Quazi M. Ahmed, IFC Certified Master Trainer; TEDx Speaker; International Trainer; Leadership Coach ; Management Consultant; Certified Facilitator, InsideOut Coaching (USA); Lead Consultant and CEO, FutureLeaders™
First, A Research on C-Suite Executives at Harvard on Social Skills
As you know, the letter C here stands for chief and the leaders who hold C-level positions are considered the most powerful and influential members of an organization. These executives set the company’s strategy, make higher-stakes decisions and ensure the day-to-day operations align with fulfilling the organization’s strategic goals.
Now, it may surprise those in C-Suite in Bangladesh to know that getting a job as a CEO in a large global company today is no longer all about industry expertise and financial savvy alone. Research conducted by Joseph Fuller, a professor of management practice and a co-chair of the Project on Managing the Future of Work at Harvard Business School and his colleagues confirms what companies are really seeking are leaders with strong social skills—something popularly known as ‘soft skills.
These researchers analysed nearly 5,000 job descriptions for C-suite roles from a database of a global headhunting firm. What is their explanation for this trend? Here are the main reasons: business operations across the board are becoming more complex and technology-centred, workforce diversity is growing faster than anyone could imagine, and companies are facing increased public scrutiny than ever before. These conditions actually call for leaders who are adept communicators, relationship builders, and people-oriented problem solvers. To succeed in the future, the research argues, aspiring CEOs and other C-level executives will need to focus on those skills and not only the traditional skills in business and financial operations.
The research doesn’t surprise me, though. I have been working as a management consultant, trainer and coach for more than 20 years now, and I have had a lot of opportunities to work with C-Suite executives, including CEOs and Managing Directors of companies in various industries. And if my observation is any guide, it’s the C-Suite executives with better interpersonal skills who achieve much more than their counterparts with only business and financial operations expertise. Now, of course, there are exceptions, but I am not talking about the few exceptions in this brief space I have.
How Important are Soft Skills for a C-Suite Executive?
Very important. Effective leadership at the C-level is all about inspiring others who are each technically sound in their areas of expertise, such as marketing, finance, human resources, supply chain, production and others.
Soft skills provide a basis from which executives are able to lead through others–in essence, being able to motivate and persuade those they lead to carry out their vision for the betterment of the organisation. You might say that it’s an exercise in storytelling as much as it is in leadership. Your teams need to be engaged with the plot line in order to move that story along to its ultimate conclusion.
In my work with private and social sectors in Bangladesh, I am happy to see that the culture is changing. For example, the C-Suite executive of a prominent bank I am working at as a training consultant in Bangladesh paid very little attention to people dimensions in the last decade or so. But not anymore. Why? The single-minded irrational focus on generating business without looking after the health and well-being issues pretty much backfired. Many employees became exhausted and, with a serious lack of work-life integration, left for other banks at the very first opportunity. But fortunately, it was not too late for them to introduce a training program on empathetic leadership where apart from the obvious emphasis on business generation, soft skills aspects are given equal importance.
What Soft Skills Does C-Suite Need in the Context of Bangladesh?
As a leadership coach, here is my list of the top 5 people skills that are a must for the C-Suite executive in Bangladesh.
Emotional Intelligence: Many C-level executives are not good at self-awareness and are unable to control negative emotions. I hear many stories where the managing director is rude to heads of the department (HODs) in front of others. Often basic courtesy is not shown: in front of a junior colleague, the HOD is belittled or admonished.
Story-Telling: Storytelling is an important way to inspire colleagues to handle and resolve struggles and address problems. A story can bring together groups or teams. Ideally, leaders and their teams co-create their own stories and create the future of where they want to go as a blueprint for their success. Talking strategy in boring jargon is not enough these days.
Presence: Often, C-level executives are distracted, and one can understand why: so much might be going on in his or her brain, and it’s difficult to pay attention to one thing. However, the ability to be present (where you pay full attention to whoever you are interacting with) creates an emotional connection and makes you memorable, which in turn creates the perception of charisma.
Warmth: I see warmth towards colleagues as a missing element in senior management in Bangladesh. Warmth can be described as having a general sense of goodwill towards others and being perceived as caring and willing to act in positive ways. Warmth can be observed through body language; it is evaluated more directly than power and is almost entirely assessed through behaviour. Some think that such behaviours can lead to people taking advantage of them. Often the opposite is true—colleagues may become even more motivated to work with that senior executive who displays presence.
Humility with Confidence: Finally, my most preferred recommendation for a C-Suite executive is to be confident and yet humble. Needless to say, anyone who makes it to the C-suite is susceptible to suffering from self-importance and an inflated ego. Of course, you are confident in your abilities, but at the same time, it helps a lot to be open to the fact that you can learn many new things from others. With this one quality, I believe you will earn the huge respect of your colleagues across the organization.
Quazi M. Ahmed is the Lead Consultant & CEO of FutureLeaders™–one of the top leadership and soft skills development firms in Bangladesh. He is an IFC Certified Master Trainer, Speaker and a Leadership Coach. He can be reached here: quazi@futureleadersgroup.com