The COVID-19 pandemic has been profoundly consequential in a multitude of ways across the corporate landscape.  One of the areas promoted to the vanguard of the leadership priorities has been the effective management of the workforce that is beset with the challenges of staying afloat within the chaos created by the unwinding of conventional way of doing business in a ‘known’ world.  The emerging ‘new normal’ demands fresh thinking and innovative approaches for creating an optimum balance in the employment relationship that has been dealt crushing blows from the weakening of the psychological contracts.  A long period of uncertainty pertaining to evolving markets driven by the changing customer/client preferences, as they adapt to different lifestyles to acclimatize themselves with the omnipresent climate of the COVID-19 pandemic, has resulted in fractured organizations both functionally and humanistically.

A key way to ‘heal’ the aforementioned ‘divide’ is to methodically scrutinize the ‘ingrained practices’ that have led ‘seemingly progressive’ organizations to the brink of corporate meltdowns.  This is especially true in terms of how organizations define ‘success’ since that needs to balance the conventional coveting of ‘Rewards and Recognition’ with the enterprising munificence of inter-human connectivity based upon shared values.  Consequently, the following framework is being presented to elucidate a viable pathway for improving the prevailing DIBE (Diversity, Inclusion, Belonging and Equity) initiatives in order to strengthen the ‘jovial anchors’ for retaining the desired talent that is increasingly wavering in its commitment for staying with the same employer as the employment markets start improving and enticing opportunities beckon for making a ‘timely’ switch to more fruitful career opportunities:

GATHER
This refers to the deployment of formal and informal ways of getting data/information by assigned professionals, working with a designated senior management leader appointed by the top leadership, within the corporate hierarchy about how well are the current DIBE initiatives faring in terms of meeting their relevant objectives.  Some of the respective methods are:

• Examples of Formal Techniques

Employee Surveys, Focus Groups, Exit Interviews, Brainstorming Sessions, Performance Appraisal Meetings, Management Review Meetings, Union Grievance/Negotiation Meetings, HR Incidence/Disciplinary Reports, Industry/Competitor/Functional Benchmarking, Relevant Academic Research Review, Applicable Law Review, Workplace Improvement Methodologies, e.g., Kaizen, Quality Circles, 5S, Suggestion Schemes, etc., Individual Counseling Sessions, Key Stakeholder Formal Feedback (Customers, Suppliers, Shareholders, Peers, Colleagues, Regulators, etc.), Psychometric Testing/Employee Profiling, Sensitization Trainings, Whistleblower Hotlines, Change/Intervention/Transformation Impact Audits/Studies, e.g., Staff Reduction, Technology Incorporation, Employment Equity Studies, Organizational Justice Studies, Senior Leadership Changes, Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychologist Reports, HR Audits, Organizational Restructuring Impact Studies, Merger & Acquisition Studies, etc.

• Examples of Informal Techniques

Mentor-Mentee Engagements, Corporate Social Events, Lunch Chats, Staff Bonding Excursions, Social Media Monitoring, Random Networking, Active Grapevine Monitoring, Employee Engagement Activities, Cyber Monitoring of Office Computers, Corporate Activities Volunteering, Monitoring Support Network, Informal Feedback (Family, Friends, Acquaintances, etc.), Open Q&A Forums with Senior Management

The date/information gained from the combination of the aforementioned examples of formal and informal methods should be reviewed by the designated senior management leader, and, upon validation, forwarded to the specialized professionals within the organization.

ASSESS
This refers to the analysis of the data/information acquired from the ‘Gather’ stage by the specialized professionals with at least the following capabilities:

• Ability to assess data/information by utilizing appropriate tools and techniques
• Comprehensive knowledge of DIBE initiatives being run in the organization
• Resourcefulness in getting desired help from DIBE experts as and when required
• Strong writing skills to create a professional document that can be viewed and understood easily at the appropriate levels of corporate hierarchy
• Sound logical and reasoning skills in terms of presenting the results in a convincing manner to the designed senior management leader
• Ability to cultivate and maintain positive networks within the organization, especially, with the professionals who can provide any missing/additional data/information
• Possess a high level of Emotional Intelligence to counter any criticisms and/or blowback from the organizational grapevine
• Ability to maintain the necessary level of privacy and confidentiality in the protection of data/information/output as instructed by the designed senior management leader
• Unflinching adherence to the professional code of ethics and the core values of the organization
• Ability to remain unbiased and non-judgmental while assessing the data/information exhaustively, diligently and judiciously

Consequently, the findings from the specialized professionals should be reviewed by the designated senior management leader, who, upon validation, should prepare a report for the top leadership to engage in an honest self-reflection and facilitate appropriate corrective/preventive actions to overcome any shortcomings or further improve existing practices that are deemed to be outdated/deficient/irrelevant due to the changing industry practices/evolving professional standards/applicable laws/regulations.

