Resilience @ Work by Godrej

THE HOUSE MAGAZINE OF GODREJ & BOYCE VOL 20-21 FEB 2021

RESILIENCE @ WORK FOCUS

Gearing Up to Fight the Pandemic

Speed of Trust at Work

Resilient Manufacturing at Godrej Interio

Stronger Focus on Tier II & III Towns

No part of the magazine can be reproduced in any form without due permission of the editor. Read the magazine online anytime at www.change.godrej.com Mail your contributions, suggestions and feedback to: The Editor, Plant 12, 2nd Floor Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. Pirojshanagar, Vikhroli (W) Mumbai 400079, India or email us at change@godrej.com Published by Indrapal Singh on behalf of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. Designed by Design Stack

THE HOUSE MAGAZINE OF GODREJ & BOYCE VOL 20-21 FEB 2021

Exploit The Crisis! The ability to respond quickly is a part of operational resilience and responding to broader threats counts for strategic resilience. For both, humility and awareness are vital. Indrapal Singh Editor

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus, rather sharply, the virtue of resilience as it applies to individuals and businesses. Resilience is vital for recovery in the short term and for emerging stronger in the midterm, i.e. two to three years. In the short term, the challenge is to have enough cash to resume, run operations and kick-start the process of ramping up the revenue for planned growth. However, in the midterm, the businesses will have to reset themselves to emerge well-poised for facing the future. In practical terms, this means lowering of break-even points of businesses to the levels that can withstand a revenue drop of 25-30%. Also, it means launching a slew of new products to meet the ever-changing consumer needs, tapping new markets (especially abroad), embracing new technologies, particularly digital, to drive

operational efficiencies to the next level. And above all, it also means managing people more thoughtfully for higher engagement and productivity. All this certainly is not easy, but the beginnings must be made now. In this edition of CHANGE, we have quite a few articles that narrate how our businesses have coped with the pandemic until now and are constantly innovating better ways to face the new challenges. We have many case studies that point to the kind of initiatives that need to be taken widely and vigorously to reshape the businesses for better growth and profitability. It is widely accepted that working from home can be highly stressful. To cope with this stress and become resilient, we have included many articles that can be useful for our mental and physical well-being. Quite often, measures like making small changes

TEAM

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Gillian Dennett

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Edit Board

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in the long-established habits, pursuing hobbies, boosting spiritual quotient and reaching out for help can do wonders. The content of this CHANGE is meant to trigger and strengthen optimism among Godrejites to strive to create a brighter future. But to make that happen, we need to act in unison and do whatever is required to be done, in a smarter way. Also, let us be ready with our answers as to how we have exploited the pandemic to become better + faster, both as individuals and in business. Happy Reading!

Contents FOCUS

Resilient Manufacturing at Godrej Interio

Stronger Focus on Tier II and III Towns

Loosely coupled sub-systems are invariably more resilient than the rigidly connected ones.

The unfolding “India story” belongs essentially to the towns that are beyond the metros.

Gearing Up To Fight The Pandemic

Speed of Trust at Work

To alleviate pain around us, we took risks and resumed production of hospital equipment.

The Story of Development and Production of Ventilator Valves.

INSIGHT

04 From Despair to Hope

Let’s Build Resilience

Developing Sustainable Competitive Advantage

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Building Robust Supply Chains

The Two Pillars of Resilience

Becoming Financially Resilient - Asset Allocation

Step In First & Then Step Out For Forging A Lasting Relationship

PERSPECTIVE

12 The Stockdale Paradox The desired outcomes are possible only if we confront reality well enough.

Developing Resilience: A Spiritual Approach The art and science of living fully. SUCCESS STORIES

PERSPECTIVE 60

HIIT, A Short and Effective Route To Fitness

Emotional Resilience: What is it & why is it important?

70 80

Leading from Darkness to Light: Digitalising Education Reigning in Resilience for a Brighter Tomorrow

INSIDE G&B

Remote Assist

Corona Chronicles

58 Dimension: Building Self Immunity Letting the simplicity of things belie their profundity; breathing is a case in point. LAUNCH PAD

BOOKMARK 32

The Toyota Story

The Hugging Tree 84 - By Jill Neimark

20 Excellence Delivered By Godrej Tooling

INSIDE G&B

LAUNCH PAD

Engaging With Key Stakeholders in a Pandemic World

My Reflections on “Working from Home”

Viroshield 4.0 From Godrej Appliances

Building Capabilities of Mid Level Managers

Fighting the Odds: Prayers & Positivity

U&Us Home Design Studio Awarded a Trademark

My Reflections on “Working from Home”

An Oasis of Wilderness

Making Work From Home Work

India Moving With Every Migrant

FOCUS INSIGHT

From Despair to Hope Developing Sustainable Competitive Advantage J. Nirdosh Reddy, Anaar

Culture is how the leadership team and all employees view their work, each other, their customers and their suppliers. As of now, work culture has emerged as the primary differentiator between the winners and the rest.

