06/15/2020

Leading During a Pandemic: Discomfort as a Virtue

Own the uncertainty to drive the "human aspect"

Good leadership is supposed to be decisive, but we’re in a moment that makes decisiveness a particular challenge. Associations are eager to get their meetings and events back on track and bring staffers back to the office. But COVID-19’s persistence—I’m in Arizona, where documented cases and hospitalizations are still on the rise—makes it hard to identify a start date. And protests around racial justice in America ought to be prompting leaders to think about how they best serve all their employees and members.

It’s an uncomfortable time, but the best thing a leader can do right now is own that discomfort.

Last week, neuropsychologist Dr. Julia DiGangi wrote in the Harvard Business Review about a firm that made the mistake of taking a hard line with remote workers: Anxious to make sure that productivity still kept pace, it asked workers to sign contracts saying their homes would be free of distractions. As they say, good luck with that.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.