While many of our pandemic responses have focused appropriately on meeting real-time needs of internal and external stakeholders, COVID-19 has raised foundational questions about our forward ability to create both stability and responsiveness over the long term. Both as a "coronavirus organizational strategy" and as a future imperative, resilience at the organizational level has become requisite. In our upcoming webinar, TLD Group faculty presenter, Dr. Larry McEvoy, emergency physician, founder of Epidemic Leadership, and past health system CEO, takes a look at the virus as both warning and teacher. The webinar will forward a practical framework for resilience as a strategic asset, not merely a personal or professional one. The webinar will review the key mindset, leadership, and design shifts leaders and organizations can make to create organizational capacity for both stability and responsiveness during times of unpredictability and disruption.
LEADING IN A DISRUPTIVE AGE
Right now, as the virus SARS-CoV-2 alarms us with minute-to-minute updates and pauses us with extra time, it’s inviting us—compellingly-- to reflect on how we will lead in the starting-now future.
Our thoughts jumble as we waken to awareness in this viral 9/11 moment of our global future. “We had no idea.” “There was no way to predict this.” “This could last a long time.” “The epidemic is a black swan, unpredictable and unforeseeable.” “How did this happen?”
A lot Depends on What you do Now....
As I watch the world navigate the complex landscape created by the COVID-19 pandemic, I cannot help but reflect back on my own lifetime. Over the years my path has brought me my own fair share of crises and I’ve learned many leadership lessons along the way. Perhaps the biggest lesson is that having a shared purpose, vision and values on the part of those involved creates the calm required to persevere through the crisis. Afterall, we cannot manage crisis alone.
In the March 27th HBR.org article, Lessons From Italy’s Response To Coronavirus, co-authors, Gary Pisano, Raffaella Sadun and Michele Zanini examine Italy’s ineffective response to COVID-19 and the subsequent failure of other countries’ leaders to avoid them. They describe how the need for quick action and massive mobilization contributed to an ineffective decision-making process and call for a different approach, one that:
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- Is systemic
- Prioritizes learning
- Quickly scales successful experiments and shuts down ineffective ones.
A Letter to Frontline Responders
Holly Hughson is an OD consultant and change strategist, who has spent almost two decades working in high-stakes crisis response, humanitarian action and civil-military coordination. Holly's current work focuses on the human cost incurred by practitioners working on the frontlines of human suffering and vulnerability, and she serves as project advisor for “Ethics Education for Crisis Medicine” at the Centre for Military Ethics at King’s College London. In a moving tribute she shares her insights and admiration with the frontline responders of COVID-19.
A COVID-19 Test Journey
On Saturday afternoon after a long morning run, a fever came on me with a vengeance, and I had a somewhat sleepless night. Sunday morning a few other symptoms appeared, and I began to wonder if I had become infected with the COVID-19 virus. By mid-day, I used the MGH patient message portal just to let my PCP know my status when she would arrive at work after the weekend.
Critical Areas of Focus for Health Ecosystem Leaders
We often learn the most about leadership during times of crisis. As people around the world grapple with the ambiguity and potential impacts of a virus that has spread to more than 100 countries, sickened more than 100,000 people, and caused over 4,000 deaths to date, Health Ecosystem leaders are being asked to step up to the plate. With many of our clients out on the front lines of the pandemic, TLD Group has canvassed leadership experts across the globe on three critical areas of focus for leaders navigating these challenging waters……
