My Mantra is to Embrace, Adapt, and Do: Sumit Sabharwal, Fujitsu

During the lockdown, people have realized their capability and skills. People are sharing their feedback and ideas that can help the organization. How open are you in include ideas given by others in the company?

We are an open-door (or these days, open virtual meeting) organisation. Diversity sparks innovation and it is the leaderships’ role to manage these innovations and views of their teams. Suggestions and innovations across verticals are taken into consideration. We recently conducted the 1st virtual Fujitsu Summer Internship Program in which 15 students from various premier Indian B-schools joined us and worked across projects in the HR, Finance, Operations and Delivery domains. The suggestions made by these interns have already been incorporated in the organisation. As mentioned, our HR-BP teams conduct regular telephonic interactions with all the workforce to understand the problems faced by them as well as the solutions that they derived on the same. Keeping pace with industry dynamism also helps in understanding the changing needs of the employees. Good organisations and leaders will always be open to ideas from others.

There are a lot of negative thoughts like fear, instability in the back of the mind subconsciously, how are you addressing that for your employees?

People are at the nucleus of all operations at Fujitsu. In uncertain times, it is only human to experience fear and anxiety. We work hard to foster a positive health culture at Fujitsu with an approach to ensure everyone’s wellbeing. Empowering colleagues to take personal accountability for their wellbeing is important and we support colleagues by providing access to several resources and initiatives throughout the year. The leadership team is always available and accessible. Through our Employee Assistance Program, we conduct regular workshops and webinars covering a wise cross-section of mental health awareness topics. We conduct regular counseling sessions via our partner agencies. Our HR-BP team prioritizes telephonic interactions with the employees to understand the issues faced by them, be it work-related or otherwise. Examples include training Line Managers on how to hold positive conversations around mental health in the workplace. Year-round awareness for the support and services is available through Employee Assistance Programme that also helps ensure our Employees have access to independent confidential support. 

We also have policies like the “Talk to a buddy” where we encourage team members to choose their buddies and create an open channel for sharing. The leadership has been influential in driving key messages across their social media handles as well. We undertook social media challenges for our employees to foster a sense of belonging and care in them. We are looking at decreasing the facetime with leadership by replacing it with fun and interactive employee engagement sessions. We are helping employees manage work-life balance by reviewing policies and fixing any potential clashes with today’s reality. 

In these times of crisis, I must say this is a Trust crisis. Do you think where leaders are making big decisions swiftly so the employees and other teammates must have some trust issues or trust deficit with the leaders?

At Fujitsu, we treat our employees like our patrons and engage with them through various forms of communication. Through learning from the power of connections, organizations can build long-lasting relationships and increase engagement across cross-functional resources within the enterprise. The real impact of these interactions is not only to drive engagement and push internal collaboration metrics but towards a much higher purpose: that of building trust.

We are proud about the high levels of trust amongst leadership and employees during this VUCA environment. There are times we disagree, but the trust factor helps us overcome it. All suggestions are welcome at Fujitsu, irrespective of vertical or horizontal placement. We have seen the bond growing stronger than ever amongst team members and empathy is evident at all levels. We have been able to ensure business continuity on the back this strong fibre of trust.

Moral support itself can do wonders. Do you think empathy would play a major role?

To me, professional empathy is about us working with transparency, commitment, and understanding. We are quickly moving towards an outcome-based environment in business, and this will remain even after this pandemic is over. As the world speaks of empathy, it is important that we set the right examples at work as well. I see the leadership and teams practicing empathy in its true essence where they are adapting to the change positively whilst also helping others to get there. To quote the famous airline pre-take off, in case oxygen masks appear, first hep yourself before assisting others. This is also important as if you do not experience something first, you are not going to be able to help others around a similar challenge. 

What would you want to say about the importance of compassion, communication, and collaboration in the new world?

Empathy, Trust and Collaboration will be the key pillars in the new normal. Open channels of communications help in creating a positive environment and an equal opportunity ecosystem for all. Increased collaboration and engagement amongst teams not only builds a great working culture, but is also known to drive productivity, increase retention rates and create a sense of purpose. Compassion, Communication and Collaboration are key elements of Fujitsu culture and it has played an important part on ensuring business outcomes and managing customer expectations. 

We all observed during this disrupted phase hierarchies were broken. Do you think it is the new style to be permanent?

We are all standing at the cusp of a work-evolution, like never before. Although this phrase has been uncertain, it has also helped break norms and keep the hierarchical clutter at bay. This phase has made it even more apparent that we are all in this together. We anticipate changes and we will have to be agile in adapting those and implementing the same, for the betterment of our employees and the brand.

What is that one advice you want to give to people who are losing their hope? 

“If you can’t fly then run if you can’t run then walk if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr

As so rightly mentioned by Martin Luther King Jr, there comes a time when we find it hard even to crawl but giving up is not an option. Just keep moving forward! For leadership, it is necessary to follow through and keep the team’s morale high. The future might seem uncertain but making efforts in the right direction today will help lay a strong foundation to managing disruptions and bolster the future. 

My mantra to regain hope is Embrace, Adapt, and Do. You are a victor even when you fail if you accept, learn, and move forward!

What is that value that is much needed in the leaders to stay relevant and efficient in the New Normal?

With what we are surrounded by right now, it is quite likely to cause mental and emotional wear. We all must stay resilient. With the panic that has struck the workforce due to these disruptions; it is now upon the leadership to truly lead with example. Leaders need to be agile, responsive, resourceful, and empathetic and ingrain the same qualities into their teams to stay resilient. Leadership must take a strategic initiative of reskilling themselves to be effective. Effective two-way communication is the key to an organization’s success and to prove the leadership mettle.