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Tackling Any Crisis by Unleashing the Power of our Organizations — Volume 34, October 2022

Even as we emerge from a devasting pandemic, we continue to grapple with many factors-- debilitating supply chain issues, inflation, labor shortages and unrest, and the looming specter of more economic uncertainty topping the list. While people are trying to move into more stability and normalcy, it is clear that disruption and crises will persist.  Leaders know they must press forward and continue to fortify and transform their businesses ahead of more change. And they have learned how to do that, with real humility from the top, and the open-mindedness to generate constant input from the organization to keep adapting and changing. Because the type of disruptions we are facing are new to us all, we cannot rely on old paradigms and approaches— above all, we need leaders to stay agile and actively seek input from their teams. 

This also is a time of rethinking and reinvention. Covid accelerated change and transformation and cast light on many new possibilities. Leaders describe their recent experiences to us in ways that stress silver linings: as an “unprecedented opportunity for rethinking;” a “platform to drive change that otherwise would have been uncomfortable” which “renewed the realization that we are resilient and well-positioned as a company…” This is so important to remember, especially at this moment, when CEOs are under the microscope again, as they lead their organizations through the emerging rearrangements of the rhythms of work and culture coming out of the pandemic. It’s proving to be no easy task. There are still many questions about where and how people should work with offices now fully open and travel resuming its pre-Covid strides. Leaders everywhere are grappling with very big and contentious issues around optimal productivity, inclusivity, and employee engagement and retention that intersect these critical choices of where, how, and when people will now work. Hybrid models combining working in the office and from home have proven to be preferrable for most organizations (with notable exceptions). Even so, what exactly “hybrid” means is still playing out and will keep evolving for some time. It is the responsibility of business leaders to define, modify, and instill the hybrid models that work best.   

The Humble, Empowering, Inclusive Leader 

In a downturn, CEOs might be inclined to move back into directive mode but, as we learned in the pandemic, it likely will prove more effective for them to be inclusive leaders, to engage and empower their teams throughout the organization. Most significant to future success will be the continued rebuilding of working relations between employees, teams, and leaders across the organization. More authentic relationships with expectations that go both ways are very much needed as we ease into our new rhythms. Humble leaders can unlock those. The extreme circumstances of the last few years have magnified what we already knew was a call for humility — leaders facing rapid, unprecedented disruption, open to admit they don’t have all the answers, and driven to work collectively for clarity and direction. The most effective CEOs have been and will be those committed to finding new and better ways to harness the ideas and efforts of others into organizational greatness. This demands willingness to keep leaning into their own humility and growth (and demonstrate as much), letting go of the seemingly tried-and-true ways of the past, and inviting the best of others. Above all, it requires better listening on the part of leaders, a genuine and developed capacity to really engage, hear, and learn from their teams, in order to stimulate collective decision-making and the joint sense of ownership and accountability that is essential to identifying opportunities, fostering innovation, and transforming a business.          

When asked recently what’s the most important advice she would give to CEOs, Amy Edmondson, author of Fearless Organizations, said immediately: “[T]ell the truth…on a regular basis [tell] what you/we are up against…paint the reality,” make sure they know “there is no way that you have all the answers.” Bringing others in and assuring them of the importance of their input and contributions are critical factors today for CEO leadership. Repeatedly and with conviction, leaders need to be crystal clear about the rationale for why they believe others matter. And they need to show it. “Because the default,” Edmundson stresses, “is that they will think you don’t think they matter.” Emphasizing how dependent the organization is on the ideas emanating from the people within it is the glue needed to keep navigating through continuing uncertainty, especially as we settle into new work arrangements.

A Connected, Innovative, Energized Organization

The complication is that our organizations fragmented during the pandemic, and we must rebuild them to create the engines of ideas needed for both short-term performance and business transformation, whether in a crisis or not. The winning companies and individuals coming out of this phase will have found that “sweet spot,” balancing individual flexibility and sufficient in-person interaction, yet leaders are struggling to make this transition in the face of strong employee pushback, often opting to keep employees happy in the short term.

Especially spirited at present are the debates over how hybrid work will translate for each company and how much flexibility will be retained in the new schedules. In our recent study, “Different Generations, Same Ideals: What Workers of All Ages Value in their Jobs,” we found that across generations 80 percent of employees value an employer that allows them to find their best work/life blend. Leaders will have to consider how to continue to enable productivity while simultaneously rethinking building a work culture that values relationships and will thrive across hybrid models.  

