What High-Performing First-Line Leaders Are Doing Differently Post-COVID and Why It Matters

High performers increase productivity and drive improved business performance – up to 400% higher. Attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining high-performing first-line leaders begins with recognizing what sets them apart. In this article, we share our leadership-behavior research findings on what high-performing first-line leaders do differently compared to base performers, how that has (and has not) shifted pre- to post-COVID, and why it matters.

Methodology

With a database of more than 2.2 million leadership-behavior ratings from 2009-2023, we analyzed 233,000 ratings of first-line managers from the periods of 2015-2019 (pre-COVID) and 2021-2023 (post-COVID). Each leader in the database was evaluated by their manager, peers, and direct reports on 67 leadership behaviors drawn from five research-based leadership domains (Strategist, Executor, Human Capital Developer, Talent Manager, and Personal Proficiency) in the RBL Leadership Code® as well as four outcome measures weighting each leader’s organizational value contribution. 

To gain insight into what differentiates high performers from base performers, we isolated the top-quintile leaders post-COVID (20% of leaders with the highest overall mean outcome scores) and the lowest-scoring leaders post-COVID (20% with the lowest overall mean outcome scores). We next conducted a comparison of means by t-test for each of 67 leadership behaviors to identify which behaviors are unique to the high performers compared to the low performers. We then ran these same analyses to identify what differentiates high performers from low performers pre-COVID. [All findings at significance level p < 0.001].

Our Findings 

Table 1 below outlines the top 10 behaviors high-performing first-line leaders post-COVID do significantly better than low-performing leaders post-COVID. Top 10 items are rank-ordered from the top by item with the greatest t value (strongest statistically significant difference in mean score).

Table 1: Top 10 High-Performance Behaviors of First-Line Leaders Post-COVID

Leadership Domain		MEAN	Δ Delta	t	RBL Leadership Code® Behavior *statistically significant differentiator pre- and post-COVID
Executor	Base   Q	3.10	+1.4	-9.98	* Makes needed changes happen.
	Top Q	4.51
Executor	Base Q	3.06	+1.4	-9.93	* Makes sure his/her team excels at delivering the required results.
	Top Q	4.50
Strategist	Base Q	2.84	+1.3	-9.78	* Excels at generating commitment to future directions.
	Top Q	4.41
Talent Manager	Base Q	3.15	+1.3	-8.83	* Helps the people on his/her team understand their role in achieving the goals of the organization.
	Top Q	4.48
Executor	Base Q	3.13	+1.3	-8.80	* Ensures his/her team has a clear purpose and clear roles.
	Top Q	4.44
Executor	Base Q	3.15	+1.3	-8.71	Is consistently good at getting the right things done.
	Top Q	4.49
Human Capital Developer	Base Q	3.03	+1.4	-8.53	Invests time in helping key employees develop and advance.
	Top Q	4.38
Human Capital Developer	Base Q	2.87	+1.4	-8.03	Helps employees understand what is required at each stage in their development.
	Top Q	4.09
Personal Proficiency	Base Q	3.16	+1.5	-8.01	Appears to balance resources and demands to fulfill personal interests and job requirements.
	Top Q	4.68
Human Capital Developer	Base Q	2.75	+1.4	-7.77	Maintains updated picture of what our future talent needs will be.
	Top Q	4.11

Note: based on independent samples test of managers' ratings of top quintile vs base performers for 185 first-line pre-Covid managers pre-Covid compared to 151 first-line post-Covid managers; all items significant at p<0.001 level.  

Shifts Pre- to Post-COVID 

While still important for overall leadership effectiveness, the following five items in Table 2 are pre-COVID high-performance indicators that are no longer top-10 differentiators of high performers. We note that a shift in high-performance indicators does not mean the item is not important for leaders to do; rather, it shows us patterns in how overall leadership behaviors are evolving. In some cases, as the gap narrows between high performers and low performers, it can mean that the overall base is simply overall getting better at this skill and thus there is no longer a significant difference between high and low performers. 

Table 2: Pre-COVID Behaviors That Are No Longer Top-10 High-Performance Indicators

Leadership Domain	RBL Leadership Code® Behavior
Strategist	Incorporates expectations of outside stakeholders, including customers, into our future goals.
Talent Manager	Is proactive in helping people develop the competencies they need for successful performance.
Talent Manager	Helps people align their individual goals with the work and goals of the organization.
Talent Manager	Ensures that rewards and growth opportunities reflect individual integrity, motivation, and work performance.
Personal Proficiency	Shows exceptional commitment and energy to achieve organizational goals.

High-Performance Behaviors of First-Line Leaders Post-COVID

Post-COVID findings show that today’s high-performing first-line leaders perform significantly higher in the following key areas:

Focusing and Motivating Their Teams on the Right Priorities: Half of the items that predict high-performance have remained the same through all the disruptions of the past five years. Clearly, the ability to effectively lead a group of people to achieve key organizational outcomes is and will continue to be critical to high-performance for first-line leaders. The addition of consistently getting the right things done represents a subtle, but important, shift. Similar to results we found in our other research on first-line leaders, the ability to discern what is most important among a host of competing priorities has increased in importance.  We think this likely comes from the increased speed, agility, and efficiency required of first-line leaders to understand external stakeholders’ expectations and help their teams meet them. [We note that our data shows that base performers significantly improved in incorporating expectations of outside stakeholders, including customers, into future goals.]

Grow Talent for Tomorrow: Perhaps the biggest shift pre- to post-COVID in what distinguishes bottom vs. top quintile performers is an increased focus on identifying future talent needs and preparing their team members for the demands of tomorrow’s work. While high-performing first-line managers pre-COVID were those who were able to engage and grow talent for today’s performance, now high-performing first-line managers help their team members understand how they fit into the future. To be high-performing in today’s world, first-line managers must have a point of view about what talent is needed for the future, share that vision with the members of their team in a way that motivates and connects them to the organization, and differentially invest their time in those they see as capable of making the needed shifts. 

Modeling Well-Being: While it is clearly still important to deliver results to be seen as high-performing first-line leader, it is significant to note that the demonstration of commitment and energy to the organization pre-COVID has been replaced with the ability to balance personal and work demands. High-performing first-line leaders in today’s world maintain work-life balance rather than turning their lives over to their organizations. They can prioritize what work is most important and are intentional and deliberate about what their team does and what they do personally.