6 Skills Leaders Will Need in 2025
Great leadership isn’t just about keeping up. It’s about anticipating what’s next—and developing the skills to navigate it. In 2025, leaders will face an increasingly complex landscape, balancing rapid change, opportunities to innovate, and high expectations from their teams and external constituents. To succeed, leaders will need to strengthen their existing skills and embrace new skills that accelerate progress, adaptability, and connection. These six essential skills will help leaders and their teams thrive in the year ahead.
1. Navigate Organizational Change with Confidence
Change is constant, but leading people through it requires more than logistical planning—it calls for clear communication, compassion, and vision. Leaders who inspire their teams to see change as an opportunity and help team members understand their roles in what’s ahead will create resilient organizations.
2. Foster Accountability While Remaining Compassionate
Accountability is essential to building a strong team and organization—and so is compassion. Reframe accountability as an act of care: You hold your team members accountable because you believe in their potential. Set clear expectations, provide the tools for success, and coach team members if they don’t meet expectations. Compassionate accountability fosters trust, continuous improvement, and stronger organizations.
3. Retain Talent in a Competitive Landscape
Retaining team members involves more than competitive salaries (though let’s pay people well, too!). Cultivate a culture where team members feel valued and see opportunities for growth. Career growth doesn’t always mean moving up; it can involve lateral moves or expanded responsibilities. Collaborate with employees to identify their career aspirations, ensuring they find purpose and pathways within your organization.
4. Develop a Resilient Organization
Resilient organizations foster connection, belonging, and engagement, which also happen to contribute to reducing turnover. Despite your best efforts, setbacks will happen: projects won’t reach intended outcomes, conflicts will arise, and amazing team members may move on. Leaders must manage challenges and transitions with grace, minimize disruptions, and maintain morale to sustain team momentum.
5. Invest in Learning for Long-Term Success
Prioritize learning—for yourself and your team. Add learning to your annual performance goals, create a manager training cohort, offer skills-focused workshops at team meetings and retreats, and have employees participate in cross-functional projects. A culture of consistent learning in your organization helps team members improve, innovate, and adapt. Learning also invests in individual team member’s professional and personal growth, and strengthens your organizational culture.
6. Build and Sustain Strategic Relationships
A leader’s network is among their most valuable resources. Strengthen connections to foster collaboration, mentorship, and new opportunities. Building proactive relationships can take many forms; you may attend industry conferences, reach out to former colleagues or aspirational mentors, or invite a campus collaborator to coffee. While leaders often prioritize their teams, investing in your own professional relationships will ultimately benefit both you and your organization.
By prioritizing these six skills, leaders will position their teams and organizations for meaningful progress and outcomes.
To your joy, success, and learning this year.
Let’s grow your leaders and your fundraising this year. Hocking Leadership’s framework—executive advisory, team coaching, and retreats—creates collaborative, high-performing advancement teams. Reach out to explore partnering with Hocking Leadership to coach your leaders and teams, building a foundation for your organization’s sustained fundraising and engagement success.