Article: What is a CEO’s perspective on productivity dimensions for today & tomorrow?

Technology

What is a CEO’s perspective on productivity dimensions for today & tomorrow?

In this keynote session of day one of TechHR 2018, CEOs of top organizations shared their perspective on the key productivity dimensions for today & tomorrow.
What is a CEO’s perspective on productivity dimensions for today & tomorrow?

‘The new productivity paradigm: CEOs' perspectives’- the keynote session on day one of People Matters TechHR 2018 brought together a gamut of CEOs to focus on one of the most important metrics for any organization- productivity.

In today’s dynamic world, which is witnessing digital disruption every second, organizations need to relook at employee productivity in a new light. It is no more a secret today that engaged employees are the most productive. So organizations today are relying on everything from gamification to data and analytics to enhance employee productivity. They are looking to create opportunities for employees to do what they do best. So the focus is not alone on how to measure productivity in this digitally disrupted world but also on enhancing it with access to newer technologies such as AI, automation, data analytics.

In this keynote session, Sunil Sood, MD & CEO, Vodafone India, Deep Kalra, Chairman & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip.com, Naina Lal Kidwai, Chairman, Max Financial Services, Anil Chaudhry, Country President & Managing Director, Schneider Electric, and Ester Martinez, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, People Matters threw light on how CEOs of top organizations looking at key productivity dimensions for today & tomorrow, talent paradigms, technology opportunities & new ways of work.

Starting off the discussion, Sunil Sood threw light on the changes shaping the productivity paradigms in the telecom industry. 

“We are on the cusp of an industrial revolution which is technology based-new technologies lie AI, digitalization, virtual reality, IoT. And they will impact every industry. Therefore we have to change dramatically.”

Interestingly Sunil pointed out that as telecom, the industry is the enabler of this change as well. India is going to arrive at these changes much faster and can’t look westwards for direction.  Organizations need to embrace the change, become future fit and agile. Thus CEOs need to drive these changes in mindsets.

Stressing on the future fit portion, Anil of Schneider reflected that though the industry he comes from a core, traditional industry, but it is also trying to digitalize. Because unless they digitalize, they will be left behind.  Thus Schneider is trying to embed this technology in every aspect of the organization that has not yet changed. It is also focusing on digital mentoring to make the five generations of workers work for the same cause productively.

“What we did in last 50 years, we can do it today in three years with technology.”

Speaking about the experience in his industry which did not measure productivity in the traditional way, Deep Kalra of MakeMyTrip stated that while they did not have to face the problem of changing mindsets, but there was a constant theme that played in their journey-the disruptor can get disrupted.

Deep added that while productivity measurement is not entirely different from traditional industries in that it is still maximizing of resources you have at hand-time and money. 

“Productivity, however, has moved more for us on the time dimension than on the ROI dimension. Its ROTI-return on time invested, which is what I think is the key thing.”

He added that as leaders their job is to define a platform where every hour spent by every employee has a multiplier effect, which is the same as traditional industries. However, the beauty of the online business is that measurement of productivity can be very accurate.

However while CEOs and organizations pursue technology, Naina Lal Kidwai aptly pointed out that technology should not be pursued for just technology’s sake. It is easy for companies to fall into this trap and ignore the outcome i.e. the people who will be taking it forward. 

Naina’s very solid advice was:

“At the end of the day, be it the CEO or HR or return on time, every aspect of technology should align behind the message-which is increase in productivity. For this, people have to be galvanized.”

Whether you galvanize them through technology or social media is secondary-these are all methods to take us where we want to go. The soft touch of HR or the CEO cannot be lost.

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Topics: Technology, #TechHR2018

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