Best Practice Briefing #2 on "Leading Through #COVID-19 Crisis" - Managing the #VUCA Impact

Since the US War College started to use the term VUCA as far back as 1987, it has been in the business lexicon to describe the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity of the world after the Cold War. Today, the concept is gaining new relevance to characterizing the current COVID-19 pandemic and the leadership by all organizations required to navigate it successfully.

The degree of uncertainty confronting all of us with the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented. Where next? How bad? How long? Who can we rely on for the latest and most reliable information? How will our organization – our employees, customers, partners, supply chain – be impacted? How should we respond?

The main emphasis of governments is and should be on containing and mitigating the disease itself. However, the economic impacts are also significant, and many companies are feeling their way towards understanding, reacting to, and learning lessons from rapidly unfolding events. Despite this, we frequently find ourselves managing in situations of absolute ambiguity—when it isn’t clear where you’re going or how you’ll get there. Why does this happen? Market conditions shift rapidly. Customers have more choices than ever. Resources are constrained compounded with your key talents leaving. The list continues.

Since the national lockdown in Malaysia earlier this week as well as the travel restrictions in many countries globally, several clients have contacted us for advice on how to ensure the sustainability of their business including leading and engaging their teams during the current challenging times. Effective leaders demonstrate calm and being present to provide steady, realistic direction and to lead authentically with a high degree of emotional and social intelligence, even when the strategy isn’t clear.

To manage the VUCA impact of CIVOD-19, leaders need to focus on your team on delivering value and started to explore what’s possible, be prepared to move forward with a discrete set of priorities. The rate at which the virus can spread is astonishing. So is the rate at which information is changing. Sometimes it seems to change on a minute to minute basis. In this environment, it’s critical to stay flexible and consider that the best-laid plans may well be fluid. There be prepared to make necessary and relevant adjustments and reinvent your plans.

Leader's Response to the COVID-19 Crisis

During this unprecedented crisis, leaders at all levels need to demonstrate the behaviors and shift their mental models towards ensuring the right mindsets to keep them from overreacting to yesterday’s developments and have a sense of optimism to help them look ahead. These behaviors include a highly effective network of high-performance teams and also flex their leadership styles and embrace "Employee Centric Results-based Leadership" to impact and influence the various stakeholders towards achieving the goals of their business continuity plans or contingency measures to address the crisis. The typical top-down command-and-control structure and autocratic leadership style do not work in this instance.

Best Practice Tips on Leading Through COVID-19 Crisis

This is the 2nd in a series of Best Practice Tips for Leaders and Managers to manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their organizations.

Earlier in the week, we shared the "Best Practice Tip #1 on Best Practice Tip #1 on "Leading Through #COVID-19 Crisis" - Reassure Your Team During Uncertainty" and in the coming days, we will share other best practice tips and insights on how to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on your business.

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

Reference

WHO Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Report – https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-as-they-happen

#COVID19 #2019nCoV #coronavirus #NovelCoronavirus #WHO #pandemic #epidemic #SGUnited #leadership #management #uncertainty #vucaworld #VUCA #Crisis  #Coaching #Teams #BestPractice #CEE