The last year was particularly challenging for everyone. According to your experience, what were the key OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS for organizations?

Leading with Compassion - Everyone comes with their own set of challenges, understanding, and priorities. What is important is to not judge too quickly and trust the individual and their capabilities. Understanding each other's perspectives and creating an environment of transparency and trust will lead to solving complex business/people problems effectively.

Being Agile - Agility is a mindset, which, in current times is non-negotiable. With so many variables, there is nothing that we can put our bet on. What is working today might not work tomorrow. Having an inventor's mindset to tackle volatile and uncertain times will ensure that we do not get overwhelmed by the uncertainty. Being agile in our practices, processes, and connections is the need of the hour.

Role-based work culture - Organizations and Leaders need to emphasize more on role-based work culture which in turn will ensure further decentralization and speed up decision making. Increased proactiveness and ownership across the hierarchy are becoming the new norm.

2020 will remain the most unforgettable year, ripples of which can still be felt, in the life of humankind. It exposed the vulnerability of several in the leadership roles. THREE lessons I learned in the last 12 months are –

1. Do not take anything for granted – Right then when you start feeling that you are in control of everything around you, life will change the rules of the game. Always be willing to embrace the unexpected. Crisis Management, therefore, is the most crucial leadership skill.
2. Trust is everything – Trust has always remained the essential glue in team dynamics. However, Covid-19 has reaffirmed this Universal Truth in a more affirmative manner. If you cannot trust your team members, then work-from-home is not for you. And, if you will not accept WFH as a new normal then you are doomed to fail as a leader.
3. Communication with team needs to be effective and frequent – Essentially, communication is a key to the success of any relationship. However, Covid-19 has reiterated the importance of effective and frequent communication to avoid any kind of conflict among team members and other stakeholders.

Be the beckon of hope- So many people lost their jobs and lives to COVID, economies crashed, morals crumpled, leaving despair all around. I think it was an exceptional year that taught us more human values like resilience, compassion, and empathy than all the training combined on these topics in the last 100 years. I call this an exceptional year, a year of humanistic leadership. I strongly believe that it was this human connection that all of us forged was the silver lining in the cloud. I learned to respect life, cherish people, and most importantly help them in our own small or big way. I learned to give others hope no matter how desperate the situation is.

Have a fallback plan- Another important lesson that we are all taught in our childhood, but I learned last year is saving for the rainy day. I realized that how important it is to create a niche for oneself and to investing in continuous self-development. I invested in acquiring a new set of skills so I can use them to create a self-sustaining business model in the future.

Life is too short to complain - This has been my most important life lesson last year. I learned to be more thankful for every little thing that I have in my life. Work from home made me more gratefully acknowledge the fact I have a home and work (that we usually crib about). I invested in relationships instead of buying new useless electronic gadgets.

I would like to conclude by saying that we as humans possess this great inherent power to support and help each other, it is just that sometimes when we forget, HE reminds us of this, our larger purpose in life. Thank you COVID 19, Thank you 2020.

2020 was one of the most challenging years in our professional tenure. We all learned the actual meaning of VUCA. The year was a test of our skills and relationship with our employees and colleagues. My three leadership lessons in the past 12 months are as follows:

1. Think twice before sending out any messages regarding the Covid-19 situation. Being in a global environment there is a big difference between countries and that might give people confusing information and make them act in a strange way.
2. It is easy to confuse people so be short and clear when sending out rules and what to do.
3. Show concern, people will react differently, and we need to act to protect ourselves and others and not forget that we are all in this together.

Reflecting on last year's events through my lens as an HR professional, itÂ’s evident than ever before that, a business is only as strong as its people, and the people who are your pillar need care and compassion to be a part of and sustain the new norm both physically and mentally. My learnings are -

1. Demonstrating empathy, compassion, and kindness through constant communication channels builds trust and lasting relationships. Giving employees multiple avenues to listen and share can let workers know that they are not alone and can rely on you anytime.
2. Plan the 'agile' way. Make the transition from high-level planning to agile planning that can happen daily or weekly to ensure the momentum is not disturbed on account of any contingency.
3. Be digital and process savvy. Digitalization and a process-driven mindset will be powering and fueling the new norm. As drivers of great function, it becomes imperative for all HR professionals to learn and be part of the digital world.

The unprecedented times of 2020 brought to me the following leadership learnings. People First Attitude - Empathy and trust became the most important drivers for leading teams towards a common objective. Leaders who trusted their people in these difficult times and did not haunt them with the constant chase of working hours delivered better performance than others

Digital Solutions are the Key - Pandemic led to a big-time cultural shift with the expedited realization of CompaniesÂ’ digital transformation plans. It is proved that there is no existence outside of the digital world.

Resilience and Agility - Leaders need to be resilient enough to absorb the disruptions like Covid19, and agile enough to think and act faster and differently than ever before, come up with innovative solutions to build a sustainable and profitable business model that can run amid the New Normal.

The year 2020 was a learning year for everybody. VUCA was the most abused and used jargon in the corporate world. However, we all learned the actual meaning of VUCA in 2020. In fact, it was a great leadership lesson.

1st Lesson - In a crisis situation, leaders are in the line of fire from various key people in the ecosystem, customers, government, employees, stakeholders, society, and political leaders. These all people may have unrealistic expectations from the leaders

2nd Lesson - Leaders too, have their weaknesses and blind spots. Maturity is when we recognize those weaknesses and blind spots and be vulnerable.

3rd Lesson - Purpose, values, and creating the trust capital are crucial. Build trust during good times, so that you are not alone during a crisis situation. As a leader continuously invests in building meaningful relations with employees, customers, and other stakeholders in the ecosystem

My THREE Leadership Lessons of the last year are –

• a. Set the vision:
  • Work to be visioner & show critical thinking
  • Be ready for it and be the first one accepting the change
  • Continue to perform well with the changing rules of the game
  • Be positive, inspire and support the team under the new conditions.
• b. Dealing with ambiguity
  • Do not act like you are out of this world, show that you are having the same challenges personally
  • Clarify the situation and share the information you have
  • Communicate periodically and frequently, ensure the communication is two-way. Do not let individuals get isolated. Make them connected
  • Offer a plan and stick to it. (Unless the conditions change)
• c. Effective leadership:
  • Take initiative during uncertainty. Be decisive.
  • Make quick and clear decisions, based on facts and data you have.
  • Share pros & cons of decisions and their reasoning, even if it will hurt someone.
  • Define clear expectations for individuals, where they can contribute to a great cause.