TOP PICK
Going Beyond
Competencies
Leadership development for
the post-pandemic era
By Dr. Latha Poonamallee
Post-pandemic world is a misnomer. We are still
in the middle of the pandemic especially as it
continues to ravage through certain parts of the
world. But as good leaders ought to, we must prepare
for how to lead as we move past the pandemic.
Leadership has been long associated with the act
of getting organizational outcomes done by any
means possible and necessary. But the pandemic
has resulted in a lot of negative impact on employees
including issues of mental health, loss of work-life
balance, and the worst impact being on women and
low-wage workers. Therefore, our leaders have to be
cognizant of these impacts and seriously take the
‘human’ element into consideration and be adept at
dealing with the collective or mass trauma effect due
to the pandemic and help organizations and their
followers cultivate resilience.
Leadership development has mostly rested on
competency development. But most competency
models are based on how to alter one’s behaviors
and how others perceive them and not focused on
inner transformation, i.e., shifting people’s mental
models using deeply transformative methods. To
do this, leadership assessment and development
must focus on mapping and shifting underlying
mental models towards building a better world for all
than just getting done more efficiently. Mindfulness
and contemplative methodologies-based training
and development can help with the following
key leadership needs for the pandemic and
post-pandemic era.
Prosocial Orientation is defined as an individual’s
tendency to feel empathy for others and behave
with concern for others. When many private
sector organizations are struggling to stay morally
relevant faced with societal demands for inclusion,
justice, equity, and environmental responsibility, an
important question is “does the leader care?” For
example, for a leader to be considered empathetic
in the competency framework, they are required to
demonstrate certain behaviors such as expressing
interest in others, asking questions of others, put
themselves in others’ positions etc. However, a
person can demonstrate all these during good times
and slide back into egocentric behaviors during
hard times such as the pandemic. But leadership
development has mostly focused on and is justified
by organizational outcomes defined in capitalistic
language, Instead, helps leaders cultivate sustainable
pro-socially oriented mindsets through mindfulness
practices and identity explorations.
Two scales I recommend are Identification with All
Humanity and Social Value Orientation. People who
score highly on identification with all humanity tend
to lead beyond in-group out-group divides. Social
Value orientation captures individuals’ motivations
and the magnitude of the concern people have for
others. This must also include climate intelligence
and sustainability orientation.
Leadership Excellence presented by HR.com JULY 2021 11 Submit Your Articles
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