We are in the midst of an economic downturn – worldwide. The current pandemic is impacting businesses differently – airlines, restaurants and travel-related businesses are devastated for no fault of theirs, while businesses that facilitate working remotely have benefited immensely. Most other businesses are victims of the overall economic slowdown and changing workplace environment. The outlook appears indeed bleak, and despair hangs in the air!

Adversity focuses our minds When we are in growth mode, many inefficiencies tend to be overlooked. As we continue to grow in spite of our inefficiencies, we get used to them and accept them as inevitable. However, when we hit a bump, we are jolted; we are awakened. Adversity focuses our minds. We begin to question our practices, assumptions and mindsets.

When the instinct to survive grips our minds, we are more inclined to accept change or radical change i.e. transformation. How do we become competitiveregionally and globally? After improving, how do we prevent sliding back into old habits? How do we sustain our competitive advantage?

Gap between intrinsic and realized competitiveness What are your sources of competitiveness? Technology? People? Strategy? Or something else? Until recently, we would have said that technology is the differentiator. While any enterprise’s intrinsic competitiveness is determined by its technology, human resource capabilities and its overall strategy of product and service offerings, it is not always realized.

There exists a gap – between what an organization is capable of delivering and what it actually delivers. History has shown that - given similar resources and strategy – some enterprises outperform others. Why? Conventional management concepts and practices were upended by the teachings of Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He aroused in leaders a keener awareness of how to more fully utilize the potential of all employees, rather than a select few, and thus unearth into the vast untapped potential of their employees. His teachings paved the way for the emergence of a new management style which added culture as the 5th factor to the 4 M’s of management – Man, Machines, Materials and Methods – that determine an organization’s output.

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INSIGHT

Culture - the differentiator Culture is how the leadership team and all employees view their work, each other, their customers and their suppliers. Emerging work culture differs from the conventional culture as shown below. Work culture has emerged as the primary differentiator between the winners and the rest.

Conventional Work Culture » » » » »

Inward focus Compartmentalization / Silos Reductionist thinking / Taylorism Divide and control Task-driven / Manage people

Emerging Work Culture » » » » »

Customer focus Holistic approach / no silos Integration / Systems approach Unite and inspire / Teamwork Manage processes through people

In his book “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Inside IBM’s Historic Turnaround”, Louis V. Gerstner, the CEO of IBM, describes how he transformed the technology giant. He says – Culture is everything. A decade ago, Alan Mulally transformed the work culture of Ford Motor Company to ‘One Ford’ mindset. Ford is the only large American automotive company to survive the Great Recession of 2008. GM and Chrysler went bankrupt and reorganized with government assistance.

More recently, at Microsoft, Satya Nadella is transforming the enterprise’s work culture. In his book “Hit Refresh - The quest to rediscover Microsoft’s soul and imagine a better future for everyone”, he says that the transformation of the culture is still underway. Under his leadership, the performance of the organization improved dramatically – profits more than doubled, stock price has gone up by over 400% in about 6 years.

Assess your work culture One way to get an idea of the current work culture is to assess your management practices. How well are the following six guiding principles that are derived from Dr. Deming’s teachings implemented at your workplace? » Salaries are paid by satisfied customers » Results come from processes » Continually improve processes » Manage with facts, not opinions » Management must establish priorities » Involve everyone through teamwork As you go through your self-assessment, keep in mind that: » Many of these phrases have become buzzwords » Familiarity is not the same as in-depth understanding » Merely ‘knowing’ is not the same as implementation You might be surprised to find that many guiding principles are only getting superficial support. Typical assessment results might be as indicated by the diagram.

