Paul Edwards

Who would have imagined that a year-plus of digitally mediated collaboration and video conferencing would make us more human as managers? After all, the over-arching tech trend of the past decade or so has been cold, hard data.

Yet the organisations that have best weathered the storm of COVID-19 disruptions seem to be those that have excelled at emphasising the human side of leadership. Though technology has been the key enabler, their leaders have invested time and energy in listening, communicating, and engaging with employees.

It’s also highly likely that emotionally intelligent leadership helps organisations embrace innovation more quickly and deeply.

A joint Accenture-Salesforce panel event I attended featured three leaders who’ve successfully steered their organisations through the pandemic: Channel Four CEO Alex Mahon, TV historian turned digital media entrepreneur Dan Snow, and Accenture European Telecoms and Media lead Boris Maurer.

All three work with organisations that have been upended by the pandemic. From reimagining entire productions to reflect social distancing rules, to carrying out mass upgrades to telecoms networks to cater for surges in home internet use. They spoke compellingly about the daunting challenges they faced – and how their organisations have thrived despite the disruptions.

Here are a few of the points I took away:

1. Faced with massive disruption, organisations can move faster than you think

Boris and Alex were struck by how quickly teams responded to new ways of working and the increased demands placed upon them. The effect of having virtually every employee working remotely was to flatten hierarchies and eliminate organisational silos. The result? Less internal deliberation, and greater focus on the benefits to customers.

Within three weeks of the lockdowns being introduced, Channel Four aired its first piece of COVID-19 programming, Jamie Oliver’s “Keep Cooking and Carry On”. Meanwhile Boris and his team enabled 80,000 engineers in India to shift to remote working in under a week.

2. Empathy is priceless

There has, of course, been a downside to the increased agility the lockdowns brought on. Enforced absence from workplaces, coupled with a worsening economic outlook, has made many people more insecure about their jobs and apprehensive about the future.

What’s more, large numbers had to juggle childcare with their work, or find suitable places to work in cramped homes.

Consequently, leaders have had to make big changes to how they communicate internally. The chain of command and a sense of impregnability have given way to empathy, even vulnerability.

They are placing increased focus on employees’ mental wellbeing: training more mental health first-aiders and setting up (and policing) safe places where people can talk without fear of retribution. This matters, Alex Mahon explained, because remote working leaves employees with few places to vent their frustrations or voice their fears.

Finally, the imperative to be seen to be doing the right thing may also be contributing to leaders’ growing willingness to take stands on social and environmental issues. For more on the “Empathy Challenge” and practical guidance on navigating it, check out Accenture’s Fjord Trends 2021 report .

3. In an all-seeing world, trust is golden

Dan Snow’s experience of building a new streaming TV service during the lockdown was that people work at their best when they feel trusted to do the right thing. Setting parameters is far more effective than directing tasks. That means subordinates need to understand their latitude to make decisions without the boss interfering.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, trust is vital when it comes to unleashing innovation or discovering hidden truths in volumes of data. The more people believe their voice will be heard and heeded, the more they will be prepared to contribute.

Another trend leaders everywhere should be watchful of is the temptation to monitor what employees are doing in real time. Though the technology’s there for leaders to track every keyboard press and transcribe every call, that doesn’t mean they should. Such a degree of information brings with it the temptation to micro-manage, as well as risks of undermining employee trust.

Indeed, Accenture’s Tech Vision 2021 study found that 87% of business executives believe remote working helps recruit hard-to-find talent. A trust deficit among employees would immediately make recruitment far harder.

Though the past year has exacted a terrible price on society, it is hard not to feel optimistic about the new capabilities organisations have learned. Virtually every business has learned how to collaborate digitally. Managers have developed vital emotional intelligence. As a result, organisations have learned to use muscles they didn’t know they had – moving faster, achieving more, pulling together as a team.

It’s exciting to see how companies will build on these capabilities over the year to come.

Paul Edwards

Greater London, England, United Kingdom

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Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards

Greater London, England, United Kingdom 4K followers 500+ connections

About

Experience

Accenture

View Paul’s full profile

Other similar profiles

Nagarajan Dandapani

Christopher Mann

Sarah Finnemore

Souvik Ghosh

Richard Anderson

Anna Vanderputt

Andrew Mitchell

Alan Coe

Karl Gilbank

Matthew Crook

Doug McGeachie

Neil Titcomb

Glenn Bowden CertRP

Lloyd Girardi

Paul Sangster

James Richardson

Jason Kendall

Tom Clarke

Peter Skelton

Robert Goldwater

Explore more posts

Explore collaborative articles

Others named Paul Edwards in United Kingdom

Paul Edwards

paul edwards

Paul Edwards

Paul Edwards

Greater London, England, United Kingdom

4K followers 500+ connections