Contextual leadership: Nurturing protégés of today to lead tomorrow

Panel discussion on ‘Transforming the Leaders We Have into Leaders We Need.’ 

From left: Kincentric Partner and APAC Leadership Assessment & Development Practice Leader Sumit Sethi, Hemas Holdings PLC Executive Director and Group CEO Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, John Keells Property Group President Nayana Mawilmada, CIMA President Melanie J. Kanaka, Unilever Sri Lanka HR Director Ananya Sabharwal and Fortude Managing Director Arjuna Sirinanda

From left: AHRP EXCO member and Vice President (External Alliances) Oshana Dias, President Roshan Kulasuriya, SHRM Chief Executive Officer Achal Khanna and ZingHR Founder and Managing Director Prasad Rajappan

• Experts share key insights at 5th episode of Human Resource Think Tank series organised by the Association of Human Resources Professionals

By Dilrukshi Fernando 

It’s 2023. Yet, not everyone is heading back to offices in masses. Some perform their job functions in a hybrid environment, while others still work full-time remotely, often for different geographies than their physical location. While the world at large deliberated returning to work in the post-pandemic setting, the human workforce in Sri Lanka experienced a devastating curveball with the recent economic crisis. For them, living and working changed into survival mode, as they experienced every aspect of what American anthropologist, author, and futurist Jamais Cascio termed the concept of the BANI World: Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, Incomprehensible. How does leadership step in to prepare the workforce to take on an uncertain future? It does not simply call. It begs for a shift in leadership to ‘transforming the leaders we have into the leaders we need’. 

A shift in leadership in a ‘different’ world 

The fifth episode of the Human Resource Think Tank (HRTT) series, organised by the Association of Human Resources Professionals, which took place (at The Courtyard by Marriott) in Colombo recently, deliberated this apt and challenging topic candidly. 

Kincentric Partner and APAC Leadership Assessment & Development Practice Leader Sumit Sethi delivering the preamble to the panel discussion before doubling up as moderator, shared perceptive insights on the changing expectations from leaders in a dynamic and digitally transformed world. As Sethi elaborated, the world is no longer the same as we knew it before 2020. Therefore, how we work and lead at work also needs to change, to build a resilient workforce. It is crucial to understand that future-ready talent requires future-ready leaders and leadership. It requires a paradigm shift from an authoritarian, omnipresent leadership to progressive leadership roles of Talent Strategist, Connector, Culture Shaper, Storyteller, Digital Enabler and Coach. 

Sethi questioned if senior leaders of organisations are presently driving and owning talent engagement. “This type of engagement was at its peak during the pandemic, but today in the post-pandemic world, the ‘how are you’ conversations have become ‘where are you?’ type of transactional conversation exchanges as it was before. By making culture your competitive edge, Sethi believes that organisations can weather this storm of uncertainties to transform the talent that you have into the talent you want. “Your organisation should be shifting from the BANI world to seize the moment”, said Sethi, demonstrating, with research findings, how higher engagement between employees rose significantly, with a higher intent to stay, when key inclusive behaviours are present. 

Crisis as an era of opportunity for leaders of today and tomorrow to discuss leadership meaningfully, the leaders themselves need to share their experiences. And the 5th HRTT panel discussion did not disappoint. The panel comprising Hemas Holdings Executive Director and Group CEO Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, Unilever Sri Lanka HR Director Ananya Sabharwal, Fortude Managing Director Arjuna Sirinanda, CIMA  President Melanie J. Kanaka, John Keells Property Group President Nayana Mawilmada engaged in an insightful conversation, made richer by illustrations of first-hand experiences and encounters.

How have leaders faced the recent surge of crises? Can a time of crisis be an era of opportunity for organisations? What aspects have contributed to shifts in leadership? Nayana Mawilmada outlined 03 key contributing factors which he believes made shifts in leadership: firstly, by engaging in the concept of flexibility and hybrid modalities, which have turned out quite well. Secondly, by providing employees flexibility to face life better, where an almost overnight and strange evolution of remote working brought about more awareness of the human side of the workforce of balancing family time. Third and most importantly, the aspect of DEI: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, which today is an essential consideration for organisations. 

Interestingly, Ananya Sabharwal outlined a cognitive-based approach when sharing her thoughts on shifts in leadership. She spoke of the ‘sense-making’ of signals which come our way, especially during the economic crisis. As an HR leader of a consumer-focused multinational, she experienced this first-hand in her role. “Even though the future is digital, it is also more human”, said Sabharwal, adding that the traits of Human Leadership will be important in future. But she also called for Ambidexterity: to focus on the present and simultaneously build on the future. “Are we good ancestors?” she asked the audience, quoting the words of Jonas Salk, the American virologist who developed one of the first successful Polio vaccines.  