Change your management practices – the second wing As a bird needs two wings to soar high, enterprises need two wings – mindset and management practices – to sustain competitiveness. Your mindset might have already changed. Now make the second wing equally strong. » Manage processes, not people – when things go wrong, ask where processes are breaking down, not who did it. » Promote and reward holistic thinking – get every employee to ask ‘what is good for the enterprise’, not ‘what is good for my group’ » Empower and motivate, not disable and demotivate – encourage all employees to apply their minds, not merely their hands. » Create winners, not losers – a leader with high self-esteem develops winners, a boss with a huge ego derides his subordinates, destroys their self-esteem and makes them losers. » Review processes regularly – remember that what gets reviewed gets done. With the advent of digital revolution, it has become much easier to adopt newer practices. Web APRS is a digital tool that helps you transform to the emerging culture. As you put the above practices in place, the performance of the enterprise improves steadily, as shown by the blue diagram. You will be moving in an upward trajectory, with minimal sliding back, and will be on your way to developing a sustainable competitive advantage.

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Conclusion If the leadership of an enterprise believes in the Pygmalion effect, it will change its management practices to: » Unite and inspire employees to think about its enterprise as ‘One entity’ » Manage processes rather than manage people » Embrace digital technology to address remote-working business reality » Encourage and allow employees to use their minds in addition to their muscles Despair transforms into hope!

FOCUS

Resilient Manufacturing at Godrej Interio Loosely coupled sub-systems are invariably more resilient than the rigidly connected ones. Zurvan Marolia, Godrej Interio

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The first virtual GMC was held days before the lockdown where three priorities were clearly laid down to guide us during the ensuing pandemic. People and their safety first, strong financials second, and healthy revenue generation, the third. Knowing our values, these priorities weren’t a surprise to us at all. The lockdown began from 21st March 2020, and in a few days, plants were shut completely. We at Interio saw our Healthcare Furniture line of business (LOB) as an opportunity to meet an emerging burgeoning need where the Government would require all possible support. Thus, began our effort to obtain the necessary permissions to start our plant with strictly defined restrictions and conditions. Operations restarted on 2nd April 2020 with a maximum permitted strength of 100 employees. Getting permission was the easier part, but we had to address the apprehensions as families were reluctant to let their bread -earners put themselves at risk. With much involvement of Godrej & Boyce Shramik Sangh, Corporate P&A and our Plant Management, a team of about 100 workmen, residing in the colony and in nearby areas were called to work. No effort was spared in allaying the fears through reassuring communication as well as visible actions - such as enhanced levels of hygiene, sanitisation and safe working SOPs which included the practice of social distancing as well as personal hygiene.

Keeping in mind the rapid spread of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, we were advised to focus on starting and maximising operations in Khalapur. A team from Pirojshanagar was put together for Khalapur.

We took an out of the box decision to have a “working quarantine” where the team would live in the hitherto unoccupied office block. Overnight, a dormitory with all hygiene requirements was put in place. A great idea, but Murphy struck…. one of the team members started displaying symptoms on the 12th day and tested positive! This prompted us to test all 75 persons working on site. The result was a bit of a shock with 34 positive cases out of 75, most of which were asymptomatic. It is in such moments of crisis that our “People first” policy kicked in, and we promptly hospitalized all the positive cases. Those who hadn’t tested positive were isolated in a building near Godrej Memorial Hospital (GMH) on the station side. The GMH team provided all the required medical support as well as meals and other essentials. This truly raised the morale and resilience of our team and there wasn’t any reluctance in the team to return to Khalapur when operations resumed a month later.

The sentiment of service to the nation was extremely heart-warming and it became a driver. This sentiment was expressed very well by a retiring workman who at his retirement function shared that as a young boy, he had dreamt of joining the army to serve the nation - now he was retiring with the satisfaction of a dream fulfilled. As the pandemic raged on, the demand for hospital beds rose significantly. The demand outstripped planned capacity many times over, which required us to reskill some of the available workforce to be able to produce more each day. The Manufacturing Council provided an ideal platform for our businesses to share resources as Interio got welders in from Process Equipment, Precision Engineering Systems and Security Solutions businesses for bridging the gap in the availability until their respective operations were permitted to commence production.

The pandemic changed customers’ priorities and the need of the hour was to understand the customers’ needs and expectations.

FOCUS

As more and more plants were permitted to start operations, so were our plants at the Shirwal and Uttarakhand locations. Interio made a pitch to the various local authorities to consider our products as contributors in the fight against Covid, be it in the area of Healthcare Furniture, Laboratory Furniture or Work-From-Home Furniture. Thus began Interio’s manufacturing operations during the pandemic where its inherent resilience manifested impressively.

For us, it has been “annus mirabilis” (a remarkable year) as it has taught us many lessons to help us emerge stronger and wiser.

