Trends in Leadership

The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in the U.S. has identified five leading trends for senior executives, based on 247 leaders who participated in their "Leadership at the Peak" program from July 2006 to April 2007:

The Rise of Complex Challenges - driven by internal changes to the organization, market dynamics, a shortage of talent and globalization.

The Innovation Revolution - innovation efforts achieved through new ideation processes, task forces, cross functional innovation teams, off-site innovation programs and stage-gate processes, accompanied by a focus on talent/talent development, reward/recognition programs and research/external best practices.

The Art of Virtual Leadership - communication as a central skill to bridge cross-cultural, geographical and functional boundaries, but with the skills for virtual leadership differing from those used for face-to-face leadership.

Collaboration Nation - over 97 percent of executives surveyed believe that leaders in their organization must collaborate to succeed, but only 47 percent of believed leaders in their organization are highly skilled in collaboration.

The World of Interruption - dealing with fragmented work time, with a typical worker interrupted every 11 minutes, and taking an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task. Senior executives report being interrupted every 30 to 40 minutes.

The results are reported in the August 2007 issue of the CCL Leading Effectively e-Newsletter, and are drawn from a broader white paper titled 10 Trends: A Study of Senior Executives' Views on the Future, authored by Corey Criswell and Andre Martin.

Of significance, the wider study goes on to highlight the importance of several additional trends, including an increased emphasis of authenticity of leadership, being able to plan for leadership succession, and ensuring that current leaders maintain their personal wellness to maximize leadership longevity.