A handful has been clear about their plans and moved to the universities and some are still exploring the road ahead. This happens every year, however this time around, we have a huge number of students unable to transition to the world of work. As a result, they will be landing up in the universities to catch hold of some stability and clarity for the next few years. As they commence a new journey, what can help them take some steps in a sure-footed manner towards the world of work?

Studies are not enough!

Right from childhood, most families in India train their children to excel in studies to secure their future. The focus is on studies, examinations and academic scores. Learning is not a major goal for most of us. Extra-curricular activities are viewed as an icing on the cake, a checkbox to be ticked as an optional item. As one reaches the final leg of the student life, it is time to get ready for taking up the work-life. At this juncture, we realise that there are a few things we have not done enough and hence, aren’t sure how to deal with them. Excelling in studies are not enough in the final leg of one’s student career.

One has to combine studies with real-life project work and rigorously focus on learning concepts and developing one’s ability to apply those concepts. These are needed to stay relevant and competitive in today’s dynamic world of work.

Ethics at work are critical!

Knowing how to do a job well is not enough. One has to relate to the organisation, its purpose, practices and norms. Every organisation is unique in terms of its norms and practices; the leadership team establishes those through their behaviours day-to-day. There is nothing wrong or right about the way they go about accomplishing their goals. It is their way of doing things which makes them unique.

It is important to understand those values and figure out a way of working with those values. In the worst case of being unable to relate to the way of life there, one should not hesitate to move away from that organisation to another place whose way of life is more amenable and compatible with one’s thinking. Accommodating the dissonance for a long time isn’t going to be fruitful and sustainable for one’s future.

Secondly, we have to develop skills in understanding others, listening to their views and appreciating where they are coming from. This helps us form our thoughts and direct them appropriately so that we can be understood fully. One to one or in a group, conversations at the workplace play an important role in determining the effectiveness of each individual at work. While the knowledge of communication and feedback is a good starting point, practising them in a real-time work environment makes one better at it. Hence, this is such a very important part of work ethics.

While at work, we have to negotiate our way through the myriad processes and obstacles. With the right levels of practice in communication, we learn how to influence others to accept your point of view and be effective in meeting deadlines. Perseverance and practice pave the way to success! There is no short-cut to success and hence, high standards of work ethics have to be a way of life.

Clear goals and rigorous execution needed!

Given the dynamic world we live in, it may not be pragmatic to have a clear goal in life and the path to achieve that. As time passes, many paths open up and one has to choose a path to pursue further.  Irrespective of the path one follows, there is no escape from being rigorous in keeping track of a bunch of simple and boring parameters at the pre-set frequency. One has to know if one is making progress towards the goal and accordingly, make the required course-corrections.

Along the way, one has to deal with multiple variables like money, relationships, changing interests and new situations in the environment. Also, there will be many distractions along the way, right from the notifications on your phone to confusing signals from the power centres at work.

Hence, one has to be much more agile than what was needed earlier in adapting to emerging situations and confident in dealing with them. One has to make choices and move on rather than brooding over the past and conjecturing. And finally, we have to stay optimistic and positive!

We don’t want to be happy surviving. We have to thrive!

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Human beings work in organisations as workgroups or departments or functions which are nothing but social groups that work through interpersonal relationships, with a common purpose, under a common identity, shared values and norms. They establish practices through mutual trust and cooperation. This play of social capital is led by team leaders or workgroup integrators. How do these leaders in the current times steer their teams around those shared values and towards the common purpose to cross new milestones?

Adapting to the virtual work environments

New employees are being onboarded virtually. They receive a few phone calls to welcome them to the team and the organisation. The manager spends some time talking about the work, the goals and tasks at hand. And sometimes the skip level manager spends some time with the new employee on the phone or a video call. A laptop and a few essentials are couriered to the employee’s home so that the person can get started with the tasks at hand. Some teams get the person on a call with the other members of the team for an introduction. We hope, this process gets followed well and will be adequate in mainstreaming the new employee with the organisation. The hope is that the new person will relate well with the team, the manager, the organisation, the common purpose and the immediate tasks at hand. How pragmatic is this especially when we know that the onboarding process in a physical workspace is in itself challenging?

The leaders across the board have to adapt to the new reality so that they can use the tools such as video calls and collaborative work methods well; they can put additional efforts to engage with not only the new joiners but also the existing members of the team. Every member of the team might not be in the ideal physical and mental state to be effective while working physically away from colleagues. They may lose motivation to reach their goals, may not find it worthwhile seeking clarifications from the others in a remote way. Some people may struggle to concentrate on work due to the limitations of their physical work environment or the way they are as personalities. The role of the manager is very critical in adapting to the new way of working and customise their approach for each person in the team.

