Wish you a meaningful transformation

How would you like to wish everyone in 2021? “Wish you and your family a very happy new year” is passe and corny. Doesn’t work any longer. So, what does?

Well deep into 2020, we realized that the two decade long wait for this year was a terrible mistake. So many business presentations we had seen over the years with captions like – Vision 2020, Business Strategy 2020 etc – had all gone hopelessly wrong. Instead it became a struggle for the unaccounted migrant workforce to survive from April onward, repeated lock down and containment at home, unlocking with conditions and painful personal losses. Doctors, nurses, sanitary workers and police became heroes. Schools and friendships went virtual. Stock markets went up pulling in liquid cash. Learning became digital. Status got measured by ability to have a stable WIFI. Masks and sanitizers defined safety. Start-ups and incumbent market leaders, both, went seeking consumers at home. Gini Index of wealth distribution must have gotten worse, while we were all WFH.

Eventually work from anywhere became an option.

Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, futurist and who also co-wrote the screenplay of the influential 1968 film 2001 : A Space Odyssey; predicted in the early 1960s, how satellite communication and transistor technology would eventually bring us to a point when we no longer needed to commute, communication would be in an instant regardless of location. There we are! Access to digital technology is now becoming standard for everything to do daily. It’s so ubiquitous that we miss it if we ever think of taking a break. It will eventually lead to innovating the evolution of our species; from just humans to being transformed by machines that can out think the makers. Until then we can continue to “Work from Anywhere”, as the science of staying safe is not changing irrespective of the vaccine strategies across the world.

During this chaos, we have learnt to reinforce our behavioral traits of #empathy, #patience, #listening and #agility.

Agility is now defined as both reflective thinking and spontaneous action.

Waiting to create the best solution is not valuable; instead seeking progress daily is most critical. Talent and careers are no longer geography bound and we are experimenting with Short Term assignments without being limited by location(s). Neither is talent defined by males, females or generations anymore. Every pool of talent – veterans, LGBTQ, differently abled etc – is important because varied perspectives have become important now.

We are starting to make sense of the data around us and spot trends that can help us stay safe and grow. Primitive man’s fight vs flight is changing as we are not fighting wild animals but microorganisms. Time to become “Anti Fragile”, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb described. Our real growth will come by moving away from defined comfort zones. This requires the caveman’s fearless attitude, coupled with psychological safety of working together in cross functional groups undefined by hierarchy. This is the best time for organizations to innovate and learn.

We also must make our HR systems and processes inclusive, smart and deliver a culture that unleashes creativity.

All of us have lost loved ones during the pandemic. Many of us never got the opportunity or the time to acknowledge the loss or express gratitude for what we have. We have simply learnt or rather just chose to move on. This is taking a toll on us. Mental health has come to the forefront now without taboo or judgement accompanying it. We should not miss the opportunity of integrating gratitude, mental health and well being into our lives going forward.

Asking for help is OK.

What worries me though, is that we are still not actively worried about the most important asset we have – our bodies and its health. Being locked down at home in closed spaces is preventing us from physical, emotional and mental routines we were used to.

The next crisis for all of us in HR to deal with is the energy crisis – no longer about oil or data but our own personal energies and our living bodies. Time to focus attention on it.  

Where does that leave us? Well exactly in the moment. We are learning the value of being in the moment. When we see eternal optimists roaming around without masks, sanitizers with the hope of a vaccine, it reminds me of the Stockdale Paradox. This was referred to in James Collins’ book “Good to Great” where he wrote about a conversation, he had with a former US Navy Vice Admiral, James Stockdale, regarding his coping strategy in the Vietnamese Prisoner of War (POW) camp. When Stockdale was asked about who didn't make it out of Vietnam, he replied: “The optimists. They were the ones who said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas’. And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart". Stockdale never lost faith. He never doubted that he would not get out. That he would prevail in the end.

But he never confused faith with the brutal fact of his current reality – being an ordinary Prisoner of War. This contradiction is our most important lesson to carry into the future.

So, let me wish all of you a meaningful transformation in 2021. Ahoy 2021! There you are, what took you so long? We are prepared to face you.

Views expressed in this article are personal. Grateful to receive your feedback and perspectives too.