61 minute read
Well, we are being forced to attend to well-being!
We have known for decades that employee engagement is key to enhanced performance. Many organisations also knew that paying attention to employee well-being played a part in sustaining engagement. But, the pandemic has thrown a whole new light on the issue. That light has proved to be a searing laser beam, burning deep into the consciences of executives. They now preach the importance of employee well-being. Why? Because they can see the bottomline impact, not necessarily because they care.
Executives now see that the route to a sustainable organisation is to focus on creating healthy and ethical workplaces; environments in which employees are equipped, encouraged and supported to look after their mental, emotional, physical and financial health. Resources are being diverted to it, processes and systems are being put in place, and training is being conducted in all manner of related topics such as mental health, emotional intelligence, yoga, pilates, mindfulness, resilience, and meditation, …the list grows by the day.
‘Life is about being made to do something and then being glad you were made to,’ Anon.
Are these efforts admirable? Of course, they are. Do the companies that are implementing these amazing schemes deserve the accolades, praise, and PR they are getting? Frankly, that is questionable. Why were they not doing it before they were forced to? We should all have been doing much of this work decades
Organisations are diverting resources, putting in place processes and systems, and training employees on areas including mental health and emotional intelligence by clinton Wingrove
ago. We knew then the positive impact that these tactics can have on productivity. So, why didn’t we? Probably, a combination of shortterm thinking (focusing on the next quarter’s profit, rather than on the organisation’s sustainability), and processes that produce managers and leaders at the higher levels who don’t honestly care about their staff as much as they should (they typically got there by being excellent at something other than bringing out the best in people).
Clearly, those organisations that are investing in ensuring employee wellbeing will reap short-term rewards. They will see a return on their investment and continue to promote their initiatives. The challenge they will face is sustaining interest; sustaining engagement with the apps, processes, and services once the initial enthusiasm has worn off. Until we focus on developing genuinely healthy and ethical working cultures, many of these initiatives will prove to be temporary band-aids and the parasitic pressures of cash-flow, cost containment, and profit targets will infect their effectiveness. We will move on to the next initiative.
So, should we continue to focus on equipping employees to assess their own mental, emotional, physioRGANISAtIoNS tHAt ARE INvEStING IN ENSuRING EMPLoyEE WELL-BEING WILL REAP SHoRt-tERM REWARDS. tHE CHALLENGE tHEy WILL fACE IS SuStAINING INtERESt AND ENGAGEMENt WItH tHE APPS, PRoCESSES, AND SERvICES oNCE tHE INItIAL ENtHuSIASM HAS WoRN off
cal and financial health? Of course. Should we continue to make apps, processes, and services available to them for when they need them? Of course.
And, we need to lay much stronger foundations by creating cultures that genuinely reflect healthy and ethical workplaces. We need to educate, upskill, and encourage every employee to care for the health and well-being of every other employee with whom they interact – never to walk on by when they suspect an issue. From such a pool of employees who truly care, we then need to select into people-management roles, only those who demonstrate the passion, capability, and commitment to managing people well. Only when such individuals start to occupy the senior ranks of our organisations will we genuinely have healthy and ethical workplaces because we care and not simply because we were made to by profit motives and external forces.
clinton WinGRovE is the Principal Consultant, Clinton HR Ltd - www. clintonhr.com
How ‘The Nutcracker’ by Hindustan Unilever is building the next generation of HR
With sharp takeaways for every participant, the challenge– The Nutcracker by Hindustan Unilever, demystifies the HR function and adds value in terms of understanding HR roles and the strategic role played by the function in future-proofing the organization by Anushree Sharma
Afast-changing global business environment is pressuring companies to rethink their internal and external customer-delivery models and accelerate their transformation agendas. The HR function can serve as the catalyst for such transformation by helping to create future-ready organizations.
To meet these expectations, HR departments must first be willing to transform themselves. They need to reexamine their own people strategies, organization structures, processes, and staff capabilities while leading by example in embracing technology. By doing so, HR can play a central role in building customer-centric organizations, driving business priorities, and delivering value.
However, before HR teams set up themselves on the transformation path, they need to first debunk some of the myths around the function. Amit Mehta, GM HR-Marketing(Home Care and Beauty & Personal Care) and Head-Employer Brand at Hindustan Unilever Limited shares “HR is an ever-evolving function, more now than any other time when organizations are gearing up for being future-fit.
According to him, the key myths around HR that surely need to be debunked for the talent of the future includes: “Growth in HR is slower compared to other functions in the organization” “HR partners facilitate discussions, they don’t really make decisions” “Automation will take away a lot of what HR professionals do today” “HR isn’t a technical function, can be done by anyone who is good with soft skills”
To break the myths around HR by setting the stage for a deep-seated understanding of HR at HUL, the company annually hosts The Nutcracker.
Mehta affirms, “The objective of “The Nutcracker” to break the myths around HR by setting the stage for a deep-seated understanding of HUL-HR through realtime challenges and active engagement with HUL Leaders. The idea behind this initiative was to demystify the function and add value in terms of understanding HR roles and the strategic role played by HR in future-proofing the organization.”
The Nutcracker invites first-year students from the country’s esteemed institutes like XLRI, TISS and SCMHRD and allows them
THE OBjECTIVE Of “THE NuTCRaCkER” IS TO BREak THE mYTHS aROuND HR BY SETTINg THE STagE fOR a DEEP-SEaTED uNDERSTaNDINg Of Hul-HR THROugH REal-TImE CHallENgES aND aCTIVE ENgagEmENT wITH Hul lEaDERS. THE IDEa BEHIND THIS INITIaTIVE waS TO DEmYSTIfY THE fuNCTION aND aDD ValuE IN TERmS Of uNDERSTaNDINg HR ROlES aND THE STRaTEgIC ROlE PlaYED BY HR IN fuTuRE-PROOfINg THE ORgaNIzaTION
to steer through the realtime challenges and active engagement with HUL Leaders. With sharp takeaways for every participant, the challenge demystifies the function and adds value in terms of understanding HR roles and the strategic role played by HR in future-proofing the organization.
People Matters interacted with all the three winning teams of ‘The Nutcracker 2021’ and asked about their journey, learnings, and takeaways from this competition:
Team Name: Expecto Patronum Team Members: Ananya Shukla, Ananyo Bhattacharyya, Paramita Das Institute: TISS
What’s your vision for the Future of Work? The future of work is about adapting to agile operating models and borderless workforce, the need for lifelong learning, and embracing diversity in its truest sense. HR will bring this to reality by focussing on 3Cs, a model which I learnt about during the HUL Nutcracker– Capacity, Capability and
Culture. HR will unlock the inner skills and motivation of the human capital and thus foster the creation of a purpose-driven organization. Developing capability will involve a robust model of reskilling and upskilling and cultivating a growth mindset through continuous feedback and coaching.
How will Nutcracker add value to your HR journey? Nutcracker assisted us in dispelling prevalent HR myths by facilitating a comprehensive grasp of the subject through realtime challenges and active involvement with illustrious senior HUL Leaders.
