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The competent corporate and executive development consultancy A Matter of Choice is headed by the identical twins Karen Powell and Lesley Heath. Both Karen and Lesley have spent their careers at the forefront of the human resources and security industries, both holding executive positions in organizations such as Asda, Royal Mail and West Midlands Trains.

Driven by the pandemic to reshape their business in 2020, they are putting their vast experience and wisdom to work in providing guidance and advice to executives on how to navigate the minefield of a rapidly changing business and workplace environment. In addition to providing guidance on how to get your tough business messages across while working with the wider teams.

This very topic is all about how business leaders can convey difficult corporate messages, with Karen and Lesley keeping in mind the duality of focus on trade and compassion. Says Karen, “Industry leaders and bosses have had a wake up call to the way they approach their employees given the rapid changes that have taken place over the past 12 months.

“The impact of the pandemic has meant that what was once the opportunity for leaders to talk to their teams has suddenly changed direction and the consequences can be catastrophic.”

A well-known example of this is the impact of the virtual meeting of Bill Michael, CEO of the global accounting firm KPMG. In an update video preparing the scene for the next several months, he told his staff to stop whining about their rewards if they weren’t sick and realize they were lucky enough to be in to work in a sector less affected by Covid-19. In the past, this may have had less of an impact as people were in a different mood, but the new focus on mental health and wellbeing means that such feelings are felt as callous and not with the way the workforce today identifies, can be reconciled.

A tricky new world for executives

Says Lesley, “We are facing a difficult new world where business leaders have to walk a tightrope between balancing trade focus without interpreting it at the expense of compassion. The pandemic has affected people’s lives and many are exposed to situations that are beyond their control, which in turn can endanger mental health. “

“That’s why we need to tell business leaders how important it is to be compassionate to employees, which in turn promotes a more efficient and productive team. It is clearly not in the interests of the continued success of a company to reduce its focus on productivity or the repercussions on employees in the event of a company failure will be even more catastrophic. Nowadays the point is to find a way that doesn’t water down commercial messaging but rather is delivered in a way that doesn’t exclude evidence of genuine compassion. ”

Bill Michael found this at his own expense and had left the business within days of the story being published. When highlighting another minefield, the speed with which a poorly judged comment can reach a broad and critical audience on social media is not to be underestimated. So that there is no grace period to undo, cancel or fix something that could have been better communicated in retrospect.

All of this means bosses need to learn a whole new set of business skills to ensure they don’t offend or damage the culture within organizations. The fact is, this is not easy to achieve for most, and with a learning curve so steep that one wrong move can throw them over the edge, fear and error on the inaction side will be created, which is not in the long-term interest of lies every business.

Karen and Lesley give five tips for successful leadership in the current environment:

• Despite the new world order, difficult decisions have to be made and difficult messages communicated in business life.
• Leading by example has never been more important. The conduct of managers sets the tone for the company. More than ever, the behavior and actions of managers must be based on their words.
• Lead with compassion and empathize with employees by recognizing the seismic disturbances and changes they face from working from home, isolation from family and friends, home schooling, etc .;
• Confident leaders understand the impact they have on others. The pendulum has got so far removed from the feelings summed up in Wolf of Wall Street in 2013 when Leonardo de Caprio’s character told his staff, “Leave your feelings at the door”. Especially since this door is probably your own front door these days;
• It’s about accepting that commercially smart and compassionate are not mutually exclusive.