As a leader, your ability to deal with global disruption is often tested—irrespective of its impact on your organization’s supply chain, sales, distribution capability, or cash flow. Whether it is a global pandemic or even a financial crisis, events beyond your control allow you to sharpen your abilities to lead in unpredictable times. During the crisis, what role should you play, and what strategies will help you get ahead of the unexpected curve? In this article at MIT Sloan, Bill Health and Antonios Christidis explain how employee development investments yield long-term results.
Ways to Maximize Your Leadership Effectiveness
Encourage Open Communication
Ask your employees what is on their minds and answer their questions without sticking to your script. Clear communication provides transparency during these fast-changing times. Establish protocols and guidelines to communicate information to employees and stakeholders about your response plans. Employees will undoubtedly have many concerns that impact the workday and provide long-term implications for the economy and their job. The ultimate test of your leadership is your ability to listen to feedback and act on it.
Build Infrastructure for a Virtual Workplace
A virtual workplace includes similar elements as physical ones—a platform to share ideas, collaborate, and execute the work. However, it demands effort from leaders to ensure each employee has the right tools, such as access to file-sharing systems, essential software, and VPN, to be effective and productive in the virtual environment. Be it internal chat or videoconferencing solutions, equipping employees with tools to collaborate will undoubtedly make a difference between a connected organization and a group of people working in silos.
Maintain Strategic Awareness
As a leader, you must:
- Anticipate how disruption will globally change your organization’s position and reflect this in your strategy
- Observe what other organizations are doing to navigate disruption
- Evaluate the type of leadership capabilities, organizational structure, and talent you need to thrive during a crisis
To read the original article, click on https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/invest-in-people-to-best-manage-through-disruption/.