Today, all Interio Plants are operating at nearly full capacity and hungry for more orders! With the supply side now strengthened, our focus turned to generating demand in the market where the customers’ disposable incomes had been affected, and buying a product like furniture was considered a discretionary spend. The pandemic changed customers’ priorities and the need of the hour was to understand the customers’ needs and expectations if we were to be able to retain our share of the customers’ wallet. After all, it is our customers who finance our operations! Interio went about reviewing the market segments to determine how each had been affected by the pandemic, and how changed priorities had affected the requirements of each of them. We quickly realised that the demand for Healthcare Furniture and Laboratory Furniture would be far greater than planned, so we went about enhancing capacity in both these LOBs starting with our supplier-partner base, from basic raw materials, to overseas suppliers of actuators for the motorised beds as well as valves and faucets for laboratory furniture.

SME supplier-partners being the weakest link, determined the resilience of our supply chain. Hence, strengthening this link became an area of focus for the Product Supply Group (PSG) to build the reliability of our supply commitments. In response to the feedback from a study, prior to the pandemic, Interio had initiated an exercise to review the “PriceValue Equation” for our products. The study had revealed that; » Though our products were seen as durable, the durability was seen to be higher than what the customer is willing

to pay for – the perceived value for the higher durability offered fell short of the price demanded. » Our “entry level” products were found to be of a higher price than that of the alternatives, as a result of which we were losing a chunk of business from entry level seekers who would aspire to own the Godrej Brand if it were priced suitably. This led to two projects being undertaken, one for Panel Furniture and the other for Sofas. This included an in-depth review of manufacturing processes, material specifications and costing based on benchmarking to

improve the competitiveness of these product categories. The findings were horizontally deployed across various product families for optimum benefits. The exercise also led to the launch of the “Essential Range” which received an excellent response from the market. The success of the first round of this project led us to a similar exercise for Healthcare Furniture, which resulted in improved price realisation for this fast-growing market segment with a high potential. Additionally, it led to the development of an innovative, manually operated hospital bed which can be motorised later as a retrofit.

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Working from home opened up the demand for a new range of ergonomic furniture suitable for multipurpose use by customers. These included versatile folding tables and comfortable work-chairs which added to our range and became high-selling products during the lean pre-festival months. Despite furniture being high touch-andfeel category, E-Commerce has found greater acceptance. Our sales through this channel have grown ten times due to the shift in the buying habits of customers. As a result, we have reconfigured our inventory management model to ensure that delivery times demanded by these customers are met.

The absorption of virtual meetings as a norm is another “gift” of the pandemic, which has brought better teamwork particularly for a multilocation business like Godrej Interio. Looking back at 2020, some may refer to it as “annus horribilis” (a year of horrible misfortune), but that, we believe, is a pessimistic point of view. For us, it has been “annus mirabilis” (a remarkable year) as it has taught us many lessons to help us emerge stronger and wiser.

Previous page: Robots at work to deliver consistent quality and productivity. Left page (Top) - Mattress manufacturing at Haridwar. (Bottom) - Flexible punching line for “Batch size of One”, critical for customized projects. Right page (Top) - A bird’s eye view of Interio’s Plants at Khalapur. (Bottom Left) - Advanced Welding stations for Open Plan Office System. (Bottom Right) - Spot welding cell.

FOCUS PERSPECTIVE

The Stockdale Paradox The desired outcomes are possible only if we confront reality well enough.

As we navigate the pandemic of COVID19, we are incessantly searching for the means which if adopted, would allow us to sail through the pandemic with fewer, milder bruises and perhaps bounce back, fitter and stronger. Our search for the right means, often leads us to receiving advice that tells us to cultivate a positive mindset, spread positivity, do our best and everything will work out as hoped for. It is obvious that this kind of thinking is heavily influenced by the optimism bias that is commonly found among individuals, leadership of businesses, governments and others during the times of crisis. This kind of unbridled optimism is clearly not desirable as it could prove harmful if not outrightly dangerous. As we know, false hopes and blind optimism result in a sense of complacency and debilitating inertia in the face of harsh reality. A point of view that contradicts what ardent optimists would like to believe is known as the Stockdale Paradox, which was brought into the mainstream leadership thought by Jim Collins through his widely admired book Good to Great of two decades, vintage.

The Stockdale Paradox is a concept which is perplexing at a first glance as it involves overcoming linguistic difficulty for grasping it fully. This is so as all paradoxes have a built in contradiction against commonly believed to be true sayings and maxims. Hence, paradoxes are best understood through experience only.

