SECURING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS : HOW TO LEAD DURING AND AFTER COVID-19
In an exclusive interview with Dustin Seale , managing partner of Heidrick Consulting in EMEA , we discuss the likely impact of the current crisis on organisational culture , working practices and leadership .
What leadership qualities do leaders need to display during this disruptive period and beyond ?
There are three ‘ capacities ’ – which turn into behaviours - that will differentiate leaders ; they always have done , but more so in the midst of a crisis .
The first is what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called “ extreme compassion ”. The leaders who are taking people through this crisis and getting them ready for the future have taken on almost a ‘ mothering ’ style of leadership : “ We ’ re going to be ok ; we ’ re here together ; stay safe .” That has been critical in terms of keeping people engaged and focused .
Historically , I wouldn ’ t say that has been the first go-to for most leaders , but I ’ ve watched leaders unlock that capacity in themselves , and I think it ’ s going to be a big – and healthy – part of leadership going forward .
Second , agility has to move from a buzzword to a way of thinking and behaving . And it has to happen quickly . When I ’ m talking to client CEOs , none of us can see the future as clearly as we ’ d like . No matter what you think the future ’ s going to look like , it ’ s not going to look exactly that way .
Our focus as a firm is helping CEOs to tap into the ability to think in an agile way ; to take decisions , but then adjust . We ’ re going to be moving through the fog for a while , so we ’ re going to bump into stuff and have to change direction . The five-year plan , three-year plan , even the one-year plan has gone . Now you need to move with agility ; it ’ s not going to be a direct route . That requires a different set of behaviours , a different thinking from leaders .
Third is foresight , or what used to be called ‘ ripple intelligence ’. One of the key differentiators between leaders is how far out they can see . Human beings are generally terrible at it . Our response to COVID-19 has been dramatic and immediate and necessary , because we ’ re saving lives , and because the virus is right in our face . Something that ’ s right square in our face , most human beings can react to .
By contrast , take global warming : the risk to life is many , many magnitudes greater . But it ’ s further out . The action being taken is weak . If something ’ s too far out , people don ’ t know how to make sense of it today . Great leaders will be able to .
Care for the individual , for their health and wellbeing , and flexibility in creating scenarios
that work for them , is at the core of compassion in this new world
What does ‘ compassion ’ look like in practical terms ?
Where compassion comes to life is in paying attention to the individual . Big companies , where standard policies apply to everyone , are relatively inflexible . If you look at how we ’ re handling lockdown , and how we ’ re approaching going back to work post-coronavirus , each individual ’ s needs are the starting point . Does this person have kids at home ? Is this person at home alone ? Do they have underlying health issues ?
The plan post-COVID-19 has to do with them , and meeting those specific needs . Within our firm , no one , anywhere in the world , will be told that they have to go back into the office .
That ’ s almost the complete opposite of most corporate environments . Care for the individual , for their health and wellbeing , and flexibility in creating scenarios that work for them , is at the core of compassion in this new world . And I think it resonates heavily with our largest generation in the workforce : millennials .
Can businesses afford to be compassionate at this time ?
It does depend on the context . Some companies are on life support and if they don ’ t do something drastic today that feels ‘ not compassionate ’, they won ’ t exist . So I can ’ t say “ you should just keep all these people on the books , and you should take care of them ”, because they ’ re left with no choice .
But those companies that have been responsible about their balance sheets and created a buffer for periods like this have that freedom to do what ’ s right by people . I fundamentally believe that we will come out of this better and our employees will have an entirely different relationship with us , with a different level of commitment and affiliation . With the clients I see doing this , loyalty scores are going up in a way they ’ ve never seen before .
How can organisations with global teams support staff around the world ?
The lockdowns were the easy part because we were all on the same page , all on video calls . Everybody was at home – and if you stayed at home and followed the rules you were safe . This is the difficult phase where different countries are ending different lockdowns at different times . Post-lockdown , they ’ ll have different requirements around how close we get to each other ; what opens first , second , third , and there will be many different scenarios .
And you have to take into account that the end of lockdown does not mean the end of the virus . We will , as companies around the world , have infections . We ’ re going to have some ‘ stop / start ’.
My advice post-lockdown would be ‘ safety first ’, and to pay attention to the local context . It ’ s back to that compassion . How you go about bringing somebody back into the office in Amsterdam , for example , where everybody ’ s riding their bike to work , is different to in the UK , where we ’ re on crowded trains and undergrounds .
Any discontinuity is an opportunity if you figure out how you ’ re best-placed to serve your customers during and after it . Thinking at the end of this “ we ’ ll just turn the business back on ” is irresponsible , but it ’ s also not the recipe for winning .
If something ’ s too far out , people don ’ t know how to make sense of it today . Great leaders will be able to
Many organisations will need to restructure to survive . What does ‘ intelligent restructuring ’ look like ?
You ’ ve probably seen companies say , “ take 30 % of your cost base out ”. It ’ s easy to do , but it ’ s not thoughtful . They often cut critical muscle for the business , in terms of experience and capabilities . They get their cost base right , but their business is worse on the other side .
If you ’ re changing business model or becoming leaner due to pressures on the business , make sure you keep the leaders of the future on board and in the critical roles . Identify who those leaders are by working out which people have those core capacities to grow with your business and work within a different model . Do that in a transparent way that is not relationship or patron driven , but data driven .
We ’ ve also been using a system which tells us how all the relationships tie together in an organisation . It gives you a neural map of the company . Who are the people that shape direction and opinion ; who do others reach out to ? Not only are you getting an idea of the capabilities , now you ’ re looking at how your organisation really works .
