Post Pandemic Pause

The pandemic has continued to present a complex environment with high expectations for leaders to perform, remain present, and purposeful about their short and long-term decision making. The past eighteen months have been particularly intense in pushing leaders to apply a wide set of competencies from broad based thinking, inclusive awareness, to flawless execution and value creation.  The rapid and challenging work environment has influenced organizations to focus on ways to fast-track development of leaders in areas beyond their knowledge and expertise, all while anchored to their purpose and values.

According to Blair Sheppard, the pandemic has accelerated the need for leadership to demonstrate a broad set of characteristics to enable success both on an individual and organizational level.  Sheppard (2020) indicates in the post-pandemic era, that leaders must:

be strategic executors, balancing vision with execution. Second, they must be humble heroes, willing to make bold decisions while being great listeners and champions of inclusivity. Third, they must be tech-savvy humanists, adopting new technologies while understanding and caring for their people. Fourth, they must be traditioned innovators, preserving the mission and purpose of their companies while pushing innovation to the extreme. Fifth, they must be high-integrity politicians, willing to compromise, accrue support, and form coalitions while doing so with the utmost integrity. Finally, they must be globally-minded localists, expanding their reach while also looking for privileged insights into their own customers.

 At Haskayne Executive Education, we are seeing an increase in organizations requesting leadership development programming to take place in the upcoming fall.  Senior leaders openly acknowledge the ‘pandemic fatigue’ they observe in employees and after a marathon of uncertainty, are taking a pause to evaluate direction for their organization’s development needs. While encouraging summer vacation and disconnection from work, behind the scenes the design of leadership development programs is being advanced to ensure teams return united, inspired, and equipped with a strategy to achieve sustained success.

Organizations benefit from a partnership with Executive Education's top-achieving faculty and team members who have a broad range of adult learning and practical business experience.  Haskayne Executive Education customized programs deliver an impactful learning experience that combine real world knowledge, leading-edge research and practical applications to empower leaders and executives alike.  We create value for our clients by improving organizational capability to deliver ongoing success as defined by the unique needs of your company and can design many of the focus areas identified by Sheppard.

We are spending our summer gearing up to lead our various clients through a series of well integrated customized leadership development programs.  Give us your toughest challenge, and we take learning beyond the classroom to address your unique organizational challenges and prepare leaders to be positioned for success. Whether it is a short three-week series on a particular focus area or a multi module personalized leadership development program, our faculty can provide academically backed programs in the following areas:

• Strategy: Strategic thinking, Strategy Formulation and Execution
• Leadership: Purpose & Values Lead Leadership, Change Management, High Performance Coaching, EQ, Inclusivity
• Build Better Teams: Traditional, virtual, or hybrid
• Innovative & Entrepreneurial Thinking: Maximizing Business Value
• Financial Literacy
• Effective Decision Making
• High Performance Negotiations

We offer our expertise, practical approach, and executive learning experience that can be delivered virtually, in-person, or blended. Please connect with us to learn more about how our collaboration can inspire and position your leadership teams for a successful 2021 and beyond. For more information on open enrollment or customized solutions, please contact, Kailey Armstrong, Manager, Learning & Development Programs. Kailey.Armstrong@ucalgary.ca 

 

Sheppard, B. (2020). Ten Years to Midnight. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers