Throughout the pandemic, I have increasingly found myself turning to the Psalms, and therein encountering the full range of emotions, cried out to God. I’m sure many of us can relate to many of those emotions in the last few months - pain, fear, joy and hope - not always in equal measures, but quite frequently in the same day! But how does our faith help us as business leaders in these uncertain times?
The McKinsey report, Leadership in a Crisis, outlines 5 leadership practices that can help us in such unprecedented times.
Whilst some seem fairly universal (best practice teamworking and transparent communication) three in particular stood out to me as being particularly important to those of us with a Christian faith:
- The value of 'deliberate calm and bounded optimism'. As Christians our hope is in God: '"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”' (Jeremiah 29:11). Our future is uncertain, but we know that God loves us and will not harm us.
- When making decisions amid uncertainty, the report talks about the need to pause to assess and anticipate, then act'. For those of us who pray, this is part of our day-to-day lives. On any major decisions, taking that time to pause, reflect and pray before moving forward is critical now more than ever.
- Finally the report talks about the need to demonstrate empathy - to 'deal with the human tragedy as a first priority'. As Christians we are called to love: 'Let all that you do be done with love' (1 Corinthians 16:14).
A call for hope
So from a leading strategy consultancy we see some intrinsically Christian calls – a call to remain hopeful, to be prayerful and to share the unbounded love we receive from God.
The last four months have undoubtedly changed business forever, but I pray through these uncertain times we all continue to support one another, to be creative and innovative, but - most importantly - to be hopeful, prayerful and loving in all we do.