Leaders across the globe have been challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been fascinating to observe how individuals, organizations, and governments have responded to this crisis.Those with a qualitative research mind (like me) can see where case studies, phenomenological studies, or grounded theory research will come out of this season.The complexity of factors, novelty of the phenomenon, and the multi-faceted impact of decisions has made this situation a prime laboratory to learn about leadership.I have been captivated by the decisions made at all levels, the process of decision making, and the diverse reactions. If you are a fan of "leading and learning," you probably are also very intrigued by the leadership scenarios unfolding every single day.
When leaders are faced with a crisis that they dealt with before (e.g. financial downturn, reduction of staff, breach of contract), they can rely on their experience to make the best decision. However, very few current leaders have any experience with a global pandemic. Even experienced leaders are at a loss (at least initially) to what is the proper path forward and how to lead through this crisis. From the president of the United States, to local mayors, to company owners, to school administrators, leaders are scratching their heads wondering what to do.
So what can we learn about leadership through this pandemic? How are effective leaders responding, and what are they doing?
Here are a few concepts to follow in order to lead effectively through a crisis ...
Lead with Humility
While I would argue that humility is a characteristic that effective leaders should always embody, humility doesn't make the top five (or even top ten) characteristics that people typically look for in a leader. For example, our POTUS is the antithesis of humility, and many political leaders align closer to arrogance than humility. However, even those who are not known for humility personally can lead with humility by doing some of the following things (examples will be from education during a pandemic).
- Call upon and listen to experts -- e.g. school leaders should seek input from their local department of public health, doctors, district school leaders, and legal counsel before making decisions.
- Seek advice from those in similar positions (different environments) -- e.g. all high school principals in the area discussing how to host graduation to end the school year well.
- Avoid the "echo chamber" by getting differing opinions -- e.g. specifically seek out schools that are planning or are doing things differently and ask why; carefully listen to the "minority report" within your staff.
- Conduct tabletop scenario discussions with staff and stakeholders -- e.g. talk through best and worst case scenarios with your educational team, students, and parents before making any decisions.
- Be willing to pivot in light of new information -- e.g. after collecting more information, be willing to admit you were wrong and change the plan.
By acting with humility, leaders will explore a wide range of scenarios, hear a variety of opinions, work collaboratively, and change course if needed through a crisis.
Use Data to Make Decisions
Leaders must make data-driven decisions during times of uncertainty. When facing a new crisis (like a pandemic) with high stakes potential results, the situation will be accompanied by emotional and political forces. Outside experts should provide the data, and leaders must lean into this objective data as much as possible to make decisions. Emotional reactions rarely lead to good decisions for the organization, and, in fact, often cause sleepless nights and anxiety for the leader. In an uncertain situation like we are currently facing, every decision will be criticized, but it is important for leaders to know that they are making the best decision with the most complete information that is in front of them.
Educational leaders understand this concept, as data is frequently used to make curriculum, budget, admissions, and staffing decisions in schools. The science of teaching encourages school leaders to seek out data, to use assessment intentionally, and to make objective decisions. Educational leaders during a crisis need to rely on these assessment skills.
Lead with Confidence
While this seems contrary to "lead with humility," confident (not rash) decision making is an important part of being an effective leader through a crisis. Once a leader has actively sought out advice from others and assessed the data, he/she needs to make a decision. If those being led have confidence that a leader has acted with humility and carefully considered the data, they will trust that the decision being made was the best possible one given the situation. The contrary is, of course, true; if a leader makes a rash decision without consulting others or considering the data, he/she will lose the trust of those being led.
The diversity of school leaders is probably a wider spectrum than most other industries. Educational leaders come with a wide variety of personalities and leadership styles, but, if they want to be effective, they all need to make tough decisions. School administrators are used to working collaboratively, evaluating data, and making difficult decisions; they are also used to dealing with harsh criticism / unhappy stakeholders. In fact they are more prepared than most to lead through a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.
I do trust our national, state, and local leaders and, for the most part, believe that they are acting with humility to take advice from experts, assess the data, and make the best decision from all that they know at this point. Our leaders are in my daily prayers ... I pray for God to give them wisdom, courage, energy, and humility.
I do not have all the facts, and I have not listened to all the experts, so I would not want to second guess any decisions made by our national, state, and local leaders. My only concern surrounds my first point ... humility.
Unfortunately, due to character flaws and the political landscape, I question if our government leaders (at all levels) have the integrity to admit when they are wrong. With all the new information (from local and global data) and a wide spectrum of models being tried in other countries and communities, I would be shocked if we developed the perfect plan from the start. However, I haven't seen many of our political leaders admit that they were wrong and drastically change the plan. This surprises me because we've never experienced a pandemic like this before and the issues are so complex that nobody would've anticipated them when we started dealing with this crisis.
Leading in uncharted waters demands humility, a willingness to admit they are wrong, and pivoting to a new course ... I haven't seen it yet, but I am still hopeful.
Pray for your leaders, obey your leaders, and keep learning through this pandemic.
The first blog in this series focuses on student learning during a pandemic: loving, pivoting, persevering.
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