The shifts in leadership that Arjuna Sirinanda shared during the discussion were first-hand experiences. Firstly, the task of leading and getting accustomed to a global workforce that is operating from multiple locations made a notable change in his style of leadership. He attributed resilience, staying strong for the team even when the crises hit, as a key attributing factor. Stemming from the global workforce, Sirinanda shared how the shift to becoming more tactical and agile was the need of the hour to better manage the curveballs, before hitting reset mode, by reverting to the strategic and growth model as before.

For Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, the shift to let go and empower people to take decisions and trust people with the delegated tasks was a significant change in leadership during the recent crises. Through delegation, she believes, people are empowered to be agile. Kasturi also led her team to look for opportunities in times of crisis as consumer needs are shifting and changing, allowing organisations to change alongside them. That extends to building on new and relevant launches of products and services, which become meaningful and value-additions to the consumer. 

The shift from micromanaging to trust-based leadership was a sentiment expressed by Melanie J. Kanaka as a success factor for working with the talent of the future. “The concept of trust… leaders are called to trust who we work with. Micromanaging is a thing of the past. Trust-based leadership means being ok with letting go.” Such an environment nurtures leadership that enables others to grow and flourish, leaving behind a strong line of succession in the second and third tiers. Echoing the thoughts of Nayana Mawilmada, Kanaka also highlighted the importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as a priority agenda item after the crises. 

Transforming talent amidst navigating challenges often, there is a misconception that leaders have things easy. But as the famous quote reads, “With great power comes great responsibility,” which holds true in shepherding the talent you need for the future. In today’s context, leaders can no longer be aloof and unapproachable. Instead, leaders must perform a complex and multi-faceted role, with a hands-on approach to fostering the kind of culture they envision for the organisation and retaining the talent to make the vision an attainable reality. The HRTT panel drew on their own experiences from their respective organisations to share what they have done and continue to do to support this endeavour. 

Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, a detailed oriented person by nature, said she had to learn to let go of details to think big, of the bigger picture nuances, in her leadership role. She launched an initiative of ‘Thinking Time’ factored into the work calendar to start a habit of reflective and deep thinking, which has been rewarding for her and the team.  “It was not only about letting go. But it was also a process of unlearning and re-learning new and other capabilities that helped me perform better in my role. I follow that same example when grooming young leaders, asking them to let go of things they are good at, to learn new skills and capabilities”, she said, adding that coaching and mentoring are top priorities in nurturing future talent.

The recent financial crisis proved the biggest challenge for the technology industry. Arjuna Sirinanda had to witness churn in the talent pool arising out of the socioeconomic situation, with migration being a key reason and the transfer into other sectors and industries also being an eventuality. “But when you are a leader, you cannot lose hope because the team looks to you. Creating a listening culture to foster empathy has helped the team work together. In addition, looking at new frontiers and painting a diversified picture of opportunity also helps to motivate the team, despite the risks involved in such a venture.” he added. 

Melanie J. Kanaka considers herself fortunate to have been part of an organisation that lets you grow and grow in areas which interest you. She attributed the importance of alliances or allyships for young leaders to pivot to the next stage of their careers. “You need people who speak on your behalf, even in your absence. Silent sponsors are needed if you want to thrive in the global environment.”  

Setting up the right culture that is best suited to the locality in which an organisation operates, is a success factor in transforming leaders of the future, according to Unilever Sri Lanka HR Director Ananya Sabharwal, where the three pillars of Women, Well-being and Inclusion formulate the ethos of the work culture. At Unilever, people are placed in jobs which are bigger than their capacity early on to allow them to learn and grow into the roles. “We also believe in holding leaders accountable for how many leaders you have created, making each leader a talent catalyst,” she added. 

Nayana Mawilmada shared the vision of his organisation as a way of building the next crop of talent. “Our vision is to build new worlds. It is an exciting venture and an initiative that creates social-level change in a city. The leaders of tomorrow want to be a part of something meaningful. Hence, it becomes a magnet for acquiring and retaining talent. 

The HR Think Tank series is organised by the Association for Human Resource Professionals (HRP) as a platform to discover challenges and provide solutions to the HR fraternity. Facilitating this form of open discussion and sharing ideas assists HRP’s goal of creating a future-proof, resilient workforce.