Driving change

If we were to nail one thing that the pandemic has impacted the world of work, it is rapid changes in almost everything. Organisations have adjusted their focus market segments, made changes to the roles and expectations of their people, brought in several changes in their people policies and practices, reviewed their portfolio of products, services, supply chain and revamped them in many cases. Managers in each function have had the responsibility to communicate, implement and sustain these changes. Some of these might be reversed again, but many are going to stay.

Organisations have discovered new ways of improving efficiencies. So, employees are expected to behave or act differently when they spot, evaluate and respond to an opportunity. Sometimes, they may have to act differently to a problem or a challenge they faced earlier. The manager has to learn and adapt new ways of motivating the employees to behave differently.

Some organisations use recognition practices and monetary rewards to drive certain behaviours in their employees. However, this may not be practical all the time; hence, the managers have to carefully plan their communication keeping their target audience in mind. Some managers talk about the benefits of the change; some present it as a decree or instruction of the top management; and some link it with a higher purpose like an environmental benefit, poverty alleviation and the like. One cannot say that one particular style of communication works in all situations. Leaders need to adapt!

Understanding the people

It is easy to say that we must adapt. However, in practice, this is one of the most challenging aspects of leadership. Knowing members of the team as human beings is incredibly hard because it involves a huge amount of time and effort to build the rapport, understand the motives and drives of each person. As time passes, everyone’s context changes and the evolving environment keeps impacting our thoughts and beliefs. Hence, studying human behaviour and understanding group dynamics is critical for leaders.

This comment could sound run-of-the-mill and conventional. However, this is more significant than ever before because the new world of work is filled with rapid changes in interpersonal dynamics, business goals and standard practices. Hence, every leader has to invest a lot of efforts in understanding the team dynamics and adapting to the situation.

Ref: https://hbr.org/2020/10/feel-good-messaging-wont-always-motivate-your-employees?ab=hero-subleft-3

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Electric vehicles in India are in a very nascent stage. We have just a handful of manufacturers producing electric cars, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and buses; and the adoption rate is very low. Though there has been a policy push towards electric buses, it has not been commonplace. The plans laid out in the National Electric Mobility Plan have been slow to take off. Bangalore and Delhi have made sporadic progress.

However, the strategic direction is clear that the manufacturing of battery and vehicles will be accelerated and the charging infrastructure will be ubiquitous sooner than later. How do companies prepare themselves for the future?

Challenges of a Sunrise Sector

Like the IT industry was in its nascent stages in the ’90s, electric vehicles are in a similar phase of evolution now. The sector is promising, however, the ecosystem is yet to grow fully. Investors are starting to focus on this sector in terms of actual investment dollars; similarly, top talent in the universities are starting to aspire to work in the sector. The momentum is just picking up.

Soon enough, we will see companies battling for talent in the market to fuel their growth, innovating people practices to retain and develop talent. Like the last few years have seen growth in activity in digital technology companies such as Edtech, Fintech, Agritech, Healthtech, Foodtech and more such, we will see investments in this sunrise sector.

What has COVID-19 taught us?

The pandemic has left nobody unscathed; we have to learn from this experience and move forward. People have appreciated the value of clean air and unpolluted environment. This feeling needs to be sustained in public memory and could be the base on which the manufacturers of electric vehicles can build the image for the industry and quell consumer concerns about using electric vehicles.

Secondly, the prospect for e-commerce has brightened because buyers want to avoid going into public places for non-essential purposes. Most people want to explore alternative ways of shopping rather than visiting shops, malls and restaurants. Thus, e-commerce has received the boost; in order to control the carbon footprint, they are likely to shift to electric vehicles. Favourable policies from the government could boost the demand further.

Thirdly, many people are concerned about commuting by public transport and looking to ride or drive by themselves or share the ride with someone they trust. Moreover, the wish of owning a bike or a car is in itself strong enough a reason to be gratified at the earliest. Electric vehicles segment has an opportunity here. Consumers have an affinity to certain brands and they have been buying IC-engines traditionally. These could be the hurdles the sector has to overcome to boost its demand. Again policy push could nudge the change that we want to see.

Where is the competitive advantage?

During this crisis, we noticed that the business continuity plans made with lots of care and wisdom did not help. There were disruptions in the supply chain, a severe decline in market demand, shortage of labour and several changes in the government regulations. No plan could have an answer to changes in so many parameters of the business.

Companies with a high degree of agility and flexibility in their working systems, processes and culture were able to shift work for many people to their respective homes, reopen manufacturing facilities with labour supply from the local pools and locate alternate routes and suppliers. They always held strong relationships with their suppliers and workers; as a result, they were fairly sure that they would get them all back to normal levels when they get back to pre-COVID volumes of production.

Hence, the culture of collaboration and partnership with stakeholders has proved to be critical; agility and flexibility have come about to be the competitive advantages.

EV sector is rising and slated to rise faster. We need to have agile practices, collaborative culture, innovative spirit and policy assistance on a sustained basis.

