It's nearly 2020, and the business landscape is very different to how it was at the turn of the century. As many of you will have observed, we are currently living in a world that is increasingly complex and unpredictable. Many forces are combining to create unprecedented degrees of uncertainty, ambiguity and change for leaders across all industries. Which leads me to my next point—a staggering 50% of Fortune 500 companies in 2006 no longer exist. Why? Because those companies could not keep up with the pace.

So how can you prepare your leaders for a future that is digital?

1. Be confident with your ability to lead through change

The defining way to prepare your leaders is to ensure they are confident with their ability to lead through a world of change and uncertainty. According to Entrepreneur.com, the best organisations that dominate the market and competition have leaders that know how to lead through change better than anyone else. It's even better if leaders are excited to seek change out—such as actively looking for opportunities to cut costs, create efficiencies and fill in any missing gaps in the business. It's also important that leaders stay focused, be open to new ideas, be flexible, and understand the impact of digital and technology on their business. 

2. Be more innovative

It's imperative for leaders and businesses to be more innovative with their ideas and processes, to ensure they can always stay ahead of the curve and be able to keep up with their competition. Think about it for a second, the biggest companies in the world will have had to innovate at some point in their rise to the top—even if the idea was not easy to implement or rejected by others. But persisting with a good idea is always worth it, especially if it provides more value to your clients and customers. It's important to remember that although it's great to be innovative and come up with new ideas, it's just as important for leaders to be able to execute these ideas and ensure they come to fruition effectively.  

Why not try this workplace serendipity quiz? If you score above a 36, you are proficient at leading innovative teams. 

3. Ensure you are technologically savvy

By being technologically savvy, you can keep up-to-date with all the latest offerings in the market and leverage technology to transform your business strategy. Take Virtual Reality as an example: by using immersive VR leadership training programs and unique gamification content together with expert behavioural psychology, leaders can completely revolutionise the way they learn new skills. Other examples could be embracing new applications that improve internal processes, or by providing a new technological service that can improve a customers experience. 

Download our guide for using Virtual Reality in leadership development to find out more about how we are embracing technology to help develop leaders of tomorrow, today. 

4. Communicate better

The ability to communicate effectively is a key skill within any workplace, and is essential when preparing leaders for the future. A study conducted by HR Drive found that employee burnout is often a result of unclear communication, such as not understanding a company's direction or vision. Thus, they are likely to become disengaged. This is not just limited to employees—communication is just as important for leadership positions—as leaders are required to be open, honest and lead with a culture that values honest feedback and sharing ideas.

5. Be more collaborative with other leaders and your team

In order to be successful in the age of digital transformation, leaders need to collaborate well with other leaders and their teams. In a recent report from Deloitte Digital and MIT Sloan, they found that 70% of 'digitally mature' businesses, use cross-functional teams to organise their work. Also, they're more likely to have an agile, fail-fast and learn-fast mentality. So with that in mind, it's critical for leaders to evaluate how work is being tackled between teams, get their people to solve issues collectively, break down internal silos and achieve digital competency together. 

How can Biz Group help?

At Biz Group, we understand the complexity that companies are faced with, especially when preparing businesses and their leaders for a digital future. Our unique learning formula for business results is designed to help develop leaders and get companies the business results they need to be successful in this increasingly complex world.  

Below you can find an outline of a LearningJourney™ that is designed to equip leaders for digital transformation.

Check out our Digital Learning solutions. Please let us know if you have any questions, our dedicated team will be able to help you.

Keep learning!

Biz Group