How The Pandemic Impacted Leadership Styles, 5 Years On

Organizational culture is not immune to the outside world. External shocks can impact the ways we work, the kind of leaders we want, and other workplace trends. As far as external shocks go, they don’t get much bigger than a global pandemic. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization made a pandemic declaration, recognizing the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths across the world. As we approach the fifth anniversary of the declaration, we can look back at the shifts in desired leadership styles that fluctuated over the five-year period.

Post-Pandemic Leadership Styles

Wave 1: Directive Leadership Styles

Immediately following the pandemic and the waves of ensuing uncertainty felt by people around the world, workers were looking for direction. The desired leadership style at that time was directive leadership, where leaders authoritatively took action to restore security and reduce the unease associated with a lack of certainty.

In many cases, this directive style warped into micromanagement, where leaders who may have been ill-equipped to transition to the fully remote and hybrid-work conditions tried to compensate through excessive control, surveillance, and monitoring.

For those dealing with a micromanager, what they wanted from a leader became very different from the leadership they were getting. At this stage, they wanted support and a focus on wellbeing.

Wave 2: Supportive Leadership Styles

Effective leaders were able to adapt again to the demands of the situation, by increasing their support for employees, including support for the health and safety of their employees. Research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology in 2021 found that supportive leadership increased employee engagement and job reattachment for those transitioning back to work after periods of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders were lifted.

We even saw a rise in women appointed as leaders during the pandemic, which aligns with the observed glass cliff phenomenon. During times of crisis, women and other minoritized groups are often appointed to leadership as a signal of change, a shift to a more nurturing leadership style, or – more cynically – to take the fall of a recent failure.

A preference for women leaders may also be associated with the organizational culture shift of those seeking supportive leaders. It’s not that all women leaders are supportive while male leaders are not, but the adherence to stereotypically held gender norms is still prevalent in characteristics, thoughts, and behaviors of men and women in their working lives.

Wave 3: Hopeful Leadership Styles

As we arrive at 2025, five years on, workers are now looking for hope. In the recently published Gallup Global Leadership Report, survey results from 52 countries revealed that followers want hope (56% of mentions), trust (33%), compassion (7%), and stability (4%) from their leaders, which is consistent across countries and other demographics, such as age. There is a worldwide need for hope, above all things.

Leaders who are able to offer hope and trust will be able to contribute to the workplace wellbeing that people are craving. Upskilling and leadership development training should focus on capability and skill development for inspiring hope and instilling trust in followers in 2025, that is, until the next waves of desired leadership styles appear.

With constant change at work, adaptive leaders are essential. Adaptive leaders are those who can respond to the situation and to shifting follower needs with understanding, insight, and emotional intelligence.