In today’s rapidly evolving workplace, traditional leadership development programs are falling short. Companies often focus on technical skills and overlook the crucial human elements needed to inspire, adapt and build thriving teams. It’s time to move beyond the ‘learn as you go’ approach to the critical role of the people manager. Organizations need to reimagine leadership development for the modern workforce, where collaboration, innovation and psychological safety are at the forefront vs. seen as ‘nice to haves.’
The future of work will not reward technical expertise alone but the ability to inspire, adapt and create psychological safety. Organizations that continue to promote employees into management without preparation risk weakening their talent pipelines and eroding trust. The workforce is changing and preparing employees for management is no longer optional; it is the cornerstone of sustaining innovation, equity, and long-term organizational effectiveness.
According to Gallup’s 2024 Employee Engagement study, employee engagement in the U.S. fell to its lowest level in a decade in 2024, with only 31% of employees engaged. Their findings point to the importance of including a plan for upskilling managers to build stronger bonds between employees and the organization through clear priorities, ongoing feedback and accountability.
Though becoming AI savvy is on the top of everyone’s development needs, Harvard Business Impact’s 2025 Global Leadership Development Study shows that emotional and social intelligence remain top leadership capabilities when it comes to meeting current and expected business needs. Along with these interpersonal skills, the study found that an openness to the need to adapt and function in environments of change and uncertainty is also a top priority.
Gabriela Rodriguez, a learning and development leader for FOX Corporation and a University of Southern California doctorate student, shares that, “The future of people management will not reward technical expertise alone. The ability to inspire, adapt and create psychological safety will be paramount to any leader’s success. Organizations that continue to promote employees into management without preparation risk weakening their talent pipelines and eroding trust.”
The workforce is changing and preparing employees for management is no longer optional. It is the cornerstone of sustaining innovation, equity and long-term organizational effectiveness. The skills needed are more ambiguous than traditional leadership tends to focus on. So how do organizations quickly provide their leaders with what they need to successfully guide their teams into the future?
Start with the Basics
Traditional leadership development was once built on top of a foundation of leadership basics that everyone learned as they moved from the frontlines and on through the ranks. They had the benefit of watching other leaders model the ‘company way.’ Leaders could even turn to the employee handbook as a primary resource for understanding what it meant to manage their team.
What’s changed? The work changed. It went from a focus on repetition and accuracy to engaging employees to be creative, think outside of the box, navigate ambiguity and drive rapid change. That’s a very different landscape to work on for both the employee and the leader.
The foundational skills for people management haven’t necessarily been replaced as much as they have been shuffled. Interpersonal skills that used to sit at the bottom as nice to haves now sit firmly at the top. The more tactical skills that used to sit at the top, like monitoring compliance and accuracy, are becoming more and more automated by technology.
This Isn’t a Generational Thing – It’s an Evolution of the Workplace
Rodriguez highlights that, “There’s a common misconception that leadership challenges are simply due to generational differences. Often, managers will lean on critiquing and dismissing the incumbent workforce generations. But that skips over needs we’ve all had when trying to work effectively in an ever-changing landscape. These challenges are often really communication and expectation challenges.”
Managers need development and coaching that helps them engage the skills that build:
- Clarity and Consistency: Communicating expectations clearly and consistently, ensuring all team members understand their roles and responsibilities. This requires more than reading job descriptions. It’s about collectively establishing strong performance and team agreements. This sets up a way of working that will help team members tackle their varying work demands in a way that’s agile but has predictable anchors to keep them all aligned.
- Social Awareness: During Covid-19, the separation of work and personal life was completely dissolved. Companies were now operating from their employee’s homes and everything those employees had to navigate at home during this unprecedented moment in the world. It caused managers to have to truly consider the context of the whole person, not just the fraction of them that shows up to do a job. Whether explicitly stated or not, managers benefit from considering an individual’s context in the world as much as businesses benefit from considering the social context of their consumers. It’s a balancing act that is heavily nuanced and not cut and dry.
- Emotional Intelligence: The concept of emotional intelligence (EQ) has been around for some time now. But the skills associated with it are still not as well developed with leaders as needed for a modern workplace. Skills such as self-awareness and empathy are often left to chance. There’s an assumption that it’s a personality trait or more of a trend. But they are critical skills that can be developed and are needed for the modern workplace.
Start with Accountability
One of the most significant shifts in leadership skill development is redefining accountability. It’s no longer a top-down, hierarchical system where managers assign tasks and track progress and employees comply. For an innovative culture, accountability is less about holding someone there and more about enabling and building a culture of accountability.
