Cristina Man, GM of Valoris Center: Managers need to deep dive on the challenges that arise in operations, dig-up root causes and share vision and tools for their teams

The 3 power words in 2021 are: Improving | Adapting | Time

Business as usual or the resetting of the entire business structure? Making the best of the lessons learned in 2020 and turning it into the business growth’s drivers in 2021? Envisioning a company structure built for people? Enablement of wellbeing, safety initiatives and   multi-leveled and hierarchy-flexible communication conduct?

Cristina Man, the GM of Valoris Center answered to the Outsourcing Today’s interview and addressed the plans, the core values and the actual enablers for business growth that mark the beginning of 2021.

Returning to “business as usual” is not possible anymore

The “reset” already happened during the pandemic. We are already doing things differently, we are already thinking differently, we are planning differently, whether we want it or not. It’s only difficult to clearly evaluate the outcome, to determine the depth of the change and the full implications. At this point, we use 2020 as base-line and act on 2021 plans using the lessons we’ve learned. We will openly welcome 2021 and whatever it will bring.

Shifting the mindset from onsite business to 100% work-from-home was the most significant project. During the last years, we built a strong business culture around our capacity to adapt. This proved to be a great asset for our company last year, while we were able to use this great flexibility to adapt fast to the new environment.

But 2020 was not only about Covid-19, and we are really glad that we reached one of our main objective set in the pre-pandemic start of 2020, including RPA into the main activities from each department.

For 2021, we plan to expand our business by increasing CSAT for every project we serve, as part of our long term and full commitment partnership strategy. In the same time, we aim to increase employee satisfaction rate, by further enhancing internal employer branding strategies. Last but not least our focus in 2021 is to optimize the revenue per employee.

2021 will reveal new perspectives of the challenges the world faced since the Covid-19 pandemic started. Going back to normal seems, to some extent, utopic so the lessons we learned in the last 10 months are the foundation for assembling new routines

As we stepped into the new year with hope, we aim to stay connected as a team and keep an open attitude towards any new challenges that might arise.  We already discovered last year the open-minded and authentic mindset of our employees that helped them to pivot to a new way of working. With this huge potential coming from inside, we built a safer work environment that we are permanently improving and we added benefits and trainings that can be accessed online.

Disruption is still around the corner and our goal is to develop emotional intelligence among our company leaders. This approach is bonded with improving trust in difficult times. We believe that if leaders are open to empathy and compassion, they enhance positive behaviors inside their teams.

Managers need to deep dive on the challenges that arise in operations, dig-up root causes and share vision and tools for their teams.  

This kind of lead-by-example approach will inspire their team members to learn and perform the same. Moreover, when the managers raise the expectations bar higher and push team members to achieve it, the performance will increase.  Managers who react fast and transfer their skills to the teams, enhancing development and growth are leading cohesive teams.

In 2021, with extended work from home policies, managers need to broaden their objectives. Along with business goals, they also have to search for out-of-the box solutions to keep teams united and their members satisfied. Last year, managers in Valoris found the solution to deal with challenges in treating them as opportunities. You cannot control what happens, but you can change the perspective. The challenges we faced, threatened the team’s vibe, but leaders shifted it to better outcomes and built a positive group dynamic. It takes time to master it, so team cohesion must always be a priority.

Moreover, adaptability, perseverance and vision are some of the skills that a manager needs to perfect in 2021.

Our internal process is defined by collaboration. This means we work together, we brainstorm together and we often get excited about new ideas. We must also admit that we need to refine and calibrate our project management abilities and competences. So we’ll focus on this area of improvement this new year.

In term of general business & teams’ core-values, which are your 3 power words for 2021? 

The 3 power words in 2021 are: Improving, adapting and time

Let me elaborate a little bit on each of them. Last year there was a general business feeling of surviving. Considering the global situation, if you were above the floating line, than it was ok. Although, as previously stated, we don’t expect a normal 2021, we think that surviving is not going to be enough and we need to push further on the normal strategy to improve our business. This is the new normal, so in this new paradigm we need to be better.

Adapting to whatever this new year will bring us is another key core-value. This is not new for us. It’s part of our business DNA for some years, so now it’s the perfect time to test this competence and to master it to the best possible success conversion.

Time is the essence for both of the above, since one of the great learning points of the Covid-19 pandemic is that, even the most precious resource can be even scarce. We need to consider time in all aspects of our live, and cherish it more.