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PART I
EMPIRICAL FINDINGS
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Perspectives on Global Leadership and the COVID-19 Crisis
J. S. Osland, M. E. Mendenhall, B. S. Reiche, B. Szkudlarek, R. Bolden, P. Courtice, V. Vaiman, M. Vaiman, D. Lyndgaard, K. Nielsen, S. Terrell, S. Taylor, Y. Lee, G. Stahl, N. Boyacigiller, T. Huesing, C. Miska, M. Zilinskaite, L. Ruiz, H. Shi, A. Bird, T. Soutphommasane, A. Girola, N. Pless, T. Maak, T. Neeley, O. Levy, N. Adler and M. Maznevski
Abstract
As the world struggled to come to grips with the Covid-19 pandemic, over twenty scholars, practitioners, and global leaders wrote brief essays for this curated chapter on the role of global leadership in this extreme example of a global crisis. Their thoughts span helpful theoretical breakthroughs to essential, pragmatic adaptations by companies.
Keywords: Covid-19; crisis management; global leadership; complexity; uncertainty; competing tensions
After pondering how we as scholars might help in the COVID-19 pandemic, we issued the following invitation on March 30, 2020.
As co-editors of Advances in Global Leadership, we have been pondering the role of global leadership in pandemics, given the current COVID-19 crisis. Because this topic has not been addressed previously, we decided to add to the forthcoming volume 13 a chapter entitled "Perspectives on Global Leadership and the COVID-19 Crisis" that consists of analyses written by global leaders, practitioners, and global leadership scholars. We would be honored if you would join this project and write at least a one or two page perspective by April 14th. We will curate all the submissions into one article that will be co-authored by all of you.
We realize this is a short time period (a necessity given the manuscript deadline), but we thought it would be interesting to put ourselves in the same type of context that global leaders find themselves in – inadequate time and ability to gather enough data to make firm conclusions, quick deadlines wherein a decision must be made, uncertainty, and high risk for having one's ideas and decisions be seen as being woefully in error when looked back upon from the future. In fact, we are giving you two full weeks to write when global leaders have to assess situations, analyze them, and then make decisions often in a day or less.
You are free to analyze and share your perspectives from any lens, perspective, angle, or genre of writing that you would like. The only boundary conditions are that your analysis should focus on how global leaders/global leadership have impacted the human response to the COVID-19 pandemic. AGL generally relies on the following construct definitions of global leadership:
The process of influencing the thinking, attitudes, and behaviors of a global community to work together synergistically toward a common vision and common goals (Adler, 2001 ; Festing, 2001 ).
The process and actions through which an individual inspires and influences a range of internal and external constituents from multiple national cultures and jurisdictions in a context characterized by significant levels of task and relationship complexity (adapted from Reiche, Bird, Mendenhall, & Osland, 2017 ).
We hope that you will participate in this invitation to write under similar conditions that global leaders find themselves in – having to make decisions and take action on multiple issues simultaneously in a VUCA context – and that you will find the challenge to do so both an interesting and exciting one. Please let us know if you are up for the challenge.
To our delight, 22 collaborators accepted our challenge to share their insights and wisdom. We did not edit their work (other than the random comma, etc.). We also excerpted the work of two authors that was already in print. As with our usual submissions, we have divided them into Scholarly Perspectives and Practitioner Perspectives. Their order is chronological according to the date of submission (or publication in the case of the two excerpts). This chronology provides another window onto how rapidly the crisis unfolded and changed, along with our perspectives.
Please note that these perspectives reflect only the authors' opinions on topics of their choice; they do not reflect the opinions of their employers or the AGL editors.
SCHOLARLY PERSPECTIVES
Leadership, Complexity, and Change: Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Richard Bolden
March 27, 2020
What a difference a few days make… Perhaps it's the sunny spring days after a long, wet winter; the dog walks spent chatting with teenagers who would normally be off at school; the unexpected free space in my diary with no expectation that I should be in the office; or because so much of what we take for granted has changed so suddenly.
At the time of writing we are in the fourth day of the lockdown called by the UK government to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. It's been a tense few weeks as the wave of infections grew ever closer – no longer focused within a far and distant sounding part of China but causing havoc across Italy, France, Spain, the UK and now it seems, pretty much every part of the world. A quarter of the global population – a staggering 2 billion people – are currently in some form of lockdown, confined to their homes in order to slow the spread of the virus and, in so doing, allow time for governments and health services to prepare for the spike in patient numbers and the inevitable rising death toll.
