In times of catastrophes, leadership skills play a pivotal role in ensuring businesses and communities thrive. For this reason, leaders should use their skills and ability to mitigate crises soon as they emerge. For more than a century, business and society have not encountered a much devastating crisis than the COVID-19. Not only does the pandemic make leaders emerge, but it has also increased innovation levels. As Countries begin to reopen and adjust to a new normal, leaders should not underestimate the skills and lessons they acquired that made them victorious during the pandemic.
The following leadership skills enable organisations to withstand and recover from the tribulations of the virus.
Empathy
Since last year, business activities have drastically changed where new responsibilities and roles were created. The pandemic forces them to adopt new communication guidelines for listening to employee challenges and design solutions that allow employees to remain productive as the world transitions to a new normal. Additionally, leaders creating a better working environment through introducing new employee compensation programs and policies assist them in becoming more productive.
Agility
The pandemic tests leader’s ability to make decisions quickly and easily in crisis management. For example, 11th of March 2020, Adam silver made a critical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA commissioner suspended all basketball competitions first before others had implemented pandemic response actions. He made an incredible move to protect the health and wellbeing of people across the NBA. Therefore, agility assists leaders in developing fast solutions when crises arise, thus preventing further damage in an organisation.
Data-Driven Decision-Making
COVID-19 adversely affects the supply chain, which triggers leaders to make informed decisions. Leaders depend on data analytics to decide capacity expansion, establish quarantine centres, field hospitals, vaccination, and contact tracing. Moreover, the management gathers and analyses departmental data for a straightforward diagnosis of a problem within the organisation.
Leaders have utilised their skills to ensure businesses and institutions go through the pandemic victorious in uncertain times. Significantly, empathetic leaders emerge as supportive to their employees because they create a smooth communication and problem-solving network. Furthermore, agility enables leaders to make informed decisions on crisis management. Although COVID-19 has made decision-making difficult, data-driven decision-making skills have promoted operational efficiency and continuity.