Leading for Engagement: Challenges and Opportunities From Theory and Practice

Session Submission Type: Panel Discussion

Short Description

The new normal requires new approaches to corporate leadership development. Universities and multinational corporations need to establish unique partnerships to share research insights, theories, and practices concerning effective leadership engagement, employee empowerment, and the alignment of strategy, leadership, and talent. Panelists will discuss the challenges and benefits of the partnerships they have participated in while providing recommendations for others working to create partnerships.

Detailed Abstract

Teams are the basic building block for modern organizations. Ideally, teams have the potential to respond to three major transformations in today’s business environment:

♣ More demanding clients. Clients expect a straightforward answer to difficult questions. Not tomorrow, but today. Competitors loom large. Team members can work together to serve the client’s needs.
♣ More regulation. Regulation as the ethical minimum or maximum? In a globalized world, organizations are required to comply with a vast body of regulations. Teams can leverage from shared knowledge to stay within the legal boundaries.
♣ More complex products. Client demands are specific, and so many organizations transform towards tailor-made products and services. The increased complexity of products can be met by teams who manage to share multidisciplinary knowledge effectively.

The empowerment strategy is on the rise. In fact, according to Deloitte’s annual ‘Human Capital Trends’, organization design focused on empowerment is the number one priority for business leaders around the globe. Empowerment is about sharing decision power. When decision power is shared between the layers of the hierarchy, teams will have proper autonomy to decide what is best for them to achieve goals.

The role of team managers is vital for empowerment to work. A team manager succeeds when her leadership engages team members in an empowering context.

Sub Unit

• Business Leadership

Chair

• Tijs Besieux, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Presenters

• Jeroen Stouten, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

• Wilmar Schaufeli, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

• Hein Wendt, Korn Ferry Institute & Ku-Leuven

• Brian Moran, Boeing International