In the long-term care industry, just as in many other industries, the world of leadership, talent, and culture look different in a post-2020 world.
Not a post-COVID world, after all, viral plagues and pandemics have rocked the world before in human history, but the world after 2020. This world is going to present five clear and distinct challenges that many leaders may not be prepared to address based on lessons learned and integrated pre-2020.
The type of leadership in long term care in a post-2020 world is leadership that requires intention, clarity, candor, courage, and the willingness to pivot to new opportunities ruthlessly on a dime.
This type of leadership is not new.
It has always appeared during times of crises, driven by leaders who exhibit paranoia, with the ability to understand and navigate Black Swans and encourage anti-fragility.
However, in the space of healthcare overall, and long-term care, in particular, that type of leadership typically takes time to develop, rather than moving into the world and the culture of facilities, associations, and corporate structures, quickly.
So, here are some questions to ask that will encourage leaders to look closer at their approach to leadership, culture, and talent in their organizations and facilities, in a post-2020 world.
When leaders learn to question their own development, skillsets, and practices, they become better, their teams evolve to a higher plane, and their organizations become "Great Places to Work" and are lauded in the press. 2020 offered many opportunities for leaders to question their own "tried and true" practices of leading people, particularly as the "tried-and-true" was no longer relevant, practical, flexible, or adaptable to the new realities of the world.
So, yes, leaders questioned themselves last year, but what types of questions should a leader ask themselves moving forward? What are the kinds of areas they should focus on, as their teams begin to adapt and "normalize" to the realities of the workplace, the work environment, and work practices, that overwhelmed them in 2020?
Well, here are the top 5 questions for leadership throughout long-term care in a post-2020 world:
Asking, and answering, these five questions with self-reflection and self-awareness, can pivot any leader in the long-term care industry, at any level, toward greater outcomes for their talent, their culture, and their team.
When that pivot occurs, leaders have a responsibility to make sure that they engage with their team throughout the process, developing their own new skills while encouraging depth of purpose, resilience, and character growth on their teams.
This is not easy work--after all, if it were, everyone would be a leader--however, it is fulfilling work and it is the work that administrators must do for their staffs to become the best that they can be in a post-2020 work environment.
