Influence of Strategic Leadership Factors on Implementation of Covid-19 Government Guidelines in Evangelical Churches in Nairobi County, Kenya
Keywords:
Strategic planning, organizational culture, human resource development, organizational Communication, Covid-19 Government GuidelinesAbstract
The introduction and enforcement of the COVID-19 guidelines by the government of Kenya adversely affected the church due to its social nature of existence and operation. The leadership of the church is expected to play a key role in effecting the implementation of government guidelines to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this is beside the core spiritual mandate of the church. The implementation of these guidelines is a significant addition of responsibilities to the church leadership which has adversely affected the operations of the church in delivering services to the members. The study sought to establish the influence of strategic leadership factors on implementation of COVID-19 government guidelines in evangelical churches in Nairobi registered by Evangelical Alliance of Kenya. This research adopted a descriptive research design and the target population was 500 evangelical churches. The study results showed that strategic leadership factors have a significant influence on the implementation of COVID-19 government guidelines. However, the study established that there is an insignificant influence of strategic planning on the implementation of COVID-19 government guidelines. Organizational culture, human resource development, and organizational communication had a significant influence on the implementation of COVID-19 government guidelines. The study concluded that strategic leadership factors were very important for the achievement of proper implementation of COVID-19 government guidelines. The study recommended that church leaders should involve the congregants in the strategic planning process. The church should also gather data on the pandemic and other external factors affecting members to inform the strategic planning process. Further, the church should inculcate a culture of recognizing and rewarding best performance to motivate the staff. The church should carry out a periodical needs assessment to make strategic decisions on staff development. In addition, partnerships with the government and other stakeholders in the health sector should be sought to develop a training program that will meet the needs identified from the needs assessment. Further, the church leaders should review and improve the turn-around –time of communicating with the congregants on all matters concerning the implementation of the guidelines.
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