REVIEW
This refers to the review of the report submitted by the designated senior management leader by the top leadership.  The respective review should be done in the presence of all the relevant functional heads, who have already been provided with a copy of the report as part of the meeting agenda, and cover at least the following aspects:

• Confirming the fulfillment of the overall objectives for the whole data/information gathering and reporting exercise pertaining to improvement of DIBE initiatives
• Verification of the authenticity, impartiality, validity, feasibility and robustness of the results/conclusions/recommendations provided in the report
• Assuring the alignment of the strategic imperatives with the insightful and collaborative findings of the report
• Ensuring that the rights of all the stakeholders are secured in an equitable manner
• Feedback from the relevant functional heads in terms of the shortcomings and/or improvement areas identified in the report
• Authorizing an organization-wide experimentation, with relevant human and other resources, of the recommendations for getting practical feedback for any subsequent adjustments before the ‘actual’ implementation

The minutes of the aforementioned review should be circulated among all the participants with appropriate timelines and responsibilities for actionable items.  Tentative date for the next management review should also be included by allowing some ‘slack time’ for any unforeseen contingencies.

EXPERIMENT
This refers to the application of recommendations in the report by the designated senior management leader and his/her team on an experimental basis by utilizing approved resources.  It should be conducted in close collaboration with the relevant functional heads.  As a matter of good practice, employees should be generally informed of such initiatives in advance by the HR function that certain policies/procedures/practices are being conducted experimentally to assure/ensure their ‘on-ground’ efficacy.  The assigned professionals carrying out the experimentation should have at least the following capabilities:

• Sound understanding of the report recommendations and their assigned role in the experimentation exercise
• Resourcefulness in getting desired help for experimentation from relevant personnel within the organization
• Strong writing skills to create a professional document relating to the findings of the experimental exercise that can be viewed and understood easily by the designated senior management leader
• Possess a high level of Emotional Intelligence to counter any criticisms and/or blowback from the organizational grapevine
• Ability to maintain the necessary level of privacy and confidentiality in securing the findings of the experimental exercise as instructed by the designed senior management leader
• Unflinching adherence to the professional code of ethics and the core values of the organization
• Ability to remain within the defined parameters of the assigned role in an unbiased and non-judgmental manner

The results from the experimentation exercise should be compiled by the designated senior management leader and presented in the next scheduled review for appropriate scrutiny and the ‘finalization’ of ‘approved’ measures by the top leadership that can be formally implemented by the relevant functional heads within the organization.

APPLY
This refers to the implementation of the ‘approved’ measures throughout the organization by the relevant functional heads.  Care needs to be taken that all the online/offline remnants of the previous policies/procedures/practices need to be completely removed from the pertinent operational areas and replaced with the new directives in order to avoid rampant confusion, unintentional errors and/or the chance of duplicity by the ‘disadvantaged’ segment of the workforce smoldering over the lost ‘unfairly privileged’ status.  A good way of assuring a prudent implementation of the ‘approved’ measures is to hold online and/or face-to-face Q&A forums with the employees to provide clear information, gain ‘ground’ support, and remove any ambiguities in intent and implementation.  Such an initiative will also serve as an effective buffer against the misinformation that is often floated through the grapevine.

It is critical that consistent monitoring be done by the relevant functional heads in terms of ensuring an effective implementation of the ‘approved’ measures to achieve the overall objectives in congruence with the strategic imperatives.  One of the ways to boost the quality of monitoring can be done by appointing trustworthy and capable ‘DIBE Ambassadors’ within the functions to act as ‘eyes and ears’ for the relevant functional heads, especially, in terms of taking proactive actions in case of internal discord/discontent.  Any genuine misgivings in the respect context, especially, with organization-wide implications, can also become ‘nutritional fodder’ for future improvement initiatives.

LEVERAGE
This refers to the astute utilization of key stakeholders by the top leadership in promoting, cementing and institutionalizing the implemented DIBE measures successfully throughout the organization.  Such an approach would entail creating a strong ‘buy-in’ from the influential members of the workforce, e.g., widely respected opinion leaders, union stalwarts, astute powerbrokers, etc., by upholding the principles of HITAR (Honesty, Integrity, Transparency, Accountability and Reliability) as a ‘role model’ in the professional execution of relevant responsibilities and maintaining communication channels that can ‘bear’ constructive criticisms and forge robust partnerships.

Additionally, the vibrant ecosystem of the organization can also be productively engaged in the respective context, e.g., community leaders, industry regulators, citizen activists, corporate watchdogs, responsible competitors, professional associations, benchmarked organizations, best practice experts, organizational researchers, etc., in fruitfully achieving the desired goals of improving DIBE initiatives.  This can not only be a big asset in terms of thriving during the ‘boom’ times, but also, be a source of sustenance during the ‘gloom’ times, e.g., as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aforementioned framework has been designed to facilitate progressive organizations in overcoming the challenges associated with managing a jittery workforce during turbulent economic times, akin to the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effective and efficient manner.  It is flexible in its application to any size and type of an organization, yet, firm in its propounded guiding principles for achieving the desired ‘humanistic’ objectives.  Will you commit?