In this post-modern world, the youth has taken over. Although it is important to empower the young minds and give them authority to channel their energy productively, it is also important to keep them grounded. It is important that young individuals know that every great success requires perseverance. They can learn this from people who have actually achieved this success: people who make up senior leadership in an organization. 

To know more about how senior leaders operate and what they bring to the table, read this blog. 

How Do You Define Senior Leadership

Senior leadership or senior leadership team consists of the highest ranking employees at a particular company or organization. Senior leaders are usually older and bring in a lot of experience with them. Moreover, they are more patient and are able to deal with a diverse group of employees. 

What Character Attributes Are Present in Senior Leadership?

Universal claims are hard to make. However, when it comes to senior leadership, there are some attributes common to all senior leaders. Here are some of the most important ones. 

• Self awareness: they know how their behavior and action affect others in the organization. 
• Communication: the ability to listen like a leader
• Influence: they are likable and are revered by the employees in their organization
• Learning Agility: they apply previous knowledge in new ways
• Strategic thinking: knowing what to do at the right time
• Broad vision: they do not have a myopic vision of the world

What Are the Difficulties Faced by Senior Leadership?

1) The Norms of Society

In most societies, and especially eastern societies, norms are followed to a great extent. People believe that something that is a particular way should remain that way till the end of time. The senior citizens have always been given a lot of respect. But this respect often makes them lose opportunities. They are respected to a degree that the society does not allow them to work; it wants them to simply rest and sit idle at home. 

2) The Perceptions of Society

When you think of senior leaders, you often think that they come from a different world and are not equipped to understand the issues concerning the world today. This is generally the attitude of the youth towards senior leaders, and thus discourages the latter from showing their full potential. 

3) Lack of Incentives

Senior leaders are mentally capable to take on any roles. However, there are instances when they are not physically strong enough to compete with the youth. This should not be used as an excuse to discredit their contributions. Most senior leaders let go off their roles because they feel that their contributions are not being credited enough. 

Why Do We Need Experienced Senior Leadership in Society?

Any office that is full of young employees or any office that only has senior leaders is bound to face some stagnancy in performance. This is because diversity plays an important role in organizational growth. Having senior leaders can help bridge the gap between generations and will help ensure exponential growth for an organization. 

1. They Bring Important Skills to the Fold

Imagine two people working on the same project. One is a 25-year-old guy who is full of potential and energy. The other is a 55-year-old senior citizen who may not be very fast but extremely perceptive. Alone, these two men may be able to complete a project. However, together, they will be able to put something amazing together. Senior citizens bring knowledge of history and prediction of the future to the table. 

2. Can Help Bridge the Gap Between Generations

The young generation today feels that they have got it all together. They believe that they are the center of the world, and they often have a myopic vision of the world. 

Just look at how sensitive young people are in countries like the USA. They get offended at the smallest of things. Inclusion of senior citizens to the workplaces can help teach the kids more patience and more resilience. They can also learn from these people and not be too judgmental about the older generations. 

3. Bring Together Important Lessons of the Past

Things have not always been so connected. We may be living in a globalized world, and we think that the world was always like that. It is hard to imagine a world where there was no internet and no interconnectivity.

 People could not find answers on the click of a button. Some people used to spend days and months finding important information about their work. That required hard work and tolerance. Senior citizens can narrate incidences from their past and give first-hand accounts of what the world was like for older generations. This may inculcate some humility in the new generations. 

4. Have Humility and Patience

Two things that are most missing from employees of today is humility and patience. Even when they have not achieved anything substantial in life, they are boastful. Senior citizens who have spent their life working for a position tend to still be humble about their position. 

This makes them more favorable among their employees. Additionally, these qualities help bring stability to the framework of an organization where leaders are patient with employees and give them room for mistakes. 

5. Have less tendency of being quite quitters

If trends are to be believed, there are so many young individuals who do not feel that their efforts are being validated or appreciated in the workplace. This is why they have become quite quitters. They only do the bare minimum to remain at a job. 

Although, there is nuance involved in this debate, however, most organizations believe that quite quitting decreases the chances of individuals succeeding in their respective fields. Older generations are much more loyal and most of them have spend decades working in the same companies. The younger people can learn something about employee loyalty from the senior leadership. 

6. Have Learned From Trial and Error

This is not limited to senior leaders, but since they have a lot of experience, they have naturally gone through trial and error more than others. If they have reached leadership positions, chances are that they have struggled a great deal in life. 

Lost more times than they have won. This makes them an inspiration to many-especially the young employees feeling demotivated after losing. 

7. Know What Works

Market trends are forever changing, and it requires someone with a great instinct to know what the future holds for a particular trends. Senior leaders are generally able to navigate through difficult situations quite easily. 

They know what generally works for people. Moreover, the confidence they gain because of their experience in a field makes them significantly qualified to make accurate predictions. 

8. Have mastered the art of diplomacy

You may think that diplomacy is only needed at the global stage. It does not only come in handy for presidents, prime ministers and people serving higher offices. It can be used to convince your everyday clients to invest in your business. Senior leaders generally use non-verbal and verbal communication skills to convince anyone of their word. They are also good at manipulating situations and make them favor their own organizations. Working under such citizens can help employees learn valuable skills of the corporate world. 

How Can Senior Leadership Help Organizations?

• Can add diversity to a workforce
• Can influence the younger generation to not give up
• Can develop trust in leadership
• Can help coach and mentor new additions to the team
• Use diplomacy to bring more revenue
• Use their conflict resolution skills where needed
• Can pivot the company to a new direction when needed

Enhance Your Leadership Skills With Best Diplomats

Seeing senior leadership get respect, recognition and awards can be a source of great inspiration for the youth. These young minds may, one day, aspire to reach the top and get the similar recognition. But this requires persistence and perseverance. 

To enhance your leadership skills, you need things like excellent communication skills. You also need to perfect the subtle art of diplomacy, so you can interact with a number of people. Through its short training programs, Best Diplomats help the youth from all over the world to lead from the front. 

Conclusion

Most offices and organizations treat senior leadership with a lot of respect. However, some senior leaders take advantage of the power they are handed and become boastful. Others show gratitude and put in extra effort to do justice to their role. 

Whether you are a senior leader or you work with senior leaders, it is important to learn from each other and give respect where its due. If you have senior leaders working in your organization, it is for you to recognize all the great things they bring to the table. Learning from them may be the best thing you do in your life. 

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