The effectiveness of leaders in any organization is usually measured by the results they deliver. In a normal situation, it would have been relatively easy to deliver on the results. But COVID has disrupted the flow significantly. It would be fair to say that a lot of organizations would have confronted their worst nightmares over the past six months. Normalcy is not restored as organizations gingerly take their next steps to address survival, stability and scale-up challenges. Depending on the industry, the maturity of the organization, degree of impact, the journey across the three phases may vary. But it is a journey that every organization has to traverse. All eyes would be on their leaders – how they lead their organization through this once in a lifetime challenge.

There would be few examples in history where leaders would have been put to the test as they have been during these COVID times. How well the organizations deal with the three phases depends on how well their leaders respond to this challenge. For many, it would mean coming face to face with their deepest fears & anxieties, while finding answers for self and the organizations they lead. Leaders would have to adapt fast, focusing on the right mindset and behaviours needed to navigate their organizations and teams through these phases. In our view, five expectations are emerging for leaders in a post COVID world.

• Be the beacon of hope: Providing hope that there is a brighter future ahead, especially when the current reality may not be so rosy, would be critical. The hope is not just for their immediate teams but across the length and breadth of the organization. For hope to manifest, the leaders would have to make meaning through the veil and haze of complexity and uncertainty (VUCA for short). It is going to be a real challenge since there is no precedence to rely on, no simulated scenarios to develop leaders deal with VUCA of this scale and paucity of reliable data needed to make decisions.The ability to make meaning and providing clarity which translates to hope will be a significant challenge. This would require leaders creating a compelling narrative which galvanizes the organization.Personal conviction and inspiration are critical. Talking of hope or presenting a narrative without conviction would be a futile exercise. People are smart and will see through the hollowness of the narrative. Leaders would find themselves tested on their ability to inspire the troops at large, but more importantly, on their ability to do it over a protracted period.
• Arrest fear and anxiety: Organizations spend a fortune on innovation, learning solutions, team development, leadership capability building, reskilling and other interventions. Some organizations achieve success, but many others often struggle to derive any substantial business benefit. A deep dive into the many reasons leads one to the challenge posed by fear and anxiety. COVID 19, in many ways, has amplified fear and anxiety within organizations. The shape and form may, however, vary across teams, across levels, across age brackets and life stage. It would also vary as one moves from survival to stability and after that to scale up. How Leaders help their people navigate through this fear and anxiety would differentiate the best from others.Never before in the history of business, the need to see employees as humans and not merely as resources, become the rallying cry for a sustainable future. Tapping into the humanness and energy might contribute to reduced fear and anxiety.Leaders would need to spend time and energies on creating conditions to reduce the effects of fear and anxiety experienced by employees. For this to happen, the critical variable would be the level of self-assurance of the leader. Without the leader being self-assured, not much can be achieved. The greatest harm that leaders can do is to pass on their fears and anxiety to the rest of the organization. It is often experienced in the increasing levels of reviews, hyperactivity, tighter controls and heightened one-way communication. The frequency and nature of such activities is often a good indicator of a leader’s level of fear and anxiety.
• Enable collective thinking: If we were to reflect, we might find that many amongst us believe that we are at our best when we think alone. The challenge very often is that our filters are also at their very best (except in the case where one has learnt the art of suspending judgement effectively) preventing us from seeing reality in its unadulterated form. We thus end up seeing we want to see while avoiding things we do not want to consider. It works well when we are required to deal with issues where we have experience, clarity and precedence. The challenge in such cases boils down to choosing an option from a set of available options (or creating a blend from available options). In a situation like the one we are experiencing now; this dispensation can be a recipe for disaster. But what does one do, when, one does not know what to do?Collective thinking is not a new age phrase for brainstorming. It is about connecting the dots, deriving meaning which helps enhance the quality of judgement and contributes to new solutions to address the challenges we are experiencing. The ability and the willingness of leaders to discuss, explore, appreciate, assess issues, its linkages & ramifications in the near and long term, especially when data is limited or ambiguous or unknowable requires inclusion in every possible way. It requires the ability to slow down when the instinctive response is for speed and action.The comfort of seeing points of view that are very different to one’s grain, the ability to build on those points, the confidence to deep dive and explore challenging issues and working out possibilities over probabilities, would require this collective thinking. Encouraging other leaders across the organization to think together, involving others in the process of creation, would be a value add that would be a differentiator in the times to come.
• Balance continuity with change: In many ways the current times are ideal for initiating fundamental changes that can pave the way for success and growth in the times to come. The change has to be balanced with continuity as both the immediate and long-term considerations have to be factored. It would perhaps be the best time to identify and possibly terminate processes, systems and ways of working, that have outlived their utilities. It may not always be easy owing to several reasons, but provides an excellent opportunity to rejuvenate the larger organization. Examples of organizations forming CFTs (Cross Functional Teams) to address significant business, operational challenges have emerged during these times.Harnessing the energy of the organization in driving the change agenda while ensuring that the day to day business is unaffected is the tight rope walk expected of leaders. It would require creating a burning platform for transformation with clear deliverables and timelines. The note of caution is to understand that the day to day business efforts would yield results in the near term – concrete, clear and measurable; while the change for the future would show results in the long term. Success with the immediate business should not lead to taking the pressure off the pedal of long-term change.
• Reinforce the culture fabric: The pressures of business, revenue, profits, client experience when seen in the context of COVID may lead to culture building getting defocused. Focusing on reinforcing the culture, leveraging its strengths while drawing inspiration and energy from it, will add value in the long run. The response of the organization over the last six months would have provided ample data points to an observant leader – pointers to how leaders, managers, and employees at large approached the challenge; ways of working whether with clients, stakeholders or employees; stresses and fault lines and its cascading impact. It would be the right time for leaders to reinforce the culture fabric.The leader’s challenge would be to pick up cues which are indicative of what is not working. It is critical since one may draw solace from the success achieved in individual pockets and trying to extrapolate it for the organization while ignoring pointers of a possible deeper challenge. Insights would help reveal the core strengths. Reinforcing the cherished attributes of the culture while initiating corrective action to address the chinks in the armour would need to be done now. Culture refresh would be a long-drawn affair and independent of the performance and results that the organization delivers.

The emerging role of the leader would require them to be increasingly human in digital, VUCA world. These would be perhaps the results which may make the most sense.

At Pragyan Advisory, we work with leaders through their discovery and development journeys using global tools and research frameworks. To know more contact us [email protected]