By Dr Eric Perez
The impacts on society post-COVID will form the basis of writing for decades to come—not a groundbreaking insight—but the pandemic offers us an opportunity to review and reflect. For me, the conversation I’m most interested in is the impact of COVID on leader practice, specifically post-COVID.
I believe the conversation is nuanced and could be broken down into changes in leader practice, team dynamics, and how we work. A colleague told me he was sick of the discussion, and that we simply need to move on. Why keep going back to a time when leaders were caught off guard and may not have had the knowledge, skills, and capabilities to deal with the challenges raised during the pandemic and post-pandemic?
Bolino and his colleagues reviewed 69 articles on the management implications of the pandemic between March 2020 and July 2023, noting, “significant implications for individuals, teams, leaders, organizations, and society as a whole. By understanding what happened during this pandemic, organizations may be better prepared not only for the next pandemic but also for other extraordinary ‘black swan’ events.”
From my perspective, the pandemic raises key questions:
- How do we prepare our leaders to respond to significant workplace change?
- How do leaders adapt to change and engage their teams?
- How effective were strategic plans during COVID, and to what extent could any plan help respond to such a significant socio-cultural and work event?
The term “new normal” was used extensively post-pandemic. I, like many, grew sick of hearing it—but in fairness, what term better encapsulates a changed social and work environment?
The pandemic revealed deficiencies in how we organize our workplaces, the critical importance of face-to-face team interaction, and assumptions leaders make about what their teams value. From a research standpoint, I continue to explore the importance of understanding a leader’s “why.” But perhaps more importantly, understanding your team’s “why” is just as crucial. Aligning purpose is more difficult than many of us have been led to believe.
COVID exposed how vital teams are to the success of any business. A past guest on my Talking Leadership podcast shared how, at the height of the pandemic, he did everything possible to ensure his staff had income—even before focusing on the long-term survival of the business. That’s leadership.
COVID was a catastrophic, out-of-left-field event that tested leaders across corporate, not-for-profit, government, and political spheres. How leaders acted—and how they treated their teams—was a response to a unique public health and business crisis. In my view, worrying about and empathizing with your team is the hallmark of adaptive, human-centered leadership.
What COVID brought to the forefront—and what will remain—is this: investing in your people during catastrophic events is the best way to ensure long-term organizational survival.
References
(1) Bolino, M.C., Whitney, J.M., & Henry, S.E. (2024). Research Roundup: How the Pandemic Changed Management. Harvard Business Review
