Leadership In Crisis
What does this mean for the future of executive assessment?
Recruitment freeze? Suspended leadership development programs? Abandoned promotion processes?
We are hearing from some of our clients that this is becoming a recurring theme as organisations scrutinise budgets and try to cut costs and expenditure. The irony is that it is now more important than ever for organisations to understand the capabilities of their current leaders; these are the very people who are needed to navigate their teams and businesses through these challenging and uncertain times.
The current pandemic has highlighted the stark reality that leadership behaviours and qualities traditionally focused on by organisations may not necessarily be the most effective or crucial during times of crisis. Organisations must ask themselves whether existing leaders have the right skillset to be able to lead in this new world; if not, they quickly need to ascertain whether it is possible to develop this critical capability from within or whether it will need to be recruited externally.
Recently, I worked with a client to create a new executive assessment process and we had a debate around whether traits and attributes relating to ‘holding definite opinions’ and ‘being prepared to follow their own path’ should be included as positive indicators within the assessment process, given that the organisation had a culture of collaboration and inclusivity.
My response was that while collaboration and inclusive approaches certainly have their place and are critical for innovation and for building high performing and engaged teams, right now leaders need to step up, take accountability, and provide confident and decisive direction. In a crisis defined by unfamiliarity and uncertainty, where responses tend to be predominantly reactive without being practiced or planned for, a leader who does not hold definite opinions for themselves or who is unprepared to follow their own path may not be wholly effective. That said this must be balanced by other traits and attributes such as clear and transparent communication as well as empathy and understanding of the human impact.
We are hearing from some of our clients that this is becoming a recurring theme as organisations scrutinise budgets and try to cut costs and expenditure. The irony is that it is now more important than ever for organisations to understand the capabilities of their current leaders; these are the very people who are needed to navigate their teams and businesses through these challenging and uncertain times.
The current pandemic has highlighted the stark reality that leadership behaviours and qualities traditionally focused on by organisations may not necessarily be the most effective or crucial during times of crisis. Organisations must ask themselves whether existing leaders have the right skillset to be able to lead in this new world; if not, they quickly need to ascertain whether it is possible to develop this critical capability from within or whether it will need to be recruited externally.
Recently, I worked with a client to create a new executive assessment process and we had a debate around whether traits and attributes relating to ‘holding definite opinions’ and ‘being prepared to follow their own path’ should be included as positive indicators within the assessment process, given that the organisation had a culture of collaboration and inclusivity.
My response was that while collaboration and inclusive approaches certainly have their place and are critical for innovation and for building high performing and engaged teams, right now leaders need to step up, take accountability, and provide confident and decisive direction. In a crisis defined by unfamiliarity and uncertainty, where responses tend to be predominantly reactive without being practiced or planned for, a leader who does not hold definite opinions for themselves or who is unprepared to follow their own path may not be wholly effective. That said this must be balanced by other traits and attributes such as clear and transparent communication as well as empathy and understanding of the human impact.
For example, McKinsey (March 2020) identifies the following 5 behaviours as being most important to help leaders navigate the COVID-19 pandemic (and indeed many other crises):
- Organising via a network of teams: Mobilising organisations by setting clear priorities for the response and empowering a network of multidisciplinary teams to rapidly discover and implement solutions that serve those priorities.
- Displaying deliberate calm and bounded optimism: Having the ability to detach from a fraught situation and think clearly about how one will navigate it, projecting a confidence tempered by realism.
- Making decisions amid uncertainty: Not purely relying on intuition, but instead being able to quickly analyse information as it is presented, initiating action and being prepared to course correct and learn from mistakes if something does not work.
- Demonstrating empathy: Understanding the human impact of the situation.
- Communicating effectively: Exercising thoughtful, transparent and frequent communication.
Similarly Nichols, Chatterjee Hayden and Trendler (cited in HBR, 2020) following more than 21,000 leadership assessments among C-suite executives, concluded that to move forward in a crisis, leaders need to cultivate the following four behaviors in themselves and their teams:
- Decide with speed over precision: When the situation changes by the day or even by the hour, the best leaders quickly process available information, rapidly determine what matters most, and make decisions with conviction.
- Adapt boldly: Strong leaders get ahead of changing circumstances. They seek input and information from diverse sources, are not afraid to admit what they don’t know, and bring in outside expertise when needed.
