BEING the boss right now isn’t easy.
You may be battling to save your business, reassuring staff too worried to come into work or having to let cherished staff go due to the Covid-19 crisis.
If you’re a manager, how can you help your teams through the coming months?
New research reveals 95 per cent of top bosses plan to overhaul their leadership style post-pandemic, with “empathy and care for teams” their new key focus.
Leadership expert Charlie Coode, of Coode Associates, says: “The pandemic has made many top bosses realise how vital it is to put the humanity back into leadership.”
Here are Charlie’s top tips.
- Show empathy when making difficult decisions. Everyone will be handling the crisis differently. Spend more time than usual listening to your team and ensuring that you answer their concerns — and keep doing it.
- Act quickly. Don’t postpone what you know you must do. If you dither, time will quickly become your enemy.
- Build confidence in your team. Set out a clear direction for the business but stay flexible on how you will succeed. The situation will change.
- Take a long view. Don’t sacrifice customer loyalty and the structures needed to thrive post-crisis for the short-term actions necessary for survival.
- Ramp up communication. Connect with your team in order to create a shared focus. This is the “glue” for them to effectively manage throughout the crisis.
- Stay close to your customers. In a crisis, it’s easy to neglect your customers. But how you behave now will set the tone for your relationship in the years ahead.
- Look after yourself too! Sleep, exercise, good diet and connecting with loved ones are all vital for leaders to be effective. You must make looking after yourself a priority. It may sound selfish, but it’s not — it’s absolutely essential.