Learn from the Pandemic and Give More Flexibility to Employees…

We all have seen the downside to personal well-being in a completely virtual work experience, and we know that in-person interaction is needed to foster collaborative, innovative cultures.  Yet at the same time, we have learned how to work remotely quite effectively and retaining this flexibility will be highly beneficial to individuals.  The Covid crisis forced leaders to learn to trust that their teams were going to deliver without in-person interactions, and they did deliver. Now, we can embrace this effective way of partnering with team members--this newly embedded trust across different work environments that will only get stronger in the emerging hybrid world. 

More than two years since the start of the pandemic, many companies are still refining their work strategies to find the option that provides the ideal mix of culture, employee satisfaction and morale, and productivity.  And some businesses are taking the opportunity to experiment, for example, the global travel company Trip.com.  “Their motivation was to improve employee job satisfaction to reduce attrition and ease hiring,” according to a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper published recently. "The obstacle to implementing hybrid (work from home) was managers' concerns that employees would underperform on their days at home." With that in mind, the company decided to formally evaluate a hybrid system over six months before making a decision on a full company roll-out. What happened? Attrition rates among those with a hybrid schedule plummeted 35 percent and employee satisfaction scores improved. Further, those with hybrid schedules were found to be more productive both in time usage and in that they increased the number of group calls and individual messages, even when they were in the office. 

…and Return to the Office

One of the most enduring challenges of implementing hybrid scheduling has been overcoming the now-ingrained patterns of working from home that over 2.5 years of crisis have put into effect. It is up to leaders to explain to employees why working in hybrid blends is preferrable for their joint futures. Leaders can’t leave these questions looming or unanswered by just telling employees they must come in. This seems to be particularly necessary for new and younger employees with little or no corporate history who have not yet experienced the benefits of working in an office.  

One way leaders can do this is by emphasizing the health benefits of returning to office work. Recent research from Stanford University’s School of Environmental Health and Safety department highlights the need for “microbreaks” for a human brain to function best.  Such breaks are less likely to happen at home in the same way as when one works in an office. Commuting, coffee chats, and lunch gatherings apparently provide more opportunities for the brain to rest and detach from ongoing work projects. But when working from home, the stasis and monotony of the environment does not invite that as easily — almost as if the brain gradually operates in more of a fog.   

Recently the bestselling author and prominent thought leader Malcom Gladwell weighed in strongly during an interview, stating his beliefs that we are, by nature, social animals, and that working from home can become too isolating. “It’s very hard to feel necessary when you are physically disconnected,” he explained. Gladwell supports a hybrid blend (something he is instilling in his own company) and was calling attention to the importance of integrating office work and connectivity which, he and many others feel is so essential for better teamwork and providing a greater sense of purpose for both individuals and organizations as a whole. Similarly, Apple CEO Tim Cook made public his convictions that creative output and innovation are better generated with real, human exchange and shared working environments. “Innovation isn’t always a planned activity, it’s bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing the idea you just had,” Cook has said. Recently, he told his employees they would be required to come into the office three days a week (two of which would be designated for them), which is a policy similar to ones many companies are starting to instill (including our own). He faced immediate criticism and a petition from a group of employees demanding “location flexible work” and insisting that they have been doing “exceptional work” remotely.  

Some sectors, tech and digital most obviously, seem to lend themselves more easily to remote work (many of which had been expanding their work-from-home policies before the pandemic). By and large, however, more CEOs are implementing hybrid schedules, often against ongoing disagreement and disappointment. The challenge ahead will be evaluating and determining what is best for each company which will likely require some trial and error.   

It’s Really About Connectivity and Creativity

The knee-jerk reaction to the productivity question, often put forward by employees who prefer working from home, is that eliminating commuting and other prep time frees up significant hours which translates to higher productivity, yet some CEOs are concerned that employees working remotely will completely disengage.  A newly released Harvard Business School study does not support either view. Upon analyzing 30,000 emails and attachments sent over a six-week period following the Covid-19 lockdown, the data showed that those working in a hybrid mode (9 to 14 days in the office per month) were more productive and had a broader intraorganizational network. According to the study, carefully conceived hybrid schedules allow the right mix of flexibility and engagement and result in higher quality work. “It seems there is sweet spot in the middle,” stated Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury, who led the research. 

