Leadership change in the light of Covid-19 times

When he wrote in 1980 his worldwide bestseller “Managing in Turbulent Times” the management guru Peter Drucker would probably never have imagined the kind of turbulences the Covid-19 crisis generated almost 40 years later. Recent examples of where inappropriate leadership styles can lead companies -or even entire countries- remind us of how critical it is to have the right leaders in place and broadly justifies the major place held by articles on Leadership in the management literature.

At Intercontinental Executive Search, we are fully conscious that for any CEO, COO, GM, or C-suite position, the definition of the sought-after leadership style in the profile of the ideal candidate will never be fully the same. We have recently reviewed a series of position papers published by leading strategy consulting firms such as BCG, McKinsey, or Deloitte. We are pleased to share with you their major findings. Should you wish to read the original articles, you will find here below the relevant links. To start with, to the impatient reader’s attention, we have selected a few charts that are particularly striking as they brightly highlight the characteristics of the new leadership skills that are required to succeed in Covid-19 and even more in post-Covid-19 times. Interestingly enough, a strong convergence appears in the changes that are needed.

 

Effective leaders must demonstrate a new set of skills and behaviors

 

McKinsey & Company Leadership behaviors exhibited by the most effective leaders
Study conducted by BCG of the top five qualities that characterize good leaders in times of crisis

In a nutshell, kind of a consensus seems to emerge as regards the major leadership skills that are most needed in the Covid-19/post-Covid era:

  1. Situational Awareness – Accurately perceiving and interpreting what is going on and then being able to use that information in decision-making.
  2. Ambiguity Tolerance – Being comfortable with uncertain environments and multiple demands and able to continue to function well in ambiguous environments.
  3. Personal Agility – The ability and willingness to move quickly and with a good level of flexibility.
  4. Team Building – Agile ways of working in uncertain environments require bringing people together productively, with the ability to rapidly build trust.
  5. Curiosity – Ongoing and intrinsic interest in learning about the world outside of the organization, which builds a leader’s continuous learning muscle.

(Source: NGS Global)

CEOs priorities: the need for a new agenda

As far as the CEO role is concerned, more specifically, they should reconsider their top priorities, go for a new agenda and be ready to drastically change their habits as well. Here are the more frequently quoted attitudes CEOs are expected to adopt to be successful in Covid/ post-Covid times:

The new DNA of the resilient organization

As stressed by Deloitte, “the resilient organization will be the one that has built the attitudes, beliefs, agility, and structures into its DNA that enable it to vault forward—quickly.

The leadership attitude shifts from reinventing ways of doing business in the interim to a pioneering ethos, one in which you focus on inspiring and empowering the team to follow you. Resilient leaders convene the full ecosystem to collaborate and define the journey together. In other words, it is about collective agility. At an individual level, five of the most common traits in resilient leaders are adaptability, preparedness, collaboration, responsibility, and ethics: adaptability quickly connects resources to meet today’s challenges; preparedness connects tomorrow’s resources to potential future scenarios; collaboration connects the whole system; and both responsibility and ethics connect individuals, organizations, institutions, and society”.

 

Yves Kerbiriou
Yves Kerbiriou
Partner at Intercontinental Executive Search
Branded & Luxury good, Retail, E-Commerce, Manufacturing, and Services

 

References

Boston Consulting Group. (2021). Human-centered leaders are the future of leadership. In.

Broadbent, M. (2021, January). Five Leadership Attributes Essential For 2021 and Beyond.

Dewar, C., Keller, S., Sneader, K., & Strovink, K. (2020, July 21). CEO leadership for a new era | McKinsey.

Marzouk, A., & Busson, J. (2021, February 4). Un bon leader d’entreprise est visionnaire … mais aussi humain.

Rao, H., & Sutton, R. (2020, July 9). From a room called fear to a room called hope: A leadership agenda for troubled times | McKinsey.

Renjen, P. (2020, December 2). The journey of resilient leadership | Deloitte Insights.

Leadership: Vision, Values and Strategy

A leader´s job is to achieve the transformation of the organization, for which they must possess a strong vision, values and strategies.

During difficult times a leader´s job becomes crucial and having a vision that provides support is key to overcome the toughness of a crisis. A Harvard Business Review article about the Psychology Behind Effective Crisis Leadership shows that the leaders whose visions were most compelling and enduring, involved a group perspective to create it. “…The leader started with a sincere concern for a group of people, and as they held those people and their concerns, a vision emerged. They then held people through the change it took to realize that vision, together. Their vision may be how we remember leaders because it can hold us captive. But it is their hold that truly sets us free”.

Having a vision statement that you can live by can make the difference between gaining and losing in the business world; nonetheless, this always takes into account the people of the organization. Simon Sinek, the author of Leaders Eat Last, says “If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business”. That’s why in order to win in the leadership game values are so important.

Values are the ones that determine our decision, based on our moral and believes. For the leaders in charge of an organization, communication to protect the company´s values is task number one, since the values will determine the culture, and this comes before thinking of having a killer strategy. As Peter Drucker says, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. In this Forbes ´article the author clearly explains the power of values in leadership, and how important it is to align your personal values with the company values.

Regarding the knowledge that the leader must possess to carry out the transformation of his company, Dr. Deming, an American engineer, statistician, professor, author, lecturer, and management consultant, proposes the adoption and implementation of 14 points for management. The 14 points are used for any type of organization, large or small of products and services.Therefore, in order to create a great strategy for the company, one must work with the team and create and implement it. The theory and knowledge in the mind is not enough, convincing and changing the minds of  people might be needed to make it happen.

The necessary transformation of the management style of companies requires managers to adopt and implement the leadership.

The idea that competition is a necessary way of life should be discarded. Instead of competition, we need cooperation.

The company’s transformation can only be carried out by man, not by machines and appliances; a company cannot buy the way to quality; it must make its own way with the cooperation of all its areas, its departments, and its management and operational personnel, with a consistent effort.

A fully integrated team means an organizational environment where everyone, from the lowest levels to those of managers, understand that they are in the same team and act according to that conviction, working together to constantly increase the satisfaction of their clients.

It means believing in people; treat all members of the organization with respect, trust and dignity; ensure that all those related to the company (customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and the community) always win no matter the circumstances.