Article #7: Integrity, empathy and humility: lessons for leadership beyond the pandemic
I recently had the honour of taking part in a
virtual panel organised by
ASBM University, India, focused on the theme of ‘integrity, empathy and humility in leadership’. These are important qualities that I believe in at the best of times. As we mark the first year of varying forms of lockdown restrictions here in Malaysia, these attributes are all the more significant.
This year has tested the normal contours of our daily lives to its limits. We’ve had to adapt to restrictions on all the things that we took for granted: who we can see, when we can go out, where we’re allowed to work, and so on.
If we’re asked to conjure up the image of ‘a university’, we’ll undoubtedly imagine rows of packed lecture theatres with students engaged in a lively dialogue with their esteemed lecturer (we hope!). We’ll picture corridors of bustling activity as people exchange views, sometimes spontaneously, on the pressing issues of the day. A librarian might gently hush a group of students engaged in an animated dialogue while sitting in the quiet study section. The canteens are lively as people enjoy the wide variety of cuisine that we’re blessed to have here in Malaysia.
The reality at the moment could not be more different. Campuses are quiet places, populated only by the few staff required or need to be there and the students who are permitted to access facilities during their residence on campus. Our colleagues work long hours from home, connected by the technology to our students from across the world.
Inevitably we focus a lot of our energy at an organisational level on making sure that the offer we make to our students is on the par with the educational experience they would have if they were alongside us on campus. We’re rightly proud to have been able to maintain the standards that students expect from us both in terms of the quality of our online teaching and in the levels of pastoral and academic support we still offer to our students.
In terms of our staff, we need an equal amount of energy to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves and each other during these difficult times. This is where those qualities above are useful lamplights. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the different leadership qualities that have been needed during this pandemic and how we might take the best of them beyond it. Those three words – empathy, integrity and humility – capture so much of what has made the difference. Take two world leaders by way of example.
On the one hand, the very recent former US President, Donald Trump, entered the pandemic with bombastic, chest-beating talk of taking on the ‘enemy’. His strategy was unclear, he positioned himself above all others, playing to his celebrity ego. His leadership was sustained by division – the more than he pitched groups against one another, the more he seems to flourish. The consequence in the end wasn’t so great though, as he left office under a cloud of ignominy.
Polar opposite to Trump stands New Zealand’s Jacintha Arden, often showcased as the premier par excellence. She projects humility, thanking the ‘team of five million’ for their efforts in tackling Covid-19, referring of course to the population as a whole. She is empathetic and demonstrates a big focus on unity (witness her response to the Christchurch shootings). As a consequence, she has high approval ratings and in 2020, her party secured the highest percentage of the vote in more than five decades.
Let’s look at what lessons we can draw on as we think about how we lead, not just in this period of uncertainty but as we begin to return to what constitutes the ‘new normal’. During the pandemic, we’ve rightly had to adopt a ‘high trust’ culture, placing faith in people working remotely to ‘do the right thing’. They have, in droves. People have stepped up, often working over and above what we would expect, to ensure that our students and our contributions to research continue apace. Alongside this though, we need to continue to recognise what is, for many, an unusual blurring of the boundaries between home and work life. Working remotely is challenging for all. It’s challenging for the single person living alone or caring for parents. It’s challenging for the parent with kids who are attending home schooling on zoom and need help with maths problems. It’s challenging for international staff who have not flown home to see their relatives for a prolonged period of time. All of this requires different levels of empathy and understanding from managers and colleagues.
It is my belief that combining high trust with the readiness to respond to the everyday challenges (and sometimes crises) of our colleagues means that we’re more likely to get the best of them. Moreover, let’s do everything we can to make sure that these positive aspects of leadership are not confined to this unusual moment of history.
Contributed by Dr Jason Pandya-Wood