Almost overnight UWE, Bristol – like universities, schools, and colleges around the world – closed its doors and shifted from face-to-face to online delivery. Staff and students have responded with huge adaptability – revising delivery and assessment processes that would have taken months, if not years, through traditional channels. The speed and the scale of changes for organizations in every sector and location are unprecedented. Manufacturers have switched their operations to enable the production of essential items such as ventilators, face masks, hand sanitizer, and paracetamol that are now in such high and urgent demand. Governments have drawn up detailed plans to support individuals and organizations at risk of redundancy/bankruptcy – casting aside the usual economic concerns to focus on social priorities such as protecting the vulnerable, supporting those in financial difficulty and strengthening core public services (particularly health and social care). And communities have rallied together in ways not seen since World War II – providing support and reassurance for the elderly and isolated; sacrificing personal liberties for collective benefit; and finding new ways to connect, communicate, and collaborate.
In the words of the Chinese curse we are indeed living in interesting times (1) – both fraught with risk and opportunity. The turbulence of the last few years has revealed deep divisions within society, as illustrated particularly clearly in the Brexit vote within the UK and Trump presidency in the US. The rise of populism has been associated with skepticism and distrust of experts and evidence, with social media providing the perfect echo chamber for amplifying the polarity of perspectives and questioning the nature of “truth.” Differing ideologies and beliefs have been positioned in opposition to one another – them and us, winners and losers, do or die – rather than as an inevitable and desirable characteristic of a diverse and inclusive society, which enables creativity, adaptability, and resilience in times of complexity, uncertainty, and change.
One of the remarkable consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has been how quickly it has reset the dial on many of these issues – fostering calls for compassion, solidarity, and collective action. At times like this, it is our similarities rather than our differences that define us. This is as true for those in positions of power and privilege as those who are marginalized and/or find themselves living in precarity. We are all susceptible to the virus, all have people we care about who are likely to become very ill or perhaps even die should they catch it, and will all be affected by the economic and social impacts of the outbreak – not just for the months that it lasts but for years to come. The capacity of individuals, families, organizations, communities, and nations to weather the storm is not equal, however, with those with least access to financial, emotional, and other resources most likely to bear the brunt of the suffering.
An unexpected outcome of COVID-19 is the impact on the environment. The reduction in pollution levels around the world during just the relatively short time in which travel, manufacturing, and other environmentally damaging activities have been reduced demonstrates both how directly human activity impacts on the environment and the remarkable ability of the environment, and the animals and plants within it, to recover if given the opportunity. For those who have been calling for a step change for policy, practice, and behavior toward a more sustainable way of life, there is no more compelling evidence of the extent to which this is possible and the environmental benefits it would produce.
For those of us interested in leadership research, education, and practice, there are many important lessons to take from the current situation. I'm sure everyone will have their own take on events but as a starter for ten here are a few of my own takeaways so far.
- Shared purpose – After winning a significant majority in the general election of December 2019, Boris Johnson and his government focused on building a sense of urgency and commitment to “getting Brexit done” that largely entrenched rather than unified opinions around this issue. With COVID-19 the focus has completely shifted to a shared purpose that unites rather than divides individuals and communities. It took a little while to get to this point but, for now at least, the nation is far more unified around a common purpose than it has been for many years.
- Collective leadership – While there is a tendency to equate “leadership” with the traits and behaviors of individual “leaders,” the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates the need for individuals and groups to work concurrently and collaboratively in order to achieve leadership outcomes. In daily news briefings, Prime Minister Johnson and members of the cabinet have stood alongside the Chief Medical Officer and other experts to provide clarity and direction to an uncertain population. While this is perhaps the most visible “leadership” at national level, it is abundantly clear that it is dependent on significant acts of leadership elsewhere as well as the active “followership” of those responding to calls for care and consideration.
- Systems change – The COVID-19 pandemic is an inherently complex problem that requires expertise and effort from multiple domains to make sense of the issues and to mobilize timely and effective responses. The concept of “systems leadership,” increasingly advocated within public services, highlights the need to influence and leverage engagement across organizational, professional, and other boundaries. Frequently this means needing to lead without formal authority – to work with principles of complexity and systems thinking to initiate new patterns of behavior that spread from one context to another. It also involves dismantling and rebuilding systems, structures, and processes – both physical and psychological – that constrain rather than enable transformation and change....