In the end, work schedule decisions should not be made based on the desire to drive productivity – it’s really about creativity and innovation, collaboration and connection, employee engagement and motivation, and mental health. Before the pandemic, Melanie Brucks of Columbia and Jonathan Levav from Stanford, who specialize in creativity/innovation and behavioral economics, respectively, published a frequently cited research paper in which they conclude that “people are less creative when they are not in the same physical space. But there seem to be tasks that people can perform similarly online as in person—maybe even a little better.” Using the benefits of digital advancement to buttress working from home, productivity only gained steam during the pandemic. And the idea that we are better at brainstorming by connecting and sharing in person is as old as time.

Still, as we account for the need and benefits of integrating remote work, many people are encouraging thinking differently about creative productivity. For example, organizational thought leader Adam Grant doesn’t believe that face-to-face encounters are as essential for initial brainstorming sessions as they are so often claimed to be. He has argued for many years that group dynamics can be intimidating and actually stifle original thinking. 

Clearly, we are in a period of acute transition. It’s up to leaders to keep sorting through the evidence to make sense of what is best for their own organizational situations. The “future of work” is most definitely a work in progress.  

Now, as we try to make sense of the uncertain future and conceive of the best ways to work together and uncover organizational excellence, all eyes are on the central role of leaders to create an environment for others to thrive in. Top of mind now is the challenging job of shoring up high-functioning teams and binding hybrid cultures capable of instilling the trust and generating the transformations upon which their futures depend. Finding that hybrid “sweet spot” is challenging but critical.

It’s important for leaders to issue a stance now, to give their organizations and their employee stakeholders, in particular, the structure required to strengthen their core culture and drive their purpose. It is equally important that leaders proceed with the mindsets of adaptability and humility that they have been shown through recent experience are so essential to progress now. 

Might hybrid schedules change as we fully emerge from the pandemic and organizations continue to grow and transform? It is highly likely. If the recent past has taught us anything, it is that we cannot control the world, even our little pieces of it. But we can actively shape how we respond to those changes and the challenges they bring. The crucible of meaningful and impactful leadership will revolve around this learning and the organizational results that will follow. 

Browse the Volumes

CEO Insights — Volume 40: Shoring Up for the Balcony Moments - A Summer Reading List

CEO Insights — Volume 40: Shoring Up for the Balcony Moments - A Summer Reading List

We spoke with colleagues, family and friends to curate a summer reading list that promises inspiration to refuel the tank for CEO's demanding lives. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 39: CEOs and the Next Frontier - Initiating the Generative AI Journey

CEO Insights — Volume 39: CEOs and the Next Frontier - Initiating the Generative AI Journey

With the frenzy of news and heightened attention around generative AI, perhaps no group has been thrust more into the spotlight than CEOs. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 38: Be Real - The Renewed Focus on Authentic Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 38: Be Real - The Renewed Focus on Authentic Leadership

What we are hearing from leaders and workers of every generation is that there is a renewed commitment for authentic leadership afoot. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 37: Expanding Pathways to CEO Leadership - The Emergence of Product Leaders

CEO Insights — Volume 37: Expanding Pathways to CEO Leadership - The Emergence of Product Leaders

Increasingly we have seen several Product leaders becoming CEOs. Leaders holding that magic mix of advanced technology experience and knowledge with an agile and… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 36: Grounding Your Leadership in Real Time

CEO Insights — Volume 36: Grounding Your Leadership in Real Time

Understanding and practicing Real-Time Leadership is more important than ever. Leaders no longer have a moment to waste with the sensory and data overload… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 35: Family Business CEOs Look Ahead

CEO Insights — Volume 35: Family Business CEOs Look Ahead

The mounting uncertainty of the past few years have weighed on long-term planning in family businesses. In our CEO study, we heard from 153… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 34: Tackling Any Crisis by Unleashing the Power of our Organizations

CEO Insights — Volume 34: Tackling Any Crisis by Unleashing the Power of our Organizations

Leaders everywhere are grappling with very big and contentious issues around optimal productivity, inclusivity, and employee engagement and retention that intersect these critical choices… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 33: Lighting Fires: How CEOs Will Lead Technological Transformation

CEO Insights — Volume 33: Lighting Fires: How CEOs Will Lead Technological Transformation

