Leadership Lessons Taught by 2020 – Leadership

4 Leadership Lessons

As the hardest, unpredicted and the most challenging year in decades comes to a close, you take a look at its unusual events and challenges, from the pandemic to its geopolitics and economic effect, its impact that will shape our personal future as well as the future of humanity. And you say to yourself, just starting a new year after the uncertainty of 2020 is a welcoming dare. 

But among all the Chaos, 2020 was one of the best years to be a learning lesson in leadership. Overnight things have changed, uncertainty surrounded the globe, the effect on economy and workplaces are beyond imaginations. Tough decisions had to be made, leaders were at stake, their decisions and insight was needed to survive 2020 with the least possible damages. 

Despite the rise of new different obstacles, leaders remain the source of motivation and inspiration, 2020 raised some priceless leadership lessons, that helped to head out to the new world. 

Flexibility And Adaptation

2020 has certainly highlighted the need for flexibility, in a fast changing, social and economic situations, flexible leaders were those who were able to adjust their methods to suite the uncertain and unpredictable situations, they were able to implant new methods, techniques and behaviors into the old–used-to ones.           

This crisis taught us that even if we have the best plan ever, in certain times you have to fast change it and move over it, it doesn’t mean that you failed or the plan did, this indicates that you are capable to be flexible enough to move forward, adapting fast is a survival skill during tough and uncertain situations. 

Tough Decisions

Making tough decisions is always difficult, they say it needs a tough leader to make a tough decision, While Some leaders face troubles by avoiding taking a decision or making poor ones, as John C. Maxwell says, “Inability to make decisions is one of the principal reasons executives fail. Deficiency in decision-making ranks much higher than lack of specific knowledge or technical know-how as an indicator of leadership failure.” 

Good Leaders were the ones who made subtle tough decisions in 2020, whether it was to lay off employees or temporary  shutdown, or opt to work from home, such decisions may make the future of a whole team, such tough decisions makes a leader. .

Act Fast 

In time of crises,  “It takes two to tango.” leadership and speed. 

Have you noticed how fast the information spread about Covid19 was? Did it catch your eyes the rapid change of the regulation regarding the pandemic? In crises and difficult situations, time becomes a luxury that you might not afford. Leaders must learn how to act as fast the change that’s happening around them, and maybe even a step forward. Leaders know the importance of “Quality Fast Acts”, they Pause, evaluate and then act Fast 

Honesty And Transparency 

leaders who dealt with their teams with honesty  were the ones  how built trust, and as we know, trust is essential to build up work success. 

Within a team, members need to trust their leader, his honesty will make them at ease, his transparency would make them understand without doubting what he’s informing them and leads them to do what is expected from them. 

Honest leaders Don’t let their people guess what’s going on, by being honest a leader eliminates misinformation; even when the news is negative or bad, an honest leader knows how to share it transparently.

Compassionate And Composure :  

It is during difficult times that teams need their leader to be around, even if they cannot see their leader in person, people cherish a leader’s actions more during challenging times,  A leader is always the source of inspiration and motivation for the team even if from a distance, simple acts,  such as remembering that people are human,  listening to their concerns or proposing, praise them for their done tasks or offering  them flexible work options could go a long way. 

 In 2020, Angela Merkel decently explains to any leader the meaning of compassionate and composure in this speech 

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/angela-merkel-nails-coronavirus-speech-unlike-trump.html 

Community Service:

In Dubai the number of volunteers along with volunteering hours doubled during the covid19 pandemic, the volunteers were offering their community a service that shows solidarity. Serving a community is done during good and bad times, though the last has the big effect.  Businesses aren’t different from communities in this aspect, good leaders are those who put the wealth and benefits of their community first, this could be done by sponsoring initiatives or funding projects to serve their community or by donating a percentage of their profits. 

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/coronavirus-pandemic/dubai-residents-double-volunteering-hours-during-covid-19-crisis- 

As we turn the page on 2020, the meaning of leadership and the qualities of great leaders will change. leaders of tomorrow would be those who can direct their teams through difficult, unpredictable and tentative times, they would be the ones characteristic with compassion, honesty, flexibility and Fast acting.

Each one of us has his unique experience with 2020, every one’s life have in a way or the other changed in 2020. I, like most people on this planet, am looking forward to archive 2020 in my memory records, I’ll label it as the hardest yet most challenging year, the year that taught us that leadership and humanity are the things that would arise us. Crisis draw the best out of good leaders. 

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