{"id":1767,"date":"2020-04-07T12:13:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T11:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:16:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:16:35","slug":"needed-urgently-your-leadership-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/careers\/2020\/04\/07\/needed-urgently-your-leadership-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Needed! Urgently! Your leadership skills!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Why the post Covid-19 world will need your leadership skills<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking for some time about writing a blog to help students write in a more compelling way about their leadership skills. \u201cLeadership\u201d as a required core skill is almost ubiquitous in adverts for graduate schemes and jobs and as a result, here in the Careers Service, we see it quoted in most students\u2019 CVs, cover letters and applications.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to Spring 2020 and the Covid-19 world. It\u2019s got me reflecting on what these leadership attributes might now need to be prevalent in business, organisations and government \u2026.and consequently, how should you be talking about your leadership approach when you come to apply for new opportunities.<\/p>\n

During the 2008 financial crisis I had a number of major banks and financial institutions as clients for my executive coaching practice. Working with many hundreds of middle and senior managers it struck me that the \u201cmiddle layer\u2019s\u201d experience was perhaps the most interesting; not only were they leaders in their own right, they were also on the receiving end of good\/bad leadership from their own bosses!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been wondering what you could take from this perspective when you are setting out your leadership skills in CVs and cover letters post Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Be available and visible <\/em><\/strong><\/i>Your team needs to know that they aren\u2019t the only ones \u201cat the front line\u201d coping with the massive upheavals of uncertainty. It all feels very messy in the circumstances of a brand new crisis and being accessible as a leader gives you two huge opportunities: to model the behaviours that you need your team to exhibit, and actively to listen to the real issues they are facing on the ground (that you might not otherwise know about before it\u2019s too late). In practical terms this means not cancelling regular team meetings and one-to-ones \u2013 virtual or face to face \u2013 and developing other new two way communication channels specific to sub-teams with particular concerns or responsibilities. MBWA (Management By Wandering Around) may have been a consultancy mantra way back in the 1980s, but it still has merit, even if you are wandering around on Microsoft Teams!<\/p>\n