Vladimir Sterescu, CGS Romania: Continuity of business combined with transparency and communication are utmost in building the sense of meaning and purpose

The role of leadership in the current environment becomes paramount to inspire and motivate teams and companies to move forward. How are the CEOs and managers of large companies addressing aspects related to leadership and busines resilience within their industries and with the aim of reaching the business objectives for 2020 and 2021?

 We recently talked to Vladimir Sterescu, Country Manager, CGS Romania to find out the answers to actual aspects of business life today.

Leadership: It is important to have a positive mindset while also being aligned with the company’s vision

It helps to exude confidence among your co-workers. We found that proactive people were the most helpful and most prepared, as they were able to adjust and adapt with ease. Communication has always been key in a changing work environment; therefore, leaders who mastered this skill were able to make the transition smoother from working at the office to working from home. Finally, leading with compassion is more important than ever given the stress and anxiety of the current situation.

Continuity of business combined with transparency and communication are the recipe for success when it comes to building a sense of meaning and purpose to reach your business objectives for 2020 and beyond. Employees and employers need to still trust your brand, particularly in a volatile environment, and that can only be achieved through a strong and consistent communication plan, which must be based on transparency and a solid business plan.

The most powerful message for CGS Romania is that we are here and we plan to be here for many years to come

We adapted quickly and transformed our business from office to virtual in roughly one week and we made sure we communicated that to our customers and partners, among others, globally. Now more than ever, there is a strong need for coming forward and being more open. Leaders should not be shy in expressing their concerns, their plans and their thoughts. It is easy to get caught up in business planning and taking care of the company needs, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of letting your employees, peers and partners know the state of things and how you are planning the business’s future.

Regardless of the situation, it is always good to learn from the challenges and capitalize on how you and your company managed to overcome any obstacle

A CEO’s role is to inspire and promote his or her methods and lead by example. For us, at CGS Romania, we made sure to stay in touch with our internal and external audiences and relay a consistent message of business continuity, detailing our plans for adaptation and gaining feedback from our employees throughout the situation.

There are many concerns for CEOs in 2020; the first of which is the continuity of business and reaching yearend goals amid the current context. The safety of our employees is another top concern, as one cannot have business continuity if employees are not taken care of.

As far as 2021 goes, I do hope that the valuable lessons learned in 2020 will lead us to a better year, while maintaining the same tone when it comes to morale and proactivity. I also hope that many who lost their businesses can refocus and take this opportunity to evaluate the ‘new normal’ market and position themselves in this ever-evolving world.

Adjusting to an almost entirely virtual company

As we moved from an office to an almost entirely virtual company, we had to adjust the way we interact with our team members, our potential candidates as well as with existing and potential customers and partners. This led to more meetings, both formal and informal (the latter helped immensely to lighten the mood of the teams), we changed our recruitment process so it could be done safely, both for the recruiter and the candidate, while not losing the human connection, by doing video interviews. Additionally, we moved our engagement initiatives online and adapted them to the current situation.

CGS Romania is the largest outsourcing service provider in Romania, with 4000 employees in its seven sites from: Bucharest, Brasov, Sibiu,  Targu Jiu, Galati, Miercurea-Ciuc and Constanta, focused on assisting customers all over the world by providing cost effective alternatives to the conventional ways of running their business.

Vladimir Sterescu has been Founder and General Manager of EasyCall, established back in 2003. Sterescu had the business idea and contact center knowledge, managing to raise the business from 4 employees, as they were at the beginning, up to 4000 employees, in just 10 years. Due to Easycall business potential, in 2006, Computer Generated Solutions, a leading global outsourcing company, headquartered in New York, took over the business, Vladimir Sterescu keeping his General Manager position and further leading the company. Since the acquisition, Vladimir Sterescu was responsible for leading the European business of CGS as Country Manager and SVP for Customer Support Solutions maintaining the leadership position among the BPO vendors from Romania and Central and Eastern Europe. Today, with 4000 professionals in Romania, Vladimir Sterescu is continuing his commitment to CGS by delivering award-winning solutions for EMEA region, North America and Australia.