SUCCESS

Indrapal Singh

DESPAIR

DELUSION

OPTIMISM

What is the Stockdale Paradox? Admiral James Stockdale, in his interview with Jim Collins explained the paradox as “You must never confuse the faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” Admiral Stockdale was one of the highest-ranking US Naval officers during the long Vietnam war. He was held captive as a prisoner of war for over 7 years and was repeatedly tortured in those horrific years. He had no reason to believe that he would make it alive. Held captive, in the grim hellish world, he found a way to stay alive by em-

bracing simultaneously both the harshness of his situation and healthy optimism. He successfully balanced the both and survived. Coming back to his interview with Jim Collins, when asked, who did not survive, he replied, “Oh that’s easy”. He said. “The Optimists”. “The optimists? I don’t understand”, I said completely confused. “The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, “We are going to be out by Christmas”. Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they would say they would be out by Easter. Easter would come and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving. And then it would be Christmas again. Soon after, they died of a broken heart.

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How does the Stockdale Paradox apply in our lives? All of us want to be happy and successful having achieved something , no matter how small or trivial. We want things to work out for ourselves. However, reaching the desired level of accomplishment isn’t going to come by positive visualisation alone. This kind of an easy way out makes us feel good and that is why so many of us like to listen to the secrets of success thrown at us endlessly by motivational gurus, promising us that the world will be ours if only we just learn to change our way of thinking. In real life, sadly, this is not the case. It has been found repeatedly that confronting the entirety of our situation is instrumental for success. No doubt there is a bit of positive visualisation in there, but it needs to be counterbalanced with a sobering thought that you can fail miserably! And yet, you don’t have to lose faith, your wildest dreams just might come true. This is how the paradox comes into play. It is not about choosing one side or the other, it is about learning to embrace a set of thoughts in opposition to each other, simultaneously, and realise deep within that they both are interconnected and essential. In businesses, the paradox is highly useful, particularly when the businesses are facing hardships as they are now in the pandemic.

In businesses, the paradox is highly useful, particularly when the businesses are facing hardships as they are now in the pandemic.

At the higher levels of leadership, the duality contained in the paradox helps stay strong against the onslaught of challenges that may hit the business. The realism exhorted in the paradox helps businesses stay firmly grounded and the optimism contained therein spurs them to shape up, drive improvements and push innovation, which may completely alter the direction of the business as it goes forward. The adopting of the paradox helps in

avoiding the pitfalls of believing naively into something that is not likely to happen. The paradox is a powerful mechanism to stay grounded and believe that you can overcome difficulties, while at the same time, you are confronting the most brutal facts of your current reality. Most of the times, the leaders go soft in confronting the reality, which invites disastrous outcomes. The successful tackling of the built-in contradiction of the paradox makes individuals and businesses cultivate an attitude and confidence to say, “I will prevail, though I’m in a tough spot.” This is how resilience can be cultivated by harnessing optimism in the face of grim reality.

FOCUS

Stronger Focus on Tier II and III Towns The unfolding “India story” belongs essentially to the towns that are beyond metros. Sanjeev Jain

It is widely believed that Covid -19 has greatly accelerated most of the trends that have been amidst us. This observation applies to the business potential of Tier II, III and smaller towns. The contribution of these towns to industry potential has risen to 70% from 56%, over the last three years. Tier II cities like Jaipur, Patna, Indore and Surat have recorded an economic growth of over 40% recently, making them attractive markets. Also, as the cost of living in these towns is lower than that of metros, consumers have higher disposable income for spending on buying appliances to enhance their comfort of living and reducing the effort required for performing daily household chores. The Government is also focussing on the economic growth of smaller cities and towns. In addition to undertaking projects of infra-

structure development and connectivity, the Government has launched an array of schemes to boost the economy of Tier II, III and rural India. Improved performance of agricultural sector is also helping in the generation of demand for appliances in these towns. These positive trends are supported by several supporting factors.

A recent survey found that the demand for housing in Tier II and III towns has received a boost from the reverse migration of people from metros. Another survey found that consumer sentiment in these towns is showing strong signs

of revival which is opposite to the prevailing sentiment in the larger cities which are reeling under economic uncertainty.

