Leading with Resilience and Empathy during the pandemic - Hindsight is truly 20/20

 

As we head into a year where we are expecting things to be a ‘better normal’, we are often left contemplating, whether we have passed the resilience test or is there more to come?

Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the UN has forecast global economic contraction of 3.2% in 2020. Businesses are left fighting for survival and workforces are living through exceptionally challenging situations. More than ever before, it has now become evident that leadership matters for organizations to emerge from forced hibernation and rebuild a strong economy.

In the face of change and crisis, leaders can adapt the core values of R.E.S.P.E.C.T to catapult forward, quickly:

RESPONSIVENESS- Bringing out the best in leaders: There is an old adage that ‘crisis does not build character, it reveals it’. The various skills and traits of a leader are put to test during management of a crisis and its aftermath. How a leader responds, is key to the organization and employees since they are closely watching. The decisions and reactions that a leader adopts in an emergency may prove to be futile when trying to return to normal.

EMPATHY-Sharpen your emotional intelligence: Leaders don many hats and have to become counsellors-in-chief during a crisis. As they consider changes to long-term policies and processes, it is important to be sensitive to the impact of the uncertainty on the employees. Mental health and emotional well-being along with work-life balance has to remain top priority for any leader as employees and teams are the key. 

SERVICE-Drive a sense of purpose: The first responsibility of a leader is to take decisions linked to the organization’s purpose and translate it to action. Re-emphasizing the purpose brings forth the intention of the company and instils confidence and goodwill among employees and stakeholders. Only when the purpose directly affects the employees’ role on a daily basis, will they connect to it emotionally and want to advocate it every day.  

During the lockdown, we drove our purpose – ‘Committed to a Healthier and Happier World’ down to the ground-level employees. The result, our employees felt responsible for going beyond the call of duty despite the strict restrictions, to ensure uninterrupted functioning of the pathology laboratories. 

PERSPECTIVE-Get people involved in company decisions: Handling challenges is all about maintaining perspective. This means admitting that a problem is serious, understanding that you may not have all of the solutions, and seeing clearly what resources you have and utilizing them to the fullest. When you can maintain perspective, you can guide your staff through almost any challenge.

Leading a business in the post-pandemic world means reshuffling not just your management methods, but also your mindset to become more inclusive. During a crisis, a network of teams carries out responses outside of normal operations, as well as adjustments to routine business activities. So move from managing to enabling and empowering! Leaders will need to encourage initiative and decision-making at all levels, trusting that the teams may be in the best position to come up with creative approaches to addressing unanticipated needs. In fact, PMS are being redesigned to reward collaboration over competition.  

We adopted this strategy and it worked wonders! At a very early stage, we formed our own task-force of people representing different functions. They were a part of all the decisions we made during and post lockdown. The result; we successfully maintained business continuity while ensuring the well-being of our employees and partners. 

SELF ESTEEM-Self-esteem plays a big role in leadership, especially in tough times. It is important for leaders to feel confident about themselves to face any conflicts. While maintaining their own self esteem, leaders should also focus on enhancing the self-esteem of their subordinates. One way of doing so is by acknowledging good ideas and giving them an opportunity for skilling:   

Listen to lead: Recovering from a crisis is a long drawn process and requires the leader to make well informed decisions. Unreasonably, leaders are expected to know it all and make the right decisions. One of the biggest mistakes, leaders make is to pretend to know more than they actually do. No matter how effective you were yesterday, you will find that today and tomorrow are likely to make new and different demands on you as a leader. So it’s important to be an active listener to your employees and stakeholders. 

Providing opportunities for new skilling: Leaders world over had seen the technology wave coming. But only a few anticipated the speed at which companies would need to adopt to a new ‘bionic’ operating model that unleashes the full potential of people and technology. Leaders need to now envision new operating models with technology at the core. Technology needs to be leveraged rather than replace employees. Change management doesn’t mean replacing people but rather changing skills and capabilities through training and execution. 

COURAGE-Stop being an ostrich leader: Extraordinary situations demand extraordinary responses. Be flexible, adaptive and willing to make difficult choices. Be willing to regularly review new data, information and feedback and change course if needed. While setting the stage for the recovery phase, it is important to take a more explorative approach towards the new dynamics, norms, challenges and opportunities.  

TRUST-Focus on enabling communication and trust: A leader needs to over-invest in communication. Having consistent, reliable, positive and fact-based communications can bring organizations together and reduce anxiety. Employees respond much better to the known (even if it is unpleasant) than the unknown or statements of misleading optimism. In the absence of a ‘visible’ communication from the leader, the employees and stakeholders may end up filling the void with misinformation and assumptions. 

When we decided to return to work, the first thing we did was to organize a Townhall meeting for our employees. It served as an effective platform to introspect on where we stood and what we achieved during the lockdown and evaluate the prospects on the way forward. Being highly visible was vital to guide, reassure and clearly communicate at the time of great uncertainty. 

Sailing through uncharted waters

The pandemic originated in China, so I would like to conclude with an interesting fact I came across.

When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters- one that represents danger and the other opportunity!

It is on resilient leaders to strike a balance between short and long -term strategies and move to the frontline to fight the fires. After all, in the middle of the deep blue sea, we can’t control the wind but can direct the sails!  

Authored by:

Ravi Kaushik
CEO
Transasia Bio-Medicals Ltd.