Separating the outstanding from the mediocre
All crises represent change – how well leaders adapt has been highlighted to me through my parental experience of high school teachers. Perhaps a benefit of the COVID-19 induced lockdown might be that we may have seen how different leaders lead and HR leaders – if they keep their ears to the ground - may be able to help business assess who has risen to the challenge and who has not.
My older son is in a critical stage in his education – he is in year 9, just about to start his two-year GCSE marathon. Their preparations for this just started when the lockdown hit and their education has switched to remote communication through an app where homework and assessments are set by their teachers. The school did not use any other technology to stay in touch (no virtual classrooms / no zoom check ins, etc.), so the somewhat impersonal app was the only connection that remained which inevitably created a rather limited frame within which all the teachers had to operate.
In this crisis driven change, I have seen the difference in adaptability, creativity, ownership and empathy between different teachers and its impact on my son and it has been remarkable.
The truly outstanding teachers have enabled education of not only my child but as we know from his network, that of all the children they teach by providing links to suggested additional reading materials for the children to be able to explore topics of study – helping them solve increasingly complex challenges. They provided constructive feedback – what worked well, what could be improved – on all homework and assessments, helping my son improve and feel valued. They have responded to emails my son has sent to them, making the children feel partners. They have set work well in advance of the deadlines by which these needed to be completed, with consideration for the children’s time and planning. Unsurprisingly, my son’s opinion of and enthusiasm about these teachers has evolved positively during the lockdown.
All the teachers had to work in the same ‘sand box’ yet some have adapted to this considerably better than others. Whether they had family commitments or children of their own who needed to be looked after did not seem to be the distinguishing factor. Although it is unlikely I will ever know for sure and this is only my interpretation, I suspect the outstanding teachers have a clearer purpose for their work, stronger empathy for those in their care, a focus on helping others succeed, in short, they are better servant leaders.
Has the crisis helped you distinguish the outstanding leaders from the mediocre?
Fact!
Managing Director / Finance / Transformation / Change, Project & Stakeholder Management / Shared Services
4 年Tamas Csejtei Leadership emerges during a crisis, with all the qualities you mentioned - clear focus, adaptability, empathy, resourcefulness, the desire to see others succeed, and more. Post crisis however, the bad habits re-emerge, and all the good work may be forgotten. How do we then capture and sustain all that we have learnt from the crisis (and throw away the bad habits)?
Vice President, People Development and Culture
4 年Hi Tamas, nice article. I am not too sure if I have been able to judge outstanding characteristics in current times of COVID-19 crisis but what mattered most to me as a parent, as an employee and as a line leader are simple genuine gestures/acts - the willingness to listen, to adapt, to be more kind. Given the unprecedented times, the basic human connection has personally taken my family and me a long way
VP | Global HR Leader | Strategic & Operational HR | Driving High-Performance in International Teams | OD, Change Management & Transformation
4 年That's exactly the point. Servant Leadership and Empathy. The main two capabilities, required of leaders today in order to enable the needed #transformation. Unfortunately, those two are rarely lived, mostly because one would need to transform themselves before transforming anything or anyone else.