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7 Keys To Effective Leadership in Our New Normal
7 Keys To Effective Leadership in Our New Normal
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managers. Team members don't feel empowered when working with people
vendors, and clients don't want to be associated with companies that aren't
transparent about the way they do business--and the masses don't want to
statements.
Being an effective leader today, and especially while navigating our "new
normal," is about honesty, plain and simple. It means being honest in your
day-to-day interactions, honest in the way you do business, and honest about
(including myself), these are not easy times to navigate--but being open and
Personally, I believe the coronavirus crisis will change the way people think
about leadership forever.
Here's what I think being an effective leader in our new normal will look
When you work in an office, you can generally assess when somebody is
Digitally, this becomes much harder. Both at the leadership level as well as
on people. This means proactively asking questions like, "How are you
on how your employees and team members are feeling, it can be even more
difficult for them to get a read on how you're doing--since they don't get to
I'm not advocating for oversharing, but especially with your executive team,
I do believe it's important to be open and honest about your own feelings
company go, I cried while talking to our leadership team. I was really upset,
and felt horrible about the decision in front of us. And the other leaders
within the company went down that emotional journey with me.
Being an effective leader doesn't mean being emotionless.
It means having the capacity for the whole range of emotions, and still
One of the questions we ask in our employee surveys is whether they feel
believe the people around them care about them as human beings, first. As
a leader, it's then your job to create an environment where people feel this
sense of belonging, and know that the hours they spend working toward the
Now more than ever, the mission of a company matters. Customers care
about it. Employees care about it. Investors care about it. Everyone wants to
know that where they are putting their time, energy, money, and support is
positive way.
Second, and as more and more social impact campaigns shift the world, how
your company's mission fits into these larger narratives of humanity can
Your mission, and how it ties into current events, is extremely important.
crisis like Covid-19, flexibility and being able to make quick, informed
This means making it a regular priority to sit down and run through
couldn't do Z?"
It's far better to have answers to these types of questions before, rather than
Once a company is off and running, though, the optimism can't stop. Your
team needs it. Your co-captains and fellow leaders need it. Everyone around
you needs to feel as though they can see the light at the end of the tunnel,
That said, you also have to guard optimism from delusion. Being optimistic
growth to come.
teams.
On the one hand, this means making sure people are receiving the
information they need, when they need it. While working remotely, this
set reminders to send status updates to key decision makers every day on
Slack.
for others to speak up. For example, I held an all-hands recently and ended
the meeting by asking, "Does anyone have any questions?" I let that
question hang in the air for 20 or 30 seconds. And it took a while, but
space for this type of serendipity is crucial--and asks leaders to pause and not
be so quick to just end the Zoom meeting and move on to the next thing.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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