Managing Organisations During The COVID-19 Vortex

Comprehensive Guidelines for Leading Your Organisation
Through the Vortex

About the Book

Managing Organisations During the COVID-19 Vortex is a comprehensive book to help leaders navigate their organisation through the Coronavirus crisis. From managing day-to-day practicalities, to scenario planning and sense-making, this book offers guidelines from over 20 leading experts to help executives deal with their most pressing challenges:

How to manage uncertainty and complexity

Leadership excellence in the COVID-19 crisis

Promoting mental wellness in the workplace

Sense-making for better decision-making in a crisis

Effective crisis communication

Economic and social scenarios

Business contingency planning during COVID-19

Retaining resilience in chaotic conditions

How to navigate lockdowns with certainty

Best practices for managing virtual workers

The legal implications of COVID-19 for employers

And more!

This book is essential reading for any executive who is grappling with how to deal with the complexity, uncertainty and unpredictability of this vortex.

Trusted, bold and courageous leadership is required to navigate this crisis. Managing Organisations During the COVID-19 Vortex will give leaders the context, tools, guidelines and perseverance needed to face this crisis head-on and lead their organisations into a future beyond the Coronavirus.

Chapters covered in the book include:

Black swans and the butterfly effect: The keys to understanding COVID-19
COVID-19: Economic and social impact
Managing uncertainty, complexity and chaos in a crisis vortex
Sense-making for decision-making: A futures thinking perspective for executives in times of crisis
Revisiting, reframing, resetting and re-starting: Navigate crisis lockdowns
Crisis leadership excellence: Navigating in, beyond and through a crisis
Leadership in a time of crises: A challenge for the middle
Business continuity planning during a pandemic: Coronavirus 2020
Communities, Government and Business crisis communication: Lessons learned from a pandemic
Remaining resilient in traumatic and chaotic conditions
Promoting personal and workplace mental health in the age of COVID-19
Stress: Manage it and build resilience
Virtual working practices
Tencent Africa responding to the coronavirus
Coronavirus in a fractured democracy
The coronavirus: Implications for employers in South Africa
The day after COVID-19

This book is essential reading for any executive who is grappling with how to deal with the complexity, uncertainty and unpredictability of this vortex.

“Managing Organisations During the Covid-19 Vortex offers inspiration, guidelines, tools and tips to help leadership calmly, thoughtfully and confidently navigate their people, customers, stakeholders, shareholders, and communities, as well as take care of their personal well-being, through these extraordinary times.”

— Professor Shirley Zinn, CEO of Shirley Zinn Consulting and non-executive Director of five
JSE-listed companies: Sanlam Ltd, MTN-SA, Afrocentric, AdvTech and Spur Corporation

Featuring insights from over 20 leading experts:

PROF SHIRLEY ZINN

ex-HR Director of Woolworths and Standard Bank, CEO of Shirley Zinn Consulting and non-executive

TIM COHEN

Editor: Business Maverick, a division of Daily Maverick

ARTHUR KAMP

Arthur Kamp

Chief Economist, Sanlam Investments

BUSISIWE MAVUSO

Busisiwe Mavuso

CEO, Business Leadership South Africa

MORNÉ MOSTERT

Morné Mostert

Director of the Institute for Future Research and Member of the Club of Rome

SHERISA RAJAH

Sherisa Rajah

Employment Lawyer and Partner, Fasken

JAMES HEBBARD

James Hebbard

Chief People Officer, Tencent

MICHAEL DAVIES

Michael Davies

CEO of ContinuitySA

TOBY SHAPSHAK

Toby Shapshak

Editor-in-Chief and publisher of Stuff magazine

DR JOPIE DE BEER

Dr Jopie de Beer

Managing Director, JvR Psychometrics (Pty) Ltd

CHARLES DU TOIT

Charles du Toit

ex-HR Director of Eveready and Leadership Consultant

SONJA BLIGNAUT

Sonja Blignaut

Founder of More Beyond

NAVLIKA RATANGEE

Navlika Ratangee

Clinical Operations Director, ICAS SA

INGRA DU BUISSON-NARSAI

Ingra du Buisson-Narsai

Co-Founder and Director of NeuroCapital Consulting and author of Fight, Flight and Flourish: How neuroscience can unlock human potential

