Leadership’s forced evolution, it may be rocky but the upside is tremendous
The COVID pandemic is requiring a new breed of leaders to come forward, and those that fit this archetype will be coveted by stakeholders and employees equally. The classic leadership focused on maximizing output (not innovation / creativity / service) is being exposed as one who burns out their staff. To no fault of their own, their style fit well in many environments when everyone was working together around a table, but as the distribution of teams has been mandated this style no longer succeeds. This transformation of the leadership methods that work are beginning to shift how work is done and WHEN, to more about achieving the outcomes.
Getting specific — the best and most successful product launches will be those where their leaders, and thus manifested in their teams, push for softer skills to include:
- empathy,
- mindfulness
While equally adopting and prioritizing:
- healthy lifestyles
- blocked time for family/play
- fitness, and
- healthy worldly practices (community engagement, passion projects, charity)
Room to improve with nothing but opportunity in our hands
We saw/see good and bad practices occurring within businesses large and small between March and May of 2020. Some businesses are so distrustful of their employees that they are installing monitoring tools. Other businesses are not only encouraging / mandating work stoppages but also mobilizing their workforces to do good in this period. Some notably are even donating products and offerings to their employees to distribute in their communities, and as a result both creating a deeper tie to the community while also reinforcing their purposeful missions.
Fiscally and Morally we as leaders must adapt
In the end, we are all learning what is the right behavior. Following practices before COVID is inappropriate at best, and dangerous at worst today. Dangerous for both the financial health of the business, the longevity of it’s critical top performers, and or simply impacting the longevity of their employees own lives (can you imagine receiving a report stating you took away 7 months of life from an employee with your actions, and they will miss their daughter’s wedding as a result).
We know factually how life works and stress, burnout, and the impact it has on how long we live. This isn’t an exact science but it sure is becoming pretty close. I for one, as a leader, will make this decision carefully.
I firmly believe that we as leaders must press for our teams to be complete humans. A phrase to draw attention to equally their body, mind, and spirit. This begins in how we lead, how we demonstrate this balance, and how we set the goals and outcomes.
Failure to address the wildly high levels of stress, the new work from home dynamic, and catering to the complete human will lead to decomposition of team synergy, lower quality product releases, and less innovation.
Examples of early movers
How have you adjusted to your team’s needs in this unprecedented work from home environment to meet your customer expectations?
- Google for instance has mandated a company holiday, May 22nd 2020 due to the levels of burn-out it is seeing.
- Twitter has permanently removed working from an office as a requirement, and thus allowing people to leave California for better living standards and environments
What can you do to change and impact today your team’s health, and what seismic changes are you eager to make that’ll transform your business going forward.
There is no new normal, there will only be the next day. We have all been given an opportunity to adjust our business, let us not squander it or we will be left behind.
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About Me
I am a father, study of human behavior, strategist, cybersecurity executive, and a coach and mentor on a journey to give more than I receive everyday. I lead teams globally, build products, and daily an executive for a leading company where I serve the largest companies in the world using the largest cloud deployments in the world impacting the financial services, healthcare, and fintech industries. I provide these publications and content through my media agency to deliver insights and advantages. Mindset, mental strength, mentorship, personal improvement, health, fitness, and humanist ideas are drawn from personal research and practice. Everything read and heard is my original works and my own perspective. All rights reserved for noted authors and sources. I produce research and strategy, as well as provide advisory services that include inquiries, briefings, consulting projects, and presentations on published findings as well as bespoke speaking engagements where I often keynote at conferences, seminars, and roundtables annually.