Leaders of every stripe are being called upon to make bold decisions during the pandemic – in complex and uncertain situations, under pressure of time and scrutiny, and while bringing their teams with them. It’s a big ask.

We spoke to a highly experienced army officer (biog below) about some of the attributes he sees as being most pertinent to making the right call while mobilising the energy of others when everywhere you look you see confusion. He shared with us this four-point model, based on academic study but also on personal experience of leadership at the military front line.

1: Lead Deep. The helicopter view that leaders take by design has to be supported with grassroots insight and two-way comms during times of crisis. Leading Deep means engaging at every level, including the front-line. So your bureaucratic communication protocols, designed to promote a stable flow of information, have to be abandoned in favour of something more immediate if a leader is to keep teams onside while shifting to a more agile approach, designing and communicating strategy that others will implement.

2: Lead Wide. As a crisis starts to unfold, we focus on the problem that is right in front of us – sitting in our proverbial kayaks and clobbering the crocodiles that first raise their heads. But as crises ‘settle in’, of course we need to find a way to take stock of the bigger picture so that we can start to Lead Wide. This means taking a systems perspective:  gathering insight into the broader shocks we (and others) are experiencing, including an appraisal of unexpected consequences. This allows us to plan our responses so they are cohesive, complementary and consensus-driven. 

3: Lead Long. Just as leaders need to keep looking left and right, they also need to look beyond the here and now. This is about using the insight they gain from thinking wide to help them plan around a range of potential future scenarios. In this case, from a business perspective, this includes stress-testing strategy around different outcomes in the regional economies and markets, shifts in government policy, the future trajectory that the pandemic is likely to follow, changes in employee behaviour, competitor activities, and so on. All this while attempting to transition from crisis to a new business as usual in terms of internal operations.

4:Lead Smart. Finally, leaders facing tough situations can easily neglect their own needs. Long hours plus high-stakes decision-making can drain the reserves – if not now, next month. Two things will help: first, giving your leaders a combination of practical and moral support. Second, making sure they take some time to reflect and to rest and to reset: an opportunity to think uninterrupted, to address those distracting personal issues, and to reflect on their leadership.