Discerning the ‘abnormal’: Dilemmas of ‘new normal’ in Sri Lanka

The session on most valuable resource featuring Dr. Archana Arcot (Infosys) from USA (via Zoom) together with Chandi Dharmarathne (Virtusa), Shayamali Kirinde (Brandix), Mahendra Jayasekera (Lanka Tiles) and Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri (second from left)  

It was indeed interesting to get involved in a hybrid conference as a panelist in discussing the people factor amidst a planetary pandemic. The much-acclaimed annual conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka was a much different experience this time as it comprised of a series of hybrid sessions. The insights on the ‘most valuable resource’ would be pertinent to ponder with a view of broadening our approach towards sustained results. 

Overview

During the credit crunch that engulfed the world, stemming from the sub-mortgage crisis in the USA way back in late nineties, the Chief Finance Officer was much in the limelight. Now it is different. COVID-19 has brought about a humanitarian crisis, where the Chief People Officer is compelled to come to the forefront. That is how Archana started her thought sharing, highlighting the significance of the most valuable resource that can take command and control over all the other resources. It is a ‘people first and economy second’ approach to begin with and then in turn to strive for results in a balanced manner. 

I have my liking towards Infosys, the global technology giant, mainly due to the success story of its creator Narayan Murthy. Hailing from Karnataka, he came a long way in creating a global enterprise where each of the employees is considered as an ‘infosyan’ with a collaborative identity. “We are a people organisation full of technologies and NOT a technology organisation full of people.” That is how Dr. Archana Arcot introduced Infosys echoing the ethos of the enterprising founder. How they have embraced engagement practices to ensure excellence is refreshingly insightful. 

“Future of work is the present of work. We have seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.” That is how Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft has commented on the new normal. “Now we are transcending beyond knowledge work to help people who are on the construction site, in care management in hospitals, on manufacturing shop floors, to all participate in being able to do digitised work. And obviously, hopefully the wages go up.” He further stated in an interview with the ‘Sloan Management Review’. It is an interesting blend of people and technology. I see the value of it whilst continuing to conduct my regular MBA sessions online. 

Re-architecting work models 

A recent report published by Deloitte Consulting on ‘re-architecting work models’ asked a pertinent question. “What if we make work better for humans and humans better at work?” As it highlighted, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the largest work experiment in modern history. “Amidst a devastating health crisis, many workers have seen a glimpse of something more. They have been propelled into cross-functional task teams and tiger teams to solve challenging problems to keep their organisations afloat. They have been empowered to make rapid decisions and react with authority to changes in the market and service delivery models. They have moved to working from home – sharing important moments with their families, eating meals together and witnessing the day-to-day activities of those they love most. They’ve experienced the ten second commute and the realisation that not all meetings need to be as long or as large as they used to be.”

I found it interesting to connect the above report finding to the reality we experience. This is particularly true with the five key possible trends. 

From hierarchies and centralised authority to fluid networks of teams: Responding to the pandemic, networks of teams formed to solve specific business challenges across product changes, supply chains, employee health and necessary workforce shifts.

From control and commands to increased autonomy and trust: The shift to remote working has seen the devolution of decision authorities and a need to trust employees. 85% of Australian workers believe it is important that managers place trust in workers to get the job done.

From applying technology to the task to building super-teams of people and intelligent machines: COVID-19 has driven organizations and governments to use Artificial Intelligence to data scrape, analyse behaviours and population sentiments, and scenario plan, freeing up workers to focus on strategic decision making.

From a focus on health and safety to amplifying wellbeing and meaning: There is increasing demand to design work to promote health, wellbeing, and the ‘whole’ person. Two out of five workers indicate that their mental health has declined since the COVID-19 outbreak with 74% indicating the importance of empathetic and supportive leaders.

From a primary focus on profits and shareholder value to the rise of the social enterprise: Organisations are taking a lead on humanity. Employees are wanting to contribute to something larger than themselves and connect to higher purpose. Meaningful work forms a building block for a ‘Simply Irresistible Organisation’.

The overarching message from the above five trends is the shift towards engaging employees towards excellence. It is the needed approach by leaders to create a conducive climate for people to strive for success. ‘The future of work is really about people deciding how to live and work in the way that they want’, observes the Deloitte report further. 

