What did we learn from leaders about leading during COVID-19?

Looking back on the past few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lives in many ways. For every employee, the pandemic will continue to transform the way we work. For leaders specifically, it has brought significant changes at all levels in the organization.

In Greater China, we are now getting back on track with offices and cities opening up again. As we embrace the new “normal”, we want to take a moment to look back at the past few months and reflect: How did we lead through the crisis? What leadership lessons have we learned from COVID-19 experience that we can take beyond the crisis?

We invited leaders in Greater China to join workshops and share their observations on what had changed in their leadership beliefs, how employees were coping and what new behaviors or mindset they wanted to keep, post-COVID-19.

What did we learn from leaders?

1. Building trust, adapting boldly, showing empathy and effective communication are key capabilities

When asked about what leadership skills and capabilities became more important during and after COVID-19, building trust, adapting boldly, being empathetic and communicating effectively showed as the the top four skills/behaviors for leaders. Among them, communication was the most frequently mentioned one, as leaders are actively exploring ways to engage with employees, while clearly and thoroughly communicating important goals and information.

2. Relationship-oriented leadership behaviors become more important

In times of crisis, no job is more important than taking care of the team. For many leaders, their priority has shifted to their teams: helping them navigate health and safety concerns, work remotely, and support their families through the pandemic. Therefore human-oriented behavior became more important than ever, for example, showing empathy, appreciation, and recognizing team members.

3. Empowering and distributing leadership helps everyone

During COVID-19, “social distancing” becomes a new norm. In this context, leaders must learn to lead from a distance. We heard from many leaders that when leading virtually, they have explored ways to delegate and empower their front-line employees to make decisions when possible. For example, delegating team members to host team meetings. Through empowering the team, leaders realized that they can build trust by involving people in important decisions, and make better decisions by tapping into the collective intelligence of their team.

4. Leaders need to demonstrate flexibility and agility

During a crisis, information is incomplete, and we are all coping with high emotions and anxieties. It’s impossible to ask for perfection in such moments and, instead, many leaders shared that they learned to decide with speed over precision, run small experiments and be prepared to iterate continuously. COVID-19 changed all aspects of the way we work and we need to learn how to embrace it. One leader told us: “It makes us stronger and be more resilient.”

5. Employees need clarity, connectivity, and stability

Each one of us has been experiencing the parallel spread of worry, anxiety, and instability. What did leaders learn from helping employees cope with these challenges? They shared the three things employees need the most: 1) clear, open and regular communication, 2) sense of community and connectivity, and 3) focus and stability.

To create the sense of community and connectivity, many leaders have been reaching out to their employees daily for a “pulse check”. And to help team maintain focus and stability, many mentioned it's important to share a plan of action with goals and priorities, as it helps employees feel a sense of control and focus on things that they can do.

Our journey continues

The leadership lessons we learned is a great showcase of #How We Run and Lead at SAP, and will help us identify opportunities to support workforce and transformation in the future, providing us with inspiration on how to transform into a more adaptive, collaborative, and innovative organization in the post COVID-19 world.