Why Leaders Face Many Challenges In Post-Crisis World - Forbes

It is a constant theme of the current crisis that rather than producing new trends it has tended to speed up and intensify what was already happening. So, the fact that so many businesses were able to switch quickly to remote working was a result of them already being on the road to being digital. Similarly, the emergence of a new style of more human and personal leadership — while encouraged by the need for leaders to show empathy and understanding towards workers juggling many competing demands while obviously worried about something of which they had no prior experience — was already under way in response to the demands of younger employees for a different type of workplace. Finally, workers have seen first-hand how the world of work can change quickly and that they need to adapt to it with resilience and a willingness to accept that careers may not be as carefully set out as they had envisaged.

All of this is reflected in a report out today from CEMS, the Global Alliance in Management Education. Based on research carried out last summer among more than 1,700 CEMS alumni and corporate partners, Leadership in a Post-Covid-19 World sets out a number of key challenges for existing leaders, those involved in leadership development and emerging leaders. Among them are:

Making people feel psychologically safe enough to do their best work. This will involve renewed focus on aspects of management that have been critical for some time, including engagement, productivity, innovation and performance under pressure.

Reframing learning so that people have greater autonomy and they and the organization stay ahead of the curve.

Taking ownership of their own personal development to become their “own best self” through building self-knowledge, autonomy, and innovation mindset and the resilience to unearth opportunities and expand their networks.

In his foreword to the report, Professor Greg Whitwell, the CEMS Chair and Dean of the University of Sydney Business School, noted that opinion was split over whether the changes produced by the pandemic would be positive or negative, with more than half of respondents believing that there would be both good and bad effects. Whatever their situation, though, it was clear that organizations and those running them had some tough decisions to make. “Leaders who respond to crises with creativity and agility, taking their customers and workforce along with them, are the ones who will thrive post-Covid-19,” he said.

But, while there is general agreement on the need for managers to show a more empathetic side, the coming weeks and months are not going to be easy on them. Audrey Clegg, group talent director at Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, a CEMS corporate partner and participant in the survey, echoes the general themes, but also describes the difficulties for managers. “To be effective leaders, we need to be real people, not superheroes: we share similar issues to the people we serve, we have the same ups and downs,” she said, adding that “showing vulnerability and sharing our tough times can make us more effective leaders — as does careful listening.” But she also stressed that it had “become clear that managers who get maximum output are the ones who identify and stay focused on the essentials day to day, hour to hour, even minute to minute.”

The need for empathy and understanding was also underlined by Hyun-Jung Lee, assistant professor in organisational behaviour and cross-cultural management at the London School of Economics, a CEMS business school. She pointed out that the tendency for multicultural teams to be prone to misunderstandings due to cultural differences could be exacerbated by working virtually. Many project teams experienced emotional frictions as a result of “contrasting communicative habits,” she said. Team members who first sensed others’ hurt feelings and then were able to act as brokers with the rest of the team were frequently perceived as leaders and exhibited the sorts of leadership skills associated with the post-Covid-19 world in general. “The seemingly natural ability to detect when something is misinterpreted by different cultural members (cultural intelligence) and to sense the hurt feelings of others (emotional intelligence) will become increasingly important skills” for working in virtual and multicultural environments, she added.

The scale of the challenge for managers was hammered home by Seren Bayramoglu, head of talent for EMEA at Whirlpool Corporation. She said: “We need vulnerable, empathetic, compassionate leaders.” But she added that being compassionate towards others required being compassionate to yourself. This meant that mindfulness — essentially, the ability to be in the moment — needed to become a part of curriculums and training programs. And as if this were not enough, “leaders also need to be agile: create diverse teams, navigate ambiguity quickly with innovative ideas and inspire others.”

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Why Leaders Face Many Challenges In Post-Crisis World - Forbes
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