Engaging and inspiring the next generation of leaders is a key challenge for organizations today. Priorities have evolved and employees often place purpose, flexibility, and a sense of shared ownership ahead of titles and linear progression.

In this video, IIC Partners consultants — global experts in executive search and human capital consulting — share their insights on how to engage and develop future leaders. They discuss actionable strategies like moving from rigid hierarchies to purpose-driven autonomy, the power of reverse mentoring, and creating personalized career paths.

Contributors:

• Charlotte Eblinger-Mitterlechner, Managing Director, Eblinger & Partner
• Gerald Knol, Managing Partner, Holtrop Ravesloot
• Jyoti Bowen Nath, Managing Partner, Claricent Partners
• Ram Iyer, Associate Director, Claricent Partners
• Sherrie Barch, Chief Executive Officer, MPI (Furst Group and NuBrick Partners)
• Stephan Breitfeld, Managing Partner, ingeniam Executive Search & Human Capital Consulting

Transcript:

Charlotte Eblinger-Mitterlechner: I observed one of my clients launch a transparent information campaign about what leadership truly means within their company. Previously, opinions prevailed such as, “I don’t want to be like the current leaders” or “leadership means always being available, even beyond full time hours.” After the company clarified to potential leaders that all concerns could be discussed, and that the one-on-one copy of today’s leaders wasn’t even desired for the sake of diversity, a genuine discussion about how to successfully step into leadership became possible.

Gerald Knol: Engaging future generations, how do you do that as a leader? From our search practice, we are in contact with a lot of current leaders facing exactly this question. We gladly share some of the do’s and don’ts we encounter in the conversations we have. Also, specific from the Dutch market. In the Netherlands, we see that engaging the younger generations, it is very important to make the connection with the people on the underlying values. People are attracted more and more on the meaning and the purpose of an organization and how this purpose makes them, as individuals, stick. From a leadership point of view, it’s important to have the ability to find the balance in your role as a leader. A balance between the position you have for the organization, in combination with really connecting with the people in that organization. Inspiration comes from togetherness, making the future of the organization together, and then really together, it is our future and we are connected in that journey, instead of a top down installment of strategy. So, flexibility, agility, team spirit, sharing, listening, and then guiding are important in engaging the future generations for your own organization.

Jyoti Bowen Nath: Frankly, when organizations inspire and develop the next generation of leaders, there is not one single strategy that they can actually use. It could, I mean there could be various strategies, methods, and it all depends on the organizational culture, their ethos, and various you know, organizational dynamics. There could be investments in leadership coaching, mentoring, or simply curating an immersive development experience for the leaders. A very recent example that I wanted to share because a couple of weeks back we met a client partner or rather a potential client and it’s actually a medical equipment major, it’s a multinational, and they had actually identified four HiPos and wanted to take them to the next level of growth in the organization. They were fairly niche roles. The methodology that they had decided to use was external interventions through coaches, who could take them through the entire transformation coaching, and at the end of nine months frankly all the four leaders, the HiPos, scaled up, they’ve moved to the next role, and are actually performing extremely well. I mean it was very heartening to know because this is also good for one of our service offerings, which is all around you know new leader integrations, which is all about transformation. Because, end of the day, it’s about how we can enable leaders and empower them and help them to be more effective.

Ram Iyer: An observation on giving young leaders an opportunity to grow and develop. Today, there is an interesting trend on reverse mentoring. For example, young leaders within organizations have been provided the opportunity to coach and develop their senior leaders. For example, in a pharma organization, a Vice President of Finance was entrusted with the responsibility to mentor and help the CFO learn the new age technology more so in the space of artificial intelligence. This seems to be catching up pretty big.

Sherrie Barch: Our clients with the most successful approach to attracting and retaining the next generation of leaders, typically do two things. Number one, they create a personalized path for that executive. We used to refer to it as a career ladder, now it’s referred to as a career lattice. Giving the employer and the employee an opportunity to create a successful path forward in that individual’s career. At number two, there’s an experiential opportunity for this executive that’s new to the workforce or new to this organization, where mentoring is involved, sponsorship, and even reverse mentoring, so that they can execute on their career pathway, gain the competencies that are needed, and create an opportunity to be part of the progress and successful outcomes of the organization. It works.

Stephan Breitfeld: My point of view, rethinking leadership from hierarchy to impact is key here. And one successful approach I have observed in our own team is moving away from rigid hierarchies towards a more purpose driven autonomy. Many professionals today, especially young professionals seeking leadership opportunities that offer meaning, balance, and collaboration, and not so much titles, it’s about lowering the expectations but redefining relevance. Leadership thrives where people are empowered to lead in sustainability in meaningful ways.

About IIC Partners

IIC Partners is a leading provider of executive search and leadership consulting services with a deep understanding of how market dynamics, changing demographics and new technologies are shaping the future of work. Our expert consultants, connected across 40 offices worldwide, partner with senior executives and board directors to transform businesses and solve complex leadership challenges. For more information, please visit www.iicpartners.com.