What pandemic and other crises teach us about leadership
Sound leadership is often singled out as a differentiator at businesses that deliver sustainable outcomes and protect the livelihoods of their employees. Dawie de Villiers, CEO at Alexander Forbes, introduced the diversified financial services firms’ ‘Partnering for better financial well-being outcomes’ webinar by reminding attendees of their collective responsibility to improve member and employer outcomes. “Your presence here demonstrates a commitment and willingness to work with us to find ways to improve the probability that your members and employers will experience good financial wellbeing outcomes,” he said.
The keynote speaker at the 22 July 2020 webinar was none other than former Vice Chancellor of the University of the Free State, thought leader, and columnist Professor Jonathan Jansen. Jansen, in one of the most compact lectures we have seen him give, summarised seven important lessons for leaders tasked with navigating a business, institution, or country through the current pandemic. “My topic for today is what are the lessons from the pandemic about leading and managing in a crisis,” said Jansen, before adding that the topic was especially relevant to those responsible for making decisions in the employee benefits world.
Lesson 1: Tell the truth. There is no better backdrop for the first lesson than the performance of US President Donald Trump through the pandemic crisis. Trump has been widely criticised for various aspects of his leadership, most notably his early dismissal of coronavirus as a non-event. His comments re the pandemic are so outlandish they feature in CNN.com politics articles under headlines such as: The 38 most bizarre quotes from Donald Trump’s interview with… “People do not expect good news all the time; but they do expect you to tell them the truth,” said Jansen. This means acknowledging that the coronavirus pandemic is real, that the COVID-19 disease is real, and that people get sick and die from it.
Lesson 2: Lead by example. People tend to take cues from their leaders during times of crisis. “If the leader does not wear a mask, that sends a message that masks are not important,” said Jansen, drawing attention to decisions by Trump and many of his aides to shun masks during public appearances. He also shared the chilling consequences of a trusting electorate blindly following a leader. “You might recall that when ex-President Thabo Mbeki was head of state, he questioned the efficacy of ARVs, and as a result estimates show that up to 300 000 people died needlessly, simply because their leaders questioned the truth about HIV infections and Aids,” he said. One of the best illustrations of ‘lead by example’ is to compare Brazil with New Zealand… We will let our readers guess which of these countries is showing exemplary leadership through the crisis.
Lesson 3: The duty of care. Leaders and managers have a duty of care for their colleagues. “The duty of care is not only about physical health, it is not only about job security, it is also about people’s emotional health,” said Jansen. He recounted a recent initiative to gather stories from 640 South African learners in which they shared their experience of learning under lockdown. Their primary concern was not with the difficulty in learning online or the availability of data and devices; but rather, they expressed anxieties, fears, and a sense of hopelessness. Jansen concluded that it would be unwise for a school headmaster to expect pupils to return from lockdown and immediately get on with the business at hand, which scenario is certainly true for employees in an organisation too.
Lesson 4: Partnerships. “The crisis we are presently facing cannot be contained within national borders,” said Jansen. “Just as the virus does not respect national borders, the resolution to this pandemic cannot be found within national borders”. Many commentators are in broad agreement with his position, and it is likely that a coronavirus vaccine will be developed in collaboration or partnership between the best minds, laboratories, and researchers on the global stage. “I cannot imagine [that a business] will be able to lead at without having all of its [divisions and functions] together, in one room, saying we need to pool our expertise and partner with one another, inside and outside the organisation, or we will not win,” he said. Pandemic therefore teaches us the importance of working together in partnerships. This view was an echo of one of De Villiers’ opening remarks: “As a client, you want to know that your partner is there for you, in a sustainable business, and will be able to help you through the difficult times and not only through the good times”.
Lesson 5: Forward thinking. Lessons about leadership and management often develop from stressful situations. Jansen reminded the webinar audience of the historical protests at South Africa’s universities in late 2015 and early 2016. The often violent protests caused more than R1 billion in damage to university infrastructure countrywide. Certain universities took a decision at the time to invest in online learning to minimise disruption to students during future protests. “Universities that invested in that way, thinking of the future, are the ones that are now better able to deal with lockdown learning,” he said. A good example of ‘future thinking’ will be how firms, with input from their architects, redesign office spaces for 10 or 15 years hence. Jansen believes there are many businesses and processes that would benefit enormously from forward thinking rather than only being concerned with and engaged in the present.
Lesson 6: Act quickly. Jansen offered up New Zealand’s performance through the coronavirus pandemic as a case study in successful leadership. “Prime minister Lucinda Arden, who when this news of the virus came from Wuhan in China, immediately shut borders and immediately quarantined the country,” he said. Acting quickly was an important component of a multi-pronged strategy to limit the spread of the virus that included tough lockdown conditions, comprehensive testing and contact tracing, and buy-in from the public. South Africa’s government has applauded itself for its swift actions leading into pandemic; but the jury is out to what extent they had public buy-in. Unfortunately, the jury is in on our ability to test for the virus and contact trace for positive COVID-19 cases. Jansen concluded: “Employees look to their leaders, not to sit on their hands but to act quickly in the best interest of those they are privileged to serve”.
Lesson 7: Communicate. There is nothing worse than enduring a crisis without any word from your leader, whether in the private or public sector environment,” said Jansen. He indicated that employees were looking for communication, direction, and guidance from their managers and leaders through crisis. His final appeal to leaders, and especially the President of South Africa, was to keep people informed of what was happening on a daily basis, even if this meant saying: We do not have anything new for you; but are there any questions?
“The pandemic, horrible as it is, life threatening as it might be, still teaches us about how to lead and how to manage in a crisis,” concluded Jansen, before wishing attendees good health during these difficult times, and hoping that his next interaction with them would be in the real, rather than virtual world.
Writer’s thoughts:
We enjoyed Professor Jansen’s take on the leadership lessons that crises such as the current coronavirus pandemic teach us. Would you agree with his seven points? And do you have pandemic-inspired management or leadership lessons of your own that you might share? Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email us your thoughts [email protected].
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