Leading in an unprecedented global crisis: The heightened importance of versatility.

Abstract

Recent discussions of organizational performance have emphasized growing complexity and an accelerating pace of change and have called for new models of leadership for managing the paradoxes and dilemmas that they pose. The coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic amplified these dynamics and created an opportunity to examine one of the newer models by comparing the effects of versatile leadership in precrisis and crisis conditions in a field study using a quasi-experimental design with matched samples. The results indicated strong positive relationships between versatile leadership and multiple measures of effectiveness in both conditions but showed significantly stronger relationships with team adaptability, team productivity, and overall effectiveness in the crisis condition. The implications of these findings are considered for leaders, organizations, and the professionals who study and advise them about dealing with crises specifically and with the paradoxical demands of disruptive change in general. What's It Mean? Implications for Consulting PsychologyThere is a growing belief that new models of leadership are needed to handle increasing complexity; fast-paced, disruptive change; and the paradoxical challenges they pose. This research examined one of these newer models and demonstrated how versatile leadership is empirically related to multiple indicators of leadership effectiveness and especially to team adaptability and productivity in the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resilience in Times of Global Pandemic: Steering Recovery and Thriving Trajectories

“…Acute stressors tend to weaken information‐processing capacity and detract from an innovative and solutions‐focused mindset in favour of traditional approaches viewed as safe and within one’s control (Brockner & James, 2008; Kaiser, 2020). Stress reappraisal and mindset interventions have merited attention in the literature due to their potential to improve cognitive functioning and adaptive coping.…”

“…Still, organisations can help employees reframe the impact of an acute stressor, and support recovery and thriving resilience trajectories, by openly discussing and managing work demands while highlighting the availability of support and resources to meet these demands. In addition, organisations can facilitate the process of balancing tensions specific to workers’ experiences of the pandemic, such as the perceived opposition between staying home, temporarily sacrificing livelihood to safeguard public and personal health, and going to work in the interest of economic health, raising physical health risks for all (Kaiser, 2020). In what follows, these stressor‐reframing approaches are examined through the lens of crisis communication, a topic that has drawn growing interest in the resilience research (Dutton et al, 2006; Kim, 2020; Meneghel et al, 2016).…”

“…Hence, resilient organisations have preparedness factors that support recovery trajectories in the aftermath of a major disaster, and bank on this inherent resilience capability to explore avenues of innovation and flow into thriving trajectories (Nilakant et al, 2016). The literature outlines a plethora of evidence‐based initiatives, practices, and systems linked to inherent resilience capability, including wellbeing and resilience interventions (Tonkin et al, 2018; Vanhove et al, 2016), strengths‐based competency development (Brunetto et al, 2019; van Woerkom, Bakker, & Nishii, 2016), ongoing feedback and recognition (Heath et al, 2020), learning cultures (Malik & Garg, 2017; Walker et al, 2020), agile leadership (Badu et al, 2020; Cooke et al, 2019; Kaiser, 2020), clear and supportive communications (Brooks et al, 2019; Meneghel et al, 2016), and technology infrastructure that supports effective knowledge management and social interactions (Charalampous et al, 2019; Lim et al, 2020). When these factors are in place, managers are better able to identify the risks linked to the crisis at hand, and to develop resources that uniquely fit its demands and constraints.…”

Influencing Well‐Being in Perioperative Nursing: The Role of Leaders

“…The author of a 2020 article identified two themes related to current organizational performance and leadership: increasing complexity and change at an accelerated rate. 4 The health care environment is transforming to meet growing demands for value, which include both quality and efficiency. Perioperative nurses are being challenged to improve operational productivity while incorporating increasingly complex technology into their workflows.…”

“…A 2020 crisis leadership study suggests that leadership versatility is important for helping teams to adapt, regroup, and refocus in disruptive and uncertain practice contexts. 4 We encourage readers to reflect on the attributes of authentic and transformational leaders that they have observed in their own practice environments and how these and leadership flexibility influence burnout and well-being.…”