Good pandemic leadership A Delphi study - How leaders can support employees’ Sense of Coherence
Rehn, Pilvi; Sundman, Oscar (2021)
Rehn, Pilvi
Sundman, Oscar
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202203143442
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202203143442
Tiivistelmä
Background The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an increase in mental health issues amongst health care workers and contributing factors increasing these are reportedly; lack of personal protection equipment, lack of support, lack of good communication and lack of good leadership. Research concerning specific pandemic leadership is limited. Objective The study aims to help leaders find ways to support team-members and employees maintain good health in situations like the pandemic and the questions asked are how leaders can support team-members' sense of Coherence. Method A two round modified e-Delphi was used to explore leadership experts' opinions on good pandemic leadership using the theoretic frame of Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence. Research questions asked are how leaders can support team-members 1. Sense of comprehensibility 2. Sense of manageability 3. Sense of meaningfulness Results A leader can support a team-members sense of Comprehensibility by informing about circumstances and phenomenon and clarify what is expected of the employee during the current situation. By paying attention to an employee's workload and signalling what is good enough, a leader can support the sense of manageability. How to support a team-members sense of meaningfulness had a low level of agreement amongst the experts. The proposition is that everyone experiences meaningfulness differently, and the leader can support the employees’ sense of meaningfulness by listening and find ways to make the work assignments more meaningful. Conclusion The result suggests that leadership during pandemic situations requires both excellent communication and listening skills to be able to support employees' sense of coherence. Suggestions for further research on how to support employees’ sense of meaningfulness, and any real implementations of the SoC-theory in the workspace to further investigate the usability of the theory as a mean for leaders to support their employees.