IIM ROHTAK H U M A N E - R CLUB P re s e n t s
H R B U LL E T I N VOLUME 107
humane.r@iimrohtak.ac.in
H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E107
HR BULLETIN
The leadership imperative to the hybrid future As we journey into a hybrid future of work, what key points do leaders need to focus on? Here are six themes critical to the shape of leadership in the hybrid working model. When Professor Nancy Koehn of Harvard Business School in her work published on HBR in 2020 said that “Real Leaders Are Forged in Crisis”, no one could deny it. A couple of years since, we now witness a world which has been changed greatly through the crisis. The leaders who have endured this are evolved, but continue to hold their individual views of the future based on their insights, experiences, judgement, perception, and anticipation. From the vantage of leadership there are multiple priorities to address, and one of those near the top of the list is the understanding of ‘hybrid’ for themselves and for their organisation. This field has been much researched, but the definition and manifestation of the term ‘hybrid’ remains unique for leaders and their employees. When the world was struck by the coronavirus, companies which offered flexibility (which I am over-simplifying with the term ‘hybrid’) as their unique selling proposition suddenly found that their nice-to-have option had become a necessity. Then, during the many quarters when the world slowed down, the talent market changed drastically, and a whole new talent war opened up. Now the newly mobile talent have started laying out their own definition of ‘hybrid’ as suited to their needs.
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Here is the leader’s tête-à-tête with the journey towards a ‘hybrid’ future. A cognitive and realistic description of this journey has these six themes: The trust imperative The post-pandemic transition to hybrid has one common path of success, which is trust. It is not an option, nor can leaders take their own time to build it. Organisations which were used to seeing the act of work happening now must get used to seeing the outcome happening, and not the act of it being accomplished. Dysfunctions in teams have to be ironed out, and fast. A trust-based management offers more opportunities of delegation, more opportunity for leaders to empower their teams, more opportunity to build hybrid teams, unlock talent markets which earlier were limited due to location constraints, and so on. This is a silver lining. When trust becomes an imperative, we know that people are more engaged and companies perform better. This is one of the reasons why post pandemic, companies which embraced trust as a leadership imperative in the hybrid work environment have been able to recover faster. Transformation at the fore The approach of transitioning was replaced with the intent and inevitable need for transformation. In the hybrid environment, organisations need to transform technology, communication tools, human capital systems, logistics, supply chain, and performance management. Even during the pandemic, spend on digital and technology increased despite cost controls. A McKinsey report, ‘Rethinking strategy for the new digital edge’, highlights that this number was as high as 65% for some respondents. Further, nearly 9 in 10 respondents in their study think that their business model needs to change (or has changed already). Leadership, in their journey to embrace hybrid, has to embrace transformation at the fore and deprioritise the transitional or transactional approach to business. Culture manifestation A leader’s key focus post pandemic, irrespective of the degree to which they have implemented the hybrid model, is to help the last mile employee understand and personalise the culture. Culture needs to manifest in the same light to all in the organisation. If leaders’ focus has earlier been on culture building, the question of how to do that at scale and with agility in the hybrid ecosystem is the real test for leadership maturity. Furthermore, culture and employee value proposition needs to be reinforced for a hybrid workforce. Doing this without diluting any of the implicit and explicit cultural nuances, must be a leader’s focus while embracing a hybrid work setup. Communication in depth With the hybrid or work from home model, boundaries which prevailed earlier at work start to fade. As written electronic communication (emails, chats, sms et. al.) became predominant fatigue has been setting in, and the depth of such communication is lost. How often are leaders, both at their level and at teams’ level, able to hold conversations at depth? In the absence of deep communication, leaders and teams both miss out on offering a psychologically safe environment, where people with whom they work can be vulnerable and feel free to share their thoughts on what they are subjected to. What’s more, leadership coaching and the depth of conversation is often disturbed by pop-ups, and reminders of the next meeting on screen. It is impossible to hold a discussion without distractions. Yet a leader’s journey towards a successful hybrid model needs to have spaces, opportunities, and the discipline to be able to hold leadership conversations in depth. Plan B, C, D, E & F Strikingly, 51% of companies worldwide had no business continuity plan (BCP) to meet the threat of a global emergency (like the pandemic itself) as highlighted by a report from Mercer…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/theleadership-imperative-to-the-hybrid-future-34727
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E107
How to navigate the paradoxes of leading during uncertain times Effective leaders embrace the mistakes of the past, yet have a clear plan for the future. Leading a team through a crisis is no easy feat. It is a time often marred by competing tensions and collective uncertainty, prompting a manager to embark on their own paradoxical leadership journey. “Paradoxical leadership” is a style of management aimed at simultaneously mediating multiple facets, which may appear contradictory but are likely connected. A team that is wading the waters of a crisis situation will likely confront several paradoxes with the potential to trip them up along the way. In reflecting on some of the paradoxical challenges posed to managers throughout the global coronavirus pandemic, I hope to shed light on a few best practices for leaders to follow when navigating their team through similar times of uncertainty. Timeliness vs. Accuracy Your team members want to be in the loop throughout a crisis, and understandably so. In crises prone to frequent bouts of change – as was the case with COVID-19 – establishing timely, collective knowledge is made increasingly more difficult by a lack of consistent information. Introducing significant, long-term structural adjustments such as remote working policies and travel restrictions are challenging when the situation informing these changes is both unfamiliar and actively developing. Waiting to communicate critical information during crises like this can weaken your credibility as a leader, and often provoke your employees to fill in the gaps of what they don’t know with shaky assumptions…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/how-tonavigate-the-paradoxes-of-leading-during-uncertain-times-34729
