Timely Thoughts on “Leading During a Pandemic, Four Critical Questions for Senior Leaders to Consider”

The Post

I just came across a very relevant article that I wanted to share and provide my comments on. It is called “Leading During a Pandemic, Four Critical Questions for Senior Leaders to Consider” by Patrick Hyland, Ph.D., and Adam Pressman.

When we first learned about COVID-19, most of us thought that we would be out for a few weeks and everything would return to normal. As time has progressed and COVID-19 spread to become a pandemic, we knew it was going to take longer. And now that we are seeing how challenging it is to control the virus, we are coming to the realization that it will not be over in 2020, but will continue into 2021. This means everyone needs to settle into a new way of working.

Whether you are a new manager or one with a lot of experience, now is the time to step up and lead. The article talks about four questions to ask as an approach to leading during these challenging times.

1. How aligned is your organization – both internally and externally – right now?
2. How is this pandemic affecting the way your organization operates?
3. What support do your employees need during this outbreak?
4. How does your organization need to evolve?

Each question is followed by excellent advice on how to address gaps that the question raises.

My Perspective

I have three recommendations in addition to the advice that is provided.

• This article is applicable more broadly than just to “Senior Leaders.” It is valuable for all leaders!
• There is one more question that needs to be asked – related to your taking on a larger leadership role.
• There needs to be a deeper focus on technological innovation across the board.

Here is the full set of questions and recommendations, along with my additions noted in italics.

1. How aligned is your organization – both internally and externally – right now?
   • Reach out to your customers
   • Reset your priorities
   • Communicate, connect, repeat
2. How is this pandemic affecting the way your organization operates?
   • Ensure your remote workers have the tools, technology, and training they need
   • Keep an eye on decision-making and cross-functional coordination
   • Encourage your workforce to come up with better ways of working
3. What support do your employees need during this outbreak?
   • Be flexible
   • Increase support for immediate managers
   • Sustain a sense of community
4. How does your organization need to evolve?
   • Focus on small wins and little innovations
   • Identify new and emerging needs
   • Conduct after-action reviews
5. What can you do to help your leadership?
   • Spend time understanding the challenges they face
   • Look for opportunities where you can step up
   • Bring innovation / technological approaches

The pandemic has changed much of how people, organizations, and companies operate. This was not by choice. As managers and leaders, we need to not only make our way through these challenging times but find a way to come out the other end better and stronger.

This is the motivation for adding a fifth question to the list. There are a number of things that you need to do to demonstrate your leadership.

• Work with your leadership to understand their challenges.
• Listen.
• Look for opportunities where you can help.
• Bring innovative ideas and technical approaches.
• Identify opportunities to do things differently.
• Show your willingness to take on new challenges and drive transformational change.

If you do this, it will be remembered when we return to the new normal. You will be a part of defining what that new normal is!

Your team or organization can come out of this challenging time better and stronger as well. It might be due to my background in technology, but I think that technological innovation is the way to do this.

When asking yourself each question from the article, take it one step further and look for technically innovative ways to address each.

• Don’t just “Communicate, connect, repeat,” but find new ways to do this. Use social media, web conferencing, virtual feedback sessions, technical previews, and so on.
• When you “Encourage your workforce to come up with better ways of working,” look for ways to automate, leverage data more effectively, introduce machine learning, etc. Take looking for a better way of working to the next level.
• It is incredibly important to “Sustain a sense of community.” But can you do more than that? Can you introduce new ways of building community? Can you find ways for technology to help?
• When looking at ways your organization needs to evolve, don’t just “Focus on small wins and little innovations.” Go after the BIG wins and BIG innovations!

Conclusion

I really love this article. I think that it provides great advice on the questions to ask and changes to consider in leading during a pandemic.

There are three things I would add.

1. This is an opportunity for you and your team to not only survive but thrive as we return to a new normal.
2. It is an opportunity for you to demonstrate your leadership by understanding the challenges your leadership faces and helping to address them.
3. And it is an opportunity to be innovative and leverage technology in new and interesting ways.

See Also

Prepare for the New Normal

How to Become Strategic

Rupinder Saini – Remote Leader who Steps Up, Gains Trust, and Executes