JANINE HILLS

Janine Hills

Founder of Vuma Reputation Management and CEO of Janine Hills Authentic Leadership

PROF THEO VELDSMAN

Prof Theo Veldsman

Former Professor and HOD, Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management in the College of Economics and Business, UJ

GRAHAM WILLIAMS

Graham Williams

Management Consultant

STÉVE BÁNHEGYI

Management Consultant

WILHELM CROUS

Managing Director, Knowledge Resources

WEBBER WENTZEL

Employment, Health & Safety Group

About the Editor

Wilhelm Crous has a passion for business knowledge. This passion is realised, through Knowledge Resources (which he established in 1991), by publishing business and management books; developing and presenting world-class conferences and training; conducting surveys in the HR/Talent Management field; and publishing Human Capital and Labour Country Reports. Wilhelm is also the founder of the HR Think Tank, in collaboration with the Institute for Future Research.

He has received numerous special awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the SABPP for his outstanding contribution to the human resources management profession, and the Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Pretoria for contributions made to human resources management. In 2017, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Johannesburg for his contribution to Entrepreneurship in South Africa. He holds an MBA from the University of Stellenbosch Business School.

“When it comes to a crisis, speed of execution is often the difference
between winning and losing”.

— James Hebbard, Chief People Officer, Tencent Africa

What others are saying about the book:

“An extraordinary collection of highly relevant insights from people with deep knowledge and experience. The range of perspectives will help all managers and business leaders to play their part more effectively in keeping our economy alive at this frightful time.”
Ian Mann consults internationally on strategy, and reviews business books for Fin24 and 702
“How rapidly the world around us has changed. The unimaginable is now our new reality. The COVID-19 pandemic, scripted like a B-grade Hollywood movie, has brought seismic shifts to the status quo. When the noise subsides and the dust settles, the world will go on. By compiling relevant and inciteful perspectives from leading South African thought leaders, Wilhelm Crous has provided some sense to it all – the sense that every manager needs to navigate through these turbulent times.”
James Scott CA (SA), Publisher and Editor, BusinessBrief and bbrief
“A global pandemic is not normal business disruption. It threatens workforce directly. It requires strong leadership, extensive set of activities to assess the risk, stress test pandemic plans and put people first - safe, productive and engaged. This book will be a valuable resource for leaders during unprecedented times.”
Jeanett Modise, Chief Executive: Human Resources, Sanlam Limited
“This book is an indispensable companion for leaders and managers in these unprecedented times. Produced in record time, it brings together an exceptionally broad range of expert perspectives, insights, tools and guidelines on how to cope, build resilience and become architects of a chosen, desired future, instead of the reactive victims of circumstances.”
Barney Jordaan, Professor of Management Practice, Vlerick Business School, Belgium
“The multitudinous impact of COVID-19 forces humans to reconnect. An insightful read on a vortex of socio-economic impact and counter strategies grounded on rekindling neglected intra- and interpersonal relationships, novel depictions of leadership agility, reflections on breaking down walls of work and revaluing the power of organisational culture.”
Professor Daneel van Lill, Executive Dean: College for Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg
“This book contains valuable insights and guidance for leaders in dealing with this unprecedented global crisis that we find ourselves in.”
Parmi Natesan, CEO, Institute of Directors in South Africa
“As business leaders struggle to come to terms with managing their organisations through this vortex, it is heartening to see a great team of specialists coming together in the spirit of Ubuntu to share their perspectives and ideas on how to plan for this new world of work.”
Ronnie Toerien, HCM Strategy Leader, Oracle
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ Covid-19 is an unprecedented crisis that is altering lives and economies. Managing during the Covid-19 Vortex is filled with pearls of wisdom to help leaders and their teams successfully negotiate their way to a post-COVID-19 era.”
Dr Jerry Gule, CEO, Institute of People Management (IPM)
“A timely publication, at a time during which the world scrambles for complex, adaptive and multi-level approaches to solving a global crisis. On the regional and local levels, the crisis also highlights the systemic faultlines in our current systems, including our human technologies. This publication provides good insights and perspectives into many new and constructive ways of working and adapting in times of crises.”
Professor Kurt April, Allan Gray Endowed Chair, University of Cape Town
“An extraordinary effort to sustain and empower those who have to lead and manage in the face of the physical, social and economic trauma inflicted by Covid-19. This book may well guide its readers to move beyond post-traumatic stress, to post-traumatic growth.”
Professor Freddie Crous, Head: Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg
“There’s really no doubt that we are facing the biggest crisis of our generation. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury to throw our collective hands up in despair. We need to lead. This book helps us to do just that.”
Siphiwe Moyo: International Speaker, Facilitator and Author of #STAGNATIONMUSTFALL: 100 practical lessons that will activate your career progression
“This is the book for the moment. We all need to find a path through this Covid-19 pandemic: to ensure our organisations survive, to help us do the best possible job in working from home, and to support ourselves and our families through this crisis. In Managing Organisations Through the Covid-19 Vortex Wilhelm Crous has pulled together some of best thinkers and writers in South African business to help us. No matter who you are, if you work in business, you need this book right now.”
Sarah Arnot Mulhern, Managing Partner, Woodburn Mann Leadership Science Institute and Author of Find Your Focus: Five Steps to your Best Year Ever