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E107
HR leadership: Making workplace safety a top priority in 2022 Gartner's 2022 report on Top HR Priorities lists change management and redesigning the organisation to be future-ready as critical focus areas for HR leaders. “Safety and health are key to the success and sustainability of businesses. If you look after your people, the returns on this investment are extremely significant,” says Jimmy Quinn, President of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Workplace safety has always been a priority, but since the pandemic, the term has taken on a new meaning. Accidents in the workplace can be costly for manufacturers, making it critical to implement a unified safety strategy and establish professional working relationships with the suppliers. It has also become vital to provide proper training with automated machinery, electrical devices, and moving parts equipment. To have greater visibility and transparency from supply chain stakeholders, a more streamlined process across all functions is needed. But this paints only half the picture. The Microsoft 2022 Work Index Report stated that 18% of the workforce that quit their roles in 2021 cited imbalances in personal well-being and mental health as prime concerns in their decision-making. With attrition and talent hopping at an all-time high, it is easy to calculate the impact these reasons have on an organisation's growth and performance. While Covid19 certainly accelerated this trend, attributing the shift in employee mindset solely to the pandemic would be obfuscating from addressing the real challenge. Defining the Challenge of Workplace Safety and Employee Well-Being The rate of change in the workplace is at an all-time high. We all know that change is inevitable and necessary to stay ahead of the competition, but change can induce fatigue across all workforce levels. Gartner's 2022 report on Top HR Priorities lists change management and redesigning the organisation to be future-ready as critical focus areas for HR leaders…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/hr-leadershipmaking-workplace-safety-a-top-priority-in-2022-34745
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H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E107
Winning talent with the exponential power of EX: What are those critical people strategies for SMEs? In an exclusive conference led by People Matters and Keka, expert insights point out how India's fast-rising organisations can leverage cost-effective and innovative ways, as well as the latest technology, to sharpen their competitive edge in the talent landscape. Decoding employee experience and unlocking business growth is a critical priority for fast-growing companies such as startups, unicorns and MSMEs. But given that 52% of GenZ and Millennials are expected to change employers this year, attrition continues to be a burning challenge in achieving this. It is time to reimagine the HR processes and operations across the value chain and revise them to make them more people-centric. This becomes more important in the new era of work where the great reshuffle is far from over. With shifting priorities of employees and candidates combined with a new generation entering the job market, young businesses need to mine the opportunities to turn the wave of attrition into an opportunity to attract and retain talent with impactful strategies. With insightful conversations, ground-breaking keynotes, and market-leading case studies, we found several important lessons on approaching the talent market with renewed focus and vigour. Some of these key takeaways include: Build an attractive employer brand Fast-growing organisations must prioritise building an attractive EVP and employer brand. When sharing the key talent trends of the latest research led by People Matters and Keka, Vijay Yalamanchili, CEO at Keka, zeroed in on the vital role played by digitisation in unleashing the potential of your people…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/culture/winning-talent-withthe-exponential-power-of-ex-what-are-those-critical-people-strategies-for-smes34733?media_type=article&subcat=talent-management&title=winning-talentwith-the-exponential-power-of-ex-what-are-those-critical-people-strategies-forsmes&id=34733 6
H U M A N E - R | V O L U M E107
Empower your people strategies and make data-informed decisions with HR analytics Do you want to track HR performance and identify areas for improvement by using analytical information? Is getting actionable insights on personnel data and making informed decisions your highest priority? Whatever your objective, the IIM Lucknow’s Executive Programme in HR Analytics (EPHRA) will put an end to your quest for a comprehensive data-driven HR strategy. In the post-pandemic era, HR professionals' job has become much more than just simply recruiting and training employees. They must be able to measure the ROI of hiring new team members, reduce employee turnover, and anticipate employee performance. All in all, HR departments have turned into strategic partners who help businesses thrive. This is where HR analytics (also known as People analytics) comes into play. Perhaps you would like to develop and improve your HR policies and company strategies using data-powered insights, but you are unable to comprehend your HR-related data in-depth. You may want to consider taking the Executive Programme in HR Analytics (EPHRA) from IIM Lucknow to gain actionable insights about personnel data and make informed decisions. By the end of this 6-month programme, you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to look at HRrelated data differently and use the data information to spot efficiencies, identify areas for improvement, minimize employee turnover and boost employee satisfaction. In a nutshell, it can help you make better data-driven decisions and take action to improve the employee experience. Before we get further into how the Executive Programme can turn you into a competent HR professional, let's begin with why you need HR analytics…
Read more at: https://www.peoplematters.in/article/hr-analytics/empower-yourpeople-strategies-and-make-data-informed-decisions-with-hr-analytics-34722
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