Yuliia Tychkivska. Cultural codes of the “new reality”: from resilience to the growing value of leadership dialogue

The world has changed – over the past year and a half, I have heard this phrase many times from completely different people.

A new reality is not something abstract and distant. We face its manifestations every day. I do not support the idea in this context it is only about crises and upheavals. Such an association arises only because, as a rule, we are not ready for something new.

Due to the growth of tension, including intellectual tension, this new reality becomes an impetus for positive changes.

Among other changes, there is now a transformation of cultural codes.

The generally defined cultural code is a set of meanings and symbols that determine belonging to a national culture.

In my opinion, the extension of this definition to the phenomenon of community culture is both relevant and promising.

The cultural code of communities is a kind of recognition system of one’s own and another’s. Its change directly affects the community members, their interaction, and their attitude to the world.

Aspen Institute Kyiv is a platform for leadership dialogue in Ukraine. We actively interact with the leadership community, so I have the opportunity to analyze the transformation of cultural codes in all the dimensions mentioned above. I shared my opinion at the Kyiv International Economic Forum – 2021 and will systematize them in this column.

A new reality changes our attitude toward the world

• The pandemic has changed attitudes toward hierarchical national governments. A structured power vertical is far from always synonymous with efficiency. In the face of challenges no one has faced before, governments have shown themselves to be clumsy and often unable to keep up with the flow of events. This led to a decrease in trust in them. Instead, communities of leaders, corporations, and their associations turned out to be more flexible: they made decisions faster and had more space to implement non-trivial ideas and solutions.

• The attitude towards the health care system has changed: the importance of doctors has increased. On a level with the military and volunteers, doctors enjoy the highest level of trust among Ukrainians. In addition, we can say that they have become new influencers. Doctors have been the driver of the campaign about the need to stay at home during the quarantine. Now they are actively promoting the topic of vaccination.
• The world is becoming flattered. Previously, the world consisted of thousands of smaller worlds, separated from each other. Now we are heading towards a common economic, historical and cultural paradigm. The closing of physical borders, as one of the manifestations of the “new reality”, not only did not prevent it but only contributed to it. More and more people can act, compete, and form communities on a global level. The other side of the coin: for Ukraine, as for other countries, the international agenda is becoming more relevant. Partners form their attitude toward our state through the prism of mutual relations with other global players. And large international projects have a direct impact on the interests of Ukraine.

What has changed in leaders of the new reality?

• The increasing value of dialogue practices. At the beginning of the pandemic, no one had the correct answers regarding the action plan. Instead of proving who is right and who is wrong, the leaders showed a willingness to listen to each other and search for the truth together. I analyze the activities of Aspen Institute Kyiv a lot and communicate with colleagues from our international network of partners. At the moment, I can say with confidence that there was no such desire for dialogue during the entire time of our organization’s work in Ukraine. This applies to representatives of the public sector and politicians, businesses, and civil society.
• The power of communities is growing. It would seem that the “new reality” should contribute to isolation, interest only in one’s problems, and narrowing of the usual circle of communication. But I strongly believe that the times we live in are much more about communities than loners. We learn to form horizontal connections, share experience and knowledge, and act for the common good. Communities have a broader toolkit and greater collective experience to effectively respond to challenges. And heroes achieve success on their own only in books and films.
• The responsibility of leaders has become greater. In conditions of upheaval, society primarily focuses on leaders. Decisions are expected from them, they are responsible for the result. In addition, leaders are the role models that any society needs and to whom fellow citizens look up. The ability to search for the truth together, and respect the opinion of others and their beliefs – if we see it on talk shows, in government offices, in relations between the state and business – the same values ​​will be reflected in everyday life.

No one of us escaped the changes

• Their attitude towards their homes has changed. We began to spend much more time at home than before. Even after the end of the first, hard, lockdown, many companies left a mixed format of work: partly in the office, partly remotely. Our home is not only a space for sleeping but also work and life. Accordingly, the comfort we create directly affects our behavior and productivity.
• Sustainability began to play a specific role. In physics, resilience is the ability of firm and elastic bodies to restore their shape after mechanical deformation. Everything is different in people’s lives, and we never remain the same. Difficulties can either make a person helpless or a hero. Resilience is the ability to integrate acquired experience, sometimes painful, into one’s life and turn it into strength to move on. The first step to building resilience is the ability to take responsibility for yourself and what happens in your life.
• Revaluation of values. This is a long process that requires active actions. In the conditions of the pandemic, we began to ask ourselves the question more often: what is well-being? what is happiness? What’s the point of what I’m doing? Does what I fought for yesterday matter today? Now is the best time to realize your values, and business values ​​and create conditions for their strengthening.

What to do next?

The COVID-19 pandemic is just the beginning. Upheavals and changes in the conditions of the “new reality” will be constant. This fact must be accepted as a reality from which there is nowhere to go. Accordingly, we must be ready for the further transformation of our cultural codes, and in some places – take a proactive position and initiate these changes ourselves.

The rigidity of cultural codes and the inability to flexibly perceive and integrate the codes of other cultures leads to the disunity of society. In the conditions of the “new reality,” it can become a disaster. Instead, an important component of leadership is the ability of a person or a group of people to update the cultural code of their community, to understand and accept the codes of other communities, and to offer unifying meanings and symbols.

Therefore, the dialogue of leaders, the exchange of experiences, ideas, positions, and the joint search for truth are now more important than ever.

This material is the unaltered text of Yuliya Tychkivska’s column for the online publication “Ukrainska Pravda”.