In the last few months, COVID-19 has hit the world out of the blue and in a matter of weeks has changed the very way we have been living and doing things. For economies that were struggling this could literally be the last blow. Not surprisingly all leaders are worried and rightly so. With businesses shut, limited work happening from homes and countries and cities in lockdown the fight against the economic impact will continue long after the health impacts have been successfully addressed. This is a situation that no leader has probably anticipated or planned for. But now that we are here it is time to put on your superhero leader cape and take up the challenge of leadership in the times of COVID-19.
A Quick Reality Check:
- Leadership is needed most when the situation gets tough. It is easy to be a leader in good times. This is as much a test of your mettle as anything else.
- Other than essential services which may see an increase in revenue, pretty much every other business is going to face a financial impact at one level or another.
Self Leadership:
Good leadership starts with self. It is more important now than ever to manage yourself effectively. A good way to look at this is to think that if you were 6 months into the future looking back how would you want to remember yourself managing this situation. Be that leader!
- Accept the new reality: As much as we may wish it, the current situation is here and it is here to stay for some time. Make peace with it instead of dwelling in the gloom of what could have been.
- Create a routine if you are working from home: For people used to working in an office setting working from home can be difficult. Get into the routine of getting dressed and starting work at a specific time. Working from home also makes it difficult to stick to boundaries. With most of your teams working from home as well, you may need to be available for longer hours. Schedule regular breaks and take time to stretch. Be also mindful of your family who also has to adjust to your work routine. Accept that you may not be able to take all your work calls without disturbance.
- Be informed and updated: Ensure you have reliable and accurate information as far as possible. In the age of social media, it is easy to get incorrect data and get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information floating around. Stay connected to all dependable sources of information like leadership forums and government authorities.
- Manage your fears and stress: As a leader keeping a cool head is more important for you than anyone else. Stress and anxiety clouds judgement and clear thinking. Develop routines to meditate and calm your self. Take steps to acknowledge and address your fears
- Manage your fitness: Schedule time to exercise anywhere between 30-60 minutes daily. This will help you manage your stress as well as stay fit if you are stuck at home with limited space to move around. There are multiple online platforms that offer at-home workouts with minimal or no equipment needed.
People Leadership
This is the time to be an empathetic leader. None of your employees is responsible for this situation and most are trying to deal with it the best way that they can.
- Take care of your people’s safety: Employee safety should be your first priority. Ensure all employees who can are asked to work from home. Help them avoid exposure unless absolutely unavoidable. Make changes to the policies if needed to take care of any employee who may get infected. Do not cut salaries or benefits.
- Manage productivity: Accept that productivity will drop for most employees. With most of your staff either working fro home or not able to work the overall productivity will not be the same. Some of your staff may not have quiet places to work from at home and with the entire family at home being able to concentrate will be difficult for a lot of them. Accept that even your best performers may not be able to work at their best at this time. Create review processes to make sure people are still focussed on performance.
- Manage your team’s anxiety: It is natural for employees to be anxious at such times. Some may struggle with work from home routines. For others, the situation may feel uncertain in terms of financial security and job continuity. Reassure employees and manage the situation the best that you can.
- Communicate regularly: Even with social distancing the current technology easily allows for people to stay connected. It is important at this time to keep your team updated. Have 1~1 video calls with your direct reports as frequently as possible and preferably daily. Speak to them not just about work but also their well being. Encourage all leaders in your organisation to do the same. Send them written communication at regular intervals with company updates.
- Use this time to develop the team: For people whose jobs limit work in work from home scenario, this is a great time to enrol for and complete some upskilling activities. Help your team identify online training that they can complete in these times.
- Indulge in morale-building activities: Keep the morale up by organising online games and quizzes. Use humour. Everyone can do with some cheer in these trying times.
Business Leadership:
- Take stock of your business: Get clarity on how much your business is impacted. You may need to revisit all plans and projects to get a clear picture of how and what you will be able to deliver. With the impact on mobility and manpower, the loss in productivity will directly impact all targets and deadline.
- Set new targets for the current scenario: Set new practical targets for what your team can now deliver. This may also require renegotiating with customers and resetting expectations all round.
- Redraw your plans for the future: Currently, most countries are unclear on how long it will take to get back to business as usual. Analyse the impact on your business if the situation were to continue for 30/ 60/ 90/120 days. Based on each put together plans and actions.
- Reach out to alliances: The impact on small businesses is going to be more difficult than on the large organisations. Reach out to partners and ask for support. Where ever possible help other businesses. Consider pooling resources if feasible.
- Be an influencer: If you are part of industry bodies push for government support and reforms not just for yourself but also for other industries and businesses. These are tough time and everyone needs support. Use your social media presence to write about the needs of the industry and create a focus on critical issues. Share your thoughts on possible solutions. If you or your business can help solve issue step forward and do that.
- Capture your learnings: For all leaders, this is a new situation and everyone is learning to manage the situation on the job. A lot of leaders have been caught off guard because we never anticipated or experienced a worldwide situation like this before. Make note of what you have learnt from this situation.
- Design your business for tomorrow: With the changes in the way business is being run under lockdown this is a good opportunity to evaluate new work solutions and start thinking about ways to remodel your business for a more efficient tomorrow. The current situation has raise awareness that a lot of people can work from home. There are new needs created that are also influencing positive progress in new software solutions.