Navigating COVID-19 – A Workforce Discussion

Notes on  a Webinar with the Mercer Leadership Team
View the webinar recording

This was an illuminating 45-minute webinar from four of the leadership team at Mercer:
Ephraim Patrick, Partner, Talent Strategy (who addressed HR)
Gareth Jones, Mercer Evolve Business Leader (who addressed business strategy)
Maria Leske, Talent & Capability Practice Leader (who addressed leadership)
Michael Moses, Principal, Rewards (who addressed financial issues)

It kept promptly to 45 minutes (impressive timekeeping moderator-lady!) and is well worth your time, especially if you work in one of their fields of expertise.

I’m going to focus on the input of Maria Leske specifically, becuase she talked about leadership.

Maria emphasised the importance of empathy during this crisis: listening, communicating, frequent messaging, visibility, and ensuring that these values cascade down through levels of leadership. She advocated showing your vulnerabilities, admitting to your shortcomings and ‘bringing your whole self to work’.

She spoke of how this crisis has made companies really look at their values – to know your values, live your values; to have ‘purpose’ and to live your purpose-driven strategy.

This crisis can be an opportunity to ‘build new muscles’, in terms of operations and the way we work; also an ‘opportunity for caring’ about the mental wellbeing of employees. It’s a time to think about people holistically, to embrace their uniqueness, to accommodate their needs with flexibility, to facilitate their social needs through connectedness.

Overall the main takeaways were that:

• Companies that are agile and adaptable will survive this.
• Some things will never be the same again post-crisis, and that this can be an opportunity to embrace a new way of working.
• Treat your people with empathy and compassion.

​Posted by Beth 09/04/20