Old requirements and new challenges: what will change in management in 2022

As before, the main task of the CEO is to bring profit to the company. However, we have to work differently: leaders need to be more empathic and flexible, create effective distributed teams and take into account the social agenda.

2021 in terms of management was not so different from 2020, which means that next year you should not expect significant changes. “The covid-19 reality that we have been in for the past two years will not last for a couple more months - it’s just a new reality in which we need to learn how to live, and not wait for it to end someday,” said Alexander Zabuzov, HEAD of the provision of services in the field of personnel management and changes KPMG. He explained that leaders will still need the skills to manage distributed teams.

“Some of the employees will work at home, some in the office, others will combine these two formats, and others may even be in another country,” commented Zabuzov. “But at the same time, all specialists together must be an effective team. It is the creation of such teams and their management that will definitely be one of the main tasks of managers in 2022.”

Alexander Zabuzov added that managers should be able to be near employees both in person and virtually. The ability to behave properly in such conditions will definitely be appreciated by many employers. “It’s one thing when everyone sees the boss in the office and he inspires employees with his empathy. It’s completely different when he needs to broadcast the same emotions through the computer screen,” Zabuzov explained. “Successful leaders will be those who can effectively combine these kinds of behaviors.”

Alexander Ivlev, EY CIS Managing Partner, also spoke about the fact that one of the main challenges for managers will be work with personnel. “Companies are already competing with each other for specialists in certain areas. Retaining qualified personnel is becoming increasingly important,” he commented. Ivlev added that, according to a MICROSOFT study, 81% of respondents would like the opportunity to work from home to continue in the future, and 75% hope that after the pandemic they will be able to communicate more often with colleagues in person. All this means that it is time for leaders to get used to managing distributed teams. “To achieve success, management needs to be able to show employees their readiness for innovation and risk, form long-term corporate values, train flexibility and decision-making speed,”