MIT Sloan Management Review Article on In Times of Anxiety, Lead With ‘We' and ‘Us'

Behavioral insights from employee feedback can help organizations identify and drive new, data-informed priorities.

Pervading nearly every facet of our personal and professional lives, the impact of COVID-19 is made worse by the fact that there is no playbook for companies and their leaders to follow, including leaders who have successfully navigated quick and crashing waters in the past. Seemingly overnight, employers had to direct their workforces to work remotely as governments imposed widespread lockdowns.

People’s confidence in the decisions you make as a business leader has never been more important: The recent 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer survey found that employees in 10 countries see their employers as more trusted, reliable, and credible channels of information during the COVID-19 crisis than traditional media or government sources. This invaluable trust could easily be squandered through uninformed decision-making. Therefore, it’s crucial that employers continue to disseminate information with clarity and consistency to their workforces, clients, and shareholders.

About the Author

Paola Cecchi Dimeglio (@hlspaola) is the chair of the Executive Leadership Research Initiative for Women and Minority Attorneys (ELRIWMA), a senior research fellow at the Center for the Legal Profession, and affiliated faculty in the Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) of Harvard Kennedy School. She is the CEO and founder of the decision-making consulting firm People.Culture.Drive. Consulting Group.

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