Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend an evening hosted by by the Institute of Directors in Marlborough where Sheffield and their team of specialised consultants shared the outputs of their recent Leadership Survey.

This year's focus was on the ‘emerging’ leaders group across the South Island, specifically leaders under the age of 50. More than 60 leaders were spoken to as part of this survey, concentrating on the big question, “what are the big issues facing South Island business leaders today?”

There were five clear takeaway areas from the survey and interestingly (thankfully), all focussing on performance and people.

Leadership Survey Takeaways

1.    The importance of people skills is now a top priority for our leaders and is usually the critical shortage in their leadership teams.

2.    While having a strategy in place makes good business sense, making sure your strategic priorities are clear, translated into measurable goals and objectives and regularly reviewing how you’re tracking against achieving your business goals is fundamental.

3.    Even if you have the best strategy in the world - if the culture isn’t right, you’re in trouble.

4.    Gen Z is here! Employing across five generations in one company is becoming the norm. A key focus moving forward will be how we motivate, reward, support and lead with such diversity.

5.    Coaching is in, traditional performance management is out! Looking forward, being flexible, agile and focussing on continuous improvement will drive success.

While I didn’t participate in the 2017 Sheffield Leadership Survey, it is great to see the focus this year is about 'people.' The takeaway challenges for leaders this year are refreshing and good to see.

People are and need to be, the number one priority. How we attract, develop and lead ‘our people’ will impact how successful businesses are moving forward.

Amanda Parish, Intepeople HR & Talent Partner