Whether your new normal is working from home, collaborating with colleagues in remote locations, or trying to a lead a team of displaced employees, our day-to-day business processes have been upended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, many outstanding books have been written that tackle these issues.
Here are 5 books that we’ve summarized that can help bridge the distance gap and potentially strengthen your organization’s teamwork and overall culture as we navigate these uncertain times.
WHY SOME COMPANIES EMERGE STRONGER AND BETTER FROM A CRISIS
7 Essential Lessons for Surviving Disaster
by Ian Mitroff
While a significant crisis or disaster can destroy many companies, other companies emerge from the worst crises stronger and better. Crisis management expert Ian Mitroff explains the seven competencies that all companies must learn if they are to survive a major crisis. The companies that successfully overcome crises, writes Mitroff, have the right heart, the right thinking, the right soul, the right social and political skills, the right technical skills, the right integration (of all the previous competencies) and the right transfer (of new skills).
BACK TO HUMAN
How Great Leaders Create Connection in the Age of Isolation
by Dan Schawbel
In this book, Dan Schawbel uses his exclusive research to reveal that virtual communication contributes to a stronger sense of isolation at work than ever before. To change this culture, leaders will need a more socially connected workforce, which will create greater fulfillment, productivity, and engagement while preventing burnout and turnover. Back to Human is a call to action to leaders to make the workplace a better experience for all of us.
STRONGER IN THE BROKEN PLACES
Ten Lessons for Turning Crisis Into Triumph
by James Lee Witt & James Morgan
As the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) from 1993 until 2001, James Lee Witt witnessed some of the worst crises Mother Nature, chance and certain humans had to offer — earthquakes, floods, airline crashes, the Oklahoma City bombing, and more. Through it all, he not only drastically improved the reputation FEMA had among lawmakers, crisis victims and survivors alike (his leadership rescued the flagging agency), he also developed a strategy for managing crises — a customer-centric model that served him and his staff well, and that can serve your business in the same manner.
THE LONG-DISTANCE LEADER
Rules for Remarkable Remote Leadership
by Kevin Eikenberry & Wayne Turmel
In The Long-Distance Leader, Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel use their “Three-O” Model to refocus leaders to think about outcomes, others and ourselves – elements of leadership that remain unchanged, whether employees are down the hall or halfway around the world. By pairing it with the Remote Leadership Model, which emphasizes using technology as a tool and not a distraction, leaders can navigate the terrain of managing teams wherever they are.
CHAOTICS
The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence
by Philip Kotler & John Caslione
As the fallout from the financial meltdown of 2008 grows progressively worse, companies, industries, and entire markets cling precariously to life or have ceased to exist altogether. And the turbulence may not be over anytime soon. Here, noted business strategists Kotler and Casilone argue that these troubled times are not an aberration, but the new face of normal. Chaotics teaches how to be prepared for –– and thrive in –– this New Age of Turbulence.
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