What a year it has been by Dato’ Munirah Looi.
Most of us were like running 6th gear to catch up with what lost in the last 2 years! Exhausting, you bet! Both mentally, physically, and emotionally!
To meet the challenges posed by the pandemic, businesses around the world had to react in agile and decisive ways. As we move into the next phase, now is the time for businesses to seek out and seize the opportunities emerging in the recovery. The challenges covered include climate change, digital disruption, diversity & inclusion, and workforce & skills – all in the context of the post-COVID-19 world.
For me, 2022 has been a great challenge whereas a leader it brought the most pressing business issues to life, how we need to rethink and reinvent our businesses to succeed, make hard decisions and be part of the solution. As businesses were moving towards recovery, much focus was on cost management, driving productivity, value-added services, and many more – this obviously had an impact on our business, and as such challenges us to stay alert, agile, and ahead of our customers’ dynamic changes and working alongside and in partnerships with them to sail through the storm!
As we wrap up the year, here are some thoughts and learnings:
#rethink – ongoing critical assessment through data and insights on lessons learned from the pandemic, and then using these to prioritize actions to enhance business value today and build strategic resilience for tomorrow is critical. With limited resources at hand, our ability to prioritize what’s most important to the business is vital for survival.
#businessresilence – There’s much uncertainty out there, many predict 2023 is not going to be a good year on many fronts, so building organizational resilience by establishing high-level resilience governance, revisiting and rethinking our crisis management response strategy, and fostering a culture of resilience is of priority. Breaking silos and working on a flat structure, allowed us to coordinate and integrate processes and actions quickly and it will continue to be a top agenda to move the organization.
The #futureofwork requires redefining how our people work in the post-pandemic world. Working models and arrangements needed to be aligned with the employees’ desires and our business goals. Much focus went into reskilling our workforce in digital and certainly a strong desire for greater inclusivity, which led us to focus much of our HR strategies on inclusivity and employee experiences
The use of #smarttechnologies to speed up business transformation within the organization. The use of AI-enabled, RPA, Omi-channel platforms, etc that offers analytics, research & marketing capabilities, and the ability to manage the full customer life cycle and experience are key considerations in any business to stay relevant.
Thinking and acting on #esg in a proactive way has lately become even more pressing. Your business, like every business, is deeply intertwined with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns. It makes sense, therefore, that a strong ESG proposition can create value
And finally, my final thought is being #grateful – I am grateful to our #strategicpartners who were there for us, always adding value to the whole decision-making process, ever supportive, and working in partnerships with the team to explore innovative options for the business. We are grateful for their listening ears and understanding too. I’m grateful to my #leadershipteam who understood the pressing matters at hand, with aligned goals & focus, we made some tough decisions and always had the laser focus execution capabilities to put actions into fruition. The commitment from our Board of Directors is another critical factor for our growth. I am grateful to my #employees who had stayed agile, and resilient & believing in us as the leadership team worked on strategies and plans with the mindset that no plan survives day one. Thank you for your ability to pivot fast when faced with obstacles. I’m grateful to all our #partners & #associates for working with us with openness and exploring ways of how we can add value to our customers. I’m grateful to all old and new #friendships who keep rooting for me! I feel blessed. Also, eternally #grateful to my family who’s always there ever supportive and cheering me on.
I’m confident 2023 while it will be challenging, the team #brandtbusinessservices #brandtfamily #brandtheroes is well poised to face it…so bring it on! We are stronger after every crisis. Life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes!
I’m not afraid of storms for I am learning to sail my ship.
Here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year 2023!