Rodriguez advises to, “Demonstrate and coach others to own it out right. If something goes wrong, engage with it head on.” Taking this direct approach sets individuals up to focus more on moving forward, finding solutions and learning from their experiences vs. tracking the points they may be winning or losing with their managers or others.
This requires a conscious, two-way exchange based on mutual understanding and shared goals. Often called ‘conscious accountability,’ this approach requires greater levels of self-awareness and vulnerability. The kind of vulnerability where leadership can own their strengths and weaknesses vs. trying to be the all-knowing leader for everyone. And where employees can focus on learning from mistakes vs. avoiding them.
To create a culture of accountability, leadership development needs to prioritize the ability to:
- Engage in transparent and open communication. This is about clearly communicating expectations and providing a safe space for team members to voice concerns and perspectives. Creating a year-round regimen can ensure the right conversations are happening that will develop the solid and fertile ground to engage in candid conversations about what’s truly effective and what needs to change. The simplest way to connect with employees and see how they are doing is checking in proactively vs. waiting for something to go wrong.
- Ensure there is a collaborative approach to goal setting. Co-creating individual goals and team priorities that align with organizational values, ensuring everyone understands the ‘why’ behind their work and how their contributions fit into the bigger picture engages the employee’s mind at a higher level of commitment and creativity.
- Fostering a sense of shared ownership and responsibility. When team members are empowered to take initiative and contribute their unique skills and expertise, they not only help the company succeed but they also thrive in their career. Another way to encourage ownership is engaging in two-way dialogue that the employee gets to initiate and drive, putting them in the driver’s seat. Instead of it being the ‘wise owl’ manager with all the answers, leaders should cultivate a collaborative partnership that engages employees as a business partner vs. an understudy. The manager still holds the responsibility of the final decision, but the employees own the ideas and solutions they bring to the table.
Cultivate a Culture of Continuous Growth
In a world where technology is rapidly changing, continuous learning is no longer a luxury, it’s a necessity. Organizations must invest in creating a culture of learning, where employees are encouraged to expand their knowledge and skills throughout their careers.
To successfully do this, it requires leaders who can:
- Provide access to learning resources. Offering a variety of learning opportunities, such as e-learning platforms, online courses, conferences and workshops. This can also include low cost but high return options such as mentoring or job shadowing. Ideally, every employee would have an individual development plan (IDP) that will help ensure development is intentional and managers can add development needs into their budget.
- Promote experimentation. Encouraging employees to experiment with new ideas and technologies, fostering a spirit of innovation and continuous improvement. This is especially true for where AI is right now. The positive is that no one is an expert and it creates a level playing field for employees to prepare for the future.
- Recognize and reward learning. Acknowledging and celebrating employees who demonstrate a commitment to learning and development. It’s one thing to approve development but it’s a whole other level of support to celebrate and encourage that development.
“The best part about where we are now in terms of access to development is that we can learn from anyone. We can literally learn from someone outside of our corporate or work environment, outside of our industry and outside of our academic environments. We have access to other people’s knowledge across the world at our fingertips. Managers should encourage taking advantage of expanding viewpoints and understanding the bigger picture,” advises Rodriquez.
Build a Culture of Calculated Risk-Taking
Innovation thrives in environments where risk-taking is encouraged and rewarded. This is an environment where calculated risks are supported for the ability of the company to keep innovating.
Managers who do this well know how to:
- Set an example. Leadership should embrace risks and set them as a cultural norm within the organization. The right way to do this is by being vocal and supporting new and innovative ideas. As well as generating a few of their own.
- Align with company values and ethics. There is a need for the promotion of conversation around ethical awareness and company values. This is highly valuable for employees to stay sensitive of the greater human elements of the tasks at hand. This is prevalent with the technology that they are utilizing today but it goes beyond that. Ethics and values speak to the ‘how’ of what’s expected, tolerated and encouraged in a company. If they are never discussed, chances for alignment are limited.
- Imagine the future. It’s no longer just the job of the C-Suite to come up with the future direction of the organization. With innovation as the primary competitive edge, leaders need all hands on deck.
Rodriguez encourages managers to, “Take the risk and get moving. Stagnation is not a winning strategy. It’s good to be thoughtful and intentional but waiting for all the information to be available or for signs of guaranteed success is a recipe for failure.”
The Path Forward: Empowering People Leaders for a Brighter Future
Effective leadership development is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s a strategic imperative. By prioritizing accountability, cultivating a culture of continuous learning and embracing calculated risk-taking, organizations can empower their people leaders to create high-performing, innovative and resilient teams that are ready to tackle the challenges of the modern workplace.