The COVID-19 outbreak is threatening the jobs of many across the globe. Regardless of the exact numbers, it is clear that many employees will at least subjectively worry about the continuity of their jobs. Research shows that such job insecurity is very contagious and may affect the overall work climate in your organisation. To maintain a positive work climate, leaders should focus on three elements, says Professor Katleen De Stobbeleir.

Even if in due time we manage to tame the Corona outbreak, other new, unprecedented and unpredictable events will arise. There is one thing you can always focus on more: keeping stability during times of change. Surely, we cannot change what happens to us today, but instead of panicking, we can work on creating a feeling of mental and emotional safety and solidity. Professor Peter De Prins offers organisational leaders in crisis mode 6 recommendations to keep in mind.

David Patient, who was recently appointed professor of leadership, people and organisations, has always been passionate about literature. “Perhaps the most exciting teaching experience I’ve ever had was a course on leadership and Shakespeare, for which I used the play Henry V.” David’s love of language and communication is a common thread throughout his career. He joins Vlerick Business School from Católica-Lisbon School of Business where he was professor of organisational behaviour.

Leadership in digital times means taking on the challenge of developing the 'missing middle', says Professor Karlien Vanderheyden. That means that you are committed to a successful collaboration between man and machine.

The arrival of autumn brings the return of the first viruses. What better time to talk about a mysterious, world-famous virus that has spread among the highest echelons of management at lightning speed: the CEO disease.

Although algorithms often score better than human judgement, we still tend to follow our feelings. And once an algorithm has made mistakes, our confidence tends to drop even further. Making mistakes is part of being human, so we find it easier to accept mistakes from people than from algorithms. As a manager, how do you ensure that your employees are open to algorithms? And that they also use these algorithms effectively when supporting decisions?

Procrastination is often seen as a form of laziness or poor time management. However, research shows that it is more about regulating emotions.

Many leaders find it difficult to respond constructively to failure. After all, if we are no longer allowed to blame an employee when something goes wrong, how can we ensure that employees will still do their best to perform as well as possible? Although many organisations consider learning from failure important, very few of them actually take a good approach to it. Why? Because most managers look at failure the wrong way.

Professor of Human Resources Management Dirk Buyens does not regard the changes prompted by digitisation as in any way troubling. ‘We have to learn to understand the reasons why employees may or may not be engaging.’

COOs increasingly operate on strategic levels, translating external developments into their organisations and implementing necessary internal changes. However, in practice, these continuous changes raise dilemmas. This balance between innovation and continuity is the topic of conversation of a new advisory board in Management Scope magazine. Three Dutch COOs and Professor of Leadership and Coaching, Katleen De Stobbeleir, together devise six best practices to allow problem-free navigation between innovation and continuity.