It allowed aspiring leaders to don the thinking hat of HR and solve challenges pertaining to skill transformation in the future of the work landscape. The learning sessions as a part of The Nutcracker have tremendously contributed to our appreciation of HR as a profession. We wish to amalgamate the learnings from Nutcracker with the theoretical learnings gained from the classroom. Thereafter as budding HR managers, we wish to act as a catalyst in implementing the future of work in our respective organizations. Key takeaways from The Nutcracker Nutcracker journey was an enriching experience that taught us the significance of collaboration in engendering innovative solutions through late-night brainstorming sessions. Our three key takeaways from this journey are - people with purpose thrive, brands with purpose grow and companies with purpose last the 3 key enablers which are a part of Unilever’s compass strategy. What sets you apart from others? Our passion to envision the larger picture and curate a solution that is groundbreaking yet feasible sets us apart. We are distinguished by our commitment to break the norms and move from a transactional relationship with the workforce and embark on a transformation relationship with them.
Team Name: Gilhari Team Members: Achintya Mohan, Mudhapaka Sai Keerthana, Niraalii Institute: TISS
What’s your vision for the Future of Work? In the rapidly changing dynamics of today’s business environment, the future of work is driven by technology in a decentralised environment. Pandemic has accentuated the pace of change and we are looking at a really exciting future that is full of possibilities. Organizational hierarchy and structures are experiencing a revolutionary change and the nature and scope of work are undergoing a landmark transformation. Human resource personnel have one of the most significant roles to play in facilitating this change. They
have to act as the conscience keepers of organizations amidst the changing circumstances.
How will Nutcracker add value to your HR journey? Competitions like the Nutcracker by HUL are a boon for the student community as they help us to have hands-on experience with real-world problems. Nutcracker has been a breeding ground for generating fresh ideas and bringing a new perspective to look at the issues faced by the industry.
Winning the Nutcracker has been a landmark milestone in our HR journey. It has not only given us a chance to expand our knowledge base but has also taught us the true essence of the HR profession, that is the opportunity to create a difference in the lives of the employees of an organization.
Key takeaways from The Nutcracker Before Team Gilhari could crack the nut, it was almost on the verge of giving up. This brings us to the 3 key takeaways: • We are here simply because we were persistent. We kept on going
even when the path ahead was uncertain. • The sessions taught us that any future-ready organization needs a coordinated plan of action spanning across geographies and verticals. • We realised that the needs of individuals and businesses can be married together for the greater good of all the stakeholders. What sets you apart from others? Diversity in the team and well-defined roles for each member sets us apart as a team.
Team Name: X-Women Team Members: Rangoli Kumar, Ainab Zaidi, Farheen Neyaz Institute: XLRI
What’s your vision for the Future of Work? With the realities of work shifting dynamically and some organizations permanently adopting hybrid model, ensuring employee wellness, maintaining the hi-tech and hi-touch aspect together, preparing the organization for the future with automation, and reskilling and upskilling the workforce to make them future-fit lies with the HR. The Future of work that we are aspiring for places the onus on HR who is handled with the responsibility to ensure security, the happiness of the workforce, productivity, and results for the organization at the same time.
How will Nutcracker add value to your HR journey? The entire timeline of Nutcracker was designed intricately to intimate us to the myriad facets of HR and its real-world application when it comes to handling
the workforce of the largest FMCG. Each session was a deep-diving experience into the synergies that human resources bring about with functional domains, whether it was the supply chain or employee relations. The Nutcracker journey created by HUL was an enriching experience, helping us bust myths, retrospect internally to discover our purpose and to align the future of work to the prevalent business models. Setting the tone for our path into the world of human resources, informed us of the agility required to deliver consistently.
Key takeaways from The Nutcracker An enriching experience, in the first stage of HUL Nutcracker “Grip,” various sessions on busting the myths about HR, aligning various functional domains, and building a future-fit workforce were conducted. In the next stages Pop and Savour, we incorporated the learnings of all these sessions to bring a fresh and innovative solution to the case and presented them to the senior HUL Leaders. The key takeaway throughout all these stages was to consolidate the learnings with a refreshing take to find solutions to real-time business problems.
What sets you apart from others? Coming from diverse backgrounds, what clicked for us was the synergy that we brought about by leveraging our strengths and filling in for the gaps in each others’ perspectives. Our individual approaches helped widen our outlook through every interaction we had and the more we explored the problem at hand. The winning mantra for us was to incorporate the learnings of the Nutcracker sessions to provide a structure to the solution presented.
HUL has been hosting The Nutcracker for two years with the aim to give a platform to nurture a new vision, mindsets, and approaches in HR.
Keeping employees happy amid a changing industry
As companies and entire industries change, so does the role of HR, and the entire concept of people management. Susan Edwards, Global Vice President & Chief Human Resource Officer of Sealed Air, believes that HR's role in the manufacturing industry today is about enabling the company's success by giving employees what they need
by Mint Kang
Once upon a time, HR in 'traditional' industries like manufacturing was really a recruiter's job: keep the production line manned with warm bodies, and not much else. But times have changed, and so has the industry outlook on manpower.
People Matters asked Susan Edwards, Global Vice President & Chief Human Resource Officer of global packaging manufacturer Sealed Air, what's changed in the last few decades and what the role of HR is in the industry today. Edwards, who has spent years in HR for major manufacturers,
also believes strongly in the importance of employee well-being and happiness, even through major challenges like the pandemic. Here's what she shared, speaking from her experience.
An evolution of what 'talent' and 'talent management' mean
“I have worked in the manufacturing industry for my entire career and I can say over the past three decades the face of manufacturing has changed and the talent management strategy with it,” Edwards says. “What was once perceived as an industry of labourintensive, manual jobs is now rapidly shifting into an environment where digital technologies, equipment and automation are the primary focus for manufacturing companies.”
HR's work is evolving accordingly to match the new business needs, she finds: 'It has been interesting to watch this shift in talent management. The focus has expanded from primary recruitment to equal parts retention, recognition and development of existing employees. And what attracts people to a job today is different in many ways than before the pandemic. People are much more focused on flexibility, well-being and other benefits beyond the salary. To stay competitive, we need to constantly review our hiring practices as well as rethinking ways to boost employee morale and well-being while also building organizational resilience and productivity.'
Given this shift, what does HR's primary role need to be today? It's sprawling and strategic, Edwards believes – going beyond the immediate needs of short-term people management, to extend into the long-term areas of policy and even business strategy. 'Our industry might be changing at a fast rate, but one thing remains unchanged: human capital remains the number one asset for any company,” she says. “HR also needs to be an agile business partner that works with other internal groups to ensure there are policies and procedures in place to keep employees safe and well, while also ensuring business needs are being met. This includes things like talent acquisition, reskilling or upskilling employees, and maintaining a workplace culture that supports productivity and work-life balance. These are key enablers of a company’s success and HR has an even more strategic role now to help the company anticipate and respond to wider challenges in business and society.'
The biggest mandate: keeping employees happy
Sealed Air has been operating in pandemic mode since last year,
meaning that most of its sites are closed for employee safety and most of the non-location dependent employees are working remotely. During this period, Edwards says, she and her team have learned a lot about how to keep employees happy – a very serious business at a time when workforce well-being has emerged as a major factor in recruitment and retention.
The first thing, she says, was getting them settled into the new flexible working model and overcoming the stigma that working from home means people will not be as productive at work. 'When the pandemic first started, we had to move quickly to get as many people as possible out of harm’s way and in many cases – that meant asking them to work remotely,' she recalls. 'Now, almost two years later, I am happy to report that our teams have remained productive and safe throughout the pandemic and for many of them, that flexible way of work is going to continue postpandemic.'
