What did 2020 teach to IT CEOs?

It is time to say goodbye to 2020. It has been learning, shocking, overwhelming, surprising, disturbing, sad, and what not for all of us. Being a CEO Coach, I have been talking, guiding, and solving their puzzles. For a couple of years, I have been publishing what are the takeaways of particular years, so this year it cannot be an exception.

Instead of my experiences, interesting conversations, and learning of a year, I have chosen to write what this year has taught to CEOs. COVID-19 has permanently shifted how CEOs view, think, decide, and take actions to effectively run the organization. And many GAPs have come to the surface which has become action items for this and coming years.

Here is my list based on the observations relevant for IT & Digital Companies/SMEs,

1. Resilience

With/without choice, this year has taught all of us the true meaning of resilience. Many have lost clients, faced slow-down, were not able to sustain cost and many more. But all found/learned ways to handle the situation and bounce back. Many had read and heard about it in the past, but they have experienced it and done it well. They will tell their stories of managing odds to their kids in coming times.

2. Nothing is permanent! Succession/Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is a must.

BCP was the talk of the town and now considered as one of the key strategies to continue business for decades. Also, many organizations have lost productivity in the beginning as their key people were not able to function in a normal way and some have lost their key resources in the pandemic. And many have realized that succession planning at the top & middle was fundamentally missing.

In temporaty life, we belived everything was permentant. And then it was late...

3. Agile Management - a nontraditional way of running a company.

For many decades, best management practices, long-term and short-term goals, OKR, balanced scorecards, MIS have taken over how we accumulate, analyze, and take decisions. In last year, all business forecasting, action plans, and supply chain mechanisms have gone for the toss. And we all were forced to manage the organization in an Agile pattern. It has been a method for many to manage projects, but in the last year, CEOs have run business in an agile pattern. CEOs had to consider non-controllable driving forces and being at the receiving end, run the show. Salute for sailing, this year has added more metal in you. 

I think there will be new management theory taught in the B-Schools with a name Agile Business Management.

4. Control mechanisms were a joke.

There was a time where organizations were showing their secured infrastructure and work processes, management control systems, and checklists with pride. This year they were forced to run an organization in a remote fashion where the staff was taking calls from personal devices, with public hotspots, shared networks, without firewalls, and using their own systems in the beginning. Many organizations who had not prepared to work with portable systems and were working on workstations within controlled environments have found a lot of difficulties. Many found there was an additional risk to clients and business data as the staff was not behind a secured layer. CEOs were forced to rethink their work processes, IT infrastructure, and systems to stay compliant with NDA signed with clients. 

5. Fears can be managed. CEOs have faced their worst fears in COVID-19.

Losing clients, loved ones, employees, money, reputation, overrunning costs, bankruptcies, and whatnot have been in front of CEOs as their worst fears. And they learned what is an infinite game, how to be stoic and face fears, how to keep the faith and to tell people that we are fine, and how to make more in these odds. We have now come to a stage where we know better, how to manage lows and fears compared to our past. 

There shall be a subject on HOPE in all discplines of studies and it must be taught how to stay hopefull in hopeless situations.

6. Productivity has no relation to the office. People can be more productive without it if they want to.

There are pros and cons for both working in an office and working from home. In the beginning, CEOs were skeptical about the team being productive or managing an efficiency of 160 hours. With time passing by, all understood that we are logging more hours of work from home, many companies have logged their 70-80% hours billable/productive which was 60-70% in the office. So what has shifted is the mindset. Yes, we do miss the coffee conversations at the office. At the same time, integrated work and creative outcomes have suffered a bit. But overall when it comes to IT/ Digital firms, they have the least impact on productivity.  

7. Trust & Empathy are driving factors.

The major two ingredients for surviving in odd times are trust & empathy. People have realized the magic of it and understood that as a base of relationships whether it’s between employee and employer or company and customer. We learned a new definition of Trust, as we have survived the year and gain productivity by trusting each other. People have trusted their counterparts/team members for running harder with them without being at the same place sitting next to each other. And empathy had been all-time high amongst team members and clients. People have understood the situations of other people, their financial conditions, working moms, single parents, and whatnot. Inside the empathy of people, generosity has flourished and people have produced results. Now it’s a time that we continue nurturing these powerful ingredients. 

