Best Practice Briefing #4 on "Leading Through #COVID-19 Crisis" - Resolving Business Challenges with 'Cognitive Readiness'

The New Realities

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed extraordinary demands on all organizations and created insurmountable challenges that leaders have to respond effectively. The humanitarian toll and economic costs create fear among citizens, employees and other stakeholders. The massive scale of the outbreak which started in Wuhan, China in December 2019 (and now the virus is present in almost all countries globally) along with its sheer unpredictability makes it challenging for leaders to respond. Indeed, the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) nature of the outbreak has the hallmarks of a “black swan" event.

A 'black swan' event could be defined as a rare and unexpected event with severe consequences of enormous scale and overwhelming speed, resulting in a high degree of uncertainty that gives rise to disorientation and a feeling of lost control. 

The COVID-19 outbreak is an exceptional 'black swan' event by any standards. It comes with extreme scope and levels of uncertainty. It’s a situation that is well beyond the experience of most business leaders to resolve the many business challenges (including those listed below), which are a result of the impact of the pandemic on many businesses:

1) Direct Impact on Production

Chinese production has already been substantially affected by the shutdown in Hubei province and other areas. The slowdown in China has effects on exporters to China.

2. Supply Chain and Market Disruption:

Many manufacturing firms rely on imported intermediate inputs from China. For many companies around the world, many disruptions have been felt across the supply chain.

3. Impact on Financial Markets:

Impact on financial markets with significant uncertainty and volatility is concerning, especially the decline in global equity markets.

4. Global Economic Slowdown:

Temporary disruptions of inputs and/or production might stress those firms with inadequate liquidity. It will affect all organizations with SMEs more acutely and some industries (aviation, tourism) hardest hit. A wave of consolidation is possible.

Leaders need to demonstrate a suite of ‘Cognitive Readiness’ competencies to deal with these challenges as we cannot resolve the complex problems using conventional thinking skills.

VUCA-CENTRIC WORLD OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

We believe that the new normal VUCA environment of COVID-19 is impacting organizations to the extent that their leaders’ current set of skills and competencies may no longer be relevant to driving the organization to success. There is a need to continually reassess their readiness and develop the necessary set of competencies for them to lead in this volatile, unpredictable landscape.

Leadership agility and adaptability with cognitive readiness are crucial leadership skills that are required if organizations are to succeed in this current VUCA world

Too often in times of turbulence, including in a disruptive, VUCA-centric world that we are experiencing today in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the temptation for many leaders is to “batten down the hatches” and seek safety by focusing on what can be controlled. Typically that means turning inward and acting “defensively” to avoid damage and minimize risk. Caution and prudence, like most other leadership behaviors, are useful only in conjunction with the exercise of good judgment.

In stressful circumstances, leaders need to remember that not all risks are bad, not all opportunities for growth disappear, and a broad externally focused perspective is more important than ever.

Leaders are facing an almost overwhelming task of restoring confidence and respect in leadership and business. They are being called upon to guide organizations through times of turbulence and uncertainty, to show the way forward and to set an example. And all this in the face of an increasingly disruptive global economy and in a climate of cynicism and mistrust; tough economic and political circumstances by any standards.

Cognitive Readiness Competencies

Cognitive readiness skills can be viewed as part of the advanced thinking skills that make leaders ready to confront whatever new and complex problems they might face.

Cognitive readiness is the mental preparation that leaders develop so that they, and their teams, are prepared to face the ongoing dynamic, ill-defined, and unpredictable challenges in the highly disruptive and VUCA-driven era of Industry 4.0.

The Executive Development Associates (EDA) has identified the following seven key cognitive readiness skills, collectively known as Paragon7, which will develop, enhance, or sustain a leader’s ability to navigate successfully in this new normal:

1.     Mental Cognition: Recognize and regulate your thoughts and emotions

2.     Attentional Control: Manage and focus your attention

3.     Sensemaking: Connect the dots and see the bigger picture

4.     Intuition: Check your gut, but don’t let it rule your mind

5.     Problem Solving: Use analytical and creative methods to resolve a challenge

6.     Adaptability: Be willing and able to change, with shifting conditions

7.     Communication: Inspire others to action; Create fluid communication pathways

The detailed description of each of the above skills in Table 3.2 on page 42 and 43 of the book, "Transforming the Next Generation of Leaders: Developing Future Leaders for a Disruptive, Digital-Driven Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)" (Business Expert Press, 2019). The book is currently available on Amazon.

Source: "Transforming the Next Generation of Leaders: Developing Future Leaders for a Disruptive, Digital-Driven Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)" (Business Expert Press, 2019).

Reference:

Sattar Bawany (2019), "Transforming the Next Generation of Leaders: Developing Future Leaders for a Disruptive, Digital-Driven Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0)." ISBN-13: 978-1-94944-304-2, Business Expert Press (BEP) LLC, New York, NY (July 2019) Abstract Available Online at www.nextgen-leaders.sg

Sattar Bawany (2016), “Leading in a VUCA Business Environment: Leveraging on cognitive readiness and RBL for organizational success” in Leadership Excellence, July 2016 (07.2016). Available at: www.cee-global.com/online-articles  

Best Practice Briefings on “Leading Through COVID-19 Crisis”

These Best Practice Briefings on “Leading Through COVID-19 Crisis” is to share the tips and insights on how to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on your business. The links to the previous briefings are appended below:

1)     Best Practice Briefing #1 - Reassure Your Team During Uncertainty

2)     Best Practice Briefing #2 – Managing the VUCA Impact

3) Best Practice Briefing #3 - Adopt Employee-Centric Strategic Approach

Masterclass on "Leading Through COVID-19" in Action

The Masterclass on "Leading Through COVID-19 Crisis" was successfully delivered for the leadership team of RHT Group of Companies and RHTLaw Asia on 12 and 19 March 2020 respectively.

Learning Outcomes:

This Leadership Masterclass on "Leading Through COVID-19" will provide business leaders with:

1. Perspective on the evolving situation and the challenges and implications for their companies and leveraging on the prevailing opportunities.
2. Best practices in instilling trust among stakeholders that the organization can be resilient and secure in the face of the epidemic or other disruptive events.
3. Tactics in adapting business continuity plan to address disruptions with speed, agility, and security
4. Tools and resources to lead their teams and sustain productivity during these challenging times

About CEE and Leadership Masterclass Series

The Centre for Executive Education (CEE) is an award-winning and the premier network for established human resource management and executive development consulting firms globally. We partner with clients to identify, select and develop their next generation of leaders who will navigate the organization through tomorrow’s business challenges.

The Leadership 4.0 Masterclass Series is designed to provide CEOs, C-Suite Leaders as well Business and HR leaders with a platform to develop from being good to great. It is designed to provide CEOs, C-Suite Leaders as well as Business and HR leaders with a platform to develop from being good to great.

The programs incorporate several unique features and work on several levels. It is specifically aimed at enhancing and developing the skills, knowledge, and behaviors of the participants. The participants will develop their understanding of Leadership Effectiveness and how it will lead to a creation of sustainable competitive advantage for their respective organizations through the development of an organizational climate that will contribute towards enhancing employee engagement and productivity.

Client Testimonials

Selected Client Testimonials could be found here.

Contact Details

For further details, contact us via email at [email protected] and visit www.cee-global.com

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