Empathy, understanding and good communication will be key leadership traits as the world exits the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey of senior maritime executives.
Industry leaders also said they expect to adopt a mix of office-based and remote working, the survey by recruitment company Faststream found.
The survey highlights how senior management have been forced to adapt their leadership style during the pandemic.
More than three-quarters of respondents said the fallout from Covid-19 has changed the way employees expect to be led.
An executive working in the Asia-Pacific region told the survey that "motivational and communication skills" rate highly in the future of C-suite management.
"I would also rank empathy and adaptability as high. We are moving into a new norm — and anyone who does not handle this with the mentioned skills will be on the losing end," the respondent said.
Communication and remote leadership were the things that executives said they had to improve most during the pandemic.
"Being empathetic to the different circumstances that employees endure with remote working has been crucial," one said.
"With a mix of employees who have professional home office set-ups to those working from an armchair, as well those having to home-school or who are caregivers, leaders understanding the assorted circumstances and their difficulties has needed patience, reassurance and understanding."
Ninety-one per cent of executives surveyed by Faststream expect to see the hybrid style of working.
Only 7% believed that their business would revert to working full-time from the office, according to Faststream's Senior Maritime Executive Report 2021.
Prospects and reward
Just over half the executives surveyed said the pandemic had had no impact on their careers and the second-biggest proportion — 27% — said it had affected their careers for the better.
The majority of executives surveyed said remote working during the pandemic would have no effect on reward.
"This is in direct contrast with trends that have emerged from leading technology companies across the globe who have already instated reward strategies based on employee location, the location of the employer and national and international medians," Faststream said in the report.
An executive in Europe said remote working has benefits for companies as well as employees.
"Government/labour laws have not kept pace with working remotely, there are confusing press statements that people hand in part of their salary for the pleasure of working remotely, but I cannot see why that would be," the respondent said.
"Surely our staff are hugely in favour of working two to three days per week from home, but I believe they work harder and often more efficiently. Why would they accept less pay? Remote working benefits companies financially too, after the first investment in systems/workplaces."
When Faststream surveyed its global LinkedIn network last year, it found that two-thirds of employees would not be willing to take a pay cut to continue remote working in the future.
"This indicates that consistent reward wherever an employee works will remain an important factor in the future," the company said.
