Organizations across the world are scrambling to find effective survivability and sustainability options as they strive to stay relevant in a devastating corporate landscape reeling from the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Corporate leaders are increasingly burdened with stark choices that beckon tough decision-making with a strong probability of negative reverberations among the apprehensive workforces.
Decision-Making Success Factors
The key success factor in the respective context is to assure/ensure that the quality of decision-making is not egregiously compromised as the pressure increases to maintain the semblance of a “going concern” for nervous stakeholders. Consequently, it is incumbent upon corporate leaders to astutely realize the existing and emergent challenges that are liable to impact all the crucial aspects of organizational functionality and chart a principled approach to decision-making that increases the probability of yielding desired outcomes in a post-COVID world. Some of the multidimensional humanistic challenges are as follows:
- Retaining and maintaining a motivated workforce to facilitate the fulfillment of the strategic and operational goals of the organization
- Upskilling/reskilling the workforce for the evolving nature of work
- Conducting effective and meaningful orientations for the new employees
- Stimulating relationship building/sustainability initiatives with the workforce, especially, those with open/hidden ‘grievances’ and ‘trust’ issues
- Reinforcing/revitalizing succession management strategies/plans, talent pipelines, and prudent management practices
- Invigorating high engagement levels within a multigenerational workforce
- Managing health and wellbeing aspects with increased priority, e.g., fatigue resulting from excessive screen time, fear of losing the job compounded by feelings of inadequacy, career derailment, suppressing the rumor mill, disciplinary issues, organizational politics, family pressures, separation anxiety for expats from their loved ones, too much time to oneself, etc.
- Maintaining/sharpening focus on Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Equity (DIBE) initiatives
- Assuring/ensuring seamless mobility of expatriates and repatriates
- Maintaining/uplifting a value-driven corporate culture
- Strengthening organizational cohesion through a ‘unifying’ corporate culture
- Monitoring and rectifying fractures in employment relationships, especially, between supervisors and their team members
- Providing effective online and offline support to an international multigenerational workforce
- Strategizing bonding/re-bonding activities between the workforce and leadership, especially, with respect to strengthening psychological contracts
- Realizing workforce deployment and optimization with respect to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, e.g., better utilization of office spaces, effective utilization of available resources, increasing efficiency through synergistic partnerships between the human workforce and the AI-driven entities, raising the standards of employment, etc.
- Making prudent choices in the acquisition of relevant/new technologies while phasing out the insufficient/obsolete ones
- Revising and updating policies/procedures/processes with respect to various HR services, e.g., revamping the structure of Total Rewards according to the ‘new normal, increasing the percentage of online training for a hybrid workforce, etc.
- Designing/defining/enhancing ‘employee experience’, especially, for those working from home and supporting/facilitating/enabling it with suitable policies/processes/procedures
- Devising transparent and judicious accountability and performance standards in a hybrid work environment that are imbued with the ‘felt fairness’ element
- Developing and strengthening risk management plans in coordination with relevant functions to be proactively prepared for future challenges, e.g., effective deployment/replacement of the local/regional/global workforces during the next pandemic
- Managing interactive online HR services efficiently and effectively while assuring/ensuring suitable and robust backup measures in case of linkage/connectivity issues
- Enhancing HR agility that is congruent with organizational imperatives to timely overcome anticipated/unanticipated challenges
- Assuring/ensuring efficacious communication/coordination/cooperation with the international workforce, especially, those deployed in remote locations, for catering to relevant needs/expectations
- Sustaining an attractive employer brand for future talent acquisition, cherished corporate standing, and meaningful CSR initiatives
- Dealing with apprehensive unions wary of furloughs, layoffs, and reduced compensation/benefits
- Walking the fine line between the applicable labor laws and corporate imperatives for survivability and sustainability
- Assuring/ensuring the consistent infusion of new talent by leveraging suitable technology in coordination with the functional heads
- Providing a seamless exit experience for employees leaving the organization with minimal damage to the employer brand
- Getting employees comfortable with the ‘new’ normal
- Finding/allocating enough time and space for self-reflection and self-calibration to stay motivated and committed while resisting the apprehensions/pressures related to personal job insecurity
3 Types of Decisions Made by Corporate Leaders
The aforementioned challenges require leaders who are suitably prepared for the Digital Age (see: https://lnkd.in/dpf2JZb) in terms of taking quality decisions. Let’s review the three main types of decisions that are generally taken by corporate leaders, i.e.:
Wrong decisions
These are the erroneous decisions that are driven by bias, malevolence, sabotage, incompetence, risk-averseness, and/or unavailability of crucial facts. Such decisions are the result of compromising on foresight/objectivity by succumbing to the perils of uncertainty. Their impact/ramification frequently requires salvation through the benefit of hindsight by engaging in an honest reflection and calibration on a personal and professional level for enhancing the quality of decision-making in the future.
Right decisions
These are the correct decisions that are based upon an impartial and competent weighing of available facts, studious consultation, and judgmental prowess by employing suitable risk assessment methodologies/approaches. Such decisions are the result of harnessing foresight/objectivity by deploying ‘thriving in chaos’ principles for optimizing outcomes in uncertainty. Their impact/ramification provides a fertile ground for reinforcement of good practices and is a valuable addition to the ‘knowledge bank’ for grooming the next generation of leaders.
Sound decisions
These are the astute decisions that are rooted in ground-based reality with a profound understanding of inherent risk management capability and make sense in the prevailing circumstances by extracting/filtering the best option from a range of available options that can be materialized within available resources. Such decisions embrace foresight/objectivity by realizing the ‘uncertainty’ of uncertainty and favor rationality in justifying a chosen course of action that is rich in practicality. Their impact/ramification may eventually be deemed right or wrong based upon evolving circumstances with the benefit of hindsight.
The DISH Framework
The following DISH framework can be used by corporate leaders to enhance the quality of decision-making in a post-COVID world:
Direct
This refers to having an unclouded/unrestricted/unbiased embrace of the available data and information from reliable/curated sources that can lead to enhancing the quality of decision-making.
Informed
This refers to increasing the level of cognizance in terms of associated risks with the available options before arriving at a ‘sound’ decision for overcoming an existing or emerging challenge.
Simple
This refers to prioritizing the ease of steps involved in the materialization of the ‘selected’ option for charting a course of action with clear accountabilities and realizable timelines.
Honest
This refers to modeling the personality traits that will create a strong ‘buy-in’ from the stakeholders who have to act upon and/or are impacted by the decision that has been taken.
The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially amplified the demand on corporate leaders in terms of increasing the quality of their decision-making due to the rapid evaporation of any buffers/cushions to safeguard against any lapses in judgment. Resilience is now directly proportional to survival in terms of personal and organizational futures. Are you the “right” leader for the times?
