Post-Crisis, Common-Sense Global Leadership

​As we begin transitioning out of lockdowns and quarantines and into hybrid and face-to-face working, now is the time to evaluate how things were done before the pandemic and to anticipate how things will be done afterward. The leaders of some organizations, unfortunately, will go back to the status quo. Other organizations have leaders who will fully grasp that change is constant. There is a radical need for such advanced mindsets in leadership. These leaders' exceptional responsiveness to the global workforce increases their effectiveness.

Think back to the sweeping technological revolutions that occurred a decade ago, which a few leaders failed to recognize. Executives of some now-bankrupt brick-and-mortar bookstores, for example, neglected to notice and embrace the value and convenience of ordering, reading and listening to books online. Today, you might wonder how they could have missed such a common-sense decision.

What Is Common Sense?

One dictionary defines "common sense" as "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts." Another dictionary definition is the "basic level of practical knowledge and judgment" that everyone needs "to live in a reasonable and safe way."

In their book Common Sense: The Foundations for Social Science (University Press of America, 1987), F.L. van Holthoon and David R. Olson describe common sense as "more or less universal" knowledge, judgment and taste, held by all "without reflection or argument."

Some say common sense is a luxury. But scholar C. S. Lewis wisely described "sense" in Studies in Words (Cambridge University Press, 1960) as a "mental outfit" that one should sew to wear for a lifetime.

Common-Sense Leadership and the Workforce

Creating a robust and effective organization in today's multicultural and hyperconnected world requires a progressive mindset that embraces common sense. A SHRM article on The New Power of Collaboration describes the new mindsets that organizations must learn, according to business leaders.

Common-sense leadership can increase motivation, retention, recognition and contentment among employees and teams. The result is that everyone in the workforce (not almost everyone) feels a part of something greater than themselves. They can accomplish far more if they experience a sense of belonging rather than isolation and exclusion.

In the first Manpower Report to Congress delivered in 1963, President John F. Kennedy said, "Manpower is the basic resource. It is the indispensable means of converting other resources to mankind's use and benefit. How well we develop and employ human skills is fundamental in deciding how much we will accomplish as a nation."

Kennedy's statement may be understood as a reaffirmation of the importance of common sense in utilizing the power of the workforce at national levels. In the midst of today's pandemic, its applicability expands to multicultural global postures.

Lead with Confidence, Not Emotion

Common-sense leaders of innovative social change recognize the need to modify conventional business models, transforming them into unconventional dynamic and strategic representations. These leaders do not reject change for something easier.

Common-sense leadership begins with this imperative: Fight the temptation to take things personally. That is, resist the lure to lead based on emotion.

Leading with emotion discounts the power of the workforce and its holistic imprint at the level of the individual worker as well as at the organizational level. Taking things personally makes it impossible to do the right thing.

Managers who learn to engage in common-sense leadership, on the other hand, put aside ego and intentionally accept responsibility. They are better able to create in the organization an inclusive environment that values everyone (again, not almost everyone). They have the confidence to listen to new ideas and, in response to those ideas, shift and enhance their own views. This allows the individuals and team members who work for these managers to share myriad ideas and opinions without fear of being isolated or rejected.

Organizations today must embrace such multiplicity, which refers not only to the colors and cultures of the workforce, but also to employees' ideas and opinions, learning styles, intelligences, orientations, perceptions, and more. Organizations can no longer afford to maintain sameness or uniformity.

Empathy and Ripple Effects

Common-sense leaders are able to reconnoiter and empathize with the workforce amidst acute crises such as job losses as well as during chronic threats such as a pandemic. They use inclusive skills and behaviors to outplay, outlive and outsmart those challenges.

Likewise, a workforce that can masterfully integrate divergent thinking and novel tools enables its leaders to gain appreciation and empathy—not only for employees, but also for the organizations they lead, and even for the world. How top leaders treat the people who work for them has an impact on how those employees treat customers, their own families and communities, and so on.

This concept is illustrated by motivational speaker and author Zig Ziglar in his fable "Who Kicked the Cat?" The story goes: The boss yells at the worker; the worker gets mad. The worker gets home and yells at his wife; the wife gets mad. The wife yells at the kid; the kid gets mad. Now the kid kicks the cat. So who kicked the cat? The boss did.

That's common sense!

Every high-stakes thought, word and action that comes from the top has a ripple effect. What a leader does here matters there. Failure to embrace this concept is likely to have a negative impact elsewhere in the organization and on its workforce, and its systems will suffer the consequences.

HR professionals in the school system, for example, need to be aware that their actions have an effect not only on the educators they hire, but also on the students. From there, a strong ripple effect extends to the students' parents, the community and the world. The HR department is not exempt from its responsibility to all of them.

Many business leaders are familiar with Daniel Goleman's work on emotional intelligence and Peter Drucker's theories of management by objectives and self-control. More recently, SHRM President and CEO Johnny Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, in conversation with Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, has cited empathy as one of the top three qualities of a good leader (along with courage and humility).

How to Value Your Workforce

Work with the humans you hired. Get to know them in real life, off the paper or the screen. That's where the common sense of valuing and empowering them resides.

Encourage a culture of retention and respect. Provide opportunities for people to upgrade their individual and team skills, so they can find purpose and meaning in the work they do for the organization. Develop better initiatives for education, economics and health, which help improve performance by employees and the organization alike.

Cultivate common sense in all individual and organizational activities—from the writing of journals, reports and newsletters, to building websites, holding conferences, and more.

Collaborative alliances and partnerships offer extraordinary learning experiences. Build them to create relevant, meaningful connections without leaving anyone out. (For example, consider how programs that require "total participation" might affect introverts and others with differences.)

A company that ignores common sense is making an explicit choice. An HR department shouldn't reject job applicants wholesale, for instance, simply because there are too many applications (the supply-versus-demand excuse). This may lighten the department's workload but will ruin its reputation. Among the long-term ramifications and dire consequences of regular rejection is the HR staff's gradual denial of the value of the workforce.

Adhere to the objectives of the SHRM Body of Competency and Knowledge (SHRM BoCK) and SHRM certification. Seek professional credentials in related fields, such as employment counseling.

Common-sense leadership has a good chance of sustaining the power of the workforce, and even world peace!

Sujata Ives, Ph.D., is an educational cognitive psychologist based in Maryland and president-elect of the National Employment Counseling Association.