Companies are ramping up sizable technology investments, however leading digital transformation is more about the people and the organizational culture than it is about… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 32: Pulling Back the Covers: Leading Authentically to Create Inclusive Organizations

CEO Insights — Volume 32: Pulling Back the Covers: Leading Authentically to Create Inclusive Organizations

By providing their own examples of courage and difference, leaders have the ability to unlock vibrant, thriving cultures of inclusivity and reduce covering. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 30: Out of the Fire and on the Rise: Female CEOs Reflect

CEO Insights — Volume 30: Out of the Fire and on the Rise: Female CEOs Reflect

100 Female CEOs globally share their reflections on challenges and opportunities they have encountered leading their organizations recently. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 29: Tapping into Founder Prowess

CEO Insights — Volume 29: Tapping into Founder Prowess

For future transformation, CEOs can take a cue from Founders for powerful examples of organizational creation and reinvention. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 28: Beyond Answers: Emerging CEO Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 28: Beyond Answers: Emerging CEO Leadership

A panel of Egon Zehnder practice group leaders discuss how CEOs can transform, relate, and hone their leadership skills in today’s environment. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 27: Reconnecting and Reinventing Over Resigning

CEO Insights — Volume 27: Reconnecting and Reinventing Over Resigning

Moving through the Great Resignation, CEOs can build connections and foster transformation by evolving and adapting themselves. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 26: Leaders’ Most Vital Asset

CEO Insights — Volume 26: Leaders’ Most Vital Asset

It is, above all, the trust a leader builds with others and how they create those connections that define truly great leadership. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 25: Spanning the Realities of the CEO Role

CEO Insights — Volume 25: Spanning the Realities of the CEO Role

CEOs are straddling two realities—one they are familiar with based on older metrics and the other reliant upon evolving expectations. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 24: Creating the Space Complexity Demands: New Approaches for CEO Leaders

CEO Insights — Volume 24: Creating the Space Complexity Demands: New Approaches for CEO Leaders

Those who engage mindfully to unlock what Jennifer Garvey Berger calls “mindtraps” – such as the tendency toward over-simplified stories, the need to be… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 23: Balancing Acts: One Leader’s Approach Through Uncertainty

CEO Insights — Volume 23: Balancing Acts: One Leader’s Approach Through Uncertainty

A lot of ink has been spilled around how to lead businesses through mounting complexity and uncertainty, but much of what might have been… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 22: Featuring “CEOs: Architects of Prosperity”

CEO Insights — Volume 22: Featuring “CEOs: Architects of Prosperity”

Our new series, “CEOs: Architects of Prosperity,” has been created to highlight the expanding expectations for CEOs across a wide range of issues affecting… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 21: “Where There Is a Will…”: Creating New Pathways to Success

CEO Insights — Volume 21: “Where There Is a Will…”: Creating New Pathways to Success

Five steps that take leaders through the process of devising options or alternative pathways to reach performance goals. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 20: Prioritizing People: Focusing on Talent Needs for an Emerging World

CEO Insights — Volume 20: Prioritizing People: Focusing on Talent Needs for an Emerging World

CEOs are depending on their CHROs, asking: What else can we do to have a positive impact on employees and make a difference now… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 19: Looking In to Lead Out: Revitalizing CEO Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 19: Looking In to Lead Out: Revitalizing CEO Leadership

This is a promising moment in time for CEOs to consider how they want to show up as leaders, to listen for and look… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 18: Coming Out Together: Creating CEO Allyship for LGBTQ+ Inclusion

CEO Insights — Volume 18: Coming Out Together: Creating CEO Allyship for LGBTQ+ Inclusion

The rewards of allying with the LGBTQ+ cause are great and many. In fact, increasingly, leaders seem to have more to lose—loyal customers, top… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 17: From “Know-it-Alls to Learn-it-Alls”: CEO Leadership for a New Future

CEO Insights — Volume 17: From “Know-it-Alls to Learn-it-Alls”: CEO Leadership for a New Future

The CEOs who seem to adjust best remain cognizant that “what got you here, won’t get you there.” Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 16: Both/And CEO Leadership: Leveraging New Possibilities from Old Polarities

CEO Insights — Volume 16: Both/And CEO Leadership: Leveraging New Possibilities from Old Polarities

