Top 5 tips for corporate leadership to deal with global crisis

It’s June 2020. After around two and a half months of lock down period (in many countries), finally people are allowed to slowly get back to work. But life will never be the same as before COVID-19. Basic survival concerns like health and security are at stake. One of the major security tensions are financial security amid a global recession. It’s quite natural that most employees are worried about job security. And so are their employers. The financial crisis has severely hit so many sectors, topmost sectors being:

• Tourism which may shrink by 50%

• Hospitality

• Energy

• Automotive

• Retail

• Transportation

An upsurge in unemployment is inevitable. But how can corporate leadership rise to the occasion and deal with their curious employees who are coming back to work floors now?

Human connection has never been more important in corporate leadership than ever. I totally trust that true leaders are right now trying their best to save their companies and minimize the unemployment. And what is their strategy to deal with the uncertainty and crisis felt by the employees. Here are my top five suggestions on going about it in a healthy way:

1.      Be transparent

Frequent communication, giving clarity on the ongoing business decisions and providing a room to be heard is key to build trust. That’s a lot to handle for leadership but being transparent than being unreliably optimistic is necessary to calm curious minds. 

2.      Show empathy

COVID-19 is a global trauma, faced by you, me and every single person on Earth. Some are affected directly and some indirectly. Let’s accept its stressful to everyone. And that calls for another reason for a leader to rise. Showing empathy to fellow employees through little gestures like coffee meets, hearing out personal stories and encouraging them to hold on will make an impact to restless hearts.

3.      Build strong emotionally intelligent environment

A leader who is emotionally intelligent very well knows about his/her own honest feelings and knows how to deal with them without getting polluted with so many opinions and emotions around. Not to mention, some emotions around can be draining. And that’s the well being lesson that needs to be inculcated among employees too. For the greater mental and emotional well being, which makes them adaptive to changing environments too. Providing emotional intelligence awareness and tools are necessary.

4.      Focus on strengths

Crisis situations are not the best times to work on our weaknesses. Rather a healthier strategy would be to encourage your employees to identify and build more confidence on their strengths. That will motivate everyone to stay positive and appreciate own self and others.

5.      Arrange cross training opportunities

Innovation and creativity peaks during crisis like this. Certain industries are suffering but on the other side, certain industries are thriving and there will be demand of skill. Identifying your employees’ interests and fitting them to these opportunities with cross training options will be a great way to let them go happily.