Abstract:

This articles aims at highlighting the importance of transformational leadership in keeping employees engaged during crisis times through trusting and empowering them. The literature review detected some studies that relate transformational leadership as an effective form of leadership to employee engagement. The hurried shift from a quotidian face-to-face communication with employees to a remote one required establishing a trustful work environment. The selected approach to this study was qualitative based on structured interview questions to twenty-five employees in Lebanese computer software SMEs during March 202, nearly two years after the outburst of Covid-19. The computer software sector was specifically selected due to its suddenly thriving need in creating websites and applications for other sectors as they shifted to online operations. Due to Covid-19 lockdown, some businesses moved from a command and control leadership model to employee empowerment and accountability model. At the end, this article reveals how lockdowns raised the importance of leaders in engaging employees into the overall goals through building a climate of trust and empowerment.