The same survey also finds that 33% more people are going to markets for shopping essentials as compared to metros and Tier I cities. Also, more than 40% of the respondents stated that their incomes have remained unchanged despite Covid -19. These positive developments are strongly supported by two significant shifts in the behaviours of consumers in Tier II and III towns. They are now far more open to buying new

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but relevant products to improve their quality of life. Also, the consumers are ready to embrace new ways of acquiring products and services, particularly those involving the internet. The consumers in these towns are rapidly adopting new technologies than before. This trend is facilitated by the ever-increasing penetration of smart phones across all socioeconomic classes. Easy availability of consumer and trade finance is yet another factor for the purchase of household appliances. In view of the above, it is desirable for the overall higher growth of the economy to shift the focus away from the metros which in any case are hugely burdened by the pressures on space, time and infrastructure.

Godrej Appliances has intensified their focus on Tier II and III and smaller towns by undertaking several initiatives to exploit the potential of these towns. These are:

2x increase in Reach: The shifting contours and scope of opportunity makes it crucial to amplify the reach. In the first wave of the initiative, the retailer base has been increased to 12000 plus and it is slated to rise further by another 9000+ retailers in FY ’20-21. This increase will bring our retail network on par with the largest in the industry.

Additional Exclusive Retail Outlets: We have established 400 Preferred Brand Outlets (PBOs) in 220+ districts over and above our strategically located 100+ Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs) in Tier III and IV towns. We plan to extend this network significantly in the coming year.

Upgrading of AC retailers: To boost brand share at the counter, some of our key retailers are designated as Chief Cooling Officers (CCOs) and many of their stores have been converted into Green AC Hubs (GACH) to enhance consumer experience. We also have 500+ PBOs doubling as GACHs in 250+ districts across the country.

Launch of New High-Volume Products: New high-volume mass models in direct cool and semi-automatic categories are launched during the lockdown specifically to cater to the augmented retail network.

Tier II cities like Jaipur, Patna, Indore and Surat have recorded an economic growth of over 40% recently, making them attractive markets.

FOCUS

Over and above these initiatives, we are establishing a strong digital presence via conventional means like websites, e-stores and presence on e-commerce sites. Sharing engaging content on social media platforms continues. We are now exploring new age digital avenues to connect better with consumers in tier II and III towns.

More than 40% of the respondents stated that their incomes have remained unchanged despite Covid-19.

We recently took some important digitally driven measures to tap into this pool of potential customers such as;

Helping our 25000+ offline retailers in creating a Facebook Business Page, with 13000+ already on board and counting.

Registering our exclusive outlets on e-commerce platforms like Amazon to leverage its reach to consumers in tier III and IV towns so that our EBOs can get more business from the online space.

Helping retailers with other platforms like Google My Business to make them easily discoverable by a larger number of consumers.

Training retailers and shop floor staff to connect with potential consumers through the new video-assisted remote selling initiative. The consumers are given an option to schedule a live demo via a video call. This is followed by the offer of multiple payment options. All these without having the consumer out of his comfort of home.

Getting our retailers on – Benow platform which offers end to end solutions from cataloguing to payment facility, or PineLabs epos, which enables customers to make payments via modes like UPI, QR code, cards, net banking, payment wallets, and the like.

Adopting Kaizala App for connecting with retailers directly for communicating new schemes, consumer promotions and offers.

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Overall, the endeavour has been to digitalize the operations of our sales network to serve consumers better, even in the remote areas of the country. We are confident that this transformation of our sales network will go a long way in helping us realise our mission of being among the top three in the industry.

SUCCESS STORIES

Remote Assist An Initiative for Customer Safety and Delight Ravi Bhat, Godrej Appliances.

Over the last two years, Godrej Appliance (GA) Service has achieved the coveted position of being the best service provider in the Appliance industry in India. We were well on the path of progress with continuous improvement at all customer touch points. Then, in mid-March, the Covid-19 pandemic hit us. We suddenly found ourselves reeling under the lockdown conditions. The ‘world of customer service’ suddenly changed from being stable and predictable to chaotic and totally unpredictable, with a plethora of unknowns thrown in. By the third week of March, as the lockdown continued, we found ourselves deep into the storm. As you know, the summer months (March to June) are the peak months both for the business and requests for service. High ambient temperatures make our customers restless and demand that appliances bought by them function continuously and flawlessly to meet their cooling requirements. The lockdown meant that our customers could not contact us as all call centres were closed. The field engineers could not make service calls due to the stringent lockdown conditions. Our distribution centres were unable to supply spares as they were shut, and transport was not available.

