Mindful Leadership in Times of Crisis

“As an employer, we have a duty of care to be the calm during a storm of uncertainty for our employees, customers and partners who look to us for direction.”

An Event like No Other

COVID-19, commonly referred to as Coronavirus has become a global pandemic. This started out (as recently as a couple of weeks although it feels like a lot longer) mirroring elements of prior catastrophes. This virus has caused every person on the planet into a situation none of us were truly prepared for – a global outbreak of a novel virus rapidly working its way through the world in ways we have yet to fully realise. It is all-consuming in its path and transcends borders, religion, race or sex, it is at present seemingly unstoppable.

Uplifting Discoveries in Times of Uncertainty

Many countries, states and local governments are more well prepared to deal with the situation. However, there are many countries, states and local governments with far larger infrastructure and wealth to be less prepared than they would be. As an employer, there is a duty of care to be the calm during a storm of uncertainty for employees, customers and partners who will look for direction. Regardless of any factor that makes the differences between leaders, employees or customers, this has brought most people together to work toward a common goal and look past things that may have disagreed on before. This comes to finding out how little importance things previously had and that being present and mindful means that leaders can understand the position of others and stop perceiving themselves so centrally when faced with a unified opposition.

Looking Ahead

Try to take this as an opportunity – to identify the gaps and evaluate the continuity plans and assess preparedness for catastrophic events. It is the leader duty to ensure in future, all is better equipped for whatever the future brings to everyone. Also, the responsibility to make sure employees know what to do in an emergency, how to care for ourselves and each other both personally and professionally. This is a good opportunity to consider how prepared homes, schools, ageing parents and country infrastructures are. This is a good way to make better use of our existing resources and have less of a global climate impact by evaluating which meetings and events can be done virtually in the future. Today’s technology provides us with ways to stay connected regardless of where we are physically located. Using these solutions rather than travelling in excess is ultimately better for our personal health and the environment.

Bracing for Impact and Looking for Positives

The current situation is immaterial to what some others are facing on a global scale, but these are real choices being made which have ramifications (both tangible and unforeseen) on people and customers. To hold or cancel a meeting? To attend or not attend a conference? To approve employee travel for what is a truly critical client meeting? Balancing business disruption and employee welfare has become a daily and almost hourly obstacle. While on a functional level, be prepared in many cases with BCPs (Business Continuity Plans), remote worker evacuation policies, technology planning in place as a company.  These led to a renewed sense of finding the good in colleagues and people we come into contact with. Leaders are stepping up to do the right thing for each other, for customers and the people in the company, regular contact with customers and partners and mutually supporting each other. The tough decisions are being taken in a mindful way and communicated thoughtfully with wellbeing at the top of the agenda.

Pushing Forward

While being in the midst of a global crisis as leaders, there is a must to guide your teams through this, be their objective source of truth for them and ensure  communications thoroughly and often.

As humans we will overcome when approaching each other with love and compassion, I hope we can all remember that in the coming weeks and months.