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The Importance of Leadership During Covid-19

Marty Zwilling, our firm’s Chief Knowledge Officer and the Founder & CEO of Startup Professionals, could not have known about Covid-19 back in May 2019 when he wrote an excellent article, 9 Tips to Stay an Effective Leader. Yet, each of those tips might be even more important today.

Importance of Leadership During Covid-19The crisis in which we find ourselves requires leadership at every level, not just in startups and small businesses. In order to get us all through this, leadership is required:

  • In government, in every country and at every level. We live in a global community and a global economy. Every leader of every nation, region, state, city, and village must lead.
  • In large and small businesses.
  • In schools and universities.
  • At home. Leading at home means staying safe, being productive, managing stress, getting along, and keeping busy.
  • In the community. This means supporting local businesses and being charitable.

The good news is that, according to Marty:

“Fortunately, contrary to popular opinion, the evidence is that leadership is not a birthright and can be learned and improved. Most people agree that leadership is primarily a set of behaviors that capitalize on relationships and a current market and customer understanding in a complex world. It’s not about a title, raw intelligence, or domination.”

Here are Marty’s nine tips as reprinted from his May 2019 article.

  1. Focus on managing relationships more than tasks. Leaders in new companies who had to do much of the work themselves in the beginning sometimes find it hard to make time for the people who are now critical to their future. Building new relationships, inside and outside the company and nurturing old ones, is a key to long-term leadership and business stability.
  2. Be the visible role model for accountability and trust. Team members and other constituents carefully watch what you do as well as what you say. If you are too busy to be visible or don’t practice what you preach, their perception of your leadership will diminish. You can’t hold others accountable if you don’t take the high road yourself.
  3. Spend more time asking questions than dictating answers. Top leaders are always looking to grow by asking probing questions and gathering new insights from a broad range of relationships rather than advocating their own views. They show empathy to constituents around them and encourage followers to step outside their safe zone.
  4. Practice active listening and give full attention to those present. It’s common for a business owner to have many pressing issues weighing on his or her mind at all times. Because of this, it is easy to tune out of conversations or revert to multi-tasking, which results in diluted leadership. However, this habit hampers your ability to learn from those who likely are most in tune to what’s most important to your venture’s growth. Only your fully focused attention on new input will keep you at the forefront of your changing business and outside influences.
  5. Restrain emotions and ego when you hear critical feedback. Resist the urge to be defensive. Instead, focus on learning the “what” and “why” of every opposing point of view. Avoid the appearance of interrogation when questioning disagreements and use your emotions carefully while making a point or reacting to criticism.
  6. Take more time to celebrate the success of others. Many new venture owners have trouble disengaging from the escalating demands of their businesses to celebrate the achievements of the people and customers who depend on them. However, when you invest the time to praise others, you become a more attractive leader.
  7. Work on being a facilitator rather than a driver. The best leader personality for larger organizations is one of providing help and resources, rather than extracting performance. That means placing a priority on coaching and mentoring, as well as training and tools, before focusing on results metrics.
  8. Eliminate the use of “off-the-record” comments. The world today is much less accepting of off-the-cuff remarks from business leaders. What you might perceive as a casual remark to friends may cause emotional reactions in others that can damage your leadership and business.
  9. Control your non-verbal cues as well as your words. Such signals include body language, tone, inflection, and other elements of voice, dress, and association. Practice the positive body language of eye contact, smiling, and confidence rather than contempt, disgust, or anger.

This would be an excellent time to ask yourself two very important questions:

  • First, are you a person who can stand to improve his/her leadership skills?
  • Second, can the leaders in all of your communities (government, business, home, etc.) stand to improve their leadership skills?

Great leadership will help get us through this challenging time, and all of the challenging times to come.

Thanks, Marty.

Jimmy's background includes over 40 years in international, commercial, and investment banking, and nearly a decade as the principal shareholder and CEO of a rapidly growing manufacturing and distribution business in California. Today, Jimmy spends his time advising and consulting with entrepreneurs on matters related to business planning, as well as capital markets and funding strategies. Jimmy works with clients throughout the world in industries that include financial services, real estate, manufacturing and hospitality. View details.

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