CMDC Leadership 2021 Report: Pushing Forward Through Uncertainty

As featured in Marketing News Canada.

A crisis is the ultimate test of leadership. How we as leaders navigate through these rough waters will define us for years to come.  The pandemic has placed extraordinary demands on leaders in business and beyond. It has created a cauldron that forced leaders to adapt, communicate in new ways, empathize, anticipate, and ultimately, test their resilience.

‘Business as usual’ is no longer an option. Leaders have been forced to undergo tremendous changes since the onset of the pandemic. In contrast to pre-pandemic days when the focus was on rapid innovation, increasing market share, hiring the best talent and driving revenue growth, the focus quickly shifted to business viability, controlling costs, empathy for employees and maintaining workplace culture, alongside the backdrop of safety concerns, facilitating remote working and maintaining one’s well-being.

We observed these effects closely in CMDC’s 2021 Leadership Study which surveyed over 200 C-Suite marketing and media leaders in partnership with Globe Media Group. See full report here. The study, which is the first of its kind with Canadian data, further explores the leadership traits business executives believe are most critical to the future, recent business pivots, their commercial outlook for 2021, and how they plan to manage the future workforce and drive diversity and inclusion to the top of corporate agendas. 

It’s crucial to learn from the past to help navigate the future. The Stockdale paradox, which the great admiral used to help him survive captivity, is useful framing for hard times: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” 

Leaders must aim for the light at the end of the tunnel without blinding themselves to the obstacles immediately in their path.

RESILIENT LEADERSHIP 

Resilience is a recurring theme in our leadership study and a trait that was certainly required during the past year with so much uncertainty in the marketplace. Listening is the key to this resiliency. During a crisis, leaders have more to handle than usual as they deal with the concerns of clients and staff. Because there are difficult realities to face internally and externally, business leaders say it’s important to listen, hear the challenges, and respond accordingly. One retail CMO interviewed reminded us to: “Focus on your human capital and customer relationships.” 

WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD LEADER AND WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO LEAD THROUGH THIS CRISIS?

The top leadership traits to thrive in this new economy are communication, empathy/kindness, agility, creative problem-solving, positivity, and managing stress and mental health. Facing brutal facts enables an individual to approach a crisis with realism. In our study, we found that 28% of leaders indicated that they define their leadership style as being “realists”: keep spirits high and communicate positivity while explicitly outlining any challenging next steps.

WHAT WILL DRIVE FUTURE SUCCESS? 

Every crisis has three phases: the emergency, a regression, recovery. As leaders pivoted their businesses quickly and efficiently, they are looking forward to a future no one anticipated less than a year ago. Leaders have stepped up to the challenge - re-setting, re-framing, re-tooling and re-training.

Leaders saw the pandemic as an opportunity to foster resilience, develop new expertise and build on the capabilities that contribute most to future business success. One media agency leader explains how to approach this: “Be an agile leader who leads with conviction, empathy and decisiveness. Ensure you are constantly communicating to your entire organization and retain/empower your best talent. Remember that challenging times can lead to opportunity but you cannot be afraid of change.”

As Bill Gates has said: organizations must ‘innovate or die.’ This bold statement became so true and tested many leaders. Digital disruption reshaped entire industries, categories and ignited new players. Most leaders in our study viewed innovation as imperative to future success. In this context, innovation means things like data collection, management and analytics that drive real consumer insight and creating a customer experience that is seamless and consistent across all channels.

INCLUSION: THE NEW MUST-HAVE MANAGEMENT TRAIT

Racial justice and civil unrest boiled over in 2020 and continues to. It forced leaders to take a hard look at their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, both within and beyond Canada’s borders. The diversity of ideas, customers and talent are driving a need for inclusion as a new must-have leadership capability. It has also prompted leaders to take a close look at their company and its hiring practices and to assess whether any unconscious biases may exist. 

Change all starts with leadership. Leaders recognized that diversity initiatives are not only the right thing to do, but that diverse voices lead to better discussions, decisions and, ultimately, results. When we asked if it’s appropriate for business leaders to be vocalon DEI, 85% said yes. 

The media industry has pledged to increase DEI initiatives within their companies. Overall, 92% of business leaders say they have personally taken actions to increase DEI measures. They report actions such as aligning strategy and processes (48%) and connecting culture and accountability (47%). These steps are seen as both moral and business imperatives to reflect the diversity of society, the country, and the world.

If inclusive leadership reflects a new way of leading teams, then we need to look beyond traditional leadership frameworks and tools. Our research revealed that when people are treated fairly, are listened to and engaged with DEI initiatives, there is a greater sense of belonging and sense of purpose. 

RE-IMAGINE THE FUTURE OF WORK: THE HYBRID WORKFORCE 

Work has remained almost unchanged since the Industrial Revolution; people have needed to work in close proximity to coordinate, collaborate and co-create. The pandemic has changed the way we work forever. It presents opportunities and challenges. Leaders now have the opportunity to reimagine work models, shape the future of work, and break from constraints of the past.

The vision that the majority of business leaders have of the future of work is an expectation of more flexibility and increased agility to allow continued work-from-home while also having an understanding when there is a need to work together. 

One business leader indicated that a virtual workplace was long overdue: “Ironic that it took a global pandemic to prove that employees don’t always have to be in the same building to work productively and profitably. I hope this leads to offices becoming centres of collaboration – collision zones for ideas and teamwork, where we can have meaningful face-to-face interaction with each other and other clients. Offices as an idea, a purpose-driven place to be our best in, rather than simply a place we clock time.”

RETHINKING LEADERSHIP IN TODAY’S CHANGING WORLD 

In summary, we must continue to re-examine the way we lead and redefine strength itself.

Set bold directions, envision new operating models and re-imagine how work gets done and what gets delivered. With exponential changes constantly around us, it is imperative we embrace new possibilities. Here are a few insights shared in our report: 

1. Be the trusted source  

Communication is the number one factor in building trust. Trust is the key element in any business relationship. At the highest level, people need to see that leaders are willing to give them what they need in terms of information about the goals and vision ahead. Different forms of information can help employees stay safe, cope mentally, and connect to a deeper sense of purpose and stability.  

2. Re-imagine the future of work 

The buzzword for a new approach is “hybrid”. Create new, revitalized work experiences - a place for collaboration, interaction, social and cultural building. Great leaders bring people together, to reinforce a sense of belonging, whatever the environment holds.  

3. Lead the change 

The past year has proven leaders must be accountable and want to be a part of leading the change for diversity, equity and inclusion. It all starts with empathetic understanding and having ‘cultural intelligence’, being attentive to others’ cultures and adapting when required.  We witnessed leaders showing that they can do the work to create change whether launching new recruiting models, assessing their internal behaviors and engaging employees from diverse backgrounds.

4. Empathy is vital  

Flex your EQ muscle, leading from a place of vulnerability, honesty and empathy, and don’t be afraid to demonstrate this courage to employees. The human elements of empathy and connection are critical to making the workforce function properly.  

5. Winning the marketing confidence battle  

This is the new frontier for leaders and measuring marketing confidence is more critical than ever. We believe that leaders must accelerate their integration of the Canadian marketing ecosystem and begin measuring it as a collective. Our hope is that with the foundation of a new Marketing Confidence Index, we can help and empower business leaders to make their companies and brands stand out and reach customers at every point of interaction to become the great leaders of tomorrow.