The key point here, Edwards believes, is not work-life balance – but work-life harmony. 'We want our employees to have work-life harmony and not feel like they must choose between having that kind of balance in all aspects of their lives,' she says. Sealed Air also made what Edwards describes as a “significant investment” into an employee wellbeing platform that is accessible by all its employees globally. It provides them with tools to manage their physical and mental well-being, including taking mental health breaks during the day if needed. 'We want to make sure that people are taking care of themselves, both in and out of work,' she says. Going forward, Edwards says flexibility will be a consistent feature of Sealed Air's workplace set-up. When the work sites reopen, she expects that onefourth of the currently remote employees will remain remote, the rest will follow a hybrid approach, and all will have flexible work schedules. What's more, she and her team want to extend flexibility even to those employees whose work is on-site – a challenge that many other employers have sidestepped by simply not offering it.
Our industry might be changing at a fast rate, but one thing remains unchanged: human capital remains the number one asset for any company. HR also needs to be an agile business partner that works with other internal groups to ensure there are policies and procedures in place to keep employees safe and well, while also ensuring business needs are being met
'We’re looking into how we can provide our direct labour employees the ability to have more flexibility to help achieve a better worklife harmony,' she says. “It’s a bit more complicated when your work is dependent on your location, but we haven’t lost sight of the importance of equity when it comes to the benefits our employees can take advantage of.'
Embracing technology beyond business processes
Manufacturing is among the industries undergoing accelerated change, in part due to the pandemic's impact, and against this backdrop, automation and digital transformation are strategic imperatives for Sealed Air, Edwards says. There are two aspects here: firstly the company, as a whole, has become savvier about its use of technology and more accepting of the possibilities that technology opens up, and secondly, there has to be even more focus on the development of employees.
For example, she explains, the use of technology goes far beyond business processes, which would be the traditional focus for a manufacturing firm; it can become a very powerful tool for employee communications.
'Nearly two years into the pandemic, we are utilizing apps, digital signage and kiosks in our plants, virtual plant tours and townhalls to communicate and connect with employees in a more meaningful way than ever before,' she says of some of the initiatives Sealed Air has rolled out. And then there's the impact of technology on hiring, particularly for roles that don't involve direct labour – those can be done remotely, and even across borders. 'We’re finding that technology allows us to connect with people and source talent from a much larger talent pool,' Edwards says. 'We have a global footprint in over 100 countries. Our teams are now able to hire people from all over the world and thanks to technology, those teams can be productive and connected. This also allows us to bring diverse talent into areas where it may not have been possible before and that diversity is bringing better, more impactful ideas to the table.'
Upskilling and developing the existing workforce, meanwhile, is another imperative. 'When you go through the kind of rapid transformation that Sealed Air is currently experiencing, you have to accept the responsibility
of training and reskilling your employees,' Edwards says. 'And that’s exactly what we’re doing. We want to make sure that our employees currently on the job can get the skills they need to be productive and have a long and happy career with us. We’re also investing in our communities at various places around the world by partnering with community colleges and technical schools to share knowledge and help prepare the workforce of the future.'
There are opportunities for upskilling in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing roles, she says: 'On the plant floor, there is an opportunity to use technology to further enhance safety and operational efficiency through automation and digital technologies. For sales, customer service and other non-manufacturing roles, it’s about the increased and creative use of technology to stay connected with customers, partners and suppliers.' 'Because of the challenges posed by lockdowns and border closures, we have seen great examples of virtual collaborations. One example is our China and Germany plant employees who were working virtually to test and refurbish equipment to meet customer needs. Another example is using virtual tools to share technical knowledge to help a customer install and commission a machine when we could not offer technical support in person.'
Keep the human in Human Resources
'The pandemic brought HR to the forefront of crisis management and business transformation to manage and mitigate risks to people and the business,” Edwards says. “It presented an opportunity to rethink our people strategy and embrace new ways of thinking and working while learning to be more agile and flexible.'
That encompasses a great deal: the importance placed on not just flexibility and well-being alone, but on equitability in how these benefits are offered; the push to ensure that even as the company transforms, employees are able to keep up with the demands of the job; and the need to always bear in mind the impact on people as decisions are made.
Looking forward, Edwards believes that even as the environment and the company change, the emphasis on people won't. 'We are unlikely to revert to the pre-COVID days of working, but we will be taking learnings and best practices to ensure we do not lose sight of the human in Human Resources,' she says.
The CHRO must earn her stable seat at the table
Cultural shifts come hand-in-hand with innovations. By implementing such cultural innovations, the CHRO can ensure a stable seat at the table despite the rising noise of bad reputation for his/her function by dr. rita McGrath & dr. M Muneer
It’s almost a meme among HR professionals – wanting a “seat at the table” while often being relegated to routine people or admin problem solving and dealing with the messier sides of humanity. But whoa, when it’s done right, the results are super impressive!
A couple of years ago, Rita was invited to speak at Microsoft’s annual Global Leadership Summit, and she almost thought she entered the wrong venue when greeted with the word ‘empathy’ in huge letters. But she was actually looking at, in real time, the in-progress rapid transformation of company culture.
Most of our clients talk a lot about culture, and culture change, but it takes a mammoth task to make a transformative change, even with robust strategy execution frameworks. One of us (Muneer) has been using the strategy focused organisation framework for driving the cultural change directly aligned to the strategic change agenda.
A model proposed by William Schneider posits two axes that help shape culture – what people pay attention to, and their orientation toward working with others. By using these dimensions, one can begin to understand what levers of action operate in particular cultures. While different people have used different terms, the first axis is whether a company tends to be
focused on the here-and-now, or whether it is looking at future desirables. On the other axis, Schneider asks whether the decision-making system in the organisation tends to be more focused on personal relationships or impersonal factors such as facts and figures. Out of this comes a set of four cultural archetypes. • Cultivation cultures are futurefocused and often intensely personal. New or young organisations start here, and the influence of the founder is often outsize. These cultures are often motivated by a compelling vision and the whole organisation is focused on bringing new,
“insanely great” things into being (to quote Apple’s Steve
Jobs). Such cultures, however, tend to be unstable as they are highly influenced by the founders’ preferences. When they go wrong, cultivation cultures can degrade into cults. • Collaboration cultures are team or group-oriented and very focused on helping teams succeed in the here-and-now.
When collaboration cultures are at their best, they are deeply committed to customer success and to winning together. When they are at their worst, they can degrade into clans with outsiders finding it very hard to become accepted, and with “in” groups and “out” groups. Hewlett Packard was a collaboration culture. • Control cultures love plans – they operate through fairly strict processes with lots of practices that reinforce “how things get done around here.”
Armies and large, hierarchical firms such as IBM, Reliance and almost all PSUs would fall into this category. They are motivated by making the plan and definitely don’t like uncertainty. • Competence cultures are focused on new possibilities, but motivated by impersonal qualities such as competition and being the best. Many progressive clients embrace this culture purely from a strategy point of view. If you leave my team, you’re dead to me typifies such cultures. Competence cultures, at their best, are extremely high performing. But, like all cultures they can degrade – they become the velociraptors of the business world (think Enron).
