How COVID-19 Is Testing My Leadership Skills and What It Is Teaching Me Along the Way – a Weekly Update (Week Five)

Here at Calabrio, like many companies, we are entering our eighth week working from home. For a team where the majority are based in an office environment, we have now passed the phase where working from home is an experimental novelty. By now, we have settled in. We have created new routines, made decisions about what is and is not possible to maintain during quarantine, and generally revolutionized the way we operate as a company.

All the practices that the Calabrio team has developed over the last few weeks and plans to take forward have come from being open with each other, our customers and partners. Maybe these ideas can help you as you think about the “why” and “how” of your organization’s post-lockdown operations. The full story is available on TMCnet, but here’s a quick summary.

Empathy and Listening

We are more curious about each other’s lives and more empathetic and accommodating when we know a teammate is balancing work-life in a much different way. At the same time, all our team members are doing their best—shifting work hours, helping each other, and creating new ways to connect and serve our customers.

Speed and Agility

This mindset of taking ownership and calculated steps forward before having a 360-degree plan in place is another mindset I would like to maintain. Often, companies, teams and leaders get so bogged down in the details of planning that we forget to think creatively. We, as a community, have become averse to failure. But some of our greatest achievements come from failure. And it is only when we are forced to make quick decisions that we are allowed to experience a positive level of risk, and even failure.

Customer-First, Through Thick and Thin

To see how our employees maintained the customer-first mindset was heartening. We were dealing with a whole new set of customer challenges and our employees jumped right in to help. We tried new things. We worked collaboratively with customers to brainstorm. We did not always get it right the first time. But in the end, we succeeded. And our customers succeeded.

Digital Connectivity

Offering customer support and connection in a nimble way during times of crisis brings me to my final point on practices to continue: the new, digital “how.” In lieu of traditional in-person collaboration and events, the world has had to look to digital strategies to pivot operations and rethink how we connect with customers, partners and employees. Digital capabilities empower companies to be more agile and accessible.

At Calabrio, we are documenting the changes we have gone through and looking at ways to leverage this change to create permanent improvements in our processes, and how we collaborate and deliver on our promises. Read more about our evolving plans on TMCnet.

Tom Goodmanson

Tom Goodmanson, President and CEO of Calabrio, has more than 20 years of experience leading fast growing dynamic software and technology companies. Since assuming the CEO position in 2009, Tom is credited with reinventing the company and its culture around a strategy to expand value and reach through new, innovative products, and remarkable customer experiences. Addressing the market need for simpler solutions to complex customer interaction challenges, Tom’s vision to redefine the standard for software ease-of-use has been instrumental in making Calabrio one of the fastest growing companies in the industry.