Effective Leadership During COVID-19

Aaron Swain is President of Property Management and Operations for Columbia Residential. He is charged with full profit and loss responsibility for 8,500 apartments in four states. The Columbia Residential portfolio is focused primarily on affordable housing assisting moderate and low-income families in attaining a market rate level housing experience with its quality not being tied to their incomes. 

Having faced other natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, Aaron took a proactive approach in leading a staff of over 300 team members of essential workers. Aaron called a reliable resource (with knowledge of the science related to COVID-19) two weeks ahead of the state’s official shelter in place orders to get the insight into navigating a pandemic. This established an industry-standard that did the best to help residents and employees. Aaron reiterated the facts of the CDC and focused on prevention and the steps being taken to protect the team members to ensure they have a safe and comfortable working environment.

These steps consisted of:

• Reducing public traffic by closing offices to new renters, apartment tours and converting everything to virtual leasing
• Managing all residential services by appointment
• Closing public amenity spaces to protect residents and staff
• Responding to only emergency work orders
• Stressing that all team members wear PPE when encountering the public and co-workers
• Increasing cleaning protocols to two cleanings a day for high traffic common areas.

Columbia Residential’s lifestyle promise is committed to advancing lives and strengthening neighborhoods. This did not waver during the pandemic and their Resident Services team found food resources and other essential services to help families with their life needs. In Atlanta alone, these services ensured support for all 4,000 apartment homes which translates to about 15,000 individuals. Additionally, each property kept open their business centers amenity for people needing to utilize computers and printers. Regular communication was established with weekly town halls and recognition to the staff including lunches and thank you videos.

As a result of Columbia’s actions, to date, they have had no major breakouts of the virus at any of their properties and employees have had no major issues related to losing time as a result of the virus.

In my 1 on 1 interview with Aaron Swain, he provided additional insight into his effective leadership:

Q: How would you define your leadership style?

• "Being a leader is natural and I lead by example by working hard and getting buy-in from others. I never follow the herd and believe that the best ideas are those derived from what’s best for all."

Q: What are your 3 core values and why?

• Responsibility: Each leader must feel accountable for their team always.
• Integrity: Without honesty and doing the right thing, no one can be trusted as a leader or person.
• Accountability: People must know that you will lead and take the brunt of the blame for when things don’t go well.

Q: During the pandemic, what has been your biggest challenge and how did you overcome it? 

• "Since our teams are essential staff and still working, it’s been a challenge to make sure they all feel appreciated. We were fortunate that we didn’t have to downsize. We have provided yoga and meditation classes via Zoom, have fed lunch to team members on Fridays, have produced videos from us thanking the team, and have let them leave early to show our appreciation."

Q: What has stretched you as a leader during this time?

• "I think the biggest stretch is keeping the team from being consumed by the outside un-factual information about the virus. Sticking to the CDC facts and constant communication have been the best ways to combat this."

Q: When managing essential workers, what has been most important to keep them motivated and inspired?

• "Just pure honesty and recognition have been helpful. The biggest fears are taking it home to family. By making sure that they are clear on our policies related to prevention has been the key- social distancing, masks, staying home if not feeling well, offices closed to the public and most site amenities closed."

Q: How do you manage stress?

• Have a clear path
• Stick to those and refer to the existing plan
• Change should be strategic and planned
• Some leaders may feel vulnerable because they want to do a lot of activity

Q: What makes a good leader during times of crisis?

• "I do not think that a crisis changes or modifies a leader. I lead the same in easy and hard times. A leader has to remain calm and focused because people around him or her may not be. You must be able to articulate the direction with the utmost clarity. Disasters reveal what someone has in their leadership pocket."

Aaron Swain knew early on exactly what he wanted to achieve in his career and has done so with formidable determination. Not only has he remained committed to his work, but most of Aaron’s volunteer work has also been centered around at-risk youth.   Aaron speaks at public schools regularly and is a mentor to five college students. The 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc. organization fit extremely well into the interests of Aaron and his joining enhanced his desire and drive to help others.

Aaron has served on several boards of directors including Focus Saint Louis; City Academy School, Payback, Inc, Equal Housing Opportunity Council, and the Central Community Housing Trust. 

Aaron is a 1986 graduate of Morehouse College, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and a board member of 100 Black Men of Atlanta, Inc.