This week, how leaders can guide their organizations through the coronavirus-crisis response. Plus, the challenges of autonomous supply chains, and the bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel on reopening in the United States. |
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Our research into the mindsets and practices of excellent CEOs reveals that the best leaders can frame what success means for their organizations and promote a forward-looking agenda. But that’s in normal times. What does success look like in a sustained crisis environment? |
Seize the moment. CEOs are used to creating narratives about their leadership agenda when they first move into the job. But during the COVID-19 crisis, many CEOs are talking more often about their personal and their companies’ purpose—and the values they stand for. This helps employees, as well as customers and other stakeholders, make sense of the actions CEOs take. |
Bolster a sense of shared purpose. Being more directly personal is one way of doing that. One CEO told McKinsey that he talked about the importance of connections with colleagues to frame the behaviors and ambitions he would like to see in his teams. “Bonding with colleagues can help increase everyone’s individual resilience and grit,” he said. |
‘I’m super candid.’ The COVID-19 pandemic has flattened organizations and increased the intensity of communication: CEOs now talk more often to colleagues who were previously addressed only by line management. “Normally, when you have challenging news, you really like to have your frontline leaders communicate it because they have a relationship with their colleagues,” a CEO told us. “For the pandemic, I did global town halls, and I’m super candid: I gave the good news and the bad news. I expressed gratitude directly and skipped all the management layers.” |
Compassionate leaders perform better and foster more loyalty and engagement by their teams. However, compassion becomes especially critical during a crisis. While it might seem like the time for leaders to put their heads down and exhibit control, it is just as critical to tune in to personal fears and anxieties to help employees grapple with their own reactions. This helps on many levels, from dealing with immediate needs to setting the stage for business recovery. |
Keep an eye on the long term. Every day in this crisis can seem like an eternity, yet the decisions that leaders make now will shape their legacy. What should their longer-term view be? There are the classic metrics of profitability, growth, market share, and so on. But they will also need to have in mind a broader vision that incorporates the ultimate purpose of their company, the values it stands for, and the sorts of people it will and won’t attract as employees and as customers. |
And speaking of longer term, check out “A CEO’s guide to reenergizing the senior team,” a McKinsey commentary from 2009, when many executives who had gone from success to success suddenly found out what it was like to learn new rules. |
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INTERVIEW |
Ezekiel Emanuel on a smart reopening |
Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist, bioethicist, and author, discusses the priorities that governors in the United States should keep in mind as they work to reopen their states safely. “It’s important for governors to remember life is not risk free, so we can’t get COVID risk to zero. We need to get COVID risk low,” he told McKinsey. And partially, it’s a psychological question. “What level of risk will make people comfortable enough to begin engaging in some of the physical and economic activities we want them to engage in—but also not go too far? That balance is important.” |
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MORE ON MCKINSEY.COM |
Getting to an autonomous supply chain | For many companies, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the impetus—and a uniquely apt moment—for transitioning toward autonomous planning. Here’s how to make data-driven decisions during and after the crisis. |
The road ahead for the automotive aftermarket | COVID-19 is a once-in-a-lifetime disruption for the light-vehicle aftermarket, encompassing parts, accessories, and tire sales. We look at what steps aftermarket players can take to improve their business and emerge stronger. |
How can the economies of emerging Asia respond? | Emerging Asia is vulnerable to both the public-health challenges of the pandemic and the economic consequences of failing to contain it. We examine possible scenarios for the near future of the region. |
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WHAT WE’RE DOING |
An Rx for crisis nursing in Italy |
Since 2018, Generation Italy, part of a nonprofit founded by McKinsey to tackle global youth unemployment, has trained young people for careers that include working in programming development, hospitality, and sales. The program has grown from two to five cities and graduated 800 students, with 80 percent of them placed in jobs. |
But this January, the coronavirus arrived in Italy and changed everything. In a matter of days, the northern part of the country succumbed to the pandemic, becoming, for a time, the epicenter of the outbreak in the Western world. Hospitals filled to capacity, while businesses, stores, hotels, and restaurants closed. Generation shut down its operations and classes in Milan, Naples, Rome, and Turin and moved all of its programming online. |
Oscar Pasquali, COO of Generation Italy, recalls the sense of urgency the team had during the early days of the outbreak. “We wanted to help the healthcare system, so we talked to several hospitals. While we knew we could not actually train nurses, we could provide some skills development,” he says. |
The Generation team mobilized, forming a coalition of partners to develop a demonstration-based online course that showcases the expertise of medical experts. The Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele and Gruppo San Donato, a prominent healthcare group in Italy, provided medical staff who feature in the course’s videos; Sky Italia filmed and produced the lessons; and Intesa Sanpaolo helped with the creation of the e-learning modules. |
The eight-hour online course includes 35 short video lessons—three to seven minutes each—with practical demonstrations and quizzes to assess learning. Developed and produced in three weeks, the course focuses on teaching nurses how to protect themselves and their patients using appropriate personal protective equipment, how to perform and monitor noninvasive ventilation techniques, and how to manage stress in a crisis situation. |
Several participants remarked on how helpful it is to have demonstration videos, which are not usually a component of nurses’ training. In particular, the content on the noninvasive ventilation and stress management has been especially well received. One nurse commented that she “hadn’t been able to find that anywhere else.” |
As of today, more than 52,000 nurses—about 12 percent of all nurses in Italy—have enrolled in the course. Around 80 percent of those nurses have completed it and passed the assessment, gaining continuing-education credits. |
Generation has recently launched similar programs in India, Mexico, and Spain, building on the course’s success in Italy. For example, in India, more than 4,400 nurses registered in the first four days of the program, which is rolling out to more than 1,200 hospitals to start. In Mexico, the program is being rolled out to more than 100,000 nonclinical staff across more than 270 hospitals. And in Spain, more than 10,000 nurses have preregistered for the course. |
“In the wake of the pandemic, Generation wanted to help our communities,” says McKinsey partner Mona Mourshed, CEO of Generation. “So we took our curriculum and learning assets and applied them to supporting healthcare workers—to treat and care for COVID-19 patients and to take care of themselves in the process.” |
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BACKTALK |
Have feedback or other ideas? We’d love to hear from you. |
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