Resilient Leadership as Paradox Work: Notes from COVID-19

Abstract

Crises and tragedies befalling individuals, teams, organizations, or communities call for leadership that builds resilience in the face of danger. The COVID-19 pandemic, full of both known and unknown unknowns, is no exception and variable national responses to it epitomize the importance of resilient leadership. In such situations there is always the expectation that 'something has to be said' in response to commentators and authorities calling for a clear unambiguous direction (in politics, in business, and in communities) and that it is best said by 'the leader'. Saying something and dealing with a reality unravelling in the midst of uncertainty and ambiguity can lead to paradoxical situations. In the words of Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen (2020), COVID-19 has challenged leaders with 'fixing the plane while it flies'. For passengers to remain calm while doing so requires the tension-laden goal of 'building recovery on a foundation of trust'. The balance between saying something reassuring and responding to something threatening in process is difficult to weigh. While to lead means to guide, to resile means to respond or be guided by circumstances through a process of adaptation and growth within a risky environment. In this commentary, we discuss resilient leadership as paradox work, i.e., guiding while being guided by contingencies. RESILIENT LEADERSHIP: BUILDING WALLS AND WINDMILLS As highlighted in Lewin, Li, and Välikangas's (2020: 225) call for commentaries, the COVID-19 pandemic 'will be a test of resilience and responsible leadership at the global, country, industrial, firm, family and individual level'. We interpret that challenge in light of an interesting proverb: 'When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and others build windmills'. Resilient leadership

Changing Leadership in Changing Times

“…The phenomenon of Covid-19 induced change on a grand scale, testing essential elements and assumptions about leadership. These changes have affected politics, public organizations, business and civil society alike, introducing and in some cases reinforcing challenges identified in the broad study of leadership in the social sciences (Giustiniano et al, 2021).…”

The challenges of providing certainty in the face of wicked problems: Analysing the UK government's handling of the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Leadership scholar Grint's ( 2020 ) critical analysis of the UK government's COVID response does not explicitly mention hedgehog and fox traits, unlike some of his previous work (Grint, 2008 , 2014 ), but focuses instead on the wicked problem framework. Giustiniano et al ( 2020 ) propose the concept of ‘resilient leadership’ as an amalgam of hedgehog and fox traits (p. 972), and with regard to COVID‐19, advocate ‘the value of mastering paradox in resilient leadership’ (p. 975).…”

Vom Paradox zur Resilienz in der Krise: Ein Modell für erfolgreiches Krisenmanagement

“…B. Giustiniano et al 2020;Pradies et al 2021;Sarkar und Osiyevskyy 2018). Typischerweise steht dabei die von Krisen ausgehende Bedrohung im Vordergrund; nur selten werden Führungskräfte bzw.…”

“…Sie sehen nicht nur die Bedrohung, sondern auch die Chancen (vgl. James et al, 2011;Giustiniano et al 2020)…”