Our service operations were completely paralysed with the closure of the call centres, service centres, branch offices and warehouses. Men and materials simply could not move. This all-around stoppage combined with the

exigencies of the peak season led to accumulation of about 25000 service calls in a matter of weeks. The key concern was how to cope with this huge pendency of service calls. Frankly, the service team was scared and worried with no actionable solutions in sight. To find the way out, our service team assembled and brainstormed extensively. At the end of the exercise, our team shortlisted many options, but after much deliberation, honed onto two critical actions to be taken immediately. The first action to be taken was to somehow open up the connect centres as quickly as possible by doing whatever it may take. The second action was to create an infrastructure for providing online assistance for the calls already booked. This meant that we had to create a new capability and also adequate capacity to serve if not all, then atleast a large percentage of pending service requests online. The reasons for the first critical action were our keen desires to connect our customers and assuage their anxieties in these stressful times. We wanted to know their concerns and assure assistance as soon as possible.

We believe our decision was bold, innovative, as well as the first in the industry. This was a unique decision as other leading players in the industry could not think of a solution of this nature and had kept their service operations completely shut for a couple of months. We also believe our solution to serve our customers online and enable them to adopt ‘Do It Yourself’ mode to solve the problems

faced by them was also the first and unique in the industry. A DIY approach has never been experimented with to solve on a large scale the issues faced by the customers.

This innovative approach succeeded very well in these trying times and we have the testimony of more than 2000 customers to prove it. Our customers shared their experience and the kudos for the brand on various social media platforms, GA’s Facebook page, Twitter handle and the others. Coming to the brass tacks, let me confess that it was not easy to implement the vital decisions taken by the team. To move in the direction of solutions, we took immediate actions, in the fourth week of March itself. We decided to shift call center operations to work from home (WFH) mode and engaged a group of 15 operators. They were given a crash course in handling customer calls which involve some technical knowledge as well as social skills. We kept expanding this team of operators and in a months’ time we had 100+ operators engaging with our customers all over the country. We activated IVR Services as an alternate channel to help our customers book their service calls. Customers were also informed to avail of call booking services on a web page, our mobile app and the e-mail ID. Adopting these multiple channels reduced the waiting time for booking service calls resulting in lowering of frustration and irritation experienced because of the delays. Having streamlined the channels of com-

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The lockdown has helped us boost our customer relations in these difficult times and can be surmised from huge number of customer appreciations received. munication, we had to develop teams of technicians and executives who could assist customers online to a video call or a video shared online to resolve many issues by customers themselves. As our customer connect centres were under lockdown, our people began offering online assistance by WFH. Our trainers at head office and branches took up the onerous task of imparting training almost 24/7 to the technicians and executives in the first phase of the initiative. In the following phases, buddy technicians were activated with supporting videos , FAQs and other aids. In some cases, our trainers connected directly with the customers to solve the problems. Kudos to this entire team for their exceptional efforts and outcomes.

The Way forward

The Remote Assist initiative has made visible several new ways by which improved customer service can be rendered in post Covid 19 times. It has unearthed opportunities and capabilities that have been lying dormant and buried in the system and could be put to use effectively using our vast experience, the mindset customer centricity and contemporary digital technology and tools.

» We are planning to enlarge the scope of Remote Assist initiative to a new level. » All request for demos will be routed through the Remote Assist. » DIY / Self-help calls will be handled by WhatsApp Enabled chat bots in a contactless manner. » Establishing a dedicated help desk at our call centers for addressing smaller issues.

Our Remote Assist initiative tested the depth of our preparedness and capabilities in the stormy conditions of the pandemic. We are glad to share that our teams across the country responded with remarkable clar-

ity and strength. This has given us the confidence that no matter what the challenge, we are capable of retaining the coveted position of being the best service provider in the industry. The lockdown has helped us boost our customer intimacy in the difficult times as can be surmised from the huge number of customer appreciations received. We intend to integrate the learnings in our processes and systems to make them more effective in the post Covid times. This will help us serve our customers faster, better, and at a lower cost. ‘To Serve’ is the core value of G&B and we at Godrej Appliances want to work passionately to live up to the promise made in its true sense.

