Realigning Business to the New Normal

Saying that these are trying times is an understatement of magnanimous proportions. For a moment let’s just forget the present, turn back time and go back a few months. It’s March 2020 – most organisations are either creating their business plans for FY20-21 or the plans are in the works. A dreaded virus has wreaked havoc in a few countries and is lurking over the others. But for most organisations world over, it is business as usual!

Fast forward to the present. Corporates are yet finding their way through probably the worst economic crises since the Great Depression. Businesses across industries, scale, and size are clutching at straws to make it through. Many commentators are predicting doomsday. Not a situation anybody would like to be in, even in their worst nightmares.

But hey! All is not lost. Let’s turn this around on its head. The way I see it, this pandemic is a great leveller. Now, what do I mean by that? Hmmm… all organisations, big or small, today are startups… we’ve all got to start from scratch and claw our way out of this giant abyss. So, what should organisations do?

While most commentators say that we will need to innovate our way through this, be the next Uber or Amazon or Swiggy, it is not quite possible for most organisations to tread that path. So, what should organisations do to get out of this?

First, organisations need to realize that we’ve been hit by crises before, have survived and thrived. Some of the organizations that are living proof of this are Kongō Gumi (in operation for over 1,400 years!!!), Barone Ricasoli, Twinings, Schweppes, Cigna, JP Morgan Chase, Colgate, Citi, Shell, J&J, Coca Cola. In our own backyard, we have Tata, Godrej, Dabur, ITC, TVS, Kirloskar, and many more.

We need to come to terms with the fact that this is the new normal! Understand what this means for our businesses and restrategize accordingly. What we definitely need to avoid is taking ad hoc decisions, becoming operations obsessed, becoming extremely revenue-focused, taking irrational cost decisions, plan for the “now” and do ‘zero’ long-term thinking. Strong brands always strategise to grow and don’t strategise to survive! There needs to be a shift in the mindset of business leaders. If you feel you need to survive, in most cases you won’t! Instead scout for opportunities!

Identify your competitive advantage in the new normal. It could be technology, supply chain, or even your people!

You need to separate the wheat from the chaff. Identify the people who are going to be your cornerstone in this resurgence. Devote time and resources in creating a buy-in for your new strategy and vision, developing, upskilling, mentoring, and coaching them. The return on investment (ROI) from doing this outdoes the investment incurred by a long margin.

Am I suggesting that you get rid of the others? Quite the contrary, the focus here should be on “Sharpening the Saw” as these employees will be the backbone for the efficiency of your operations. Look at ways to skill or reskill, to make them more efficient and effective. Make use of technology to do this – get your L&D to run mass skilling/reskilling programs, identify courses/programs that they could enrol for and complete (could be on different Massive Open Online Courses/MOOCs), share articles/videos and even have them mentored.

It is equally important is to cascade your strategy to the lowest denominator in the organisation. They need to believe and live it (like the janitor in the famed ‘Man on the moon’ story). Review and realign your performance management process. Sharpened goal setting, continuous feedback, and improvement should be your mantra. Every employee’s goals should be aligned with the strategy. You could do a quick check on whether the goals have been cascaded ‘right’. Train your managers on setting ‘stretch’ goals, reviewing performance, and giving feedback (in a right and timely manner). Feedback has a negative connotation to most people; this perception needs to change. The only way this can change is by changing the way we give feedback. Feedback should also be two-way – you’ve got to listen to your employees. Seek feedback from your employees on how their own managers performed in the performance management process. This will ensure that everyone’s on top of their game.

The manager will continue to play a pivotal role while we emerge out of this crisis. Thus, building their capabilities is of utmost importance. Spend time and effort on building their emotional intelligence, managerial competencies, coaching, and mentoring skills.

Employee wellness, especially mental health, is an important area that needs focus. Previously, thanks to mobile phones, the line between personal and professional life was continuously blurring. At present, the lines seem to have completely disappeared and this, in turn, has become the new normal. Working alone, without people around, makes it worse. Reach out to your employees, have a dedicated counsellor/helpline and all the necessary help. This can also be extended to the employee’s family as they are also trying to adapt to this new life. In most families, both the partners work; hence working, managing the household chores, and parenting at the same time is very taxing. Help them in every way possible to manage their time. Involve the employee’s families wherever possible.

A daunting, yet crucial, factor to consider is engagement and experience. Focus on all the environments that impact employee experience – physical environment, technological environment and cultural environment. Physical environment accounts for 30% of the employee experience and also affects the psychological comfort of the employee. In the new normal, help them create a small office space in the confines of their home – you could provide with them with a desk, an ergonomic chair, etc. Allow the employee flexibility in terms of work timings – give them control over managing their work timings.

Provide employees with the required technology to communicate, collaborate, learn & grow and get their jobs done. Give them access to information, data and technology that helps them get the job done. These technologies could even be those that they can use in their personal lives. Get HR collaborate with IT to bridge the gap between business requirements and employees’ needs.

Define how your cultural pillars/values manifest in the new normal. This will make employees feel connected to the organisation. Make them feel valued – it could be something as small as sending them a cake on their birthday, delivering a pizza to those working late say for a product release, a note from the CEO thanking employee families for letting them use their homes as offices… small gestures like these go a long way in making the employees and their families feel valued. Listen to your employees’ voices – ask, acknowledge and act – this strengthens the connection between the employees and the organisation. It is imperative that you recognise your employees’ contributions, however small, they may be. This can be done in team standups, an organisation-wide email from the CEO/HR Head… but more importantly, recognise them the way they want to be recognized (understand what they care about and tinker your approach accordingly). In this highly stressful environment, it is imperative that teams meet up as a team and unwind – team managers could have weekly fun sessions virtually to strengthen the bond in the team. Lastly, it is extremely important that you treat your employees fairly in trying situations like salary cuts, benching, furloughs and/or layoffs.

These are tough times. A minor hiccup could result in panic. It is imperative that we keep an eye on the ball at all times. Be patient, introspect, strategise, realign, and execute. These trying times will definitely pass