If your leadership style isn’t evolving, you will lose good people

I used to think I was a pretty good leader.

And, to be fair, so did many of the people I led.

My teams were successful.

I got things done.

People generally enjoyed working with me.

My “directive leadership muscles” were pretty strong.

Then, during COVID, I took an LPI360.

And it showed me something I hadn't really seen.

The people I was leading were changing—and what they needed from me was changing too.

One of my favourite pieces of leadership research is Kouzes and Posner's Characteristics of an Admired Leader (CAL).

For more than 40 years, people have been asked which characteristics they most look for in someone they would willingly follow.

Four remain remarkably consistent:

🥇 Honest
🥈 Competent
🥉 Inspiring
4️⃣ Forward-looking

But underneath those four, things have moved.

During and after the pandemic, characteristics such as Caring, Co-operative, Dependable and Supportive became more prominent.

While characteristics like Courageous and Determined dropped significantly.

That resonated with my own 360 feedback.

I'd spent years developing the muscles required to lead from the front.

Set direction. Make decisions. Get things moving.

But increasingly, my people needed something else from me.

They needed me to walk alongside them.

Listen more.

Ask better questions.

Support rather than always direct.

And if I'm honest, those muscles weren't nearly as developed.

So I did something about it.

One of the reasons I became a certified coach was to intentionally strengthen the more supportive side of my leadership.

I'm still learning.

And perhaps that's the point.

After decades of leading and developing leaders, I've learned that experience doesn't mean having leadership figured out.

Experience should make us more willing to keep learning.

So here's my challenge:

What if the leadership style that made you successful ten years ago isn't what your people need from you today?

Maybe it's worth asking them.

Get in touch to discover how the LPI360 can help transform you and the leaders on your teams.