It’s been 6 months since the first reports of the outbreak of Corona virus and humanity is still to come to terms with the realities, uncertainties and the long-term impact of the invisible threat. It is indeed an irony that as an evolved species, mankind is treading cautiously and slowly opening up to the harsh realities of the pandemic. As time passes by, we are seeing the virus becoming mankind’s worst nightmare, taking a heavy toll on the global economic front with businesses swinging between dealing with the survival challenges at hand and trying to foresee the challenges of tomorrow.
Simply put, as it looks, Coronavirus is going to cause a global impact that no one would have ever imagined at its outbreak. With every passing day, comes the news of it increasing intensity across the globe, thereby causing greater turmoil.
Such challenges that feature high stress and extreme survival pressures will be a tall order for the best of organizations and the highest performing executives. In view of extreme uncertainties, it will not be easy for leaders to develop any strategies that will help them deal with the aftermath of the virus attack.
Looking from an organizational management and leadership perspective, dealing with such extreme situations will entail uncertainty, improvisation and spontaneity replacing predictability, command and control. Leaders will have to apply very radical approaches to planning and managing situations, an approach that is tolerant to such extremeness and is innovative, adaptable and agile.
While leaders plan or strategize corrective action, “reality” will happen on its own and we will have to learn to respond to it for reality cannot be changed as it has a mind of its own. Every plan that has been made will have to be changed to fit the situation as we encounter it right now as situations may change tomorrow and so also the plans.
Sustainability will require of leaders to develop a new way of thinking and acting, one that’s appropriate to situations that thrive under the extreme conditions of high turbulence, high change and high uncertainty, maintaining control and delivering value in the face of volatility. And on their part, organizations will have to look for complex, high-speed, self-correcting processes during which people interact in pursuit of a common desirable objective, under extreme conditions of high uncertainty, high stress and high change.
Leaders will have to adopt a new paradigm which will help them in;
- Reinventing the leadership model in a contemporary context
- Shifting their perceptions of realities and how we relate to it
- Being comfortable leading at the edge of chaos
- Having the foresight in anticipating rapid changes
- Having the courage to steer the organization through volatility and chaos
- Having the competency to see patterns in chaos and take control
- Having the ability to take bold actions and safeguard interests of the organization
- Being prepared to alter strategies
- Having the agility to stay ahead of the volatility curve
- Having the ability to spot opportunities through rapid upturns and downturns
- Having the ability to adapt to ever changing internal and external factors while maintaining the strategic focus and core vision.
LEADERSHIP NOW WILL HAVE TO BE HIGHLY STRATEGIC IN ACTION DWELLING ON A WELL-DEVELOPED MINDSET FOR GAUGING THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL, MARKET AND ECONOMIC REALITIES OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH BUSINESSES OPERATE AND WILL HAVE TO FOSTER ADAPABLITY, INNOVATIVES AND AGILTY TO REMAIN RELEVANT AND RESOURCEFUL UNDER CONDITIONS OF HIGH UNCERTAINITY, HIGH CHANGE AND HIGH STRESS.
Experiential Entrepreneurship 