A Windfall Gain from the Lockdown: Better People Managers!

The larger part of the business world (that is, excluding the ones who are fortuitously riding the wave!) is now engaged in getting ready for the world beyond the lockdown. There have been many discussions, debates and deliberations on the direction that businesses are expected to take post the global lockdown. Impacts are expected to be felt across most business. Some would be driven by Macro-economic reasons and some would be due to very localized dynamics.

Analytics and Iterations on the Expected Impacts have also resulted in proposed solutions in terms of rejigging of the business models, revisiting of the marketing strategy and remapping of product & service portfolios against the evolving needs of customers. With all these, it also becomes a very good time to check relevance of the current capabilities of the team vis-à-vis the uncharted waters ahead of us and also take stock of the capacities that we have built up during this uneasy period of rest.

Particularly important, when we consider that the changed customer demands, shortened financial year, depleted cash reserves and the restraining environment will turn the business turf into a full-fledged war zone, the moment the arena is declared open.

In such a case, only the swiftest, nimblest and sharpest of the lot is expected to sustain their existence. Short to Medium Term Capacity to stay invested in buffered teams will be a feature of the past and players will be expected to be quick, efficient and lean. Hence, the ability of a team manager to extract desired performance under the demanding circumstances from a leaner team will essentially be what will make or break an organisation.

The Opportunity: Silver Lining to the Dark Cloud

As we look back, the lockdown has, over its longish tenure, tested (and given an opportunity to) the professional and the person in each of us. It has eventually been successful in challenging us to challenge the status quo of working styles and lifestyle patterns. Some have come out winners, some are still struggling, but everyone has, so far, been richer and wiser from the experience.

Apart from behaving like an irritating, irrational and irresponsible guest, creating havoc in the business & personal calendar and making redundant all plans & projections of almost all industries, the lockdown has also, fortunately, been a great period to reboot our thinking methodology, upgrade skills and dig deep & reignite unused talents. And while these have largely been at an individual level, they are expected to culminate in increased organisational efficiencies, subject to structured harnessing and harvesting.

The Zone of Maximum Impact - Retail

As mentioned, the self-propelled developments that individuals have undergone in the past two months can benefit their respective industries substantially. Of course, the magnitude of the impact will range from nominal to remarkable as we evaluate it across industries.

And I believe that the function placed on the business end of this impact curve will be Retail - The most basic consumer facing function of all businesses that is into consumer goods and services.

We can list down quite a few reasons for the above hypothesis. However, the key reasons will, in all probability, remain the following:

·        Retailing, by the sheer construct of the function, usually recruit a huge workforce

·        The bulk of workforce in Retail are shop-floor workers

·        Most of the workforce come from a relatively lower socio-economic stratum

·        Most of the current front-line managers in the Indian Retail sector are promotees from the shop-floor, thus not always formally educated on management

·        The current requirements of Front-Line People Managers (Geographical spread, Count & Local Complexities) far outstrips the existing rate at which we are churning out scientifically developed People Managers

·        Team Management Skills are still developed by the “learning by observing superiors” method– the fallout being that the best practices and the “not-so-good’ practices, both get carried on as inbred strains

·        The sheer construct of the business model, with a “7 Days Open” structure and long work hours, inadvertently mean that there is hardly and time and energy to learn or upskill in an impactful manner

Thus, while the long period spent on “absorbing, comprehending and learning” from the effect the sudden changes of the lockdown has the potential to favourably impact all, the most visible gains can be expected to be experienced in the retail domain which has the unique combination of being at a comparatively lower efficiency base and (the multiplier effect) of the sheer volume of people on which the impact can be felt.

The big areas of impact is expected to be around how one modifies & innovates on approaches towards garnering and galvanizing one’s team towards increasing business and efficiencies - on opening up of new ways of approaching situations, on ideating for fresh ideas of business generation and most importantly, on handling of “never-before-seen” challenges in an efficient and gainful manner !

