Leadership Matters: 5 things COVID-19 taught us to make us better leaders
Crises pose both risks to credit unions and opportunities to become more agile and zero in on what really matters.
It was John F. Kennedy who once said, “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.”
The same can be said for the COVID-19 pandemic, which has devastated the economy, taken lives and challenged organizations to maintain business while also protecting their customers and employees. Being tossed in the fire, however, has taught us valuable lessons that have strengthened us as leaders. Here are five lessons we’ve learned from the COVID-19 crisis.
No. 1: Agility
When faced with an uncertain, complicated and rapidly changing crisis such as COVID-19, having agility and being able to move quickly has shown to be of the upmost importance to protect employees and prevent spread of the virus. When news of the pandemic broke, Kinecta Federal Credit Union executives met and decided to immediately implement a mandatory work-from-home program for non-member-facing roles, postpone all events and in-person meetings, discontinue gym activities and provide daily updates to employees. Additionally, to administer the Paycheck Protection Program, our bankers and financial experts had to quickly learn how the PPP business loan program works and how to navigate the website. We also made changes to accommodate and protect our most vulnerable members. For instance, we opened an hour early to service only senior citizens and high-risk individuals.
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