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What does mental health leadership look like today?

As we map our road forward to a ‘COVID-normal’, what are we going to take with us and what will we leave behind? This pandemic has hit pause on our routines and given us all a chance to reflect on the factors contributing to our wellbeing as individuals, organisations and as a society. We see cries for help to mental health hotlines spike, fears of domestic violence increase during iso and a general malaise of youth who were already struggling to envisage a bright future for themselves. Mental Health professionals are highlighting a secondary curve likely to escalate, that of mental health.

What should we do when every decision is a tough decision?

When I sat down to chat with renowned transformation strategist, Ron Gauci, we were discussing the mindset leaders need to cultivate in order to turn crisis-imposed business disruption into crisis-led business transformation. Ron’s practical and experienced-based tips seem to have struck a chord with the LinkedIn family and so this insights paper seeks to break down the information into actionable steps to take when every decision feels difficult.

“Plans stop working the moment the first bullet is fired.”

As an ADF veteran of 15 years, Former Health Operations Executive trained in strategic leadership and with experience in disease management in Washington D.C., Emma provided pragmatic advice on how leaders might tackle the challenge we are facing today, as well as plan for those we will inevitably face tomorrow. I asked her “why the ideas of preparedness and planning seem at odds with the disruption and chaos brought on by crisis”. She proceeded to give a compelling view of planned disruption and disrupted plans.

The ultimate innovation? Our ability to change ourselves through leadership.

To the entrepreneurs, the change-makers and the brave decision-makers out there, we need your radical ideas in these unparalleled times. So far, visible innovation has manifested mostly in the way we are responding to change. We are now harnessing underutilised methods we have had at our disposal for decades: open-source R&D collaboration; rapid technology adoption, and; the mobilisation of collective action. While it may be tempting to hunker down and wait for COVID-19 to roll over us, we know that innovation thrives in adversity. So let’s get moving.