The pandemic must give rise to benevolent leadership

“The planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it." 

This quote is attributed to many people including the Dalai Lama. Whoever might have actually said this, today these words are more relevant than ever. Let us not confuse the word “success” here. The quote does not encourage the lack of success or mediocrity. The pandemic has clearly shown us that the planet needs more leaders who achieve their goals, but who are also kind, empathetic and sincerely care for their people. Globally, leaders who are more people centric have been able to handle the pandemic better.

The pandemic situation has strongly pointed us to redefine the meaning of success. Extending to the corporate world, companies and leaders around the world are trying to rise up to this situation in terms taking care of their employees. It must be ensured that even when the virus is defeated, empathy and kindness become cores value in the corporate world, especially in leadership positions. Benevolent and empathetic leadership should become the norm rather than the exception.

In the blockbuster film "Bahubali" remember why the queen chose Bahubali over Bhallaldev to be king? Because he gave results, but also saved his people and took care of them.

Personally I have been fortunate to have worked under some great managers and leaders, who are excellent human beings as well. But the law of averages holds everywhere.

I remember in my first job, I was simply given a poor rating because I was hospitalized for a couple of months and it was an easy way out to meet the bell curve. A few years later in another company I had a freak accident and hurt my head, and a CT scan and rest was advised. The next day the manager called me and asked me swiftly if I was okay. Before I could respond properly, I was asked whether the deliverable I was working on was on track!

In yet another instance I raised issues of racism and disrespect in a project. I was pulled out of the project and left to fend for myself, because apparently I was creating a problem, by raising such issues that (on paper) companies have zero tolerance for, and force employees to do mandatory trainings on!

Such incidents big or small, create two issues. One, at an individual level one cannot respect the manager in question anymore. One feels dehumanized as if one just being considered like laptop or a printer, as they infamously call a “resource”! Eventually this lack of respect impacts performance. No one gives a hundred percent while working for a psychopath.

At a larger level employees lose faith in the company altogether. Through word of mouth or otherwise, this impacts talent retention, employee satisfaction, the execution quality and success of projects and finally the top lines and bottom lines of companies. This dilutes the overall brand value of organizations. How many times have we heard people saying not to join so and so company because the work culture and/or the leadership is bad? Conversely some other companies have diligently developed a brand of being employee friendly and the best places to work for.

In all the instances above, I was told that when you become a leader, you need to be ruthless and take such "tough" decisions, which may look unfair. Unfortunately in many cases this has become an unwritten culture of unnecessary ruthlessness in the corporate world, because many times people do not question it or do not want to put the effort to do the right thing in a humane manner, unless it impacts their KRAs.

The pandemic has given us a chance to change this. Over the years I have also had to lead large teams of people and we together delivered critical and complex projects and initiatives with great success. Quite naturally I also had my share of tough decisions to make, including letting people go. But I have never had to be inhuman or unempathetic while making these decisions. I know many colleagues who have been able to do the same, so this is possible.

In all its horrors around the world, Covid has taught us that life is a great leveler. Whether you are a fresh employee in a company or its CEO, everyone works from home, does the dishes, cooks, changes diapers and sits with their toddler for online classes, if they have one. In the situation of a medical emergency everyone would need support and some amount of kindness. What goes around will come around.

Sometimes being a kind leader may be perceived as being weak, which is not the case. Kind and empathetic leaders are strong and self-assured people. However this incorrect perception can be allayed by proper planning, objective and clear expectations setting and one on one relationships and discussions with team members in case of any misunderstandings. Of course it would take more time and emotional energy than just screaming or insulting someone to get work done, but as leaders we need to do this as a part of our jobs.

During these tough times commendable empathy has been shown for one another. But after the pandemic is over and we see better times, companies need to start putting a premium on leaders who give results and also treat their teams like a group of real human beings with aspirations, feelings, struggles and the need to be respected.

Apart from hard business outcomes, quantifiable leadership scores need to be given by teams that measure their leaders on aspects like empathy and respect and this should impact performance and become development points for leaders. Only then this aspect would move beyond lip service to tangible outcomes, and results would be seen in terms of employee performance, retention, overall wellness of people and also improve the numbers that matter.

We never know what internal and external battles each one is fighting, so when we win over this terrible pandemic, and win we will, let us keep being kind to everyone around, while we get on with our jobs.

#leadership #benevolentleadership #crisisleadership #empathy