Leadership during covid
Covid19 has come as the blackest of all swans, unleashing a human and economic tragedy beyond all expectations. In such turbulent times, what sort of captain is leading the crew of the ship IDBI Federal Life Insurance.... Banking Frontiers finds out.:
Crisis times calls for leaders with multiple skills. One such critical skill is communications, which itself is a multi-faceted subject. While everyone recognizes the importance of more communications in this pandemic situation, Vighnesh Shahane, MD & CEO at IDBI Federal Life Insurance, has a slightly different take. He believes in informality as more important than just the quantum of communications. And this is just one facet of his leadership strategy.
In a free-wheeling interaction, Shahane discusses various aspects of leadership that can significantly make a difference in an organization as it passes through such critical times and lists things that he considers relevant and unavoidable in a leader’s journey in taking his organization to the safe shores.
Informality, he emphasizes, helps break down communication barriers; it also helps to breed knowledge and i mprove speed of c o mmunicat i o n . “When the ecosystem is formal and bureaucratic, you can have whatever communication you want, but you won’t get the required information or trust,” he explains.
Shahane also believes that informality is a necessary condition to think and talk beyond work related issues and encourages it at IDBI Federal Life Insurance. It does not mean, he says, putting your legs up on the boardroom table and having a cup of coffee. It is breaking the barriers of politics and bureaucracy and ensuring speed in decision making.
“But I do not believe i n taking informality to the level where all kinds of personal problems are discussed between office colleagues – informality should not go beyond a particular point.
A lot of leaders recommend increasing communication skills and I cringe, as communication happens in various forms,” says he.
WATCHING BODY LANGUAGE
Watching body language is another facet of his leadership. He explains that in an office, it is easier to listen as you can also watch body language. “Leaders listen to what is not said or what should be said. Some people are very open and frank with me. But there are always some people who are not. So, I am a perceptive guy. When you walk into my room, I can tell whether you are in a good mood or bad mood. This is an instinct I am born with. More than that, I lay a lot of stress on body language. Sometimes body language speaks louder than what the person is saying. Secondly, I always create a network of people. Not all my colleagues are going to come up to me openly. Everybody has their own network in the office with whom they confide in. So, I have encouraged the senior leaders to form a network which keeps them informed about their team members who are feeling down or discouraged, and who need to be spoken to,” says Shahane outlining his strategy of how to be informal without a virtual show of it.
He adds that at IDBI Federal Life Insurance, there is no new people strategy post-covid. “Our pr e-c ovid strategy, built upon informality, non-bureaucracy, non-political and open, honest communication is holding good for us. Anyway, a sudden change in strategy would not have been possible. This has to be
done gradually as it takes a lot of effort,” says he.
FORMATIVE YEARS
Shahane has been a Ranji Trophy player for the Bombay side for 3 years and his days on the field has helped him learn more that in a classroom or in a boardroom. “Although I have worked in some great organizations and done my MBA from a premier institute, my most valuable knowledge comes from the cricket field playing as part of a team, learning invaluable lessons like teamwork, making quick decisions, informality, never taking success to your head and never taking failure to your heart. I am of the confirmed belief that only sports can teach you these things,” he emphasizes.
STORY TELLING
Does he share his experiences or the wisdom he gained by his vast reading with his staff? In fact, good leaders are good story tellers as well.
“Oh, I think story telling is a part of communication. More important than story telling it is the effort to remind people that in the past too, the world has come out of suffering and we can do it this time as well. I believe they have to dig into the past and find their strengths, individually and also as a group. People don’t relate to the stories of celebrities and others as they relate to their own stories and those of their neighbors and friends. Those stories are much more credible. Challenges keep changing, and you have to face them,” he shares his views.
CONTINUING TRANSFORMATION
IDBI Federal Life Insurance has been in the midst of a transformation while the covid happened. But the pandemic has not halted the transformation process or its pace in the organization.
And it is business as usual, says Shahane, stating: “We just pick up the phone and speak with the person concerned or WhatsApp him/her. We don’t have a culture of excessive use of sending emails and waiting for a response. Decision making has not slowed down, but what has probably slowed down is execution, because people are not there together which is often helpful.”
He outlines the process of giving his feedback to the staff: “I connect with my direct reports once every day, and the next level, once every 3 days. So just a phone call or email or text or WhatsApp message from me enquiring about the person goes a long way. Technology makes it possible for me to connect in different ways, without being too intrusive. I keep enquiring about how they are doing and how their family is doing. I wouldn’t usually do this in normal times, but I’m overcompensating now during these unusual times.” This is yet another facet of his leadership.
WFH A NEW NORM
He says covid has brought in at least one new practice - work from home, or WFH, and he is sure this is going to be a reality from now on, for at least 3 months, and most probably after that as well. “So, we need to figure out how to make work from home more effective and to support our employees emotionally as well. WFH has its own distractions as you have family, some people live in small houses, you have kids and parents and we have to ensure we overcome all such challenges,” says he.
The employees too have given meaningful suggestions. Like the use of laptops. Some staff members were using their personal laptops since their official desktops were still in the office premises. “So, the idea came up that rather than procure new laptops, we could give them VPN access and allow them to use their personal laptops. Such small suggestions have come in. But we cannot have a one size fits all approach,” says he.
REDUCING STRESS
IDBI Federal Life Insurance has been doing whatever is needed during the lockdown days to ease the life of the stressed employees. Shahane says when the lockdown was announced, the company disbursed salaries within 4-5 days as the people would need money for urgent requirements. Earlier, salaries used to be disbursed on the 28th of the month. Now the disbursals take place on the 22nd of the month. The company has also doubled the term life cover as part of the employee’s compensation package and increased the medical coverage limits.
Says Shahane: “In a time when companies are laying off people and holding back salaries, we went ahead with appraisals as per the existing timelines and finished the process digitall y t his time. We also gave increments, promotions and bonuses to our employees as per their performance. Nobody was laid off and there were no job cuts. It is about walking the talk and then you talk the walk.” This is another facet of uncommon leadership.
Shahane is also happy that stress among the employees is not a concern for him because most of the stress today arises from concerns about job safety and salary and the company has acted upon these issues. “The employees whom I speak with on a regular basis, they tell me or I can make out from the tone of their voice that there is hardly any stress. While we are figuring out a mechanism to identify
and help stressed employees, we have our ongoing open and positive communication.
This is for everybody and not just those who are stressed out,” he adds.
MISSING HANDSHAKES
Can he name one constraint that he regrets the pandemic has brought in in the routine?
“Yes, in the past, it has been a practice for me to have a handshake with a staff member if he or she has done a great job or deserves a pat on the shoulder. I also used to prod him or her to do better. I regret this is not possible now. Physical contact is a very important part of communication. I feel absolutely handicapped in this regard. But there are different ways to convey empathy, even in these times of social distancing,” says he.
In conclusion, IDBI Federal Life Insurance does seem to be in capable hands, which is fortunate for all its stake holders. Our heartfelt thanks to Vighnesh Shahane for sharing his leadership insights and how he is practicing them in these tough times. We also hope that after reading so many autobiographies, he too will write one for the benefit of future generations.