Empathy and trust are precious. Having them is easy, keeping them is the real test.

8. One can implement all systems/processes - if one wants to.

Situations have forced companies and CEOs to make decisions on processes and implement systems that were long pending in the list. As time demanded, people had to reform their processes, evolve as a company, and implement systems that can help them get elasticity. What I observed is that if people really want, they can implement and follow systems. It’s in the hands of people whether their Systems/PMS/CRM/ERP/HRMS would work or not. The speed of change and adaptation was so high that many companies have gone digital internally. The moral of the point - necessity is the best teacher. 

9. Managing calendar/time.

I think CEOs and managers are no longer required to attend sessions for time management. People have learned how to lead a life with calendars and productive meetings. Even people have learned well how to set common time, do daily huddles, and value calendar invites as those were the only ways to manage their work. Long meetings have shifted to meetings with an agenda. And most are loving it as their life has become more organized. 

10. CEO can be free if they want to.

There is a shift in the decision-making pattern for small to mid-sized companies. Managers were forced to take decisions and CEOs were expected to delegate to manage situations at multiple fronts. As a result, top and middle managers have become more independent, and CEOs have got more free hours to plan the future, learn new skills, and focus on their own KRAs. It was found that in their absence many times their managers were capable enough to decide, act, and be more productive. 

11. Any company can be a Remote company.

CEOs who were sanctioning budgets for large offices and infrastructure actually started looking at them as a cost that they can plan to reduce. It was a dilemma that not being in office, will people be productive? Situations have taught us that it is doable. And many companies have declared themselves as a remote company, many have left their lease agreements or sold offices. Being remote also allowed migrant executives to stay back at their home town, and still be functional. The need for large infrastructure is actually under the lens now. 

12. Your employees can work globally (they learned it!).

In April, I said in a webinar that not only you but your employees have also learned how to work as a remote employee. I requested CEOs to be empathetic and human to people, pay salaries on-time, and disburse incentives at the earliest possible. In the name of cost, many companies have cut pay packages or stopped incentives, and that has actually become an advantage for their customers/rivals in other parts of the world. Now, there is a wave where Indian developers/executives are directly hired as remote employees by foreign companies/direct clients instead of hiring dedicated employees from IT companies. Many organizations have lost their key talent and their employees have got better earnings staying in the same country. It is a time where Indian companies can also become global remote companies ??.

When birds know how to fly, they fly. This is not a phrase, it will be your reality.

13. Marketing online is cost-effective - a permanent cut down on travel costs.

There are IT organizations whose CEOs and sales teams travel extensively for sales and marketing trips, be part of events, and whatnot. This year without incurring any of them, and using the power of digital marketing channels people have produced their numbers, attended virtual conferences, and saved travel time/cost. And this is not a temporary change. CEOs/CFOs have realized it well. And this would remain as permanent learning. It has even opened doors to smaller companies to be part of bigger games as the cost of travel has gone to zero. The major impacts are on learning cross-cultural behavior, on-site/in-meeting observations, and implementation training to the bottom of the pyramid of client organizations. 

14. The Learning Management System will be a backbone in the future.

Many IT/ Digital agencies stay cost-effective as they hire fresh talent every year, train them, and put them in the projects. They are focused on the headcount and per person earning model. Whereas boutique agencies who are into value pricing, continuously evolve their skills. Now both of them will have to heavily rely on LMS for their differential needs to stay relevant in the game. Online learning and self-study models will be the backbone of the organization to serve clients. And this is not possible without having strong Learning Management Systems where tacit knowledge will have to be captured in explicit knowledge form. 

Explicit knowledge is not a new concept, but a missing component in IT SMEs. Invest into LMS, you will need it more than a CRM.

Which is/are near to your heart? As the CEO of an IT/Digital organization, do you have other learning points? Do let me know in the comments. 

Stay in touch and play the game of evolution. And remember,

Vatsal Shah - Business Coach, Mentor & Speaker