Tata and the lessons from Covid-19
As someone who drinks a lot of tea, I definitely know of Tata. It’s a giant of a company and its portfolio is beyond what I can comprehend! From chemicals to energy to airlines to engineering – the list goes on and it is truly on another scale to anything I have experienced. But having read some articles about their response to Covid-19 I was increasingly intrigued by how even the largest of businesses are still learning lessons.
Like the rest of the world Tata had to respond to the unprecedented changes created by the pandemic. Operating in many different territories and sectors, the challenge of creating a safe working environment must have been a logistical nightmare. Many businesses created a shift to predominant home working much sooner than expected. A study by McKinsey published in 2020 showed that the increase in home working had been accelerated by 43 times the predicted rate compared to if the pandemic hadn’t happened. Changes that were expected to take months, took place in just days – sometimes even hours. For Tata, before lockdown had even been announced they had already made the move to home working for 70% of their employees. Their Management Training Centre in Mumbai adapted to virtual workshops at the same time. Group Chief Human Resources Officer, Nupur Singh Mallick is known for her rapid decision making, she reflects on this time saying, “It was not a time for waiting and watching”. The actions of Tata may have been swift here, but this is a familiar story for many. The pandemic created an urgent need for change to happen.
The way employees adapt is key to success. Chairman of the Tata Group, Natarajan Chandrasekaran released a statement about the company’s response to Covid. “For our generation, there is little that compares to the six-month period we have just experienced due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Travel, meetings, office, school, and socializing have all fallen victim. Overnight, we have had to reimagine how we work. Through all of these rapid changes, I continue to be deeply impressed and gratified by the adaptability and resilience our people have displayed”. This is supported by Nupur Singh Mallick’s view that since the shift to home working the business is seeing “more collaboration. People are more productive and more punctual in meetings. People are also a lot kinder and accepting then before”.
A key factor both Nupur Singh Mallick and Natarajan Chandrasekaran point to is the importance of company values being at the heart of their business. “Collaboration has been our watchword, and the pandemic has shown the importance of living by our principles", and Tata have collaborated not just within their own business but the community too. Donations exceeded $170m in the early stages of the crisis with Tata distributing water, manufacturing PPE, masks and ventilators and providing millions of meals for Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers on the frontline. It seems this was a clear decision for Tata, and not purely based on their financial resources. Nupur Singh Mallick is clear that “the community is not just another stakeholder. It is the purpose for our very own existence. We know why we exist”. Large companies like Tata are often criticised for corporate greed, and perhaps more could have been done, but collaboration is a word that comes up in numerous articles and interviews and must surely have had a part to play in getting through the early months of the pandemic.
The future of Tata’s ways of working is like many businesses still being decided. Nupur Singh Mallick is committed to coming out of the pandemic stronger and does not believe they will return to their old ways of working, but also appreciates there are still issues to be resolved. Whilst the business is said to be seriously considering reducing office staff to just 25% by 2025, Nupur Singh Mallick points to the fact this cannot be mandated. Her approach reinforces Tata’s collaboration principles. “When you come up with a new way, the people need to be at the centre of the design.”. Despite being nearly 2 years into the pandemic many businesses still lack certainty over what exactly the future will look like, and it is perhaps comforting to know even big companies like Tata are also unsettled in their exact decisions. It is something I hear a lot from leaders I work with. Leaders want to communicate with their teams but struggle, and perhaps even feel frozen in time whilst the future is still not clear.
And this is where a quote from Nupur Singh Mallick really resonated. “People don’t have clarity. Often Leaders want to hide and wait till they get clarity. I say “Please don’t hide. Go and talk to your people. Be honest. Be hopeful””. These simple words resonated as I am someone who struggles with a lack of clarity. My approach has always been to get answers, solve problems and then speak to the people around me. But in doing so, have I neglected a very important principle in that as a leader I should be ensuring people feel hopeful for the future? In the absence of certainty and security, an honest and hopeful conversation might hold real value,
There are many articles and quotes you can find about businesses through the Covid-19 crisis. Atholl Duncan’s “Leaders in Lockdown” has been a fascinating starting point for me, providing insight into many global companies’ views and approaches. If the pandemic has created a crossroads for businesses & individuals to consider the right way forward, then taking the time to appreciate the lessons we have learnt will help us pick the best path ahead.
