“The striking conclusion from our survey is while COVID-19 is a public health crisis, it has also been a contagion across many other socio-economic challenges and government institutions. Maybe even more than the virus, our common crippling hardship is the lack of leadership being observed on the world stage. It is inherent upon our leaders both in government, and in business, to unify and collectively refocus their priorities to provide stability and certainty to their stakeholders.” –
John Gerzema, CEO of Harris Poll
The concept of leadership has experienced a drastic change in the post-COVID times. With new economic, official, and entrepreneurial policies in place, the whole idea of leadership has emerged in multiple sectors. The pandemic had initiated the digital flame, and leaders have been eyeing skill-building and learning networks across organization span of function. There were new systems of crisis management as well. Since the pandemic had posed major threats to the leadership goals and hence, leaders had to focus on alternative skills and leadership techniques to sustain within a restricted business environment.
Was the pandemic a new challenge in leadership communication?
The pandemic was a definitive challenge, especially in terms of fall in consistent production, managing manpower and making meaningful communication.
Industry experts had pointed out that managers and leaders across borders had failed to take long term decisions and employee retention was just a farce during the pandemic. During these challenging times, leaders were expected to have empathy, coupled with calm and composure to handle a long term crisis.
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Who has emerged as a good leader post COVID-19 outbreak?
Industry experts in the USA have revealed that optimistic leaders were reincarnated during the pandemic, and successful leaders were the ones who adopted interactive strategies for communication.
But, how have the leaders responded to the crisis during the pandemic?
Crisis management has been the forte of young leaders across organizations, and pandemic has taught them to live in the present. Acceptance of uncertainties has been a part and parcel of lives and leaders were the ones, who were absolutely prepared for the contingencies in a given context.
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Professionals from the industry had confirmed that, the leader should be like the captain of a ship, and if the ship and the crew are beleaguered by the storm, then it is the task of the captain to have a clear perspective of what to do next, how to steer the ship and the crew members clear out of the storm.
Thus, the emerging leaders were forced to ask a few questions to his/ her own self, like what is to be done now?
What might be the missing link? How might things unfold and develop from that earlier point of success which was predefined. These questions were quite apt to make the leaders prepared for a strategic action plan, in the broader context.
How have good leaders involved people to perform using strong leadership communication?
In the post-pandemic world, it is the task of the leader to involve more efficient and diligent people for work. It is important for leaders to know how the choice of people affects the stream of work in any particular workspace. Leaders should understand that, just involving a greater number of people might not solve the problem, but involving efficient and goal-driven people might help to build up on performance. In the case of any office or large-scale corporate, there are people whose existence is completely negated.
Unfolding human personalities to build the best should be the motto of the leaders, and the pandemic has rightly created a space for empathetic leaders who could strike the work life balance.
Have leaders encouraged transparency within organizations post the outbreak of the pandemic?
Leaders during COVID-19 outbreak, were forced to champion the cause of transparency in work and enforce authenticity through valid networks. Helping the employees to come out of comfort zones has been the new priorities for the emerging leaders, across global economies.
Have the leaders encouraged psychological safety?
Yes, true leaders had encouraged psychological safety and had broken traditional barriers in the workspace.
Leaders had nurtured wellness, and employees were asked to collaborate, while defining cohesiveness. Stringent targets were shared amongst the team members equally and achieving targets were immediately appreciated within a broader network. At the same time, leaders have been nurturing self-improvement techniques for the team members while a long term career path was being drawn out to satisfy workers individually. Simultaneously, leaders had tuned in engaging contents in the social media to influence and impress the team members besides the external stakeholders.
Have female leaders been much ahead of the males?
Certain surveys performed in the US, revealed that women leaders had been good at igniting employee engagement at various levels of work. At the same time, female leaders were observed to be more dedicated to their work, despite managing household woes during the pandemic wave.
Conclusion
The concept of leadership has evolved naturally while the global economy was pandemic stricken.
In most of the economies including the US, new leaders have emerged, the so called empathetic personalities, who could take up risks of managing staff digitally.
Collaboration was the new buzz, and leaders across market borders have been responsive to the needs of the employees under given circumstances. Women leaders had taken up better responsibilities in comparison to men, while they successfully could define an extensive engagement for the staff concerned. Leadership communication during COVID-19 outbreak was all about empathy, being proactive, exploring and identifying skills within the existing team base to define consistent performance. Virtual work roles have been created by leaders during pandemic, and a number of employees have assumed additional responsibilities while nurturing the leadership traits within.