HATKE : Business Continuity – An Initiative to reflect Positivity in the COVID-19 Context!
Copyright with Shirish Kulkarni @ [email protected] : 1-Nov-2020

HATKE : Business Continuity – An Initiative to reflect Positivity in the COVID-19 Context!

Shirish Kulkarni Shirish Kulkarni

Shirish Kulkarni

CxO | Transformation Specialist | Innovative Enabler | Automative Digital Transformation | MCCIA | ISG | Research & Advisory | EV Enthusiast

发布日期: 2020年11月3日
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Author : :Shirish Kulkarni, Founder & CEO at STROTA ConsulTech Pvt Ltd 

(It's a bit longish article: @ 8-10mins read - take out your time or just go through the Executive Summary to get the essence)

For PDF Version with Images : https://www.slideshare.net/shirish_kul/hatke-business-continuity-an-initiative-to-reflect-positivity-in-the-covid19-context

About the Author: Shirish Kulkarni has spent @ 25 years with global corporate global companies in driving various innovative and transformational programs across organizations and later has taken up the mammoth task of enabling growth in Small and Medium Businesses. He believes in "Reaching out to the bottom of the pyramid" for bringing the actual grass-root level changes in the entrepreneurs who really want to make an impact. He is pursuing his own path to "Commoditizing Business Consulting" - to offer the packets of transformation which are affordable and demonstrable to the MSME sector. He has analyzed @ 150+ organizations and demonstrated such transformations for @ 25+ organizations successfully – as a highlight: one of the manufacturing companies Dynalec Controls Pvt Ltd showing the top-line growth of @ 300% in 3 years

Executive SUMMARY :

In March-2020 the whole business world got hit with a bold question – How do I maintain my continuity of life, family, basic needs, business, society moving forward when there is only DARKNESS within the tunnel and NO LIGHT till the end of the tunnel ... The HATKE initiative is a platform for reflecting positivity based on successes, innovative solutions, novel thought processes, different ways to handling the challenges by various individuals – by reflecting their personal peculiar characteristics of tenacity, persistence, creativity and examples of how those get applied to their professions or businesses. The HATKE platform covers interviews of various eminent industry leaders, professionals, thought provokers, thought leaders to unleash the possibilities that each one of us can explore in our contexts by extrapolating the examples they have gone through … With business continuity as the current theme, the discussions are woven around business innovations, new business models, new industry verticals and through some unique achievements by some popular, some very well known, but some absolute un-sung Hatke individuals … A big thank goes to their gesture to contribute to this initiative to spread the positivity.

The CONTEXT : 

When it was evident that there will be a complete lock-down from March-20 and then, it got extended and extended – everything got closed and hence the businesses came to a stand-still, halt a pause (not knowing about a restart !) . This sent the whole industry and the human race into a jolt and panic state … leaving them to figure out ways and finding meanings to create “ray of hope”, “light at the end of the tunnel” .. It’s clear that if the leader leaves “hope”, the battel will be lost before it’s even begun … I thought that this is the time, that we should take views of individuals who are thinking differently, they have their inherent optimism, they have capabilities to deal with the ambiguities around, they are innovative to figure out their own ways to sustain - not only themselves but their families and business … Their insights, thought processes, their positivity, their way of looking at the situation, their way to bund back, their way to take this situation as “part of the sine wave – as it goes up, it will come down” – would create the required positive impact on the rest of the community/industry/individuals/minds etc. With this motto, the journey of HATKE interviews was started – H standing for Health, A – Attitude, T – Technology, K – Knowledge, E – Engagement: which are basis pillars to leverage your positivity in the context of business (situation) you are in. Have spoken to 70+ individuals from various industry verticals, professions like Doctors, Engineers, Doctors, CAs etc, to capture their state of mind, way of thinking, problem-solving approach, and ability to excel in the most challenging situations .. This has created documentation of these individuals to reflect how they are not-only sustaining but also using this as an opportunity to bring betterment in their current business process, models, and way-of-working.

It’s indeed a gesture of Giving Back to have done “a bit for the industry” that we are working for and spread positivity and ray of hope for the deserving audience.

The CORE Thought : 

In the current context of CORONA Virus Outbreak from March 2020, it’s a very clear message that “sustenance during this year is the sole measure of success” “if you survive this time, both physically for your life and business-wise, then you can think of any other things to be done in the days to come” … This is evident and hence the focus of my thought process was to “talk about business or individual continuity or survival – novel ways to be able to do that” and how we are getting the current situation turned into an opportunity and setting our future in the new normal.

