The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis unlike anything we have experienced before. Our professional and personal lives are very different to how they were just a few weeks ago.
In this interview series, we discuss the qualities of good leadership in times of crisis with three courageous leaders who have led their organisations through crises and change. From military disaster response, major infrastructure and planning projects to bushfire recovery, these leaders share invaluable insights to help you support your organisation’s crisis response.
Our interviewees include Georgeina Whelan, Commissioner, ACT Emergency Services Agency, Mike Mrdak former Secretary, Commonwealth Department of Communications and the Arts former Army Major General and Volunteer Coordinator at Conjola Recovery Centre, Peter Dunn. Here’s a preview of their recommendations on how best to lead your team through a crisis.
Strategic workforce management
Georgeina implements the 3 Teams Construct with her teams. Rather than completing work tasks each day, her team has moved to a seven-day cycle to deliver work outcomes. Setting tangible deliverables and managing outcomes, rather than tasks, has enabled her people to better balance work, life and family commitments.
Mike Mrdak and Peter Dunn elaborate on providing the right work environment, prioritising and matching skillsets to tasks, both the here and now and into the future. How do we apply lessons learned during this crisis?
And how can we embrace collaboration and codesign both internally and externally, to drive efficiency gains and innovation? Mike and Peter highlight the importance of clarity in roles and work outcomes, supported by clear communication.
Remaining mindful that the emotional and social needs of your team are heightened during this time is vital. With 24/7 COVID-19 coverage, leading with deliberate calm, balanced with optimism and realism is essential. Our guests discuss how to achieve this. Encouraging your team to stay informed avoiding opinion-based commentary is key, along with a clear communications plan that provides factually accurate information and educates your workforce on navigating business through the crisis.
Business continuity planning
Managing this prolonged disruption is fundamentally different from other more traditional business continuity threats. Learn how to mitigate your people risk by identifying what your critical business functions and roles are.
We discuss the importance of identifying individuals and teams that have highly specialised skills that are critical for either business continuity or crisis management. The remainder of the workforce can be formed into competency clusters to support either crisis management activities or critical business as usual functions.
We address workforce contingency planning and how an organisation manages workforce mobility and productivity across varying scenarios and timeframes.
Courageous inclusive leadership
As a leader, how do you step back from being involved in every single tactical decision during this time and lead your organisation now and into the future? Our leaders break down steps to implement inclusive leadership during this time.
How to let go and delegate to your team where possible. We share how to discover new workforce skills and competencies enabling individuals to reach their full potential.
Through preparedness and building business resilience your organisation can respond to current challenges and better navigate this critical time. Join this conversation where Georgeina, Mike and Peter share their strategies and tools that will support you and your team to successfully navigate these uncertain times.
