The future of leadership in the post-pandemic global village

While chaos can be a ladder sometimes, a crisis - when particularly managed well – can also bring organizational ambidexterity to an entirely new level. A recent US-based study interviewed leaders, leadership development professionals, and young graduates from consulting, financial services, media and technology, and also consumer good sectors entering the workforce at a time of unprecedented global market uncertainty to understand how the pandemic would impact business markets, processes, and also operations. It is critical to understand what types of skill sets that manager and leaders will require to possess in the post-pandemic global market. The report evidenced that the pandemic would continue to impact global markets, nature of operations, and also disrupt the supply chain at various levels over the next few years. Naturally, therefore, the way we produce and also how we travel would significantly change, at the same time, we will explore new markets and newer way of approaching them.

'Humane leadership' during the crisis

In addition to this, nourishing organisational culture and building relationship largely based on digital communication would remain something to be continually improvised. While #WFH is a reality today, it is also about the mindset to identify new opportunities and improving a progressive attitude towards work, particularly in a virtual setting. In another study that interviewed over 2K individuals from a mix of industries reports that 33 per cent believe that the quality of their working relationships will suffer from continued reliance on virtual communication, whereas only 23 per cent think that their relationships might improve.

Leadership skills such as openness, empathy, resilience, altruism, and also perhaps the most important ability of all - to communicate effectively are now of greater importance. Despite the devastating effects that the pandemic has on multiple sectors, it is also a time when leaders have recognised valuable opportunities for innovation. Some report that their organisations have pivoted operations successfully during the crisis by seeking out new markets and new ways of connecting to customers. From marketing to operations, from international business to talent recruitment, effective leaders have adopted a different approach to stay ahead of the curve while at the same time inspiring followers.

'Mental Well-Being'

Psychological safety is one of the areas that have been discussed regularly and widely during this period. As #WFH was relied on significantly over the past 12-14 months, now that we do zoom coffee, skype movies, virtual lunches and related virtual social interactions a lot more than in the past. To a great extent, this is to preserve our sanity. Leaders recognise that under the new working arrangements the work does continue after all and therefore it remains important to find ways to keep employees motivated, to stay innovative, and at the same time to prosper under pressure. From companies like Google to firms in Investment banking, it has been observed that mentorship, providing mental health support, and mindfulness training have been emphasised a lot more recently. The psychological safety aspect is supreme and therefore the focus is to build cultures that acknowledge and allow for the mental and emotional pressures that people will face while working from home. Not that it would be any different at other times, but post-pandemic, this is something that should continue as a constant in organizations.

One of the mounting problems that COVID-19 added to is the various forms of physiological effects that societies have felt since March 2020. Lockdown, isolation, cutting off social life, amongst others had a significant impact on the mental health of millions of people. Around September 2020, WHO estimated the economic impact of depression and anxiety on the global economy at US$ 1 trillion per year in lost productivity. Needless to say, that has only gone up over the past few months. As economies open up gradually, these issues won't simply go away expecting things to return to normalcy rather quickly. Leaders have to work closely in ensuring 'return to work is realistic, manageable, supportive, and gradual. Recalibrating the human connection is essential.

Leaders who understand how to cultivate meaningful relationships with their staff are more likely to be able to rally the troops. One example that takes a step forward, leaders in the tech sector at Silicon Valley, particularly the AI industry recently proposed on grounds of moral responsibility that it is essential to address questions of developing and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to make day-to-day interfaces more effective while addressing mental health challenges. Several strings of research are currently in progress addressing this need.

In higher education, leaders have improvised on design learning experiences that rely less on traditional learning session formats. This goes beyond the platforms that help us deliver lessons recently, but it is more about developing a new mindset where faculty is more of a facilitator and improve learners by mentoring and coaching learners thereby making them co-creators in their development. Schools and Universities have invested more in experiential learning, cross-cultural interactions, and at the same time support faculty to upskill in the latest digital learning technologies.

Cultivating an innovative mindset has been visible and acknowledged a lot more recently. People taking ownership of their self-development to become their best versions of themselves. From signing up for courses offered by LinkedIn Learning, Coursera and similar platforms have skyrocketed since June 2020. Prioritising autonomy and developing the resilience that people need to unearth opportunities and expand their networks are areas where leaders are investing significantly. However, these initiatives need guidance and a sense of direction and therefore organisational leaders need to create time for employees to guide them to reflect on their sense of purpose, and help them identify areas where their skills are strongest and areas where they most need improvement.

Manging remote and also hybrid teams

As employees return to work in most places, there is a growing discussion that some employers in particular industries are offering a workplace arrangement where either the employees can work from home on certain days or/ and spend restricted hours at the office. But the hybrid arrangements are becoming the new reality. We can expect to see more companies accommodating remote work to various degrees and greater flexibility as regards working hours. In terms of managing gig workers in the sharing economy, however, this wouldn't be that big of a problem. However, for casual and freelance workers, employers should nurture a more inclusive workplace culture and employment benefits now that the pandemic has shown the importance of the gig economy.

Leaders need to recognise and foster strong, cohesive teams, despite the obvious gap between team members at the office and those working from home. Managing a part of the team in person in the office and the other part/s that are working and responding virtually called for a redesigned leadership style. In some industries, this would be something entirely new. Technology certainly helps on this score, however, that's largely limited to communication and capacity building, for example, the heightened importance of data in decision-making will demand new strengths in data and problem-solving and critical thinking. Leaders have to step in when it comes to team building nurturing the team building and spirit along with empathy and motivating the employees, working virtual or otherwise.

As the pandemic crippled the world economy and exposed flaws in some of our long-held assumptions, the issues around leadership and requirements in a leader have changed vastly. Human skills, an effective and accommodative organisational structure, workplace culture, integrating virtual teams with physical ones would call for a strategic and integrated approach, going forward. In response to the events of 2020 and evaluation of roles that leaders have taken on, what will remain is a new type of effective leadership formed through the evolution of how we are working now. Much of the discussion is today after all around the form of working arrangements that employees are having and management of that. Transparency, willingness to adapt, and an openness to listen would top the traits that leaders would essentially require. These are amongst the other characteristics of effective leadership as discussed in this article which will determine survival and new definitions of success in this 'new normal' economy.