Leaders today need to better manage polarities - but what are those polarities, and how do you reconcile them? Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 15: Beyond Resilience Narrowly Defined: The Practice and Impact of Positive Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 15: Beyond Resilience Narrowly Defined: The Practice and Impact of Positive Leadership

Principled, positive leadership is magnetic and indelible. It is what 2020 is calling for. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 14: An Expanding Role: The Advancing Impact of CEO Engagement

CEO Insights — Volume 14: An Expanding Role: The Advancing Impact of CEO Engagement

There is extensive speculation about the impact that leading through COVID-19 will have on the future of the CEO position. Have the past five… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 13: A Rising Tide: Creating Inclusive Systems of Leadership Selection

CEO Insights — Volume 13: A Rising Tide: Creating Inclusive Systems of Leadership Selection

Since the U.S. erupted in racial protests, many CEOs have taken a public stand against systemic racism, pledging to help dismantle it. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 12: The Road Ahead for CEOs: Shifting Identity to Enable Change

CEO Insights — Volume 12: The Road Ahead for CEOs: Shifting Identity to Enable Change

CEOs have stepped up like never before to do their part in accelerating the movement for justice and reconciliation forward. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 11: Embracing Uncertainty to Accelerate to a Brighter Future

CEO Insights — Volume 11: Embracing Uncertainty to Accelerate to a Brighter Future

All over the world, we are hearing CEOs ask the same question: What is the best way to lead and move forward when we… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 10: “If this, then that”: Towards Scenario Planning in the Uncertainty of a Global Crisis

CEO Insights — Volume 10: “If this, then that”: Towards Scenario Planning in the Uncertainty of a Global Crisis

After weeks of being immersed in immediate questions from COVID-19, CEOs are starting to tackle the challenge of preparing for what is next. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 9: “In the Eye of the Storm”: A New CEO Mandate

CEO Insights — Volume 9: “In the Eye of the Storm”: A New CEO Mandate

Five tips for CEOs while they work to manage the business and create psychological and emotional safety for their employees during the COVID-19 crisis. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 8: Demystifying Courageous Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 8: Demystifying Courageous Leadership

Cultivating courage is about engaging the whole leader to serve the whole business. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 7: CEOs and Stakeholder Capitalism: An Expanding Leadership Role

CEO Insights — Volume 7: CEOs and Stakeholder Capitalism: An Expanding Leadership Role

As business purpose becomes a top priority for stakeholders, CEOs must rethink how they lead. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 6: The Call for Curiosity: Cultivating Inquisitive Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 6: The Call for Curiosity: Cultivating Inquisitive Leadership

Curious, bold leadership is not something you simply have or don’t have; you build upon what is there, you learn it and continue to… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 5: The Boardroom as Leadership Laboratory

CEO Insights — Volume 5: The Boardroom as Leadership Laboratory

CEOs struggle with developing their leadership teams; boardrooms are living labs for leadership experimentation. Why CEOs should expose their senior executives to board work… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 4: The Uncharted Leadership Voyage

CEO Insights — Volume 4: The Uncharted Leadership Voyage

Sudden CEO departures have been constantly in the headlines. The CEO turnover rate hit a record high in 2018 and looks to be accelerating.… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 3: No CEO is an Island: Leading a Collaborative Enterprise

CEO Insights — Volume 3: No CEO is an Island: Leading a Collaborative Enterprise

CEO leadership is, by its very nature, a collective and relational endeavor. There can be no CEO leaders without followers and vice versa. Still,… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 38: Be Real - The Renewed Focus on Authentic Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 38: Be Real - The Renewed Focus on Authentic Leadership

What we are hearing from leaders and workers of every generation is that there is a renewed commitment for authentic leadership afoot. Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 2: It Takes a Village: Supporting CEO Leadership

CEO Insights — Volume 2: It Takes a Village: Supporting CEO Leadership

Not that long ago, the idea of coaches for CEOs was frowned upon, viewed as a sign of weakness or called on as a… Read more

CEO Insights — Volume 1: New Captains of Consciousness: Infusing CEO Leadership with Social Responsibility and Accountability

CEO Insights — Volume 1: New Captains of Consciousness: Infusing CEO Leadership with Social Responsibility and Accountability

Not even two decades into the new millennium, the world has faced many devastating events that have deeply affected the century’s course—terrorist attacks, hate… Read more

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