"Risk evaluation & contingency plans for navigating challenging times to gain ground"

Shrugging off the disruptions of last year, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Adgully – as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour – has been presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020. 

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In conversation with Adgully, Samir Modi, Founder and Managing Director, Modicare Limited, underlines the key learnings from 2020 and how resilience and agility, coupled with empathy, will help drive organisations to achieve the kind of success they envisage for themselves. 

Outlook for 2021

While the unprecedented pandemic fuelled a series of disruptions and lockdowns, most industries and businesses grappled with the resulting economic slowdown. However, we were amongst the few that did well and overcame major roadblocks, thanks to the tremendous levels of resilience and adaptability our employees and consultants exhibited. The outlook for 2021 would entail success for organisations that remain receptive to all things new and evaluate risks well in advance. Risk evaluation and developing contingency plans for navigating challenging situations is expected to gain ground. Of course, resilience and agility, coupled with empathy, shall drive organisations to achieve the kind of success they envisage for themselves. 

Another indispensable component that would remain extremely relevant in 2021 is the spirit of organisations to walk an extra mile and tap into the pulse of their consumers. Understanding what consumers want, catering to them in tandem through increasing online access and innovative products has emerged as a significant takeaway that is here to stay. As part of adaptability, a growing number of organisations that had been following traditional business models will now need to seamlessly integrate digital to be able to stand in good stead. 

Another key aspect that shall dominate the outlook for 2021 is the need for organisations to go beyond their call of duty, be it supporting and enabling employees or creating memorable experiences that make life easierfor the customer in a challenging environment. How organisations and leadership respond to daunting roadblocks and possible crises with a creative solution-oriented approach is going to be an important success barometer. 

To summarise it, organisations with accountability and onus shall stand strong and at the crux of it will be their ability to move the needle of change within themselves before they set out to drive change across the world. We must remember that it is not the big, but the fast and the agile that will win, because at the end of the day catching up with new learnings and implementing them is the key. 

Great expectations

The massive disruptions have not only been unexpected, but they have also taken a toll on the collective psyche with lay-offs and stories of economic struggle. With uncertainty looming large, the expectation clearly revolves around acting with responsibility and staying rooted to a strong sense of purpose. Organisations will need to become more introspective and stay purpose driven, besides communicating it all with absolute transparency. 

Diversity and Inclusion is another area where organisations will have to pay special attention to, with various groups of people being enabled with a voice and presence. Lastly, organisations need to grow along with the communities in which they operate, and those that miss out on this aspect would tend to score low on the expectation scale. An increasing number of corporate citizenship initiatives have been relentlessly at work to extend support to communities in and around which they operate. With the backdrop of the current crisis, it is this compassionate spirit that is being increasingly and more frequently expected out of organisations. The new generation of millennial stakeholders are vigilant and constantly look for organisations that deliver their promises and walk the talk. And that is where the real expectation is, which needs to be paid heed to and factored in as we move ahead to create differentiators and stay relevant. If you are saying something, you need to be able to action it and believe in it all the way. Besides this, it needs to be communicated passionately and in a manner that inspires others to drivethe change that impacts and influences lives. 

Key learnings from 2020

The first key learning from 2020 was how a unifying spirit, great teamwork and motivational engagement can turn things around and make the impossible possible. When the lockdown happened, so many industries and businesses came to a standstill. For a business like ours, the challenge came up at several levels – teams across functions had to venture beyond the obvious to ensure near normal and relatively hassle-free operations. Similarly, large scale digital integration and adoption worked in a brilliant manner and helped us with widespread reach and access.

At the end of the day, it compelled us to unlearn old conditioning and learn new things on the run. If I were to attribute our success to one key learning, it would our willingness to accept a challenge and change from within, and it comes out of our driving philosophy of “Soch Badlo, Khudko Badlo, Duniya Badlo”. It was this change from within that removed all roadblocks and drove us to achieve heights we could have never imagined. So, in conclusion, 2020 was a challenging year that imparted several meaningful learnings. And more importantly, it highlighted the need to look within and change.