Self-leadership in a Time of Crisis : - A Case Study of The Industrial Giant Alleima

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to a digital shift where remote work became the new normal in many organizations. This led to more responsibility being put on employees and thereby an increase in self-leadership. Due to the remote work and the communication becoming digital, virtual leadership became highly current as well. The purpose of the paper was therefore twofold. Firstly, we aimed to investigate in what ways leaders could create conditions for self-leadership among their employees. And secondly, we aimed to try to gain a better understanding of how leaders managed the complex crisis situation that the Covid-19 pandemic constituted by integrating motivation and clear communication in their virtual leadership. This was done by trying to answer the following research questions from a leader perspective: (1) In what ways has self-leadership changed due to the pandemic? (2) In what ways can leaders exhort their employees to be more self leading? (3) In what ways are motivation and communication related to self-leadership and virtual leadership (digital leadership)? This was done by conducting eighteen interviews with different leaders within the organization Alleima. Moreover, our findings suggest that relationships are the most important factor for self-leadership and virtual leadership to be effective, especially during a crisis situation. Further, both motivation and communication are of importance for the effectiveness of self-leadership and virtual leadership as well since both self-leadership and virtual leadership is dependent on employee motivation and a clear communication within the team and organization.