The year 2020 was not an easy year for individuals or businesses. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the way people work and interact in ways that very few people anticipated. While business operations in many parts of the world are slowly getting back to normal, leaders must embrace the changes brought about by the pandemic in terms of leading teams. With remote work becoming the new normal, leading virtual teams is the new challenge that leaders must contend with.

This means that in 2021, sound leadership will be required to steer businesses through the recovery phase. So, why will leadership be so important in 2021?

Below are six reasons that explain this.

To Build Confident Remote Teams

In 2021, good leadership is increasingly being evaluated based on a person’s ability to lead remote teams. But, it’s more than that. The reason leadership is very important this year is the fact that leaders are leading these teams at a time when the world is going through a pandemic.

Businesses need to get leaders who are constantly conscious of the context within which their teams are working. Essentially, they should work hard, not only to understand their teams, but also to recognize the extra energy and effort they put into the job to get results during these extremely difficult times. To succeed in 2021, businesses must have leaders who are aware of what employees want – which is to be seen, appreciated, and understood.

To Take Business Growth To The Next Level

Leadership is about setting a clear strategy for a business. Good leaders have clarity of vision. They know where they want to take the business. On the other hand, leaders that are not so great tend to lose focus numerous times. They tend not to know when they should say yes or no. They have no idea how to work toward a common goal and rally everyone in the business to do so.

This lack of clarity and consistency isn’t beneficial to employees and contributes to pushing them out of the company. With the growing pressure for businesses to prioritize survival and growth in 2021, having leaders who are capable of taking your enterprise to higher heights is important. If your business is in need of recruiting this kind of leader in 2021, the easiest way to recruit is to enlist a credible hiring company like M&A Executive Search to help with the recruitment process.

To Make Team Effectiveness A Priority

When teams go through a crisis that results in significant changes, they either come out shining with greatness or their foundation cracks and comes crumbling down. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic put teams in workplaces across the globe to test. As such, teams that performed well are those that have a strong foundation that’s built on respect and trust. In 2021, businesses require strong leadership to help teams that are working remotely to work effectively.

This kind of leadership must be aware of what the business is striving to achieve, communicate it effectively to team members, and work with them to craft a strategy for achieving it. Leadership will be required to help teams develop a common picture of what success looks like for the entire team in 2021 and identify priority actions to enable them to realize that success.

To Build A Loyal Customer Base

More than ever, businesses need leaders who can maintain a large pool of loyal customers. By retaining customers, your company will be able to sustain its revenue flow and profitability. Coming hot on the heels of a chaotic year, businesses that are unable to retain existing customers risk sliding into losses.

In 2021, businesses that want to sustain their operations must find leaders who are capable of creating a strong internal culture that enables employees to excel and feel motivated to serve customers in a way that makes them want to come back. Businesses can only achieve this by hiring leaders who understand the importance of collaboration, transparency, and inter-connectivity.

To Strengthen Brand Presence In The Market

Leadership is critical in strengthening the presence of any brand in the market. When a business is led by people who are passionate about the products or the services you offer, increasing its brand awareness among the target audience becomes easier. Such leaders tend to spread the word about the company they work for any time they get a chance to do so. This becomes infectious within the company as employees take the cue from their leaders. Rather than hiring a huge sales team, consider identifying great leaders and placing them in strategic departments within your company. In 2021, leadership is required to create a good environment where employees themselves can drive the process of positioning your brand in the marketplace.

To Inspire Greatness

The year 2020 brought a lot of changes in the way businesses to operate. These changes have had an impact on employees and leaders alike. As they navigate the dynamics brought about by the pandemic, many employees are most likely feeling anxious and possibly ill-prepared to take on the change of working in a new environment. More than ever, leaders across all industries are required to support their employees and inspire them to succeed in the current environment. Businesses need leaders who can serve as role models to their teams, motivating them through genuine passion, transparency, and honesty.

Final Thoughts

Leadership plays a critical role in rallying teams behind a common mission to achieve a specific goal. With the challenge that the Covid-19 pandemic posed for businesses in 2020, sound leadership is required to navigate them through the recovery process in 2021. But, the terrain within which leaders have to lead in 2021 is rather different – most of the leaders will be leading teams that are physically dispersed. As such, the challenge for leadership this year is to meet the critical need that teams have to feel appreciated and, most importantly, understood. This and the other reasons discussed above are the top six reasons leadership is very critical to business success in 2021.