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Balancing Act

Across industry sectors, barring a few, revenues are down; some of them have drawn a zero. No amount of strategy and business acumen can generate profits when revenues become zero. Though the lockdown is for a temporary period, an organisation’s getting back to normalcy depends upon multiple variables such as the readiness of the supply chain, availability of employees and inflow of orders. Every organisation and industry sector has its unique context; however, in general, the environment presents a myriad of uncertainties before the leaders.

Naturally, one has to look inward, identify the pockets of inefficiency and quickly eliminate those to cut costs. One would lay off people, defer and reduce employee costs by restructuring salaries and benefits, review the productivity metrics to reset targets and tweak measurement systems, reduce supplier costs, optimise supply chains and simplify work processes. Based on the context of each company, the leaders have to prioritise some of these several initiatives over the others. Ideally, all of these have to be done!

It is not enough to look inward to cut costs and improve operational efficiency. One has to look outside and listen to the voices of the customers, suppliers, partners and society. There are opportunities for developing new products or services, new territories to venture into, new partnerships to strike or innovate some of the existing products, change terms of engagement with customers, partners and suppliers. Each of these is an opportunity to grow revenues, profits or brand image for the future.

Leaders have to perform a balancing act between inward focus and outside perspective. Leaning on one side more than the other could lead a company to the extreme of ignoring extremes such as warning signs from the outside world or internal dysfunctionalities.

Resilient Leaders at the helm

Wading through troubled waters throws surprises at us. We need to hold a steady head and a positive mind to be able to get through this part of the trek without major trouble. The leaders have to think clearly, tap into all resources at their disposal and decide their priorities. Since time and resources are limited, leaders have to evolve specific programmes and put their weight behind them. The whole organisation needs to be able to see the leader driving these programmes hands-on.

They need to clearly and openly acknowledge the challenge faced by their organisation, restate the purpose of the organisation and rekindle hope in the minds of their employees, suppliers and shareholders at a regular interval. When a company is laying off people, delaying payment of wages, cutting down employee benefits and rewards, it is not easy to boost employee morale. When cash flows are down, reserves are dwindling and additional credit lines from financiers aren’t coming up, leaders are having sleepless nights. That is the test of resilience!

Execution is the key

Most critical elements to keep up the journey are cash reserves or access to finance alongside the confidence of the shareholders. Unless these two elements are in place, no leader can take the next steps of planning for cost optimization and investments for the future.

Sometimes the leaders enjoy the confidence of their shareholders and have the needed cash to keep the machine running through the troubled times. Yet some fail to steer the ship well because they do not make the right choice of plans or fail to deploy the rigour of executing their brilliant plans. Large organisations need the right systems and processes to execute their new plans; leaders need to review the plans regularly and make course-corrections boldly and quickly. They need to be visible while steering the ship.

Ref: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/what-happened-in-every-us-recession-since-the-great-depression.html

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First, a large part of these people were migrant workers; many of them left for their home towns when various State governments initiated lockdown. Further, many others panicked when pan-India lockdown was announced; they have gone away to their villages or home towns to unite with their respective families at this hour of crisis.

Secondly, many families being in lockdown condition have been ordering items of essential needs for home delivery. The retailers and small businesses are looking for additional hands to cater to these needs. After the situation stabilises, they will let these people go.

Most number of people in India are employed by MSMEs, construction sites and large factories and supply chains. And another large segment of our people work independently as micro-enterprises. All of them have been under lockdown; so, most people in India are without work right now. As soon as normalcy is restored, the pent-up demands in many industries will come back to play and in a matter of 3-4 weeks, normal levels of  work will restart in construction sites, manufacturing plants and the supply chains. Soon enough, the MSMEs and the micro-enterprises will start running as usual.

A Lull Phase

Gig workers have no work through the lockdown period. Exceptions are the essential commodities and IT sector to a large extent. The IT professionals and functional consultants who work as gig workers in IT sector are not impacted severely though the future is uncertain. The gig workers with the skills in advertising, media, sales, HR, finance, supply chain and operations will not have opportunities until the companies gets back to normal operation.

Learning and Evolving during the Crisis

Companies will learn their lessons through this crisis, there will be major impact on the flow of capital and talent across countries in post-covid era. Companies would like to keep their costs flexible so that they are able to adapt easily. They would increasingly for flexible options of staffing.

Social security measures are certainly an issue for all of us in India. We might see people buying their own insurance covers and the industry innovating new products which will give the cover they are looking for. Social norms are evolving and will evolve faster in post-covid era; people in cities will prefer high-risk high-reward careers and would shift comfortably between full-rime jobs and gig-work. While the attraction towards full-time job isn’t going to pass, they may prefer a gig work with a larger employer brand or an assignment which could raise their market value to a full-time job in a nondescript firm which may not give the booster to his or her career in the long-run.

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