One needs to use Frugal ways to run one's business or possible portion of the business. As the businesses have not run apart from Mar-20, apart from those required for most basic necessities to be run like Roti-Kapada-Makan like food/groceries/vegetables/medicines/healthcare/hospitals... etc .. But the rest of the businesses are STAND STILL - with ZERO revenue, no promise to get the payments for the services/products already delivered .. having limited kitty of money to be able to run the business for the next 6 months .... the daunting expenses like employee salaries, supplier payments, loan repayments, government compliance costs etc standing in-front and scaring you further .. doesn't it sound too drastic? it indeed does .. There is a good amount of negativity around and many of the business owners are losing their patience/hope in their mind ... The key to success here is to bring the business owner to bring a ray of hope in their thinking, to return their confidence level, build a possibility of a turn-around for his own life, his own business and start being positive and his conviction starting reflecting across to his employees, customers, his suppliers ...

The GENESIS of HATKE : 

Thought, that we can play the mirror role and reflect the passivity through talking to, exploring, and unfolding thought processes of various industry leaders, innovators, thought leaders, academicians, professionals – to unearth the way they think, the way they front-end and tackle the challenging situations, how they respond neutrally and enhance their own potentials to be able to surpass the questions in front of them, how they nurture hopes …

A frugal model of on-line interview through a video platform getting recorded at a mutually convenient time and then to publish it with a humble social platform without any commercial strings attached was thought of and got stabilized as the number of interviews happen and refinements kept on happening …

To give the credit back to the power of the concept (give the credit back to the almighty that sent a message to and through me) and hence the smooth execution, have been able to complete @ 70+ interviews till now – covering who’s who like Dr Raghunath Mashelkar, Mr Ravi Pandit (MD, CEO – KPIT), Pandma Bhushan Dr Ashok Kukade etc .. its because they are so much great, that they could appreciate the noble gesture behind the platform and hence the interview could get organized, conducted and published … I am playing just the catalyst and interface role to make the positivity getting reflected, spread, absorbed and inherited further .. It’s a long continuous journey … In Marathi it’s called as “??? ???? – ???? ????” is the way to put it .. it will continue, and self-propel itself.

The CONCEPT of HATKE : 

             The core thought behind the HATKE concept is about the ability to maintain business continuity with a set of differentiated ways / innovative approaches / lateral thinking / frugal solutions .. basically, the most appropriate word I found was HATKE (applicable in Marathi and Hindi ???? – meaning, doing something “in a completely different/differentiated / modern ways, which is not thought earlier” ... in other words as an “out-of-the-box” approach.

             It's well known that “necessity is the mother of invention” and is aptly applicable in the current pandemic situation of lockdown – we are forced to the wall and are into pressing and compelling conditions and hence there are a good amount of chances that “innovation” is going to happen in all areas of possibilities. We just need to keep the focus and not get deterred from the work/priorities/decisions/actions in hand, but on the contrary – keep continuing to maintain the life / business-as-usual and aim at eventually evening out on the current losses/shortcomings / new methods in the new normal to benefit more.

The 5 pillars of Health, Attitude, Technology, Knowledge, and Engagement mark the pillars for the way for an individual and a business to mark their survival and continuity in the current challenging context. First focus on your own Health and Business Health in the form of managing the cash in hands. The positive Attitude has no options to ensure that “you don’t become your own death statement”. Use of Technology is a must to be relevant and become an effective leader for the new solutions you want to carve out. Sharing of Knowledge, reskilling, and opening avenues for new domains to be opened. Engagement with the current markets with existing and the newer markets for new value propositions is critical to mark yourself a “leader” position to give you the “early mover’s advantage” … This is the most advantageous state in life that you must encash by adding HUGE value to YOURSELF and your BUSINESS.

The CURRENCY NOW : 

(during the lockdown) With money transactions happening mainly (only!) happening for the most-essential commodities like Food-Cloths-and-Shelter (Roti-Kapada-Aur-Makaan) and some degree to transportation – the current currency is NOT MONEY, but the way you help others, the way you have faith in your future and others capabilities, how you share positive thoughts, new ideas to circumvent the issues/problems, the goodwill you create to compassionate listening to your employees, by helping the others smaller businesses to keep surviving, how you leverage your own branding and help others to create visibility and credibility in the market through various marketing initiatives, the pro-bono efforts you take for your own survival and others, which will pay them and you back at the later stage, the training, knowledge sharing you drive for yourself and others to mark your own and others growth. These are some of the key elements on which the businesses are going to transact for a while and these being very basic elements of human transactions, are just to be adopted – but unlearning the normal ways of transactions – which are completely, brutally and materialistically based on MONEY as the CURRENCY. This new CURRENCY will elevate the individual SPIRITUALLY and hence the businesses will happen on a HIGHER plane of UNDERSTANDING and this alignment will help hugely in the new NORMAL as the normalcy returns..

