Transformation is more than a buzzword in business today. The pandemic brought great change to every aspect of life, and Human Resources was not exempt. Even before COVID-19, HR leaders were contending with advances in technology and changes in the values among new generations of workers.
These challenging times demand leaders who are forward thinking, empathetic, and decisive. It also helps to understand what it really means to transform and be agile. These are terms people throw around but rarely take the time to truly understand.
Recently, HR Exchange Network interviewed Shradha Prakash, the Vice President, Future of Work in Org Design, for Prudential Financial, about transformation and innovation. She will be presenting "Fireside Chat: Rethinking Organizational Design and Transformation" at the HR and Future of Work online event, which is free to join. Discover what Prakash has to say about transformative leadership and connecting innovation to the employee experience.
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HREN: People talk about transformation, but the concept can be vague. How do you define transformation at work? What does it mean for an organization to transform?
SP: Whether we like it or not, in today’s world ‘transformation is business as usual.’ Organizations are constantly being pushed to respond to the demands of external and internal forces, which ultimately are opportunities to evolve.
Transformation gets vague when we don't have specific outcomes. Just like in our own lives, transformation is unique and personal. If we wake up one day with a mandate to be bigger, bolder and faster, it will certainly feel elusive.
Transformation is a not a large-scale program management effort that lasts for a few years and results in significant cost savings or culture change. It means that the organization understands its purpose and intentionally invests in building long-term capabilities that can provide competitive advantage. Since organizations don’t transform in siloes but in response to their environment, in my opinion, a successful transformation is rather an organizational evolution into a more adaptive and dynamic entity.
HREN: Nowadays, HR experts are constantly searching for ways to better connect with employees and be in tune with their well-being to ensure a productive and successful team. What is the connection between the employee experience and innovation?
SP: This is a great question with many tentacles. To start, we all know that a motivated employee in a safe team environment can be immensely innovative and productive. Employee experience and innovation are highly corelated, which means that we need to focus on two things. How do we motivate people and how do we provide them the right environment? The discussion on employee well-being is front and center these days and rightly so.
That said, addressing employee experience by only focusing on better benefits and perks offers limited results. Organizations recruit employees to do work, and if the work itself is not fulfilling or does not have impact, the employee will not be motivated regardless of the perks. As a result, the first task of HR is to ensure the work done by every employee is meaningful and is aligned with the purpose of the organization.
Next, comes creating a psychologically safe environment, where employees are able to bring their authentic self to work, and diversity is customary, and the focus is on outcomes. Hence, the next task of HR is to create a better team environment. Employee experience and innovation are the outcomes of meaningful work and a safe environment.
HREN: What has been the biggest challenge for your organization when it comes to transformation? What are some of the lessons you’ve learned?
SP: During the early years of my organization transformation experience, I noticed that the transformation effort was broken down into several projects that were siloed, which created more challenges and complexities than actually solved them. A classic approach is to break it down into people, processes, and technology workstreams that work in isolation of each other.
A true transformation should apply the systems theory, which means that all the dimensions should be in close sync with each other because the changes in one dimension (for example, technology enhancement) influence changes in others (for example, process changes and upskilling of talent).
The biggest lesson that I have learned, and I continue to apply at Prudential is to connect the dots between these dimensions and infuse the idea that transformation is connected and iterative. The transformation activities should be sequenced mindfully to ensure that we are not just spinning the wheels at one place but tactfully evolving the organization to build long-term capabilities.
READ: How Upskilling Helps with Employee Engagement and Recruiting
HREN: What else, if anything, would you like to share about transformation as it relates to HR and Future of Work?
SP: I would like to urge all of you to give utmost importance to ‘WORK’ in the future of work. The success of future of work will be determined by what extent we are able to simplify our work complexities and create work that is purposeful and fulfilling for employees. This would also mean that future leaders need to lead with authenticity and clarity. Think about how we can transform the work itself that helps create employee well-being and creates better organizations of the future.
Don’t miss Prakash’s session or the others at the HR and Future of Work online event. It’s free to join. Register here.