ACTUALITY
Collaboration
We succeed by working together
Control
We succeed by getting & keeping control
PERSONAL
Cultivation
We succeed by growing people who fulfill our vision
IMPERSONAL
Control
We succeed by being the best
POSSIBILITY
So how did Microsoft under Nadella achieve the culture shift in a pretty short period that led to better traction with customers and innovation? Here are a few insights….
The CEO should live it
Satya Nadella took the CEO role in 2014, and among the first priorities he articulated
was to shift Microsoft’s culture – not to lose what was great about the company, such as its talent pool and bold ambitions – but to operate much more like “One Microsoft” than the fiefdoms that existed before. Aside from his personal behaviour, he co-authored a book in 2019 (Hit Refresh) on how he planned to re-imagine Microsoft’s culture. He personally led and modelled the behaviours he hoped to influence others to adopt. In our experience, any major cultural shifts need such CEO commitment.
Find talent in unexpected places
A big part of the desired cultural shift was heavily influenced by the work of Stanford’s Carol Dweck who has discovered the importance of creating a “growth mindset” as part of a culture of innovation and learning. When people have a fixed mindset, the emphasis is on what one knows, as if the knowledge were a fixed property that could not be changed. Fixed mindsets are associated with risk-aversion, incremental change and unwillingness to try novel ideas out – typical of most traditional Indian companies. Growth mindsets, in contrast, are associated with people investing in developing new stocks of knowledge that allow them to take on progressively more difficult challenges.
The HR team at Microsoft supported the above concept with a changed view of who could assume and be promoted to leadership roles by shifting performance evaluation criteria. • Hackathons helped the company identify promising ideas that people could volunteer to staff, potentially gain some funding and show off leadership potential even if the projects weren’t formally vetted. • Supporting high-risk projects and the leaders who step up to them, such as the ambitious effort to commercialise the
Hololens2 technology.
Tweak performance and compensation metrics
What gets measured will get achieved and the right metrics typically should drive both performance and behaviour, especially when undertaking a culture change. How people are evaluated, promoted and compensated will propel the change faster. Traditionally, Microsoft had operated a forced ranking system in which managers were required to compare employees and assign them into pre-designated buckets, which required a certain proportion of the workforce to be placed in the ‘lowest’ bucket. Those team members were then given reme-
dial opportunities or in some cases let go. Such ’rank and yank‘ programs were extremely popular at one point, famously championed by Jack Welch at GE, which was followed by many Indian companies including Infosys for years.
While the system might help companies with poor performance management systems, they make very little sense for high talentdensity enterprises like Microsoft. It also leads to greater levels of internal competition, massive amounts of game-playing, and in a case of unintended consequences, having managers hold on to poor performers just so that they would have someone to put in the bottom bucket.
Shortly before Steve Ballmer stepped down and Nadella moved into the CEO slot, Microsoft announced its intention to abandon the practice. Instead, their philosophy moved closer to what Garry Ridge, CEO of DW40, articulated, as ’don’t mark my paper, help me get an ”A”.’
Another huge change was to move away from a focus on lagging indicators of success such as revenues and profits. Instead, Nadella wanted everyone to get interested in leading indicators such as ’customer love’. It was a symbolically radical moment for a Microsoft leader to start talking about having customers ’love‘ them!
Among other ways to bring new ideas into the company, Microsoft CHRO launched a LinkedIn Series called #Peopletalk, and brought in other HR experts to share their ideas about culture and transformation.
Interestingly, Microsoft also launched something of a CRM for employees, which we have written about in a few columns to enhance the internal customer relationships within the company. The “Employee Experience Platform” called Microsoft was to create new connections and user interfaces to vastly improve the employee experience and, yes, reinforce the culture.
By implementing such kinds of successful people and cultural innovations, the CHRO can ensure a stable seat at the table despite the rising noise of bad reputation for his/her function.
Rita McGRatH is professor at Columbia Business School and founder of Valize, and M MunEER is the Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist at the non-profit Medici Institute. Twitter @MuneerMuh
Organisations should follow an ‘Employee First’ philosophy in everything they do and workplace design is no different: Sheetal Sandhu, ICRA
Sheetal Sandhu, ICRA’s Group CHRO shares with us her take on what organisations can do to incorporate well-being by design to reimagine work holistically
by Shweta Modgil
The new reality of the world of work has brought forth an acute awareness of health and well-being, calling on corporations to devise innovative ways to integrate employee well-being into the flow of work to help their staff perform optimally. There is a clear opportunity for companies to leverage workplace design to nurture holistic wellbeing for people at work. Employees will increasingly look for work environments that provide user control, natural elements, and ergonomic seating arrangements to meet their physical and psychological health. Several studies have shown that a focus on employee and workplace wellbeing can result in improved engagement and productivity, as well as innovation and retention.
So what can organisations do to incorporate well-being by design to reimagine work holistically?
We spoke to Sheetal Sandhu, ICRA’s Group CHRO. ICRA is a Moody's Company catering to the financial services sector with its core line of business in credit ratings, consultancy and process outsourcing business in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Sheetal holds Group CHRO roles and responsibilities of Group Companies of ICRA (ICRA India, ICRA Nepal, ICRA Sri Lanka, iMacs and ICRON) and is responsible for 1,200+ employees across the group.
Here are a few excerpts from the conversation.
Today, organisations are reimagining almost all aspects of work and are looking at employee health holistically to better support their workforce. So, how can they incorporate design features and amenities to prompt well-being at the workplace?
It is important that organisations follow an 'Employee First' philosophy in everything they do and workplace design is no different. Earlier many employees were working from home but with offices opening up gradually, many companies have redesigned their offices to ensure overall safety and well-being for employees.
These include measures such as regularly monitoring and controlling the air quality to ensure the right kind of environment for employees and introducing airpurifying indoor plants that not only please the eye but also give a sense of being closer to the natural environment. Similarly, open spaces in the cafeteria, along with the pictures of recent offsites, workshops to give a sense of warmth and happy memories for employees is another way to impart a sense of well-being.
Companies are also ensuring that all the areas are well lit and appropriate signage and floor markings are provided to ensure that all the social distancing norms are adhered to. In addition, small things which enhance the overall health of employees like easy accessibility of sanitisers and napkins, no-touch soap dispensers, and dedicated water bottles for employees, and displaying informative posters on social distancing and COVID19 appropriate behaviour are some of the ways through which companies are ensuring that the office environment is a minimum touch environment
What are some of the focus areas when it comes to the well-being of employees?
The overall well-being of the employees – physical, mental and financial- should be the key HR concern of organisations.
Physical well-being: Organisations should ensure that the employees stay healthy and vaccination drives are organized for employees for getting the vaccine dose.
Additionally, during COVID-19 second wave – many companies have provided home care services, concentrators and organised regular Yoga classes for employees.
Mental well-being: Being healthy is not merely an absence of disease but it encompasses mental and social well-being as well. Companies added specific “wellness day off” to the leave balance for employees during the second wave which was used by employees to rejuvenate and take care of themselves. Employer assistance program was initiated with 24*7 helpline to support employees in times of crises or stress and it was completely confidential.
Financial well-being: This is very critical to ward off the unnecessary stress of being sick. Some measures in this regards by the companies include offering enhanced insurance plans for employees and reimbursement of the vaccination doses, expenses related to COVID-19.
How should HR leaders partner with tech leaders to ensure that technologies, workflows and processes are designed in a way that enshrines worker well-being?