THE HATKE PERSPECTIVES: 

             It has been interesting 8 months to speak to personalities from diverse industry verticals – Education, Food, IT, Doctors, CA’s, Art, Real Estate, Research, Thought Leadership, Manufacturing, etc – coming from various backgrounds, with age, location, education as not a criterion – but the only criteria being Hatke – in the way of working, thinking, executing, approaching the situation, finding solutions, sailing through and encouraging others …

For more in-depth analysis of the insights compiled together, there is an effort by 5 MBA students undergone and will be shared separately.

The EXCERPTS from HATKE EXPERT’s

1)     Maintain Business As Usual

2)     There is “a Light at the End of the Tunnel”

3)     This is temporary: it has come and will go

4)     This is definitely BETTER than WORSE –

5)     Focus on Self / Business – ReAlign, ReConfigure, Rejuvenuate, ReInvent, ReFocus

6)     This is like an industry wave – will go down and come up

7)     Its throwing OPPORTUNITIES

8)     Your CUSTOMER’s mind is AVAILABLE

9)     GOODWILL is the new CURRENCY

10) Be RELEVANT

11) Be the FIRST MOVER

12) KNOWLEDGE is POWER

13) Reach out to the Customer – before being your customer, he is a HUMAN

14) TRY it out – FAIL and LEARN

15) Go as REQUEST for HELP

THE NEW NORMAL : 

The whole world will undergo a reincarnation/revolution and will come to a new equilibrium, a new status-quo, a new state-of-being, a new-way-of-life called “the new normal”. Some of the dimensions which will be obviously changes are evident and could be documented immediately as depicted by the picture below, but the impact is supposed to be deep-rooted and have lasting and perennial effects that need continuous observation, acknowledgment, and acceptance. The new normal could be drawn from the individual, the business, and industry point-of-view, and the change of state is definitely going to bring some welcome changes to bring positive ways of working.

The ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS :

?Would like to thank all the individuals who got convinced by the concept of HATKE interviews and have spared time to share their value-able inputs/insights for the benefits of the audience. It had been our endeavor to play a mirror role to reflect and pronounce the learnings from these individuals verbatim and without any distortion to the larger community. No worlds thank them for the generosity and willingness to spread positivity further. The blessings and goodwill so developed in the audience has its credit going back to all of these individuals and we playing a plain catalyst role. Thanks a million, and God Bless.

The SUMMARY : 

Nature has given a severe jolt to mankind in the form of this event of a pandemic and has brought everyone at an equal level. This brings a “sense of gratitude” towards nature and other elements of this nature. When so much grounded, there are new ways of living life, doing business, and maintaining continuity and survival have evolved and will keep evolving. The state of acceptance and then accepting these changes gracefully to mark the progression of life is the key to success for the individual and the business owner.

The H-ealth takes the highest priority for the individual (physical & mental) and businesses (financial and operational) – to ensure the survival in this tough situation. An optimistic and positive A-ttitude is a must-have to mark thinking of ways to come out with solutions. For the businesses, the adoption of Digital T-echnologies will be giving a boost to the business processes for making them lean and effective. Reskilling, acquisition of newer business lines and sharing of K-nowledge will be a key to success. The E-ngagement with the business ecosystem – the vendors, suppliers, investors, customers marks a major element of progress and mutual existence in the current pandemic situation.

In short – “The Change is the only constant” and “keep adopting and adpting to keep being relevant” .. This is a “temporary phase” and “there is a light at the end of the tunnel”

What's NEXT : 

This initiative will continue and keep seeking various professions, incorporations, and individuals at various capacities and aiming to spread happiness. Thought, that this will end at 10 then 50 interviews, but now it’s already clocked 70+ interviews and we will have 100 soon. Experts have said that it’s valuable documentation (if not documentary) of the snapshot of the business and individuals state-of-mind and even can trigger deeper study to relate to the essential leadership traits in the crisis management situation. A comprehensive book outlining this initiative in greater depths is also in offing to spread wider awareness.

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The REFERENCES :

  1. 1. The HATKE YouTube Channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOOz0CxkkAuWBkdv4_ac8Lg
  2. Some prominent interviews

The CONTACTS :

Shirish Kulkarni : e-mail : [email protected] :

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