2025 Talent Trend: New Leaders Focusing on Team Alignment and Impact
January 10, 2025 – A leadership trend that has emerged over the past few years is coming to a head, bringing with it a new set of recruitment and talent engagement challenges and opportunities in 2025, according to a new report from Lindauer. Findings from a study by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources say that leaders in the non-profit sector and higher education have been serving shorter tenures and experiencing higher turnover rates since the pandemic. As a result, Lindauer explains that many organizations are now being led by individuals who are relatively new to their positions.
“These leaders enter brimming with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas,” the Lindauer report said. “To make their visions a reality, they are now building and engaging their leadership teams to achieve maximum alignment and impact. As new leaders transition into this phase of their tenures, they face a dual challenge: building teams that can both support them individually as well as align with broader organizational goals.”
Lindauer notes that this trend presents both challenges and opportunities. “On the one hand, new leaders who waver on hiring create risk for the entire organization—one of the biggest regrets leaders have is not building their team fast enough,” the report said. “On the other hand, the cost of a misaligned hire can be significant, costing organizations in time, money, and morale.”
Related: Top 5 Hiring Trends for 2025
As leadership recruitment experts, Lindauer has observed how this shift is reshaping hiring processes and strategies for a wide range of organizations. To help you own your power and harness the opportunities inherent in bringing on new talent, the firm has outlined key insights to help new leaders and their organizations navigate new waters, ensuring they make confident and impactful recruitment decisions that set them up for success.
Define Your Priorities
For leaders stepping into roles with limited experience, Lindauer explains that the process of building and managing their leadership teams can feel overwhelming. It’s easy to get bogged down by the pressure to make the “perfect” hire. The firm notes that the key is to gain clarity on your most essential needs and set your expectations accordingly.
Lindauer says to start by defining what matters most to you and your organization:
- What are the critical skills and experiences your leadership team needs?
- What attributes will help someone thrive in your environment?
- What kind of support do you need as a leader rolling out your plan for your organization?
- How are you going to assess and balance these priorities?
“Clear priorities based on a careful assessment of how your current team works and what it needs will act as a guiding light, cutting through uncertainty and enabling thoughtful decisions,” the search firm said.
Embrace the Opportunity to Shape Your Team
“As a new leader, you have the chance to shape your team in ways that reflect your unique vision and leadership style,” the Lindauer report said. “One of your first tasks will be to understand your team, getting to know its strengths and weaknesses. While it’s imperative to understand that employee turnover can present challenges and you should strive to create a culture where people enjoy long tenures, when turnover does occur, you will be prepared to take advantage of that moment to move your organization forward.”
Executive Search in 2024: Challenges, Trends, and Hopes for a Hiring Resurgence in 2025
For many search firms in almost all industry segments, 2024 has been a tough year. There are many reasons for the recent downturn, and some firms have experienced a dip in revenues for even longer, according to Tim Tolan, founder, chairman, and managing partner of The Tolan Group. “Lots of changes are on the horizon for 2025 on the hiring front, and search firms are waiting with bated breath while hiring decisions are on hold, and draft fee agreements are (still) sitting in DocuSign waiting to be signed,” he said. “Decisions are dragging, as are active search engagements, as hiring managers and leaders struggle to make hiring decisions in the environment, we are all trying to navigate.”
In the Hunt Scanlon 2024 Executive Recruiting State of the Industry Report, the numbers reflected a double-digit downturn in demand for executive recruiting, with the private equity sector being the most affected. “We’ve seen and experienced that firsthand, but we feel positive changes are on the horizon,” Mr. Tolan said.
“Don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo or bring in candidates who align with the future you’re building,” Lindauer explains. “In addition, it is important to consider values alignment and the complementary competencies a new hire might bring to rounding out your team. This means balancing quantitative and qualitative assessments that encompass both the hard and soft skills needed to succeed in your organization.”
Lindauer serves higher and secondary education, hospitals, academic research centers, think tanks, research facilities, and foundations, as well as advocacy, public service, social justice and other mission-driven non-profits. The firm has led searches for the Boston YMCA, Center for Applied Special Technology, Healthy Minds Innovations/Center for Healthy Minds, the University of Texas at Austin, and the Cockrell School of Engineering, among others.
Deb Taft, chief executive officer, leads Lindauer with over 25 years of executive and senior-level experience across the non-profit sector, from education to healthcare/academic medicine to the youth service and voluntary sectors. Her expertise includes governance, strategic planning, fundraising, program and staff management, strategic marketing, analytics, and constituent engagement, as well as talent recruitment, retention, and development.
Related: Predicting Talent Acquisition Trends for 2025
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
