Responsible business has been steadily climbing up the agenda, driven by growing investor and regulatory interest in responsibility and sustainability, and an organisational focus on values and purpose. A shift in business practices is needed to ensure work is a force for good, and the CIPD calls for businesses to balance all stakeholders' needs and ensure employees benefit from the value created in our workplaces.
If 2020 was a crisis, 2021 is characterised by uncertainty and transition. There is even more to learn and understand about what it is to lead through this transition, in a way that is responsible and that builds cultures of trust. This affects the kinds of leaders and leadership that we need, requires an acceleration of responsible business practices, and has raised expectations for people professionals.
This report looks at the challenges that senior leaders face in leading responsibly through this period of change. Our first report, based on conversations with more than 60 leaders, including CEOs, C-suite executives and HR leaders, was published in November 2020 and captured the height of the COVID-19 crisis. In this report we spoke again with these leaders. We find that 2021 presents a new set of challenges, but also an opportunity to do things differently, and, as one leader described, to ‘rebuild on a new footing’.
From crisis to transition: how has leadership changed in 2020 and 2021? In 2021, senior leaders find themselves in a process of transition, swinging between three different worlds. First, parts of working lives that are pre-pandemic legacies; second, the routines and rituals that have emerged during COVID-19, such as working from home and relying on technology for communication; and third, new approaches to organising and performing, such as hybrid working. This is the nature of transition – a mix of old and new while we settle on the combination that works for each part of the system. The leaders we spoke to realise now, with the benefit of hindsight, that this transition is not short-lived, but is a five- to ten-year project. This will mean new forms of resilience and a reinvestment in trust.
Divisions and differences: a fractured workforce Organisations, teams and individuals are experiencing this next phase of the pandemic in different ways and with different challenges. First, the ‘stop/start’ experience: those that had to stop or make major changes to their operations are now attempting to renegotiate a new normal. Second, there are those that felt they ‘never stopped’: organisations and teams on the front line or key workers that worked through the pandemic. They are frustrated that they are not represented by the narrative in the media that focuses on ‘returning to the office’, while many grapple with exhaustion and burnout. Third, there are those that are struggling to restart operations, or that continue to face new phases of crisis. This might be due to mass resignations, continuing COVID-19 outbreaks, or working in a sector that is struggling to restart.
These different experiences present a challenge for leading organisations responsibly. People are no longer ‘all in the same boat’. Many organisations have workforces in all three categories, and this exacerbates existing divisions. There are regional disparities, particularly due to there being different government guidelines across the four nations, and a frustration with London-centric reporting. There are vast differences at a global level too, with some countries still in lockdown. All of these present challenges for leaders.
Many leaders feel that the pandemic has accelerated their organisations to a brighter future, and are embracing their responsibility and chance to shape the next stage of their organisation’s journey. Others see unexpected benefits – pop-up leadership and individuals or teams rising to the challenges. For some, the future is less positive: the pandemic has revealed fault lines and they are struggling to fix them. In all cases, it is clear we are no longer treating this as a one-off crisis moment: it is a long-term transition.