Why Does Assertive Leadership Matter More Today?
Assertive Leadership Matters more today than ever. In this climate of disruption, Assertive Leadership matters more than ever. The speed of change has increased exponentially. Disruption makes products obsolete in the blink of an eye.
This current speed of change requires us to be more assertive.
Remote Workers Need Assertive Leadership
In addition, employees are increasingly working remotely and remote workers need Assertive Leadership to guide them to do their best work. Being remote poses communication challenges.
It’s easy to forget to communicate important information and more likely that employees miss or misinterpret communications. In this disruptive and increasingly virtual business climate, assertive communication, direct, honest, and specific, is essential to business survival and success.
The interviewer is Sherri Cannon, PCC, one of our Executive Coaches and the interviewee is Donna Schilder, MCC, President of Donna Schilder Coaching & Glacier Point Solutions.
Assertive Leadership Matters More Today – Video Transcript
Below is the transcript for this Assertive Leadership Matters video interview.
The Increased Speed of Change Requires Us to Lead Assertively
Sherri Cannon, PCC, Executive Coach:
So Donna, as a Master Certified Coach, you have 10,000 plus hours of coaching experience, and you have coached more than a hundred leaders.
You also lead a team of coaches under Glacier Point Solutions. So as an Executive Coach who has the fortune of working with you, I’ve found that assertiveness really matters now more than ever. Why do you believe being an assertive leader matters, especially today?
Donna Schilder, MCC, Executive & President, Glacier Point Solutions:
The speed of change has increased exponentially. Companies go in and out of operation, disruptors make services and products obsolete in the blink of an eye. People change jobs so much more than they ever did. The average IT person only spends four years in a job. So that speed of change requires us to be more assertive.
Sherri Cannon:
And what are the qualities then, that assertiveness, what do you think it requires of us because that environment’s different?
Donna Schilder:
Well, I think that it requires us to be direct and honest and specific in how we communicate with others, and we need to respect them and listen to them. And all of those are assertive traits.
Sherri Cannon:
Yeah. Great. Wow, it covers so much. And are there any other reasons that being an assertive leader is so important today?
Remote Workers & Virtual Teams Need Assertive Communication
Donna Schilder:
Well, also there’s a lot of virtual teams and people working virtually together. There’s multinational companies, there’s multi-location companies. So often we’re not face-to-face with who we communicate with, and it’s harder to get back and forth with people because we’re on the phone, and we have to set up appointments, and they’re not available, and they’re in meetings.
And so we really need to be effective in our communication so that they can respond to the changing work environment and the changing marketplace. So it’s really important, we as leaders need to be assertive, we need to be strong and effective with our employees.
Assertive Leaders Address & Resolve Conflict
Sherri Cannon:
Yeah, well said. And Donna, do you think that today’s complex business environment creates even more conflict or are we just imagining that?
Donna Schilder:
No, it absolutely does. Things are changing so fast. People aren’t on the same page. They don’t get all the information. Everything’s moving quickly. They’re virtual.
And so all of that creates a lot of conflict and what’s great about assertive leaders is that they address conflict head-on and they see it as an opportunity to actually build better solutions.
They’re also more direct, and they’re looking for a win-win solution, rather than an I lose, you win solution, which comes from a passive approach, or an I win, you lose approach that comes from an aggressive approach.
Sherri Cannon:
Yeah. Well said.
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