Key realisations from CEO's on leading their organisations through the COVID-19 pandemic
Moon Executive Search has an excellent relationship with the Grant Thornton UK LLP team locally.
Last week, their Growth 365 team hosted a virtual round table with CEO’s to discuss their challenges and key learnings whilst leading their organisations through COVID-19. With the wealth of information out there, we saw this and wanted to share it as a reflection of the CEO agenda during this time.
The following article is comprised of a collection of three releases by Megan Gibson-Jones who leads the Growth 365 team across the South West & Wales. The idea was to create connections and bring innovative thinkers together to solve problems and find opportunities.
‘On Thursday we brought together leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs from various sectors who are part of our Growth 365 service for a virtual roundtable. By harnessing the power of community, our aim was to give our clients space to breathe, reflect and share their experiences of leading through the COVID-19 pandemic.
We listened and heard stories of challenge and heroism yet a surprising sentiment of optimism recognising the valuable opportunities that this crisis has unearthed to ‘do things differently’. Over the next few days I will be sharing some of the highlights from the conversation.
1) Clarity of communication is key
With unclear messaging in the media, and a lack of detail around the government support available, staff have welcomed the setting of clear expectations and timely communication. They want to know what it means for them now and what it means for them in the future. Many of these questions we [leaders] are unable to answer right now. Instead we have outlined defined actions to take now, alongside reassurance about the way we would like the organisation to operate in the future.
Being open and honest with customers, suppliers and employees has created trust.
2) Barriers - a perception, rather than reality
As organisations we have demonstrated speed and agility, utilising the tools and technologies to us to find new ways of working. We had these tools already, however had been slow to adopt them due to an “if it ain’t broke” mindset.
This has been a helpful learning, people can change their behaviours and can do this very quickly if a clear common goal is shared.
3) We believe there is an opportunity to reimagine our businesses
We expect the pace of work to be faster in “the new normal” than it was in the past.
We recognise there will be space in the market for disruptors. Innovators who can identify a gap and swiftly take a solution to market will be able to grow quickly.
There will be lots of opportunities for us as organisations to capture and embed some of the changes, to ensure we are a better organisation moving forward.
4) New leaders will emerge
It has been really interesting to see how individuals and teams have adapted to the challenges, opportunities and different working conditions.
Teams have galvanised despite being in different locations, communication lines have been better than ever and people have stepped-up.
We have seen new stars emerging who may have been overlooked in the status quo. This will strengthen our management teams of the future.
5) Purpose is much bigger than a statement
When people are aligned behind a bigger purpose, they surpass expectations.
This situation has been a true test of the strength and belief of ‘purpose’ and ‘culture’.
Having seen the benefits of a strong, cohesive culture, we [leaders] are reconsidering how we position our purpose, vision and values for the future.
6) We will remember and reward
We’ll remember how our customers, suppliers and advisers interacted with us during this period, and this will affect our decision making in the future.
We want to develop deeper strategic partnerships with those who have been flexible, reliable and showed compassion.
We know that our staff will remember the way we, as organisations, treated them during a time of uncertainty, and we hope they will repay that trust with loyalty and commitment.
7) We understand our people better
We and our people have had to juggle multiple roles e.g. from teacher, to manager, to chef. Many will have been doing this previously, but it has given us a new appreciation for the reality of work-life interaction and how we as employers can better support our teams.
It has been important for us [leaders] to exhibit the "all hands on deck" behaviours we expect of our staff. Hierarchy has become less relevant; instead it’s about delivering as a team.
Setting clear expectations alongside demonstrating trust, has created goodwill with those working remotely. By setting a clear expectation it is easy to hold those who may not be doing their fair share accountable.
Through empowering our employees to use their time flexibly, we have noticed increased effort and productivity. This has changed some of our perceptions around home and flexible working.
8) We must maintain a balanced mindset
We want to protect the health and safety of our staff, families and wider society. At the same time we want to protect the livelihoods, income and future prospects of our people and organisations. We are trying to balance "doing the right thing" in every sense, which can be difficult.
We are actioning what we need to now, whilst also considering the medium term, because we believe we will weather the storm and therefore need to plan for the future:
----------Will our operating model change forever?
----------How can we harness the power of our teams that has been unleashed during challenge, in a sustainable way to unlock future growth?