Leadership Lessons From The Age Of Covid-19

DMM DEPARTMENT

MB Enterprises

Leadership holds key elements especially in the times of COVID-19 as the pandemic has been identified by WHO as a vital problem of the modern health system. There are many leaders especially from the Western world who have shown bravely how to deal with the pandemic and similar diseases in future. These leaders includes Justin Trudeau (PM-Canada), Donald Trump (President-USA), Boris Johnson (PM-UK), Angela Merkel (Chancellor-Germany) and Jacinda Ardern (PM-New Zealand). All these leaders hold key in terms of financial decisions, health matters, contingency & precautionary measures & other matters of public concern in their respective countries.

As we all know COVID-19 has been identified as a major cause of concern, for many leaders it has also come as a test. While we discuss male leaders from the Super power and other Western nations, the role of female leadership has

been exemplary. New Zealand PM, Jacinda Ardern has provided strong leadership models during the pandemic COVID-19. It is because of her efforts, brilliant decision making and a positive and proactive approach that New Zealand is the first country of the developed world to be declared Coronavirus free. Being declared COVID free is a huge blessing especially when many countries are still under the devastating effects of COVID-19.

It has never been an easy job for leaders to make sure that safety is the primary concern for them. The pandemic has definitely provided us with many lessons in the crisis management. This is indeed a special tribute as many successful leaders and companies have indeed demonstrated strong people skills. Furthermore, pivoting their organizations by supporting the employees and listening especially to what the customers want.

LEADING WITH HONESTY & EMPATHY:

Leadership with honesty and empathy in times of PandemicCOVID-19 is the only way to get out of the crisis with wisdom and courage. This is a fact that many countries with Female leaders have suffered less in terms of the deaths than their neighboring countries. If we compare Germany’s 11 deaths per 100,000 people to France’s 45 and United Kingdom on 70. The question that rises again is “Are women leaders really the reason for this?”

A huge factor that has been identified is that the female led countries locked down earlier than male led countries. As a matter of fact this might have been because women leaders were more risk-averse about the impact on the virus than the male leaders. Many COVID-19 experts also believe in this case scenario that decisive and clear communication lines and participative leadership styles are the ones playing a huge part. This is apart from leading with honesty and empathy and clearing doubts that can arise due to multiple reasons. However, as part of the valuable leadership lessons honesty, empathy and transparency are the key, especially fighting the pandemic COVID-19.

VALUING THE PEOPLE:

Giving values to people during the crisis like the pandemicCOVID-19 can automatically be a solution to the problem. The asset on which organizations are built are like the

building blocks i.e. people. Addressing people issues with integrity and giving values to their problems is the best way leaders can fight the pandemic. People have tremendously stepped up whether home-workers in childcare and taking Zoom Calls very often. Delivery drivers and nurses working extra hours despite the number of risks involved. The stepping up of people has not only shown that power of people and their fight against the pandemic COVID-19 is more intense than the leadership itself.

Another aspect that holds huge vitality is the trust factor which is recognized to be central. The trust was shown by organizations on their people to work from home which was lacking in the initial phase. Hence, many experts also believe that leaders trusting people can speed the recovery from COVID-19 for a sustainable future.

BEING AGILE:

Agility is the best ability in decision making that leaders canaspire for rapid action. According to the Harvard Business Review agile is about Taking People out of their functional silos and putting them in self-managed and customer-focused multidisciplinary teams. In other words ‘Agility’ is highly adaptable to more than one and rapidly evolving demands of a crisis like COVID-19. It is part of the disaster management in more concrete and functional ways. Being agile about a certain disaster or a pandemic also means realizing its overall impacts on the people as soon as possible.