COVID Leadership 101

Employees:  Lead                   Develop            Care

A client yesterday was talking about another businesss she adires that had the employee engagement model of “Lead, Develop, and Care”.  My client felt overwhelmed by the program the other company had developed from these values.  

So, I asked, do you agree with these values, and of course she said yes.

But for her and her company, these values can look very different in practice than the other company.  She alone gets to decide how these values work out in the everyday life of her company.  

Some things take too much time/energy/money (read resources) for the situation she is in at this moment, as she has stretched her company resources to the maximum, as have most companies at this time of crisis.  But she can take some time and think, make a plan and move forward.

This is what all leaders do: reflect, decide on a plan and move forward.

Leadership

When it comes to Leadership, my client has really learned the core leadership competencies.  She takes “Super Leadership” to heart and tries to follow the values of it: developing a company culture that values motivation and self-starting on every level; leading herself and modeling self-leadership; she motivates and keeps her employees accountable; she is a life-long learner, always growing and wanting more (and thus, an optimal client); she also supports the same thing for all her employees and encourages further training and education in the areas of their choice; and she helps her team leaders also develop a plan for self-leadership and motivation.

She tries to fulfill the needs for good leadership by being competent, consistent, open, loyal and having integrity.  All of these together make a great leader.

Develop

My client has individual (quarterly) quality and growth evaluations (with steps for improvement) to help each of her employees reach their goals for growth and development.  They are not “set from above” but decided upon by the employee and then the team leader holds the employee accountable to their self-set goals.  What a dream for personal growth for the employees - being paid to set and reach your own goals for development and having someone in leadership hold you accountable!

Care

Care means that the employee is taken care of in a way that treats them as individuals with all their abilities, strengths and weaknesses.  During the covid crisis, for example, those employees with “dangerous” conditions, were allowed to work from home for as long as necessary, and pay cuts were across the board, including my client, the owner of the company, and the pay cuts were not just for the “lowest rung” employees.  

My client tries to work in this area of care, though, as this is the place she feels a need for growth.  She is brainstorming a two-day retreat for all employees somewhere “nice” when the company can afford it again (probably in the next fiscal year).  She is also planning a half-day mini-retreat for the near future to “debrief” these past few months and show that she values and cares for her employees.  All of them.

How are you leading?  How are you developing? How are you caring?  You can do these things for yourself, for your team and for your company.

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Patricia Jehle   patricia@jehle-coaching.com