Madavi has identified 5 key learnings from the directors during the pandemic
67 appreciative interviews regarding their learnings in an unprecedented situation.
The capacity to change that people and the system have shown has been much higher than expected, according to the 67 directors of the 8 countries interviewed by Madavi the Yes Company. The objective of these appreciative interviews is to construct a global look at the role of those who make decisions and their learnings in an unprecedented situation
These last few months the best of what is has emerged, according to the interviewed. “I knew I had the best team but not that I had the best people”, one of them admits.
“This situation has offered companies and their directors an opportunity to be surprised by what already existed. Exemplary attitudes have been found in people who had not had the opportunity to show them before.; People who were invisible have become valued and essential; values which already existed have been vindicated and have become critical in the present situation”, affirms Fernando Iglesias, CEO of Madavi, a company that facilitates change in teams and organizations.
Indeed, the 67 directors interviewed coincided in affirming that the pandemic has given value to qualities such as generosity, solidarity, collaboration and initiative, and that emerging tendencies such as digitalization, sustainability and working from home have been accelerated.
Reflection and having to start doing has led to an inventory of strengths which has made us stronger. In this sense, these directors affirm that thinking about what has happened during the disruption has permitted to see oneself in perspective, as well as the company and its possibilities.
Stories about feeling proud of oneself and others are frequent, and valuing behaviour in unprecedented situations. That is why according to Fernando Iglesias, we are faced by a unique occasion to redefine our personnel and professional priorities simultaneously and generate greater connection. “We miss many things, but we have also got rid of a lot of superfluous stuff which only served to take time away from the really important.”
A new leadership
The health alert has also impulsed a new leadership which is clearer, more closely knit and simpler. According to Madavi, this leadership is defined by constant communication, of an open and spontaneous fashion to assure that everybody at all times knows where they are in the organization, what they are looking for, what they know and what they ignore. They are visible and accessible leaders in order that in the physical distance their teams can “see” their references and are an example to their teams faced by uncertainty” pointed out Fernando Iglesias.
“Many leaders have rediscovered their own strengths”
And in a context in which the first thing to do was to protect their teams «many leaders have even rediscovered strengths” he assures us.
This new leadership takes us to a new autonomy for people and for teams. Working from home has meant a greater implication and greater commitment and control has been substituted by confidence, “and that confidence generates commitment”, underlines Fernando Iglesias.
At an organizational level, the tendency has been unanimous: focus on priorities and redefine, if necessary, all the processes. “The teams have collaborated in perfect disorder, in a transversal manner; the sudden death to “departamentalitis”, points out the CEO of Madavi.
“The sudden death of “departamentalitis”
Another tendency that has accelerated is the role of organizations beyond the business. “We are more conscious of the impact of companies on society. We have already changed and even if we want to go back to what was before we no longer can ».
5 key learnings
To sum up, according to these appreciative interviews of Madavi with 67 directors, we can talk of 5 key learnings during the process of disruption:
- An appreciative way of looking has permitted the identification of the potential of people and organizations and the use of strengths as a starting point.
- Transparency and a greater nearness in communication as a strengthening element in leadership and the unity of the teams.
- Extreme confidence in the teams which has generated a tsunami of responsibility and implication and has permitted greater flexibility with people and processes.
- Participation of everybody at the same time as a generalized attitude, which has allowed the obtention of exceptional results in record time.
- A greater consciousness of the impact of the decisions of companies has led to greater generosity and implication with society.
