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Leadership in the time of COVID

By Olushola Oloruntoba

One universal characteristic of good leaders is resilience. and restrictions that obstructed our normal operations. To
A leader must be able to adapt to any and every situation resolve this situation, we had to “think outside the box”.
and still perform at her or his best. Just as the saying goes, We maximized the technology available to us and priori-
it is easy to do the right thing and say the right words tized the health and safety of our residents, the efficiency
when times are good, but it is a lot harder when you are and wellbeing of our work force, and stressed the im-
navigating an unprecedented crisis like the coronavirus portance of maintaining work-life balance throughout our

pandemic. So much has been said about COVID-19. Like organization.
many of you, we have counted the challenges caused by
the pandemic. However, in this article I will number the Lastly, we promptly responded to crisis events like infec-
progress and gains we achieved as leaders over the past tions, quarantines, and PPE shortages. We improved our
two years. logistic capabilities by coordinating activities like grocery
shopping, household cleaning, and medical supply distri-
One challenge we faced as leaders during the pandemic bution. Looking back, I must say that our staff and pro-
was maintaining the safety of our residents and our Team gram leaders were heroic in their efforts to maintain the
members. To tackle this challenge, at first, we minimized health and well-being of the people we support.
community outings for the people we support. However,
to stay up to date on medical appointments, we impro- In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “The ultimate
vised and facilitated virtual medical appointments to mini- measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
mize physical contacts. We also stopped sharing staff convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of
among our group homes and strictly regulated the traffic challenge and controversy.” I truly appreciate the com-
of staff between residences. This was a smart move which mitment our Team demonstrated throughout the chal-
drastically curtailed the spread of COVID-19 within our lenges created by the pandemic. Despite all the odds, they
population. refused to be stressed out, rather, they were motivated by
a need greater than themselves. I thank them for being
Another challenge that we addressed was staff shortages EPIC.

Olushola Oloruntoba, Assistant Director, Residential Services, has been at EPIC for three years. A passionate dis-
abilities advocate, each day Olushola manages the residential program team, liaises with doctor’s offices, and
monitors 15 group homes to ensure that the people we support have the best care and are empowered to lead
their best lives. Olushola has a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Ahmadu Bello
University, Nigeria and a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.

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