Minister of health, Paulette Lenert, was one of five guest speakers during the British Chamber of Commerce’s week-long leadership forum.
Suddenly faced with the biggest public health crisis in recent history, only weeks after her appointment as minister of health on 5 February, Paulette Lenert was undoubtedly thrown in at the deep end. But what do you do faced with uncharted waters? Do you learn how to swim or do you drown in uncertainty and under the pressure to make decisions for an entire nation? Questions that seemed particularly relevant considering the recent spike in new infections in Luxembourg and the rising pressure on the government to reintroduce restrictions.
In this context, the minister gave a very personal insight into the unprecedented challenges she faced and the lessons learned while leading the nation through a global pandemic.
“What helped me was building a strong team”
Right from the beginning, Lenert stressed the power of teams and networking in order to achieve maximum productivity. Communicating with the team, as well as encouraging and listening to criticism are key. “You need allies, but you also need people who challenge your ideas,” she told her audience on Thursday. Therefore, she strives to create a psychologically safe environment where everyone can bring in their ideas and feel confident without fear of judgment.
It is safe to say that no one saw the longevity of this crisis coming and whereas, during lockdown, hopes for a quick vaccine and a “back-to-normal” second half of the year still seemed somewhat realistic, Lenert admits that, with the situation deteriorating again over the past few days, the impact on the team and their mental well-being is huge. They try to create a positive atmosphere at work with some humour and they also take turns in taking days off once in a while in order to recuperate. Although a short pep talk before bed and a good night’s sleep are the only moments of peace the former judge currently gets to rejuvenate, she says that these “rituals to disconnect” give her the necessary time to ground herself and get up again the next day to tackle new challenges.
“You need to keep society moving”
If one thing has become clear throughout the past months of uncertainty and fear, it is that this is not just a health crisis but also social, economic and financial. The minister underlined how important it was for her to keep the big picture in mind. “’It would be easier if you could just focus on the health issue, but life is more than just health. Health is certainly a major part of it and very important, but there are other parts too and those become even more important the more time goes on.’’
However, amongst all the difficulties faced, Lenert noted that viewing at the situation in its entirety had also helped her to look beyond the challenges, finding new opportunities and seeing innovation in new areas, “the magical move of solidarity” as well as the mix of creativity, flexibility and agility have brought out the best in people Lenert said.
“’If you don’t trust yourself it is difficult to expect trust from your colleagues in the team’’
The decision-making process is one that is inherently part of leadership, but how do you take decisions that reflect the best interest of all aspects of society? It is all about trusting in your decisions, even when faced with criticism, the minister noted. Due to her legal background, where she says she was confronted with decision-making on a daily basis, she finds it easy to listen to different points of view and then take a step back to evaluate the situation, building her own opinion and taking an informed decision based on data and facts, rather than on emotions.
“It’s easy to not take decisions and lean into others,” Lenert admitted. “But you need to trust in your decisions and keep distance from emotions, because only then can you take effective decisions.” She was also criticial of the fact that this approach can be lacking in contemporary management, meaning young talent is often not given the support and confidence to speak up and step out of their comfort zones.
And indeed, Lenert’s words are reflective of her recent approach to spikes in Covid-19 infections across Luxembourg. Whereas neighbouring countries, Belgium and France have reintroduced stricter measures and curfews, the minister has so far not allowed these evolutions interfere with her own decisions-making process.
The virtual Leadership forum ended on Friday with a 5th and final talk by TED speaker and professor of practice at the University of Bath, Margaret Heffernan.