In the post-pandemic phase, work has been intertwined with technology and hence, impacting the overall wellbeing of an employee. Technology is the essential means to seamless delivery in these times. The HR and Technology leaders must work together for an organization to have better workflows and processes by monitoring and altering the individual behavior. The key drivers of this movement are: • Transparency about the employee and manager expectations • Regular communication about the challenges • Reinforcing and optimizing healthy behavior through an online integrated platform for appreciation and recognition • Facilitating on-demand and online learning modules for employees, so that learning never stops, wherever they are • Performance management: to cascade the organization goals in a manner that everyone is aware of the expectations and their goals are aligned to the organization’s vision
What are some of the technologies/platforms that can be invested in to ensure employee well-being?
Employee well-being is a function of various factors and organizations are equally responsible for ensuring that the employees are free from all the unnecessary stress and burnout as the majority of their day involves managing their work commitments. Moreover, a higher engagement leads to better well-being as well.
Platforms that enable collaboration while delivering results should be the focus of technological investments. The core of such investments lies in improving the workflows and operational efficiency paired with minimal costs.
Internal communication is the key when the workforce is scattered across various locations, or working in a hybrid model. Technology is a means of making those conversations more effective and constructive.
How would companies justify the business case -- in terms of adaptability, innovation and employee experience, for investing in well-being? Wellness can be developed as a skill. How do you practice it in your organizations to advocate it?
Wellness directly correlates to the enhanced adaptability, innovation, and employee experience as it greatly reduces the absence from work, which leads to higher productivity and engagement. Research shows that a higher engaged workforce has 30-40%
lower absenteeism rates and better productivity and engagement. A healthier workforce also decreases insurance claims, productivity losses, etc. for the organization in the long run.
Gamification is a great way to develop wellness as a skill within the organization. For example, company-wide step-challenge encouraging each employee to complete a certain step every day and thereby enabling him/ her to contribute to the overall target of the organization within a stipulated time is a great way to encourage employees to walk and take care of their health.
We at ICRA have also included many training modules like time management, expanding circle of influence, collaboration within teams, for developing our employees and in turn moving towards better employee wellbeing.
SuRvIvING AND THRIvING IN THE HyBRID WORKPLACE
The hybrid workspace is here to stay and it is imperative for organisations globally to innovate new strategies to survive and thrive. A critical first step would be to recognise the key business drivers and challenges which would enable leaders to design their plans to suit their business needs and priorities by Tausifur rahman
The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the world. The global economy is still crawling under the deadweight of lock down`, finding means and methods to break away from the iron clutches of today’s prevailing crisis and uncertainty.
Not long ago, when the COVOD -19 outbreak was at its peak, I had wondered what would happen when all of this ends, when people would finally start going to their bustling workplaces and everything would go back to the way it was.
Who would have imagined that the agony of lockdown would shape the evolution of robust digital workspace and the paradigm of work culture will be redefined forever? With the rapid
pace of digital transformation unfolding in front of us, the digital workspace is a reality and it will continue to stay even after COVID -19 is defeated. Though It will never replace the physical workspace, but will definitely co-exist, to give us a choice of how we want to thrive in the new normal.
In light of this, business organisations are rapidly evolving and adopting smart technology to keep the ball rolling. Organisations have now enabled and empowered employees to work from their homes. Experts and consultants are working overtime to leverage the big data being continuously generated to comprehend and analyse the impact on productivity together with other key performance indicators to arrive at an optimum hybrid model that would make the business run smoothly and efficiently.
Key business drivers of the hybrid model
According to the Accenture Future of Work Study 2021 of more than 9,000 workers around the world discovered that most people want a hybrid model, where they sometimes work remotely and sometimes go onsite. 83% of workers say a hybrid model would be optimal. This new model of work has been a boon to several organisations, especially those who were already driven by the vision of a virtual workspace. One of the critical drivers which has enabled business organisations to thrive in this transformed world of work has been the increased use of technology. All day to day processes have been translated to the virtual medium which makes it easier for employees working from anywhere in the world to carry out their responsibilities. This also aids in accessing an increased talent pool where geographical boundaries no longer limit the search for finding the best of talent. Added to this, a wider pool of customers can be easily reached by leveraging tech-based solutions.
The pandemic has provided an opportunity to reduce the operating cost by reducing the number of physical workstations allo-
the paNdemiC has provided aN opportuNity to reduCe the operatiiNg Cost by reduCiNg the Number oF physiCal workstatioNs alloCated to the projeCt/ departmeNt. espeCially For the it aNd serviCes orgaNisatioNs, Cost reduCtioN would be a key busiNess driver For the adoptioN oF the hybrid model
cated to the project/department. Especially for the IT and services organisations, cost reduction would be another key business driver for the adoption of the hybrid model. Organisations are already figuring out a way to find the ‘Right mix of employees’ in terms of job profile and customer requirements that would be required to be present physically in the office on a given day.
An interesting facet of the Hybrid model is the flexibility it provides to the employees. It provides better work-life integra-
aN iNterestiNg FaCet oF the hybrid model is the Flexibility it provides to the employees. it provides better work-liFe iNtegratioN, CreatiNg a muCh sought aFter syNergy betweeN various aspeCts oF proFessioNal aNd persoNal lives
tion, creating a much sought after synergy between various aspects of professional and personal lives. Organisations are using this tool for employee retention, especially the women workforce. According to a McKinsy survey, 52% of employees would prefer more flexible working models post-pandemic. The survey also mentions that approximately 30% of employees will switch their jobs if returned to fully on-site work.
During the lockdown, many organisations were caught unprepared and failed to provide business continuity to their customers. Going forward, many organisations see hybrid model as a risk mitigation strategy, that can be invoked to provide the necessary support to the customer in similar situations of natural disasters and conflicts.
Challenges yet to overcome in the Hybrid workspace
The transformation to a hybrid model is not an easy journey for organisations. It has a multiplicity of challenges that range from the simple issue of system access to complex problems of data security and work culture.
Digital literacy, digital accessibility and the selection of the right digital tool are the key priorities for organisations to navigate the challenges of the pandemic and post-pandemic world.
Given how big data is also rising on the scene, ethical uses of the data and security concerns must not be overlooked. Clarity is essential in regards to the data obtained, its users as well as its use.
While on the one hand, there are digital solutions to drive employee engagement and employee wellbeing, we must not forget that technology is only an enabler. Leaders have to continuously devise and revise strategies to build relationships with the employees. In the absence of physical space, the organisational culture and its values must still be incorporated into the work lives of employees and each company will have to develop their own unique initiatives and strategies.
With increased access to talent, employees will often come from remote locations and diverse cultural backgrounds and create a sense of belonging to the organisations for the new hires remains
a significant challenge for the enterprises of all sizes in the postpandemic world.
It has been observed that for many employees, the line between personal and professional life got merged during work from home period, leading to burned out and serious mental health issues. This is also substantiated by the McKinsey survey report, which says that ‘the lack of clear communication about the future of post-pandemic work has contributed to employee burnout. Nearly half of employees surveyed say they’re feeling some symptoms of being burned out at work.’
Finally, the well-being agenda takes new dimensions in a hybrid workspace and it can no longer be designed as a one size fits all approach. In light of the increased mental stress caused by the pandemic and rapid, unprecedented transformation in the world of work, catering to the diverse wellbeing needs of the workforce is a critical yet difficult task.
