Leadership in Crisis

Leadership in crisis. The topic of effective leadership has skyrocketed amidst the pandemic. In 2020 there were 12,364 articles mentioning both ‘leadership’ and ‘crisis’ in the UK media compared to 9,147 for 2019 – an increase of more than a third (35 per cent).

What are they talking about? The media has been awash with discussion and opinion about how best leaders and organisations can adapt to a crisis or fast-changing environment. There is a coalescing of opinion regarding the need for organisations to embrace new approaches to leadership, to move away from the ‘cult of the CEO’, as well as the critical function real time feedback has to play in enabling that change.

Adaptive leadership. There are growing calls for more nimble forms of leadership to accommodate the switching between different working styles to different situations and contexts. Among the most prevalent of these is ‘adaptive leadership’. The World Economic Forum featured an article earlier this year by Nisha Ramchandani of Axilor Ventures discussing how flexibility and creativity are core components to overcoming new challenges and why adaptive leadership is vital during a time of crisis. She explores the concept of ambidextrous leadership, where individuals can pivot quickly during a crisis to help them adapt. She references the work of behavioral scientist Dr. Sanna Balsari-Palsure, who argues adaptive leaders are ‘interpersonally flexible’: they can switch between different working styles to different situations and contexts.

Collaborative leadership. Collaboration is also considered a major benefit for organisations when handling crises like the coronavirus pandemic. Various articles, including one published in Harvard Business Review by authors Heidi K. Gardener and Ivan Matviak, looks at the traditional ways individuals handle a crisis. Often, individuals fall back on actions and solutions that have worked in the past, a concept researchers call ‘threat rigidity’. This can dry up resources leading to self-preservation and a breakdown in collaboration. The authors refer to research into the 2008 financial crisis that shows the most collaborative partners of a global law firm outperformed their colleagues during and after the 2007-2008 financial crisis. They conclude by arguing that the promotion of cross-silo collaboration will ensure an organisation is more likely to survive hard times and thrive once they are over.

Compassionate leadership. Now more than ever, it is imperative leaders demonstrate compassion to create connections between people. Another article published earlier this month in the Harvard Business Review discusses how compassionate leadership improves collaboration, raises levels of trust, and enhances loyalty. But its authors, Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter and Nick Hobson, believe compassion is not enough on its own, wisdom must play its part. Referring to wisdom as ‘leadership competence’, they argue effective leadership requires a deep understanding of what motivates people and how to manage them to deliver results.  Their research and data modeling has uncovered a clear correlation between higher levels of ‘wise compassion’ (getting tough things done in a human way) and promotability – i.e., the more ‘wise compassion’ you practice as a leader, the faster and higher you will progress.

Feedback is key. Underpinning these leadership approaches is feedback. Writing in The New York Times last February, Arianna Huffington links the importance of effective feedback to compassionate leadership. She explores constructive feedback and the idea of ‘compassionate directness’, which describes empowering employees to speak up, give feedback, disagree, and surface problems in real time. How feedback is provided is one of the most vital and underappreciated indicators of a company’s success, which is why it’s one of the prime focuses of our work here at ViewsHub. Arianna refers to research conducted by leadership development consultancy, Zenger | Folkman, that found 92 per cent of people agreed that negative feedback, if delivered appropriately, is effective at improving performance. 

Through our unique workplace feedback platform and team performance technology, at ViewsHub we’re devoted to driving effective leadership. Our technology helps leaders to become more collaborative, compassionate and adaptive through the provision of real time feedback.