3 Imperatives for Intentional Leadership in a Shifting Workforce Landscape

Leadership and the workforce is at a time of notable metamorphosis as Baby Boomers slowly but surely leave the workforce and the younger generations, including Millennials and Gen Z, bring about a true wave of professional digital transformation.

Given the recent presence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current landscape of rapid disruption and change, the demand for Anticipatory Leadership is more crucial than ever. It is essential to guide this emerging workforce effectively both in the present and future.

I had the distinct opportunity to speak with a good friend of mine, Mark Sanborn, in a recent Opportunity Hour: Conversations with the Masters. Throughout our discussion, we delved into the transformations that the work landscape has undergone both in the lead-up to and during the pandemic. We also explored strategies for effectively leading the workforce of the future.

With the increasing frequency of global disruptions and the anticipation of more to come, the nature of work is evolving, reshaping our work practices. Mark explores these changes and the actions leaders should take now in his books and articles, his keynote speeches, and in our recent interview.

The Need to Have Intention

A leading concept that is emerging in the professional world today, a subject area that Mark has studied in great detail, is the role that intention plays in successful leadership and fostering a successful and significant organization. Many leaders today are unintentional, or their intentions are not shared clearly throughout the entire organization, which creates a disjointed and unproductive workforce.

Unfortunately, this disjointedness is especially detrimental regarding the multiple generations that currently exist in the workforce, as older generations may not interpret certain directions in the same way younger generations do and vice versa.

In Mark’s latest book, The Intentional Imperative, he calls out intentionality as the irreducible minimum. The need to be crystal clear with your team and take consistent and correct action every day to achieve organizational goals is, without question, a strategic imperative that must not be…