Conclusion
This calamity has created an ideal opportunity for the business organisations to revisit their existing policies and redesign their strategy vis-à-vis remote employee locations and increased use of HR technology. At Stepping Cloud, we engaged with the employees at various levels through communication and corporate events to keep them motivated. We also adopted the Hybrid model as a future strategy to reduce the administrative cost significantly. The training, enablement and the cultural integration of the new employees in the organisation through remote processes created unimagined challenges before we finally created the tailored ‘Buddy and Mentor’ framework aided by the digital technology to measure and monitor the progress of the new employees along the learning curve.
Continuous innovation is key. Every strategy devised needs to be continuously tailored to meet the unique yet changing business needs and priorities of the organisations.
tausifuR RaHMan is the Co-founder, and Director, Stepping Cloud Consulting Private Limited
Sources
1. https://www.mckinsey. com/business-functions/ people-and-organizationalperformance/our-insights/ what-employees-are-sayingabout-the-future-of-remoteworkhttps://www.accenture. com/us-en/insights/consulting/future-work
ViSTy BANAji
The perils of pressured positivity
Organisations have started preaching the positivity gospel to their people and making them responsible for their own happiness. Forced positivity lets leaders shirk ownership for people happiness and makes HR lazy
In recent years, our eyes have become virtually incapable of facing the glare of reality. To shade our vision, we have elevated positivity to the status of a religion – one for which there is no greater sin than feeling any emotion other than happiness. Positivity preachers tell us to limit ourselves to pleasant thoughts – no matter if they are far distant from the truth. In several corporates, HR has volunteered to lead the positivity parade. This is a mistake. Unadulterated and perennial positivity is not only unattainable but its single-minded pursuit can stunt people far short of their full potential and tempt organisations into moral lassitude.
This is not to belittle the value genuine happiness holds. In the right measure, at the right time and for the right reasons, it brings both health and longevity.1 What is being challenged here is the positivity that is recited as an unceasing and unqualified 'mantra' to force happiness to happen. That is not how happiness works. It is an epiphenomenon flowing from a variety of other pursuits including love, efforts to reach one’s highest potential or service to others and to larger causes. Attempting to short circuit the action itself and move to the consequential emotion of joy directly can leave people feeling even less satisfied than before. It is no better than using the narcotic route to mental peace. Positivity as the opium of the people
Bad enough as it is when individuals try to reap the happiness fruit without the antecedent effort of planting and caring for the tree that yields it, the process acquires positively big brother overtones when entire organisations preach such beatitude as the guiding philosophy for employees. It lets the management off the hook for making or resisting substantial changes to benefit or protect their people. There is a huge
impact corporates (and HR) can have on employee happiness and I have devoted an entire column to explaining why and how happiness should be the prime measure for evaluating HR.2 To shift that burden to the internal coping mechanisms of individual employees is a total abrogation of what the organisation owes to its people.
Let us take just three organisation-dependent unhappiness cancers. A little thought will make it obvious why internal detachment or positivity can only paracetemolize the pain but never effect a meaningful cure.
Among the greatest stress causers and happiness destroyers for employees, and particularly for the precariat, has been job insecurity. Can anyone seriously expect such trauma or anxiety to be relieved by inner bliss or personal positivity? As Barbara Ehrenreich explains, an entire motivation-peddling industry has grown up to do precisely that. ‘The motivation industry could not repair this new reality (of large and repeated layoffs). All it could do was offer to change how one thought about it, insisting that corporate restructuring was an exhilaratingly progressive “change” to be embraced… This was the corporate world’s great gift to its laid-off employees and In several corporates, HR has volunteered to lead the positivity parade. This is a mistake. unadulterated and perennial positivity is not only unattainable but its single-minded pursuit can stunt people far short of their full potential and tempt organisations into moral lassitude
the overworked survivors – positive thinking.’3
For those who are fortunate to retain employment, inequity and the feeling of unfair treatment that attends it, is another major source of distress and resentment. We have dealt in considerable detail with one facet of this imbalance – that pertaining to compensation.4 What is particularly worrying in the present context is the deadening effect on the sensitivities and capabilities of decision-makers who acquire a positive frame of mind. Research has shown that ‘positive mood significantly increased, and negative mood reduced selfishness…’5 and that ‘… groups which made bad decisions [put an] … emphasis on morale rather than critical thinking.’6
A third unhappiness inducer, which is almost entirely under the organisation’s control, is poorly designed work that is repetitive, soul-deadening and empty of learning. The way to cure this malaise and the advantages of doing so have
been covered in a previous column.7 It bears emphasizing, though, that anaesthetizing people’s sensitivity to work-quality through the forced administration of positive morphine is not the way to go. Whatever immediate 'gruntlement' we obtain through such measures, it can never compensate for the decline in organisational capability and employee enthusiasm.
Even if the greatest happiness of the greatest number
were our ultimate goal (and there are very good reasons both for and against such an aspiration) we have seen how prescribed positivity simply provides a soporific so that people are numbed to the reality that their true welfare is being ignored. Over the long term, such tranquillisers cannot dull the pangs of insecurity, inequity and insufferable routine. A time to laugh, a time to weep
When we shift focus from the organisation to the individual, we are first confronted with the issue of feasibility. Can happiness actually be made the sole goal and pumped into people without their having to undertake actions (such as love, work or care) that lead to happiness? Common sense, traditional prescriptions and behavioural science research, all give
us an emphatically negative answer. The essential wisdom behind the tangential way to finding happiness was wonderfully conveyed by John Stuart Mill well over a century ago. ‘Those only are happy … who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness; on the happiness of others, on the improvement of mankind, even on some art or pursuit, followed not as a means, but as itself an ideal end. Aiming thus at something else, they find happiness by the way.’8 In more recent times, we have study after study confirming the validity of his dictum. Thus, ‘… valuing happiness could be self-defeating because the more people value happiness, the more likely they will feel disappointed...’9
For the sake of argument, even if we assume individuals could raise happiness levels 'on tap', would it be an unmixed blessing? Not really. At least, not in all situations. To pick just three types of scenarios where high levels of positivity can prove to be a positive handicap, let’s look at instances in the domains of learning, information processing/judgement and interpersonal effectiveness.
Aversive emotions have played a major role in the learning that was vital for the survival and evolution of human beings. Those friends of our forebears who heard rustling in the bushes with equanimity or faced a sabre-toothed predator armed only with positivity, have not left any descendants who we can make our friends.10 This cruel joke has a major bearing on learning for career preparation and survival today. It is a source of considerable amusement for me to see the preachers of positivity and Zen-
like calm get agitated and dictatorial when it comes to their children preparing for critical professional entry exams: the positivity of the learning experience can wait! When JEE comes to shove they almost seem to echo Roy Baumeister et al who state that ‘the studies we have reviewed show that punishment is stronger than reward. We were not able to find studies showing the opposite.’11 Learning that counts in the corporate context is no different. I cannot count the number of times I have been told: ‘I learned most from X, though he was a terror as a boss’ or ‘those were days of extreme stress and anxiety but, from the point of my development, I wouldn’t exchange them for all the comfortable times I have had since’. To be sure, organisations do have people averse to anger and fear. You don’t see too many of them making it to the upper echelons, however, because in the absence of learning what and whom to avoid and where and how to show their temper, they are eliminated from the running long before they reach positions from which they can display façades of fearlessness and calm (at least in front of their teams).