If you map those two on top of each other , you have your critical leaders . Then you need to figure out the critical roles and map those people into those roles . So you now have your new structure with the right leadership and capabilities in place . Of course , a new model dictates new ways of working : what is the culture you want the new leaders in these critical roles to engender ?
How do you bring people with you when morale is low ?
People in the organisation have to know that their leaders have their back and believe in and support them . During COVID , people haven ’ t wanted to hear from their manager , they have wanted to hear from their CEO . A lot of change management can happen elsewhere in the organisation at other times , but this is a period where everybody ’ s eyes are on the CEO .
Going forward , I ’ d like to see the business sector return to health in a way that generates jobs , while creating better companies ( that can pay their taxes , because treasuries are bare ) and better places to work . It ’ s leadership that will make that happen , or not happen . During this current crisis , we ’ ve all seen examples of abysmal leadership and great leadership .
What will be the impact of COVID-19 on organisational culture and practices ?
A lot of clients have said to us “ many of the behaviours we ’ ve always wanted are showing up now ”. People are caring for each other , collaborating , looking for new ways forward , being more agile . Their question is “ how do I keep that momentum going ?” The ethos of “ we ’ re in this together ” is going to be a key factor in culture , post-lockdown . We must keep those elements of compassion , collaboration , communication and inventiveness .
We are probably never going back to work as normal . I think it will be more flexible and we will use these tools at our disposal to work in virtual teams . I believe we ’ ll be doing a lot less business travel . What I ’ ve heard from clients is that , historically , managers haven ’ t trusted the people working for them . “ Will they do what they ’ re supposed to do ? They have to be in the office so I can watch them .” What they ’ ve found is that people do the right stuff , even when they ’ re not being watched . So trust is going to be incredibly important , empowering those people to make decisions and to do things remotely .
And then many clients are asking “ how do I manage a remote or virtual team ?”, and that is going to be a growing skill set . But I think there are a few key things that bind virtual teams . One is a sense of purpose and being truly aligned at a purpose level . Like agility , purpose is no longer going to be a buzzword , but something tangible that will help glue virtual teams together .
I ’ ve never loved the word ‘ community ’, but it makes sense to me that we ’ re going to have to create a sense of community , even when we ’ re not together .
Any discontinuity is an opportunity if you figure out how you ’ re best-placed to serve your customers during and after it
How can managers develop these skill sets ?
These are things anyone can learn . We just developed ALP ( Agile Leader Potential ), which is AI driven . You do a gamified assessment on a digital device and it gives you a report on where you are agile , and where you have gaps . We then train people around the capacities that allow you to become more agile .
I also think digital dexterity is going to be critical going forward ; organisations will probably be dominated in the future by digital platforms and channels .
On-the-job training will be a part of things going forward and learning will need to be ongoing . We ’ re in a VUCA ++ world and it will be like this for ever . You are going to have to be changing and improving as quickly as your environment and you also have to have a culture that is able to adapt over time . Culture always was emergent , malleable and changing , but now you have to do it intentionally .
How important is diversity in teams ?
This is a big one for me ; it has been within my top three priorities for years now . That ’ s not just gender diversity or racial diversity , but also diversity of thought , generation , country of origin .
There was a book about Abe Lincoln ( Team of Rivals ). He started his presidency in the midst of the biggest crisis the US had ever faced . He could have picked his friends , but he picked his rivals ; people who thought very differently from him . He knew the task ahead was so complex that one perspective wasn ’ t going to solve it . The book goes into how that team of rivals raised each other ’ s game because members saw things differently .
I think the same thing ’ s true for companies ’ top teams and right through the business . If you have a sound shared purpose , being able to look at every problem from different perspectives is going to make you more agile . Diverse teams are going to navigate these things better .
How did re-joining Heidrick & Struggles just before lockdown affect your approach to your own leadership ?
I was always going to lead from a sense of purpose . When I turned 50 , I looked at the world , and I wasn ’ t crazy about the leadership I was seeing . Having lived for 50 years , I realised it was partly on me . It ’ s not the leadership , the types of government or company that I want my kids to grow up with .
So I thought , “ I want to change the way the world ’ s led ” and that heightened because of this crisis . I do believe that , for companies and countries , the way out is a different sort of leadership . So my purpose is in overdrive . It has led me to spend a lot of the time with the team on “ what are we here to do for the world . We have products , we have services ; that ’ s the how . But why are we doing this ?”
The second thing has been clarity and focus . I believe you can be agile if you ’ re focused ; you have to adjust and shift . But if you ’ re unfocused , it looks agile , because you ’ re trying a bunch of things , but it ’ s really not going to move the dial . So it has forced me to prioritise all the things we do into a small number , so that we can go and be the best at those .
Third , you ’ d have to ask people who ’ ve worked for me in the past , but I don ’ t know if someone would have said “ yeah , he ’ s got that mothering instinct to really take care and connect ”. But I haven ’ t really had to do it , I ’ ve felt it ; really caring about people and their situations ; what they ’ re facing … it has changed dramatically how I ’ ve spent time connecting with individuals .
Are we destined to have to make virtual connections from this day forward ?
In the pre-vaccine period , there will be a real mix , but I personally want to get back to connecting with people live . As a species we need it . We ’ re social animals ; a disproportionate part of our brain is dedicated to social interaction .
Studies are showing that there are a lot of micro-gestures you miss on video calls ; you ’ re not getting the whole picture . I think we need personal contact biologically and socially . It ’ s going to be a blended world , but a one-year disruption doesn ’ t undo millions of years of evolution .
Dustin Seale is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles ’ London office and a managing partner of Heidrick Consulting in EMEA .