经济危机正是考验领导能力的时候

But, he adds, managers need to take a split approach. “You need to manage costs on a tight basis at the same time as you talk about growth,” he explains. “So you need to be very close to your people on the field, talking to people, explaining what you do.”

Management experts highlight the need to prepare for a recovery without actually automatically assuming there will be one. “[You need to] avoid complacency. Maybe you should avoid the word ‘recovery' completely,” says Rob Goffee, professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School.

The apparent speed with which economies have returned to growth has once again underlined the need not to put too much trust in forecasts. Mark Thomas, head of strategy and marketing at PA Consulting, says companies should prepare for three potential scenarios: a quick V-shaped recovery, a much slower L-shaped rebound or the dreaded double-dip recession that is W-shaped.

“It is an uncomfortable situation for leaders . . . [but] if they are banking on a V then they could be really caught out,” he says. Such a nuanced message may put a premium on real leaders rather than managers who are only able to transmit a more straightforward direction.

As part of the reflection, executives need to reassess what has changed in their industry and how they need to adapt. “I think people have got to realise that there has been a paradigm shift,” says Sir Nigel Knowles, chief executive of DLA Piper, the world's largest law firm. “Life isn't quite going to be the same again, and they've now got to look at where they want to be and how they're going to get there based on 2009, 2010 and beyond, not what their strategy used to be before the downturn.”

That implies a strategic rethink with at the least a few tweaks. Jeff Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, has called this the “reset world”. The business world, he argues, from regulation to management, cannot go back to operating the way it did before the crisis.

Prof Goffee adds: “It could be that sections of the economy never recover in the way we understand them now. Financial services will not be the same. Consumers will think about value harder.”

It also requires executives, if they haven't already, to move from questions purely of short-term survival to longer-term issues. Bruno Lafont, chief executive of Lafarge, the world's largest cement maker, says: “I think one of the big challenges is to be very much short-term driven, and at the same time not forgetting the long term. In a crisis like this, to be focused has been really efficient. To remain calm is very efficient.”

Gerard Kleisterlee, chief executive of Philips, the Dutch conglomerate, describes the shift needed: “When you move into a crisis, you tighten the reins with tighter controls simply because it's necessary to quickly get your cost levels down. When you move out of a crisis, then you need to free up a little bit of space again for some more entrepreneurial freedom in the front line to really capture the opportunities so that you can really benefit from the upturn.”

He adds that the subtlety of rebalancing the style of leadership is in “where you control tightly [and] where you give space”.

Equally important is for leaders to be visible. During the crisis, one of the crucial messages was for managers not to disappear internally. Mr Potier, for example, says he has doubled or trebled the amount he communicates to employees.

After bunkering down for most of the past year, leaders need to start to peer out of the parapet as a possible recovery beckons. “It is a time to stop being introspective and look outside to see what is happening,” says Mr Thomas.

According to Prof Goffee, part of the bunkering down involved huge numbers of workers and managers making sacrifices through things like pay freezes to keep businesses afloat. Now is the time to start to reward such workers for their sacrifices.

He adds that companies should also be thinking about how to retain talent as competitors are likely to start poaching as the recovery takes hold. “Keep your organisation valuable for the really valuable people. You need to make sure you keep hold of your best people,” he says.

But as much as the changes in behaviour, it is also important for leaders to keep the focus on some areas that gained importance during the crisis, not least over financing.