Proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Qualitative Research

Leadership is pivotal in ensuring organizations' ability to adapt to an increasingly complex, volatile, and ever-changing environment. This heightened importance of leadership competencies, particularly within a crisis context, has brought the concept of crisis leadership to the forefront, gaining renewed relevance since the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to describe and characterize the leadership development offerings available in Portugal during the pandemic, examining whether these opportunities align with the competencies considered essential for effective leadership in crisis. Using a qualitative methodology and latent corpus on the internet, we analyzed 54 leadership development strategies in online public sources between March 11, 2020, and March 11, 2021. Using content analysis, we assessed these strategies against the competencies the literature calls vital for leading in crisis situations. Our findings reveal that the most frequent competencies span three core categories: transformational, business-related, and personal leadership competencies. Most frequent competencies included "Motivation," "Planning and Organization," and "Communication." Regarding strategies to deliver these competencies, "Lectures/Expository Classes" and "Executive Coaching" were prevalent. The results of this study have the potential to guide training entities, leaders, and organizations in designing and selecting development programs that prepare leaders to navigate crises effectively.