LEADERSHIP FOCUS
Leading During a Time of COVID-19 BY BEN LEHAN CORE FACULTY MEMBER, CAL POLY POMONA
“THE ULTIMATE MEASURE OF A MAN IS NOT WHERE HE
Some of the lessons I learned from this role as a leader are:
STANDS IN MOMENTS OF CONVENIENCE AND COMFORT,
COMMUNICATION Stakeholders appreciate when leadership is transparent with a central and clear list of priorities. Frequent and transparent communication is crucial. Send your stakeholders regular updates and engage in community discussion. These priorities shouldn’t be vague or general; they should be specific and distinct. If the community is aware of what the general goals are, the policy development may be better received across the institution.
BUT WHERE HE STANDS AT TIMES OF CHALLENGE AND CONTROVERSY.” -DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. How does a leader manage the difficult task of reopening during a pandemic? Monitoring multiple and constantly changing regulatory agencies as well as the stakeholders of your organization is a challenging ordeal. In December 2020, I accepted the temporary role of COVID-19 risk manager at a local community college. My experience in higher education at Cal Poly Pomona appeared to be great preparation for the responsibilities I would face when helping a medium-sized community college reopen during a pandemic. Little did I know that my experience in regulatory agriculture at the Riverside County Agricultural Commissioner’s office would also guide me in this endeavor. Monitoring and implementing countless and constantly changing federal and state regulations were some of the many challenging aspects to reopening a college during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders within all types of organizations have faced completely new sets of challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Institutions across the country are returning to somewhat normal operations after emerging from a shutdown. Managing the closure of a business or school, as well as managing the virtual operation and eventual reopening during the pandemic, has proven to be a challenging task on multiple levels. Inevitably, hard choices need to be made. This is never truer than during a crisis like a pandemic. The choices and the direction of leadership need to be clear and concise. The COVID-19 virus isn’t going anywhere, and leaders need to be empathetic and understanding with their organizations as we transition into 2022 and beyond. One of the most difficult decisions that had to be made was whether or not the campus should reopen for the fall 2021 semester. During summer 2021, COVID cases seemed to be on a sharp decline, but a significant spike in the weeks prior to the semester starting caused a lot of panic among campus leadership. Was reopening for fall really the best decision? Student and employee health is our highest priority, but we also have to understand that we can’t stay shut down forever. Students need the opportunity to be in school and have a campus to visit. Schools provide so much more for students beyond the classroom experience. After weighing many variables, we decided that the greatest good for the greatest number of people was to reopen face-to-face for fall 2021.
TRANSPARENCY Due to the nature of this pandemic and the constantly changing landscape, mistakes are inevitable. Leaders and managers need to acknowledge mistakes and improve on them. A leader should not assign blame, they should accept responsibility and fix the problem, regardless of who may be at fault. DEALING WITH CONFLICT Regardless of the policy decisions, there will inevitably be some employees and students who are upset with the decisions. Encouraging discussion and hearing concerns from the community are always important. Availability is generally appreciated. Engaging in healthy discussions about decisions made and sharing perspectives about the decision-making process is healthy for all stakeholders. EMPOWERMENT We have numerous task forces on campus that communicate and help with the decision-making process. I made sure to encourage any stakeholder interested in campus policy to join one of these task forces on campus. These task forces are consulted before any policy change takes place and is a great way to allow campus participants to have a voice in the decision-making process. The ultimate goal moving forward into 2022 is safety. Although some of the policies and their effectiveness are debatable, we can all agree that safety is the highest priority of any organization. This temporary position has opened my eyes to another amazing facet of campus and institutional management. My prior time in higher education was only as an instructor and laboratory manager. Being able to see how a campus is managed from an administrative perspective, combined with my experience in the classroom, has allowed me to develop into an even more effective leader. These dynamics of leadership and management are similar for our rapidly evolving agricultural industry. I hope to share with my students the lessons I’ve learned as I help to prepare them for careers in food and agriculture. Regardless of the setting, strong and effective leadership needs to be adaptable and flexible. Leaders have to be dynamic in their strategies, whether this is in a school setting or the agricultural industry. The work environment never stays the same. Our strategies and leadership techniques need to be resilient and forward thinking.
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WINTER 2022 HORIZONS MAGAZINE