As a whole many sustainable behavioral changes & new leadership approaches on team management have germinated and taken root, now ready to be nurtured in fruit bearing trees. Some of the Key Changes that are ready for maximizing are as under:

Managers can now be Better Coordinators

With the basic requirement of "remotely assigning work & monitoring productivity" with team members spread across various locations, the coordination & leadership skills of managers have now been put to a true test, as never before. It is one thing to be present on the floor and get work done at the workplace from a physically confined team and altogether a different ball game getting work done at the same efficiency level, from different people sitting in different homes with different environmental influences & distractions! Leadership, Coordination & Execution Tracking skills of Managers have never been tested this much, before. For the ones who struggled, this also was the time when they got frank reviews and got an opportunity to take a reality check & quickly upgrade on capabilities!

Managers can now be More Empathetic

With the (initially forced) norm, at most places, to enquire about the general well-being of their team members when interacting for the first time in the day, managers have been able to delve into and bring forth their inner sense of empathy & concern. And with a continued practice of two months now, this might stick as a much-needed habit here onward. Anticipating what can go wrong is a very critical skill required when planning in situations where the margin for error are wafer-thin. Empathetically connecting with the team is one of the sure ways ahead on developing this skill.

Managers can now be Better in Assessment of Developmental Needs

The lockdown has given many employees 2-3 hours of additional time, considering the saving in commuting time. The resultant fatigue level has also gone down. With a fresh mind and extra time of hand, many have introspected, mapped their current skills against the present and future requirements and invested this buffer time (and some more) on upgrading and upskilling themselves. This has been a self-propelled move in most cases and is beyond and above the skilling exercises and training sessions conducted by the organisations. This practice, when continued, has the potential to have a Kaizen-esque impact on business! 

Managers can now be better at Maintaining Motivation Levels

The lockdown has, apart from (and due to) impacting businesses adversely, has also resulted in high levels of stress and insecurity amongst the work force. Uncertain futures, unclear timelines, unsure consumers and an overdose of researches, forecasts and prophecies in the public domain has had a telling impact on the workforce. And the added fear of an (so far) indefatigable virus has further impacted the overall mental strength of people. To get the team to continue functioning at acceptable level of efficiency in this trying situation and with limited resources has meant that the Managers had to be innovative, reach out to his team, help address their challenges and continuously keep them motivated by keeping the morale high and the focus unwavering. This is a substantial step forward from the earlier impersonal assembly-line approach that prevailed at quite a few places. The connect established during the lockdown, if sustained, will help create stronger team bonds, higher level of ownership by the team members, resulting in shorter execution times and an improved quality of work.

Managers can now be better at Enabling Adaptation of New Technology

It is oft being mentioned in forums that the Technology Adaptation of organisations have accelerated at an unbelievable rate during the lockdown. The biggest of the leaps, in terms of adaptation of technology, has been felt in the manner in which front end retail teams have connected up to the organisation through new modes. In retail, the front-end teams were used to physical presence of managers and traditional manual mode of instructions and monitoring. With the lockdown, Managers had to quickly adapt technological aids to replace the physical monitoring systems. As a result, quite a few of the erstwhile traditional monitoring metrics have been replaced with sharper, efficient and objective alternatives. The ownership of the team members too has unexpectedly improved and so has their learning curve. Most importantly, the velocity required to break through the centrifugal force of the resistance towards adaptation of technology has successfully been provided by the lockdown. It is now a case of maintaining the momentum and mindset here on.

The Way Ahead: Harvest the Gains and Harness the Opportunities

The experience of continuously conducting work (and life) from within four walls, without any physical interactions, has made most of us more competent, somewhat more contemplative and definitely more consistent! This has eventually resulted in the lockdown becoming a great catalyst for the self-propelled development of leaders & managers. The retail world, post-lockdown, is expected to be a new world, a harsher world but a world again full of opportunities for the one who prepares for the changed customers. But the delivery of the new model will still depend on how fast can the leaders get their team to adapt to the changes. And, to that end, the lockdown has provided us a great platform in terms of upgraded leaders on key levers of changes like team empathy, coordination skills, development assessment skills, motivating skills & ability to adapt to technology. What remains to be seen is how well can organisations harvest these ready gains and harness the potential opportunities!