Rhetoric, reality and response

How such global trends impact Sri Lanka and how we should respond, are worth pondering. It will be relatively easier to implement flexible work schedules in the service sector than in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing industries account for approximately 19% of the gross domestic product and employ about 17% of the workforce whereas the service sector is the largest of the Sri Lanka economy, employing 45% of the workforce and contributing roughly 60% of GDP. At least, there are spaces where we can appropriately adapt the emerging best practices to make them our next practices. 

We can meaningfully adapt what Seijts and Crim, two researchers of organisational behavior termed as ‘ten Cs for employee engagement’, in the context of the present pandemic disruption.   The key focus in each C can further be expanded into possible initiatives in post-COVID-19 era. 

Connect: Leaders must show that they value employees. Recent letters addressed to the employees by several corporate leaders in Sri Lanka is a case in point. This can be further enhanced by maintaining open channels so that employees can approach their superiors to discuss matters in a mutually beneficial manner. People professionals should be conscious of the fact that disconnect leads to disengagement, with dire consequences. 

Career: Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career advancement.  It may involve re-skilling, up-skilling, or multi-skilling as my panelist colleagues in the webinar highlighted. It will be very challenging in the post-COVID-19 where employee aspirations and employer reality might mismatch. New modes of learning with more technology involvement will be the order of the day. 

Clarity: There could be a great deal of confusion created among an insecure workforce. A clear vision, inclusive of employee wellbeing should be shared and supported. This includes building an awareness on strategic priorities among the employees, in ensuring that they are clear about why they are doing what they do. People professionals should ensure that employees are aware of the challenging side of the business that they are in, and to avoid unrealistic expectations.  

Convey: Leaders should clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organization. Perform or perish should be the slogan in the post-Covid19 era. People professionals should develop productivity enhancement schemes which are transparent and equitable. It will be very challenging to tolerate under-performers and as such being proactive in setting high expectation at the outset is what is required. 

Congratulate: Leaders give recognition to others. Exceptional leaders do so a lot.  Appreciating of good performance of employees by reward and recognition, in a timely fashion is something essential. Gone are the days of ‘employee of the year’ or ‘employee of the quarter’ or even ‘employee of the month’. What matters is giving due recognition to the ‘employee of the moment’. People professionals should develop cost-effective recognition schemes so that employees see they are being valued despite the economic challenges their organization is going through. 

Contribute: Leaders should make sure that employees know how their contribution matters. This can be done by introducing a transparent mechanism of objective setting and then connecting individual objectives to broad organisational objectives. Tested and proven mechanisms such as Balanced Scorecard can be handy in this respect. People professionals need to reinvent the conventional systems so that irrespective of whether work at office or work from home, the contribution of an employee is traced, tracked, and taken care of. 

Control: Leaders need to set the boundaries with the buy-in of the employees. This involves setting the boundaries of activities with proper systems in place with the involvement of employees, so that they are a part of the decision-making process. Modern day control is more viewed as a way of ensuring consistency through conformance, as opposed to coercive courses of action. Stringent controls on wastage are essential in cash-trapped conditions, where people professionals must design and deliver learning initiatives to ensure proper controls are consciously being adhered to. 

Collaborate: As it was the case often, great leaders are team builders. They create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration. By doing so, they ensure that teamwork is given due prominence with associated mechanisms such as team-based rewards to strengthen it. Such teams can either physical or virtual in the post-COVID-19 era. People professionals should promote collaboration with the message that economic challenges should not hamper team spirit. 

Credibility: Leaders should strive to maintain organisational reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards. They should demonstrate being ethical in decision making, so that employees will strengthen their admiration of the organization. Credibility can be compared to a glass tumbler. Once it is cracked, it is irreparable. This will be truly tested in a post-COVID-19 era where people professionals must tread carefully. Even in the case of layoffs as a last resort, doing it in the most humane manner might become a huge challenge. 

Confidence: Authentic leaders help create confidence in a company by being exemplars of high-performance standards. It involves practicing ‘walking the talk’ at all levels so that employees have better trust and confidence on their superiors. That has far reaching consequences, including better relationships and higher results. This is a key aspect in the post-COVID-19 era where employees must be given the assurance of survival through performance. 

The best way of summing up the above ten Cs is to link all of them to one ‘big C’. CARE. Employee-care is the surest way to ensure customer-care, in the past, present and future as well. 

Way forward

The new normal that we experience invites us to navigate safely and securely with a strategic approach. It requires resilience in reviving the economy whilst ensuring employee wellbeing. For such an endeavour, leaders in all fronts should be holistic, humble, and humane.  

(Prof. Ajantha S. Dharmasiri can be reached through [email protected], [email protected] or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)