-proof their organizations. When millennials constitute 75% of the workforce by 2030, a future leader’s palate must become accustomed to challenges now. Knowing about the challenges that will occur in the future may help you hone your management capabilities. Hence, here’s a breakdown:
1. Bolstering your education
Future leaders can’t perform their duties without constantly enhancing their managerial know-how. It helps them adjust to an embryonic landscape and ever-changing consumer preferences. Business managers can pursue online leadership courses to become well-apt at identifying, addressing, and resolving organizational challenges. This program’s suitable to bolster your executive leadership competency and prepare yourself for the change. Continue your education to adapt to this decade.
2. Enhancing soft skills
Are soft skills essential for your workforce? A survey shows that 97% of employers consider soft skills almost as important as hard skills. But do employers themselves possess these abilities? We suggest future leaders focus on bolstering their soft skills such as communication, critical thinking, public dealing, and problem-solving to become successful managers. These skills can help them influence their subordinates. You should develop these qualities to lead your people.
3. Embracing technology
Technology has become a must-have for companies to function properly today. A business manager can’t resist technology and make their organization profitable. The pandemic contributed to almost worldwide acceptance of technology. Statistics indicate over 70% of workers switched to remote working in 2020, and most of them are willing to continue telecommuting even when COVID’s over. Future leaders must ensure people continue embracing this technology. A forward-looking business manager should struggle to create a more tech-savvy workforce. Only this practice can promise your organization’s survival in the technology-dependent world of tomorrow.
4. Combating Zoom fatigue
Embracing technology isn’t enough when people’s mental health remains vulnerable from using too much of it! A survey shows that “Zoom fatigue” has become a growing problem among employees. According to a study, 5.5% of men and 13.8% of women feel “extremely fatigued” by using Zoom, thereby causing concerns about the ramifications of these digitized face-to-face interactions today.
Therefore, future leaders should eliminate this problem by making video-conferencing tools more comfortable for the workforce. Ask your employees to avoid multitasking and focus only on that Zoom call. Take mini-breaks during long calls and lessen onscreen distractions. Also, it helps if people switch to emails, text messages, or phone calls. Make technology friendlier for your team.
5. Focusing on upskilling/reskilling
As per a Deloitte survey, 72% of leaders believe reskilling the workforce ensures companies can handle future disruptions effectively. Similarly, upskilling has become a significant concern for business managers everywhere. What’s the difference between these two concepts, and why do they matter? Experts have predicted that 14,000+ jobs will disappear by the end of this decade. Therefore, employees should continue improving their capabilities and learning new skills to stay relevant.
Now, upskilling makes a worker well-equipped to do their job better. Conversely, reskilling makes an employee capable of doing another job. The business industry has become fast-paced as new trends emerge in the blink of an eye. Future leaders must encourage workers to hone their skills to keep them not merely productive but also employed. For instance, employees should become more tech-savvy for performing duties properly. And it’s a business leader’s responsibility to make sure that people are learning new skills.
6. Attracting/retaining talent
How long does an employee stay with a company? Research indicates that workers typically work for a company for an average of four years in the USA and five years in the UK. However, statistics change when we’re talking about recruits. Every fourth recruit quits after six months, studies have shown. You can imagine the plight of a business owner or manager who spends so much money to hire four people, only for one of them to leave after half a year! How can you ensure fresh talent stays with you? You should offer suitable benefits that today’s workforce is attracted to. Also, pair experienced recruiters with worthy recruitment software programs.
7. Strengthening cybersecurity
Organizations rely on technology excessively, thereby needing better cybersecurity measures to keep their data secure from hackers. It’s estimated that 60% of small-sized companies collapse six months after being hacked. During the coronavirus pandemic, this threat has become even stronger. Future leaders must strengthen their companies’ cybersecurity. You can train your employees on better internet ethics and teach them how to identify scam/phishing emails better. So, keep them vigilant.
8. Becoming more people-focused
Modern-day organizations focus on bolstering the workforce’s mental health. Since COVID’s advent, companies have accelerated their endeavors to combat stress that affects over 90% of workers. It’s estimated that 76% of employees reported at least one symptom of mental health illness in 2020. Future leaders should implement employee assistance programs while offering mental health counseling. Also, wellness programs can identify and eliminate a problem before it starts to affect your workforce’s mental health. Leaders should promote healthy eating and regular exercise in the office. Ensure your workers aren’t accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle to avoid health hazards such as obesity.
Conclusion
When 2020 arrived, people expected COVID to become a worldwide phenomenon eventually. But the world wasn’t ready for the pandemic to influence the business industry excessively and normalize some revolutionary trends. It’s become a challenge for companies to remain relevant during this change. Today, our business leaders face numerous problems regarding their workforce’s productivity and their companies’ profitability. We’ve discussed some of these problems with possible solutions as well.
Leaders must hone their education and focus on reskilling/upskilling their workers. Today, they’re tasked with keeping the business vessel afloat while fighting Zoom fatigue that hampers people’s productivity. Hiring and retaining fresh talent will emerge as a growing problem for managers. They must also adopt a more people-focused approach toward business whereas aligning technology with human efforts. Moreover, we expect business leaders to find more ways to embrace technology in the post-coronavirus business arena.