The following is the final in a four-part series on leadership trends for 2012.  We hope that you will find the articles enlightening and that you will be able to apply these strategies to make your business more ‘sticky’ to your employees!

Leadership and innovation

One of the hallmarks of a great leader is that he can inspire those under him to be innovative. He will strongly stimulate the creativity of each one so that they eventually maximise their potential – something most of them would find it difficult to achieve on their own.

What are these magical qualities?

• Courage – any aspect of fear is crippling for an innovative leader. Inviting criticism and getting honest feedback from others will galvanise the creative impulse and unite a team towards a common goal.

The article below, entitled 'Can Bad Human Resource Practices Kill a Company?' may be one of the most important reads this week.  If human resources departments are increasingly losing employees’ trust, companies may be at risk of losing one of their most precious assets - their people.
 
Human Resource practices such as 'stack ranking', which have been around for decades and are widely used in South Africa, are increasingly coming under fire.  The merit-based scale may seem good in theory but if it is causing dissension, distrust and potentially unfair labour practices, perhaps it is time to re-think how to evaluate and manage the performance of employees.
 
The article focuses primarily on trends in the US and Ireland, but the HR practices in question are sure to impact on South African companies in much the same way.  Is there a uniquely South African solution that could emerge?  We would love to hear your thoughts. 

While most managers and executives know how crucial personal branding may be in positioning themselves, they often don't know how to extend that concept to the web when presenting their profile. Being business savvy does not necessarily translate to competence in the online positioning of their professional image, which may put them at a disadvantage.

Lax presentation in social media

The approach many people have to social media is the "after five" attitude, with the tone of their discourse and the design of their profiles being too casual. This is in part influenced by the rise of social media and its encouragement of accessibility and interaction by members of a community. Top executives often present themselves more like a ‘beer buddy’ than a strategic thinker who can contribute a lot to an organization. It is recommended that professionals revamp their Facebook and Twitter pages and join LinkedIn as the first steps to building a professional online profile.

Poor business and personal websites

From ‘slap-dash’ design, to mediocre content, an ill-prepared web profile may give the impression that the individual lacks competence. This could translate into a bad impression for potential recruiters in that it suggests a careless nature and even poor decision-making abilities in the real world. It is thus advised that websites be created by web professionals.

Do you feel like your employees have fallen 'out of love' with the organisation?  We have summarised a few points on why they’re just not that into you: 

1.  They haven't been given the opportunity to buy into your vision - they are not inspired 

2. Even if they do know the bigger picture, they are not sure of how they can best contribute and how their daily responsibilities feed into the broader vision  

3. The 'why' - what the broader vision is and how your employees can contribute to it is not enough, they also need to understand why they are a part of it and why they should care