The landscape of leadership is constantly evolving, and the skills required for success are becoming increasingly complex. As we approach 2025, it seems that dynamics in the business environment are shifting faster than ever, with the evolution AI technology setting a break-neck pace for change and innovation. How can leaders–and organizations–keep up?
Recent ExecOnline research revealed the critical capabilities that leaders say they need now to succeed in the current business environment. Based on a survey of more than 20K leaders across industries and levels of leadership, these five capabilities rose to the top.
Read on to learn why each of these capabilities are critical to leadership success in 2025, and how coaching can accelerate leaders’ acquisition of the skills and mindsets they need to thrive.
1. Clear and Impactful Communication
Why it matters:
Effective communication is the foundation of strong leadership. In the context of uncertainty and change, clear and concise communication are more crucial than ever. As strategies adapt to address shifting demands in the business environment, it’s up to leaders to relay critical information across a variety of audiences, including their team members, collaborators, and external stakeholders.
How coaching can help:
- Modeling and practicing active listening to help leaders better comprehend what is being said or asked of them AND demonstrate to others that they are paying attention and taking their words into consideration.
- Providing feedback on the clarity and conciseness of a leader’s communication.
- Role playing a variety of interpersonal communication scenarios to help leaders practice modulating their communication style to fit the situation, topic, and audience.
2. Clear Decision-making Amid Uncertainty
Why it matters:
In today’s volatile and unpredictable business environment, leaders must be able to make informed decisions quickly and decisively, even in the face of uncertainty. This requires the ability to spot inflection points in the marketplace and assess the relative risk of pursuing or not pursuing certain strategies. It also requires an adaptive mindset that allows the leaders to be agile and pivot strategy as the market dictates.
How coaching can help:
- Providing frameworks for assessing risk to help leaders feel confident that their decisions have taken in to account a variety of known and unknown possible outcomes.
- Challenging fixed mindsets by encouraging leaders to believe that they can develop the skills needed to take on novel challenges and manage the outcomes of high-stakes decisions.
- Offering an outside perspective that challenges entrenched group think that can stymie data-driven decision-making.
- How to coach: Help leaders develop critical thinking skills, risk assessment techniques, and a data-driven approach to decision-making. Teach them how to weigh the pros and cons of different options and to be comfortable with making calculated risks.
3. Creating Buy-In for Change
Why it matters:
In a fast-moving business environment, the ability to effectively innovate and implement change is crucial for organizational success. Leaders must be able to create a compelling vision, communicate the benefits of change, and address concerns and resistance among stakeholders so they can move quickly to seize opportunities.
How coaching can help:
- Clarifying goals by interrogating leaders’ proposals to ensure that any new initiative is tightly and measurably aligned to overarching organizational objectives.
- Network building. Coaches can help leaders identify and build relationships with the stakeholders whose approval and collaboration will be most critical to turning your innovative idea into a reality.
- Improving the story by helping leaders craft a compelling, data-informed narrative about the problem they are trying to solve, how they intend to solve it, and how they will measure success.
4. Maintaining Team Connectivity
Why it matters:
In a remote or hybrid work environment, maintaining team cohesion and connectivity is essential for productivity and employee satisfaction.
How to coaching can help:
- Building team culture by helping leaders articulate the shared values that unite the team and foster trust and belonging among employees who may not otherwise have much in common.
- Fostering inclusivity by helping leaders understand the hidden biases that may prevent the ideas of some employees from coming the fore and giving them the tools to create a safe team dynamic that encourages everyone to bring their full potential to the team.
- Recognition and visibility. Coaches can keep leaders accountable to regularly offering recognition of the hard work of their team members, and giving team members the opportunity to present to or connect with other parts of the organization.
5. Planning for Multiple Scenarios
Why it matters:
The future is uncertain, and organizations are subject to a host of shifting economic, political, social, technological, and environmental factors. In this context, leaders must be prepared for a variety of potential outcomes or circumstances. By planning for multiple scenarios, leaders–and organizations–can be more resilient and adaptable to change.
How coaching can help:
- Building resilience by giving leaders tools and techniques to manage stress and maintain focus under pressure.
- Identifying uncertainties and providing leaders with frameworks to think through multiple scenarios and the plausible impacts of each on the organization.
- Boosting agility by introducing agile methodologies and practices that help leaders be more responsive to change.
Ready to prepare your leaders to thrive in 2025? Contact us to learn about ExecOnline’s integrated learning and coaching