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Managing Organisations During The COVID-19 Vortex

About the Book

Chapters covered in the book include:

This book is essential reading for any executive who is grappling with how to deal with the complexity, uncertainty and unpredictability of this vortex.

Featuring insights from over 20 leading experts:

PROF SHIRLEY ZINN

TIM COHEN

Arthur Kamp

Busisiwe Mavuso

Morné Mostert

Sherisa Rajah

James Hebbard

Michael Davies

Toby Shapshak

Dr Jopie de Beer

Charles du Toit

Sonja Blignaut

Navlika Ratangee

Ingra du Buisson-Narsai

Janine Hills

Prof Theo Veldsman

Graham Williams

STÉVE BÁNHEGYI

WILHELM CROUS

WEBBER WENTZEL

About the Editor

“When it comes to a crisis, speed of execution is often the difference between winning and losing”.

What others are saying about the book:

“An extraordinary collection of highly relevant insights from people with deep knowledge and experience. The range of perspectives will help all managers and business leaders to play their part more effectively in keeping our economy alive at this frightful time.”

Ian Mann consults internationally on strategy, and reviews business books for Fin24 and 702

James Scott CA (SA), Publisher and Editor, BusinessBrief and bbrief

Jeanett Modise, Chief Executive: Human Resources, Sanlam Limited

Barney Jordaan, Professor of Management Practice, Vlerick Business School, Belgium

Professor Daneel van Lill, Executive Dean: College for Business & Economics, University of Johannesburg

“This book contains valuable insights and guidance for leaders in dealing with this unprecedented global crisis that we find ourselves in.”

Parmi Natesan, CEO, Institute of Directors in South Africa

“As business leaders struggle to come to terms with managing their organisations through this vortex, it is heartening to see a great team of specialists coming together in the spirit of Ubuntu to share their perspectives and ideas on how to plan for this new world of work.”

Ronnie Toerien, HCM Strategy Leader, Oracle

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ Covid-19 is an unprecedented crisis that is altering lives and economies. Managing during the Covid-19 Vortex is filled with pearls of wisdom to help leaders and their teams successfully negotiate their way to a post-COVID-19 era.”

Dr Jerry Gule, CEO, Institute of People Management (IPM)

Professor Kurt April, Allan Gray Endowed Chair, University of Cape Town

“An extraordinary effort to sustain and empower those who have to lead and manage in the face of the physical, social and economic trauma inflicted by Covid-19. This book may well guide its readers to move beyond post-traumatic stress, to post-traumatic growth.”

Professor Freddie Crous, Head: Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg

“There’s really no doubt that we are facing the biggest crisis of our generation. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury to throw our collective hands up in despair. We need to lead. This book helps us to do just that.”

Siphiwe Moyo: International Speaker, Facilitator and Author of #STAGNATIONMUSTFALL: 100 practical lessons that will activate your career progression

Sarah Arnot Mulhern, Managing Partner, Woodburn Mann Leadership Science Institute and Author of Find Your Focus: Five Steps to your Best Year Ever

Order a copy of this book

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“When it comes to a crisis, speed of execution is often the difference
between winning and losing”.