2020 as a year will be remembered in our memories and life forever. It is yet to be understood for the good or the wrong reasons. It will be a fable for us to share with generations to come. Tough, challenging times that’s how we all look at it. The real VUCA-Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. 

Organizations have shown tremendous agility and resilience to adapt to tough times. We took unconventional decisions to drive productivity and profitability. 

The most critical driver for any organization was their people. There was immense negativity around jobs, pay cuts and life. The world was looking like a whirlwind. Organizations were struggling to develop, train and engage the employees. 

The organizations enable their people’s engagement through the following- 

• Employees Engagement Initiatives 
• Strengthening the sense of belongingness through active leadership participation 
• Continuously working on their development and learning through webinars. 

Employee Engagement Initiatives- 

The organizations worked on various initiatives helping employees to bring the best out of them. The initiatives were around talent hunts, 21 days of inculcating right habits and virtual coffee connections. These initiatives assured employees that their organization is demonstrating high caring and collaborative culture. 

The biggest events of the organization went virtual to ensure that the show must go on. Nothing is constant and this too shall pass and we are here together holding the flag higher. These initiatives helped organizations not only to keep their engagement but also their performance high. 

Leadership Participation and connect- 

Change was the key to be successful during these times. However, executing, adapting and implementing change did not suffice to create an employee oriented culture. The important aspect was leadership to connect with employees on a regular basis for timely and relevant dissemination of information and all the change happening in the organization. 

Almost every second organization was going digital in their processes and systems including sales oriented organization however the leadership’s promptness in communicating the same to employees and reiterating the same was of critical significance. 

Leadership participation and connect gave sigh of relief to all the employees that leadership is with them and equally involved in these tough times. The leadership connect was not only limited to employees but got extended to their families. There were virtual events with invitations to family and making them part of the organization. This had a positive impact on employees’ motivation and morale. This strengthen the commitment and conviction of employee in the organization. Leadership connect, leaders webcast and other forums of leadership interactions facilitated quick agility and resilience in the overall performance of employees. 

People Capability Initiatives- 

The anxiety and insecurity of employees was high. During this time, investing in learning and focusing on development of people became utmost important. It was important to retain the top talent and strengthen the supervisory capability to manage people and build leadership pipeline. 

An intervention in silo might not be a solution to this. Hence organizations had to think long term and sustainable. A learning ecosystem in place was helping organizations to curate relevant capability initiatives. It was important for organizations to look at the elements of capability, appreciation, recognition and empowerment to strengthen employees' sense of belongingness and establish credibility as an employer. 

There was a time to transition from managing top talent to enable them through higher levels of engagement, connection and focusing on their developmental plan. This was the time to provide leadership with workplace and turnaround projects and exposure of best practice sharing within the organization. This was a lifetime learning for leaders to experience agility and resilience in the organization dealing with change and ambiguity in all the spheres of work.

2020 has been an event in the calendar which will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. 2020 was also a time for organizations to take tough decisions, demonstrate critical thinking, dealing with change and ambiguity and showcase a culture of empowerment, inclusivity and pride to live and sustain in these tough times through togetherness. 

It was a year of creating a difference. Difference through policies and frameworks, through sustainable digital transitions as well as break through turnaround projects and initiatives. This was a time to reflect for an organization on their own mindset, culture and nuances of managing people. Time to unlearn the old ways and learn as well as relearn new ways, perspectives to deal with unknown and unprecedented times.