How COVID-19 Is Testing My Leadership Skills and What It Is Teaching Me Along the Way – a Weekly Update (Week Eight)

As I write this, it is hard to believe we are almost to June already. We are nearly halfway through 2020 and it feels like we have accomplished so much with having to pivot, face new challenges and most importantly stay safe. Yet it can be easy to forget these achievements with the vast majority of our original plans thwarted.

As a world, we are slowly testing how to return to some sense of normalcy. The next few months will determine if we are making the right decisions in balancing safety and health with our desire to kick-start the world economy. This may mean we will need to completely rethink how we bring business, education, cultural activities and more back into our lives. But one thing is for certain: we need to band together to push ahead.

In this last update in my leadership lessons during COVID-19 series, I come to my fellow business leaders with a “call to arms” to do just that: think broadly and boldly, dig deep and give more to help our communities move forward together. You can read the full summary on TMCnet, but here is a preview.

Think Outside the Business

During the last seven weeks, I have talked at length about how Calabrio’s leadership is supporting employees and in turn how our teams are surrounding customers in new, digital ways. For our teams, we have offered well-being webinars, amplified our internal communication, promoted flexible working hours and announced an all-company day off to help people regroup and refresh. We need to continue those things, but we also need to think outside the walls of our own organisations.

If you can afford to support these businesses from company profits, do it. If you can afford to support them from your own pocket, do that too. The efforts you put in now will have long-ranging impacts down the road, even if they do not seem obvious to others around you.

Protect Partnerships

Every business has partners and vendors. I have heard and read all the advice about managing financials during this time and being smart. It all makes sense—none of us wants to spread ourselves too thin or risk our own company’s financial security. But if you can make it work—once you’ve taken care of your employees—pay your vendors on time, or even early. Pay your outstanding invoices now. And if you plan to work with these vendors on an ongoing basis, pay them for future services.

Holding Each Other Accountable

I am not a fan of public callouts in order to get companies or individuals to do the right thing. But in this case, I am making an exception. I think it is incredibly important that we hold each other, as leaders and as guides for others around us, accountable. In my heart, I think we all want to help in some way. But keeping our families, friends and employees safe and healthy first is a demanding role for anyone. Do we really need to take on more responsibility?

Yes, we do. Because our personal communities and the communities seemingly external to us are so interconnected. Each one impacts the other, and we really are all in this together.

As I close out this column, and the series, I ask that you think about how you can help those around you in your community. Together we are strong. Read the rest of my thoughts on TMCnet, and as always, reach out to me on LinkedIn if you have stories about how you are helping that you want to share.

Tom Goodmanson

Tom Goodmanson, President and CEO of Calabrio, has more than 20 years of experience leading fast growing dynamic software and technology companies. Since assuming the CEO position in 2009, Tom is credited with reinventing the company and its culture around a strategy to expand value and reach through new, innovative products, and remarkable customer experiences. Addressing the market need for simpler solutions to complex customer interaction challenges, Tom’s vision to redefine the standard for software ease-of-use has been instrumental in making Calabrio one of the fastest growing companies in the industry.