Six trends that will impact buysinesses, employees over 20 years

In a foresight report released, Hay Group, the global management consultancy, identifies the six most significant trends that will affect organisations, employees and managers over the next two decades, and the key competencies required of successful future leaders.

"Shifting trends indicate that the next generation of leaders will need to be adept conceptual and strategic thinkers, have deep integrity and intellectual openness, and find new ways to create loyalty among employees," says Gaurav Lahiri, managing director, Hay Group India. "Managers will need to relinquish their own power in favor of collaborative approaches, both inside and outside their organizations. In some cases, this means abandoning many of the behaviours that propelled leaders to the top of their organisations in the first place."

The report, Leadership 2030, examines six global trends - globalisation 2.0, climate change, demographic shifts, digitisation, individualisation and technological convergence - and their impact on leadership and organisations. Hay Group's findings on four of these major shifts, and the ways in which they will change the competencies required of successful leaders, include:

Globalisation 2.0: As globalisation accelerates, the new business world will be characterised by increasingly diverse teams and declining loyalty between organisations and employees. The balance of power will shift to Asia, a global middle class will rise, and greater inter-connectedness will result in greater volatility in the economic markets.

 Leadership impact:  Companies will need to be more agile and collaborative to manage the global/local divide; their  leaders will need to be flexible, internationally mobile and culturally sensitive, and they must have strong conceptual  and strategic thinking capabilities in order to manage risk and cope with the dangers and uncertainties associated  with globalisation.

Climate change: Rising emissions and temperatures will be further aggravated by growing residential and industrial waste in developing nations. The scarcity of strategic resources like water, minerals and fossil fuels could trigger price hikes and violent conflict.