Central to any manager’s role, of course, is taking decisions and it is here that unadulterated positivity can play the greatest havoc. The song from which the header to this section is chosen starts with: ‘To everything … There is a season’. Of nothing can this be truer than a manager’s attitude to risk. A purely positive mindset leans executives to the side of rash action and the neglect of looming dangers. While the converse is also true, the cost of excessive caution is usually only poorer performance relative to a hypothetical maxima and the possibility of re-entering the lists another day. Betting the house, obviously, leaves the decision-maker without the house and his (yes, it’s men who generally make these euphoric calls) reputation. Most corporate roles don’t demand the devil-may-care courage of a swashbuckling pirate. When people in normative roles adopt positivity blinkers, their warning-of-danger antennae are retracted and the environment scanning they carry out ranges between cursory and non-existent. On the other hand, while those in dysphoric moods might not be the best company, they do
far better at spotting pitfalls and people-faults.12 Perhaps the most dangerous part of the cognitive myopia that accompanies positivity is ‘the tendency for people to underestimate the impact of situational factors and overestimate the role of dispositional factors in controlling behaviour, a bias sometimes labelled the 'fundamental attribution error' [FAP].’13 When the FAP is in play, teamwork suffers because of stereotyping and even constructive questioning of sultanic CEOs becomes impossible.
It is vital for leaders to judge the mood and trustworthiness of their people and persuade them meaningfully while projecting strength in their dealings with allies and adversaries. Once again, positivity has a patchy record in delivering on these demands. It is people in sad moods who are consistently better at judging deception in others as well as in developing arguments that are more convincing than those produced by the positive 'mooders'.14 When it comes to negotiations too, those who can produce sparks of anger to order, drive better bargains than do unperturbable 'smilers'.15
It is not that an upbeat attitude has no place in a leader’s repertoire. But it cannot occupy all the emotion-space of a leader all the time, to the exclusion of less joyful emotions that are equally important for survival and impact.
Progressing beyond positivity
Leaders (and, for that matter, all employees) are far better off possessing a full range of emotional responses rather than having some of them blocked off by a positivity polarizer. ‘(Y)ou don’t just have one superpower, you have many. You possess a courage enhancer (anger), an unethical behaviour derailer (guilt), … an alert sentinel standing watch over you (anxiety) … [and an] underappreciated lie detector (sadness).’16 All of them need to be marshalled in the right measure as occasions demand. Only then can one become an emotionally rounded personality that is firing on all cylinders.
There is a much larger reason we shouldn’t let the pursuit of positivity determine the story of our existence. Those who have left the greatest mark in this world, did so because they were trying to lead meaningful lives. Jim Holt’s latest book reminds us how many geniuses led miserable, even tragic, lives.17 Of course, leading a meaningful existence can also have an over-
lap with a happy one (happiness, in its eudaemonic sense, is not far from such a life)18 but there are some key differences between a negative-aversive happiness construct and a life of meaning. At least three key characteristics of meaningful lives correlate negatively with conventional, positivity-pumped happiness.19 These are: • A time orientation that looks to (and prepares for) the future while being strongly cognizant of the past and which sees the present as part of this larger sequence. • An eye to one’s relationship with society and a keenness to make some contribution to others (who are not kin). • A willingness to suffer either in preparing for or in struggling to attain a larger purpose.
Notes
1. Sarah D Pressman and Sheldon Cohen,
Does Positive Affect Influence Health?,
Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 131, No. 6, 2005. 2. Visty Banaji, HR’s business should be happiness raising, People Matters, 24 September 2019, (https://www.peoplematters.in/ article/life-at-work/hrs-business-shouldbe-happiness-raising-23175). 3. Barbara Ehrenreich, Bright-sided:
How Positive Thinking Is Undermining
America, Picador, 2010. 4. Visty Banaji, But who will guard the guardians?, People Matters, 14 March 2018, (https://www.peoplematters.in/article/ compensation-benefits/can-runawayincreases-in-executive-compensation-beslowed-down-17720). 5. Hui Bing Tan and Joseph P Forgas, When happiness makes us selfish, but sadness makes us fair: Affective influences on interpersonal strategies in the dictator game,
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(3), May 2010. 6. Charlan Jeanne Nemeth, In Defense of
Troublemakers: The Power of Dissent in
Life and Business, Basic Books, 2018. 7. Visty Banaji, "If you want people to do a It is people in sad moods who are consistently better at judging deception in others as well as in developing arguments that are more convincing than those produced by the positive 'mooders'
These markers of meaningfulness are virtually antonymic to the fundamental positivity formulae which are: • Living in the moment. • Looking inward for individual tranquillity and satisfaction. • Avoiding personal stress even if it means blanking
good job, give them a good job to do", People
Matters, 24 April 2021, (https://www. peoplematters.in/blog/life-at-work/if-youwant-people-to-do-a-good-job-give-them-agood-job-to-do-29771). 8. John Stuart Mill, Autobiography, Penguin
Classics, 1989 (First published 1873). 9. Iris B Mauss, Maya Tamir, Craig L Anderson and Nicole S Savino, Can Seeking
Happiness Make People Happy? Paradoxical Effects of Valuing Happiness, Emotion, 11(4), August 2011. 10. Randolph M. Nesse, Natural Selection and the Elusiveness of Happiness, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B
Biological Sciences, 359 (1449), October 2004. 11. Roy Baumeister, Ellen Bratslavsky, Catrin
Finkenauer and K Vohs, Bad Is Stronger than Good, Review of General Psychology,
December 2001. 12. Kate L Harkness, Mark A Sabbagh, Jill A
Jacobson and Neeta Chowdrey, Enhanced accuracy of mental state decoding in dysphoric college students, Cognition and
Emotion, 19(7):999-1025, September 2010. 13. Joseph Forgas, On being happy and mistaken: Mood effects on the fundamental out news of the extreme distress of others.
Perhaps the greatest barrier to getting people exercised about making the world a better place is the rose-tinted screen that positivity imposes between them and the perils and pains of the world. This reality avoidance reminds me of the opening verse of a Flanders and Swann song about an ostrich hiding from unpleasant facts: Peek-a-Boo, I can't see you, Everything must be grand; Boo-ka-Pee, they can't see me, As long as I've got me head in the sand.
I shall leave you the fun of discovering how things end for the ostrich.20 Pure positivity seekers tend to meet similar fates.
