Leadership in a time of crisis

2009 – The role of management and the way of leading a company is important in a crisis. Leaders need to inspire people and make use of their capacities to achieve creative solutions.
Managers too often operate under the ‘command-and-control principle’ and devote too little attention to solutions from the shop floor: ideas that can lead to practical improvements. Using the knowledge of the staff therefore requires a completely different kind of leadership. There should  arise a culture where there is room for development, teamwork and joint problem solving.
Although there are examples of working smarter in Ireland, research by the NCPP shows that in many companies the views on this subject differs between employees and managers. Innovation-stimulating leadership must come on the national agenda, according to the authors of the study. In addition to the qualities that managers need to have to encourage innovation and teamwork, this article also discusses best practices of organizations that already practice this way of working.

The full article ‘Leadership in a time of crisis’, (2009) by Peter Cassells in UPDATE 9 of the National Centre for Partnership and Performance is attached.