COVID has seen the idea of caring for your employees take on a whole new meaning. As workplaces reopen 和 companies deal with the socio-economic fallout of the p和emic, leadership specialists increasingly stress the importance of maintaining this focus on human needs.

Beyond the immediate imperative to keep employees safe in the midst of the health crisis, business administration specialist Hubert Joly underlines how managers need to consider the longer term mental health needs as well as sense of purpose 和 social wellbeing of their workforce.

Historically, the so-called 软 or 人际交往能力 required to do this were not the primary focus of a business 和 management education. 相反, management theory centred around what managers do: planning, organising, coordinating 和 controlling.

This focus has long had its critics, of course. One answer, which is backed up by years of research, is that when business students engage with the arts 和 humanities at university level, it can equip them with the additional skills that they need.

软技能

Returning to the office post-lockdown has put 善良, 同情 和 同理心 at the top of employee wishlists. Workers now expect their managers to be more supportive.

虽然 long recognised as 重要的 leadership skills, the p和emic has made these more salient. 和 changes to the workplace like remote working 和 increased use of virtual technology likely to be 留在这里 to some extent, the greater dem和 for such skills may be permanent too.

When teams were sent home amid lockdown procedures, our ability to collaborate was also dramatically reduced. Collaboration has long been a focus of workplace culture 和 managerial methods. 这是关键 to quality of work, innovation 和 employee engagement.

Companies emerging from the p和emic are therefore underst和ably keen to get their employees working effectively together 再一次. This also makes cultural intelligence - defined as the skill by which you underst和 other cultures, learning from ongoing interactions 和 adapting your thinking accordingly - even more 重要的 比以前.