The pandemic which caught us off guard in 2020 has taught us to continually adopt new working models such as work from home, work from anywhere and finally settling with the hybrid model of work which is an optimum blend of working onsite and remote working, based on business need and employee convenience. Flexible working – flexibility in terms of working hours & work locations – which was the privilege of a few industries earlier, suddenly became acceptable to all, in a single sweep. Technology kept pace with this changing need providing us with multiple video platforms for simulating the physical office space and all its functionalities in a virtual landscape. Business leaders from core sectors were quick to discover the several opportunities this ‘new normal’ opened up for re-imagining people practices. Virtual meetings, virtual interviews, virtual trainings have gained large acceptance from the business fraternity, across the hierarchy.
It is pertinent to explore the possibilities as the pandemic is still far from over in many parts of the world including our own. According to WHO Report “This isn’t over and won’t be for some time to come. We need to learn to live with it.” Persistent uncertainty is a living reality; we need to learn to live and thrive in this new ecosystem. This may call for a recalibration of sorts in some fundamental areas of our thinking.
Let us begin with the term “human resource” – the function is widely known by the acronym for this term – HR. Implicit in this term is the equalization of human beings with other factors of production such as machines, materials and money which must be optimally harnessed to deliver business objectives. The pandemic has compelled many of us to re-visit this fundamental assumption, which we took as a ‘fait accompli’. In the backdrop of what we have seen and learnt in the past year and a half, isn’t it time that we look at human beings as infinite possibilities rather than resources? This approach has gained currency in the recent past and is being championed by eminent doyens from the fraternity. Replacing the prism through which human beings are viewed in the entire ecosystem of business, is a paradigm shift for the people function in terms of its broad architecture, systems, practices and policies.
Take for example the performance management framework for any organization. It is customary to cascade an organization’s goals to a department and individual level and structure it in the form of ‘key result areas’, ‘key performance indicators’ and ‘targets’. Performance or achievement is measured against these parameters. In a long drawn, uncertain environment however, none of the above have any relevance. So much so, that they may become irrelevant even while the approval process is underway. If that be the case, how do we manage performance for business to thrive? The answer may lie in building more trust in the people of the organization, which most CHROs have already flagged as a pivotal area of change. Although it may sound utopian, if we can build people in such a way whereby they can be trusted to do the very best that is possible under any given situation, we have cracked the performance management puzzle. Managing without supervision, which is the call of the hour, fits in seamlessly with this approach. Trust begets trust, as we know. If employees return the favour and trust their managers & leaders the same way they are trusted, this also addresses the attrition dilemma for us.
To extrapolate this line of thinking, if organizations were to invest in an all-encompassing definition of people’s wellness – physical wellness (including habits), mental wellness, values & ethics orientation – all culminating in peak productivity with the right set of attitudes – would it not reflect in the organization’s top-line & bottom-line? As the raison d’etre for the people function in any organization is to deliver business outcomes through its people, the re-imagined scenario discussed above calls for a new set of people skills and a brand new orientation for “HR” professionals. Imbibing the philosophy of servant leadership comes closest to the required orientation. I say this with trepidation, but imbibing a spiritual mindset by the HR fraternity will be a prerequisite to translate this concept to reality. This is not to discount the efficacy of cutting edge skills in people analytics, being technology adept etc. The basic software on which all these ‘applications’ will function at their peak, needs to be spiritual at the core.
The word ‘spiritual’ is not common parlance in business lingo. Yet, some of its basic themes such as connectedness of entire humanity through the human spirit or consciousness, interconnectedness of human beings with the planet and the cosmos – are distilled learnings we have drawn from pandemic as thinking individuals. Embedded in the spiritual world view are some of our dominant corporate themes such as dignity of labour, cause and effect principle, CSR, corporate sustainability, diversity & inclusion etc. to name a few.
Leadership has taken on a completely new meaning in grappling with the ongoing challenges. The successful leader is one who demonstrates empathy, care, humility and can connect with his team at a personal level, dismantling command & control structures within “professional” boundaries. For many, this calls for demolishing one’s ego – a natural offshoot of a spiritual temperament. In these uncertain times, where different businesses are facing different levels of uncertainty, people are looking up to their leaders for authenticity and psychological safety. This necessitates leaders to communicate without their traditional protective armour and reveal their true selves – easier said than done. Spiritual orientation, makes this rather effortless, however.
The manager’s role has shifted from remote supervision to employee coaching. This pre necessitates commitment to the employee’s development, without any unconscious bias, which can only happen if the manager is fundamentally ‘secure’ and is operating from an ‘abundance mindset’.
Another workplace trend fast gaining currency is that employees are approaching the workplace as consumers. Employee experience is a natural area of focus, emanating from this premise. How one is treated, how one is made to feel in the work setting – is an important part of the total experience apart from physical infrastructure, technology access and the likes. Spiritual practice brings about calmness & sweetness of emotions, which helps in turn create a pleasant & enabling ecosystem for superlative individual and organization performance. It also leads to respect for all human beings, which is the prime mover for all discretionary effort – employee engagement, in HR parlance.
Finally, a business is all about its people. If people feel great working in an organization, this feeling will get percolated to its customers. This is what a thriving, profitable business is all about, and herein lies the genesis of an “employee first” culture, with spiritualism as the bedrock.