visty BanaJi is the Founder and CEO of Banner Global Consulting (BGC)
attribution error, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(2), 318–331, 1998. 14. Joseph Forgas, Feeling and Doing: Affective Influences on Interpersonal Behavior,
Psychological Inquiry, January 2002. 15. June Gruber, Iris B Mauss and Maya
Tamir, A Dark Side of Happiness? How,
When, and Why Happiness Is Not Always
Good, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(3):222-233, May 2011. 16. Todd Kashdan and Robert Biswas-Diener,
The Power of Negative Emotion: How
Anger, Guilt, and Self Doubt are Essential to Success and Fulfillment, Oneworld Publications, 2015. 17. Jim Holt, When Einstein Walked with
Gödel: Excursions to the Edge of Thought,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2019. 18. E L Deci and R M Ryan, Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: An introduction,
Journal of Happiness Studies, 2008. 19. Roy Baumeister, Kathleen Vohs, Jennifer
Aaker and Emily Garbinsky, Some key differences between a happy life and a meaningful life, The Journal of Positive
Psychology, Vol. 8, No. 6, 505–516, 2013. 20. Flanders and Swann, The Ostrich Song, https://youtu.be/-S4q41dQRyc. november 2021 |
Past Month's events
Tackling offer declines in landscape of virtual hiring
People Matters
& Hyreo 25th October 2021 Online Hiring in today’s reality of ‘new normal’ is virtual. While remote recruiting definitely has its advantages in terms of efficiency in time and money, the overall ‘candidate experience’ seems to take a toll. This lack of ‘human-touch’ along with the pandemic induced demand for tech skills is causing the high offer declines the industry is seeing today. This webinar deep dived into the challenges and opportunities and what's next for hiring in the new world of work. Effective hiring & training in a hybrid work ecosystem
People Matters &
Sterling 25th October 2021 Online Owing to the current war for talent, the best talent is quickly getting poached. Organisations are witnessing the ‘Great Resignation’ and losing on the most loyal and skilled talent to the competitors. In this virtual panel by People Matters & Sterling, we learnt how most of the organisations are walking on this tight rope & exploring best practices to get the right balance of speed & diligence, during this current phase where there is War for Good Talent.
Reinventing learning: Fueling a training model where employees own their skills
People Matters &
Degreed 5th Oct 2021 Online While over two-thirds of companies see the trend of learning experience as urgent or important, yet only five per cent believe they have mastered the content and technology capabilities needed to make online learning an accessible tool and a compelling experience. In this virtual session by People matters and Degreed, we looked at how by empowering employees to become equal partners in the learning process, HR organisations can foster a culture of development and growth — driving performance, engagement, and career development. People Matters L&D Conference 2021
People Matters 21st - 22nd October 2021 Online What should the evolving learning agenda for the next normal look like? What are those learning objectives that organisations should be absolutely clear about even if the future looks a bit ambiguous at this point? What are those tools that can help organisations evolve their capability agenda faster? And most importantly, what are the challenges you need to be aware of, on the way to this evolution? People Matters L&D Annual Conference 2021 discussed our community's questions to help us reflect and find collective answers.
Women in Leadership: Lead, Influence & Transform
People Matters
BeNext 4th October - 5th November 2021 Online This program was designed for women leaders interested in accelerating their career growth within their organisation and learning critical skills for women heading a team. The program also helped overcome obstacles facing workplace gender imbalance and speed up the realization of your potential as a woman leader.
Upcoming events
Designing Employee Experience in a Hybrid world Diversity and Inclusion: Overcoming Unconscious Bias
People Matters
BeNext 11th October - 12th November 2021 Online This program is for employers looking to reshape EX for their teams in the new remote environment of the working world. We will explore key considerations for designing an impactful, outstanding employee experience that aligns with our new hybrid reality. People Matters
BeNext 15th November - 17th December 2021 Online This program is for leaders invested in creating lasting mindset shifts and creating the foundations of a psychologically safe organisation through the implementation of impactful D&I initiatives. We will overcome unconscious bias at all levels to create a work context where everyone is valued, respected and included.
Total Rewards & Wellness Conclave 2021
People Matters 25th November 2021 Online The phenomenon of employees contemplating quitting, just when economies around the world are poised to rebound strongly following the pandemic, should worry businesses. A standard response to people quitting their jobs has been an increase in monetary compensation. Yet, predictably, that has not stemmed the tide of resignations, underscoring the Great Disconnect between employers and employees. We invite you to a daylong conference that will brainstorm on Great Connection, a new rewards template for the new normal that aligns business and employee expectations. Design Thinking & Agile for HR Teams
People Matters
BeNext 22nd November - 24th December 2021 Online This program is for HR leaders committed to finding creative solutions to complex problems facing their teams, moving from a foundational understanding of Design Thinking and Agile methodologies to a whole new mindset of creativity, innovation and people-centred progress. We will uncover creative practices and seek solutions for complex HR problems through the prism of Design Thinking & Agile methodologies.
Blogosphere >> MainaK MaHEsHWaRi
The two critical leadership skills
In the last 18 months, the universal ideas about leadership have been challenged in every possible way. Confronted by a global health crisis, business leaders across the globe were expected to ride through the growing uncertainties and reinvent at an unrelenting pace; all this while grappling with remote working, a disrupted pace of business, cautious and demanding consumers, as well as a rapidly shifting political and economic climate.
One of our biggest learnings from these trying times has been the importance of being nimble. Organisations led by agile and authentic leaders have come out stronger in the postpandemic world, adapting swiftly to the evolving surroundings. Take for example the formerly controversial topic of remote-working. Not so long ago, organisations were reluctant to implement Work-from-Home because of some foreseeable and some presumed challenges associated with it. However, with the onset of the pandemic, companies made the move to 100% remote-working overnight. Agility and adaptability have been key in making these radical shifts possible, redefining the leadership traits of the future.
Leaders who successfully navigated the pandemic did not have any handy guidebook, no prior experience, no case study to draw ideas from. However, what they did possess was the right skills – of problem-solving/critical thinking and communicating effectively. Before you jump to any conclusion and judge these traits to be fairly obvious, let us clarify that we need to look at these traits through the lens of agility.
Communication skills
Fuelled by technology, the pandemic, and a new generation of employees, the way we communicate has evolved. Conversations, both formal and informal, are
virtual and consequently, distant. While we are all always connected through some messaging or social media platform, personal connections are slowly diminishing. With this in mind, leaders must develop the ability to communicate across platforms and to a diverse range of people, seamlessly. In today’s dynamic work environment, where companies may have implemented hybridworking models, leaders have the added responsibility to encourage inter-team connections and build a culture where everyone feels involved and included, irrespective of whether they are coming to the office or working remotely.
Leaders also need to encourage self-expression in employees and facilitate a passage for safe dialogue. This is more important now than ever as the avenues to share grievances, challenges, or issues have reduced with remote working.
Effective leaders listen, empathise, and inspire. None of these things is possible without strong communication skills. To aid their effective communication, leaders must practice proactive transparency. Given the amount of uncertainty that individuals and businesses have struggled with in the recent past, it is absolutely necessary that leaders are proactively transparent while sharing information with their teams. As with all communication, how we share information matters. Regardless of the message, leaders must thoughtfully and authentically craft their communication and always leave room for feedback or questions.
Problem-solving and critical thinking
Thrown into the middle of a difficult situation, it is natural for most people to lose sight of the way out. They look to their leaders for support and guidance. Contrary to popular belief, successful leaders do not instantly come up with solutions to every problem. Instead, they bring to the table the uncanny ability to redefine the problem, logically structure it, and solve it from a long-term perspective, keeping in mind their employees as well as customers. For instance, instead of wondering how to move to WFH, address the problem of ensuring the safety of employees and clients.
This approach helps leaders tackle the root cause and deliver sustainable impact to both key stakeholders – employees and clients. It is important to remember that today, problem-solving translates to thinking outside the box. This demands creativity from leaders, who in turn must inspire the same in their teams.
As a leader, it is not enough to possess these skills; it is equally important to pass them on. Challenges and changes are constant, but not permanent. Overcoming any difficult situation should never be a one-person job. Everyone, especially leaders who are often expected to show up as superheroes without capes, must remember this.
about the author
MainaK MaHEsHWaRi is the Director of Talent Advisory at PeopleAsset
