Bogdan Pelinescu, Managing Director Central and Western Europe Luxoft : Now, it is critical to react quickly when it comes to decision making

Within the editorial project “MOVING THE BUSINESS FORWARD” powered by Outsourcing Today,

we held a series a series of interviews of the high-leveled professionals, CEOs, GMs and leaders of different departments of companies acting in local industry. We talked in a recent interview with Bogdan Pelinescu, Managing Director Central and Western Europe Luxoft and Board Member, Investor Relations at ABSL Romania in order to find out what is the role of leadership in the current environment that 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?

I believe that most of the competencies considered essential for managers before the pandemic have become crucial now.

The ability to share clear messages and make complex ideas easy to understand for everyone, combined with adaptability, empathy and a positive attitude, are some of the most important qualities that have helped us overcome challenges and integrate employees more effortlessly into the company mission. I really think that, in the current times, it is critical to react quickly when it comes to decision making, to accept that some strategies have to be reset while others should be re-designed. The business world is changing so we must change with it.

Even if the coronavirus pandemic is constantly reshaping our world, I am very proud of how strong our teams have proven to be so far.

Communicating transparently has played a vital role at this stage

Our main priority during the last months has been to keep our people safe and well informed. We have quickly switched to long-term remote work ensuring all resources needed to adapt to the new digital transformation and the abrupt evolution of the work environment.

In addition to our regular training programs, in March we implemented several strategies to provide employees with enough support individually and professionally while actively consulting them and listening to their needs and feedback.

Communicating transparently has played a vital role at this stage. It has aided us to adjust more easily to the continuously changing conditions and has built a sense of meaning, trust and purpose inside the company. Regular surveys and webinars have proven to be great tools in our communication. They have helped us keep accurate models of situation, and understand if employees find their work meaningful, if they are comfortable or feeling cared for and valued.

We have learned a lot during these 8 months and have become stronger, more agile and resilient. Thanks to all our employees’ efforts and dedication, we are now back on the right track. Over the years, we have consistently focused on developing the leadership potential of our employees, and this has increased innovation and productivity inside the teams. That has eventually helped us meet business goals. So continuing to cultivate innovation, to communicate in a transparent way with our clients and employees and to do our best to create a positive, healthy work environment during these challenging times will remain our top priorities.

The new reality has persuaded us to have a closer look at how we analyze data and identify business realities.

Going through this experience has taught us important lessons and has made us more open to practicing empathy and transparency, which are key to any relationship, therefore in business relations as well. I believe that this experience has equipped us with additional qualities that will help us foster resilience in facing the current and future challenges.

Primarily, I am concerned about the health and mental wellbeing of our employees. This period of uncertainty generates a huge amount of stress for everyone and as CEO you need to make sure that first of all you don’t add to that pressure and, secondly, that you try as hard as possible to support employees mitigate this stressful period.

Additionally, I make sure that we provide our clients with the expertise that allows them to successfully transition this period. About 2021, my hope is that we will maintain our resilience and adaptability. This year we have successfully learned how to work remotely; we have digitized our business processes and have changed the way we engage with our employees. This will definitely benefit us in 2021.

Even if right now we are focusing a lot on establishing business continuity plans, we are also working on the implementation of several inclusive initiatives.

We constantly invest time and resources in seeking alternatives and diverse perspectives for our people

For me, the journey has begun with embracing and reimagining flexible working. First of all, we had to make sure all employees have equal access to technology for remote work. Then we tried to make our communications consistent and as clear as possible in order to avoid negative feelings of anxiety or frustration. We opened communication channels for support and sent reminders on the importance of self-care. We learned that in order to have a wellbeing-focused workplace it is crucial to understand that each employee is unique and may have different preferences and needs. Although most of the employees are somewhat comfortable with the new way of working, we are not implementing policies that may bring about disadvantages to even a small group of employees.