- Reliably deliver: The best leaders take personal ownership in a crisis, even though many challenges and factors lie outside their control. They align team focus, establish new metrics to monitor performance, and create a culture of accountability.
- Engage for impact: In times of crisis, no job is more important than taking care of your team. Effective leaders are understanding of their team’s circumstances and distractions, but they find ways to engage and motivate, clearly and thoroughly communicating important new goals and information. Leaders need to reiterate new priorities frequently to ensure continued alignment in a time of constant and stressful change.
So WHAT leadership behaviours should organisations nurture?
Combine the above with the plethora of other (sometimes contradictory) bodies of research identifying behaviours that drive effective leadership and organisational performance, and this becomes very confusing for organisations. The list is almost endless when we think about what we need from our leaders. To illustrate this, research shows that we need leaders to be emotionally intelligent, decisive, empathetic, strategic, visionary, commercially astute, learning agile, resilient, driven, inclusive, collaborative, innovative, open to change, willing to step up and take the lead, effective communicators and relationship builders, motivational, inspirational, engaging, able to deal with ambiguity and complexity, demonstrate genuine concern… the list goes on.
So how do organisations know which leadership behaviours to assess for and develop? It is unrealistic to think that they should be pursuing the elusive Holy Grail of the leader who ‘has it all… all of the time’. Leadership is massively situationally and contextually dependent and different behaviours need to be ‘dialled up’ or ‘dialled down’ depending on the requirements of the specific situation. Arguably the behaviours identified as being effective during times of crisis would be effective all of the time – even during times of calm and continuity. However, depending on the urgency of the situation there may be more scope for collaboration and more considered decision-making. Therefore, it could be said that one of the most important leadership traits at ANY time, not just during times of crisis is adaptability and flexibility.
So how do organisations know which leadership behaviours to assess for and develop? It is unrealistic to think that they should be pursuing the elusive Holy Grail of the leader who ‘has it all… all of the time’. Leadership is massively situationally and contextually dependent and different behaviours need to be ‘dialled up’ or ‘dialled down’ depending on the requirements of the specific situation. Arguably the behaviours identified as being effective during times of crisis would be effective all of the time – even during times of calm and continuity. However, depending on the urgency of the situation there may be more scope for collaboration and more considered decision-making. Therefore, it could be said that one of the most important leadership traits at ANY time, not just during times of crisis is adaptability and flexibility.
So HOW can we best assess these leadership behaviours?
In order to assess and measure situationally dependent leadership behaviours, an in-depth, multi-method, holistic approach must be adopted. Psychometrics only tell us part of the story – while these provide information on a leader’s self-reported preferences, tendencies, motives, values, and cognitive abilities, direct observations can reveal latent or unconscious behaviours in situations of ambiguity, complexity and pressure. Assessment and Development Centers (ADCs) are designed to expose leaders to a variety of business scenarios through role-playing simulation exercises, and thus provide the most effective way to gather robust data on a leader’s ability to flex and adapt their behaviour to successfully navigate different situations.
However, because ADC programs take more time and are more costly than online psychometrics and interviews, they are not always widely adopted which may also lend to a lack of awareness. Still, well-designed ADC’s which follow the BPS Assessment Standards and which are reflective of the organisational culture and context are incredibly useful not only in assessing if someone new coming into the organisation will thrive but also for development and succession planning purposes, to evaluate how ready an individual is to progress into a leadership role.
With this in mind organisations should be considering how crisis situations can be built not only into their target competencies but also into their ADC’s so that existing and future leaders can be better equipped for the recovery period post-COVID and any future challenges that may come their way.
However, because ADC programs take more time and are more costly than online psychometrics and interviews, they are not always widely adopted which may also lend to a lack of awareness. Still, well-designed ADC’s which follow the BPS Assessment Standards and which are reflective of the organisational culture and context are incredibly useful not only in assessing if someone new coming into the organisation will thrive but also for development and succession planning purposes, to evaluate how ready an individual is to progress into a leadership role.
With this in mind organisations should be considering how crisis situations can be built not only into their target competencies but also into their ADC’s so that existing and future leaders can be better equipped for the recovery period post-COVID and any future challenges that may come their way.