Effective leadership practice among senior leaders working from home and in the hybrid workplace across COVID-19

Barnes, Kristian; Vione, Katia; Kotera, Yasuhiro

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and reshaped effective leadership practices by introducing working-from-home protocols (WFH) and the hybrid workplace model. The current study sought to identify and understand leadership practices adopted in WFH and the transition to the hybrid model, the effectiveness of these practices, and the implications of these on future effective leadership practices in knowledge-based organizations. The current study employed an inductive thematic analysis on semi-structured interviews with thirteen senior leaders in marketing agencies and departments, grounded in causal leadership epistemology. Five themes were identified: (1) remote leadership capabilities required, (2) a soft skills leadership renaissance, (3) introspection is a coping strategy, (4), leaders' temporal quandary, and (5) hybrid leadership uncertainty. The study findings indicated the leaders who successfully coped and continued to be effective exhibited a more adaptive and resilient mindset, evolving their leadership practices and skills to suit the needs of remote (WFH) leadership. They embraced softer leadership skills and developed more humanistic leadership behaviors. They developed an introspection practice to maintain their mental and psychological balance and they mastered time management in an always-on world. This study offers leaders, managers, and employers practical insights into ongoing effective leadership practice with remote (WFH) empowered workforces and hybrid workplace normalization.

Citation

Barnes, K., Vione, K., & Kotera, Y. (2024). Effective leadership practice among senior leaders working from home and in the hybrid workplace across COVID-19. SN Business & Economics, 4(5), Article 55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-024-00651-4

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 27, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Apr 20, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024-05
• Deposit Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Journal: SN Business & Economics
• Electronic ISSN: 2662-9399
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 5
• Article Number: 55
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-024-00651-4
• Keywords: Leadership; Introspection; Hybrid workplace; Working from home; Humanistic; COVID-19
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/34093441
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43546-024-00651-4
• Additional Information: Received: 17 January 2023; Accepted: 27 March 2024; First Online: 20 April 2024; : ; : On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.; : Ethical approval for this study was provided by the University of Derby research ethics committee (ETH2021-2293). This study adheres to the University of Derby Research Ethics Policy and Code of Practice, the British Psychological Society’s Ethical Human Research Principles, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) guidelines.; : All respondents were over the age of 18 and provided informed consent to participate in the study.