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E XCE LLE N C E D ELI V E RE D BY GODREJ TOOLING Deep expertise that comes from experience always counts the most. Godrej tooling has always been associated with prestigious automotive OEMs to meet their varied and complex needs primarily for their new product development programs. The solutions offered by us comprise sheet metal and die casting dies for manufacturing the parts of cars, motorcycles, scooters and commercial vehicles. The parts of automotive vehicles are of both sheet metal and plastic. In case of cars, these parts are divided into four categories; A, B, C and D. A category parts are outer body and large inner panels which are complex and challenging to make. Further, these sheet metal parts are commonly called Body in White (BIW) parts. Godrej Tooling specialises in providing solutions for these and other complex parts. Our association with Honda Motors spans over two decades. All along we have been partnering them in the design and development phases of various models to ensure that our tools meet their critical specifications of part yield, accuracy and strokes. Today, we are proud that we have built our capabilities to match the exacting standards demanded by Honda Motors. This journey has not been easy as it involved meeting high technical standards, continuous improvement of our processes and yet remaining competitive to win business repeatedly. For e.g., we have supplied tooling for the floor of several previous models of the Honda City. Adding a feather to our cap, this

is the latest association with Honda Motors for the new City launched in July 2020. For this much-raved about fifth generation Honda City, we have supplied tools for A category parts covering the entire length of the vehicle between the front floor to the rear floor of the body. As this part is mounted below the rear seat, the part must have the necessary depth to accommodate the spare wheel. Hence, the tool construction becomes complex as it involves cutting, flanging and draw processes. It is here where deep expertise of Godrej Tooling comes into play. “Honda has been our key account ever since they set up operations in India. Today, we are proud to state that Godrej Tooling is a preferred partner of both Honda Motors and Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Ltd (HMSI) for their most complex tooling requirements. It is very gratifying to be a partner of the iconic Honda which sets new benchmarks with every new product launched.” - D.K. Sharma Over the past several decades, we have also deployed our proven capabilities to meet the needs of other leading OEMs like Maruti, Toyota, Mahindra&Mahindra, Tata Motors, to name a few. At Godrej Tooling, we are proud to be the preferred partners for all major automotive players – A testimony to our design excellence, workmanship and track record. CHANGE congratulates Team Godrej Tooling for this consistent achievement.

INSIGHT

Let’s Build Resilience “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Shyam Motwani, Locks and Architectural fittings & systems

These are indeed extraordinary times, my friends. The Covid-19 pandemic is unlike anything that this generation of mankind has experienced. The pandemic has had a massive economic, social and cultural impact, with entire nations, economies and industries feeling its effects. But amidst all the negativity and gloom, I would like to offer an old saying that has always inspired me and I’m sure it has inspired men and women everywhere when they have faced a difficult challenge. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”. I believe that the toughest moments bring out the best in us. In fact, when the challenge seems impossible, individuals find that extra ounce of courage and strength in their hearts, and against all odds, manage to conquer it. Make no mistake - the pandemic

is the biggest and undeniably a defining challenge of our times today. To get going when it’s tougher than ever before, we must think, plan and act like unbeatable champions.

At Godrej Locks, our motto is ‘Building Resilience’. Resilience as a company, as a business and as a collection of professionals; resilience to spring back in the pandemic period as well as spring forth in the post-pandemic period.

To incorporate resilience into every aspect of our functioning going forward, we have actioned a body slew of initiatives, aptly called the 4R approach viz. Re-imagine, Reset, Re-start and Re-focus. This represents a unique way of analysing, understanding, adapting and raising the bar for every function of the business, including manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing.

Re-imagine “Doing the same things often gets the same results and sometimes not even those”. This is quite apt in today’s context. Hence, at Godrej Locks, we are planning for a paradigm shift in how we do things. We want to innovate and experiment new ways of doing business in an agile manner. Some of the bold steps we have taken this year: » Integrate our currently separate lines of business (Locks and Architectural fittings & systems, with the Cartini Knives & scissors) to take advatage of the distribution & channel synergies. » Optimising manufacturing footprint locations to better utilise resources and people, potentially meet increased demand. » Empowering service teams with selling opportunities and creating new ways of reaching end consumers. » Agile product launches in the current WFH scenario starting with CFTs to conceptualize and track progress, and doing digital product launches with distributors/retailers/AIDs. » Re-inventing work processes to embrace online, work-from-home capabilities.

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Re-set

Re-start

Re-focus

“We needed to put an extra hole and tighten the belt” on our costs – every penny spent will be dear in the current situation. With this aim, we are taking some brave decisions on reducing fixed and variable costs. We came up with carefully thought-out targeted actions to achieve this, starting with re-examining traditional processes and systems, assuming a zero based budget (ZBB) approach to costs and identifying the excesses to cut out. We have taken a re-look at the organisation design to increase productivity and span of control across layers, measuring ‘nice to spend’ versus ‘need to spend’ across functions to push out unnecessary spends, careful spends on short-term sales promotions to provide the required fillip in consumer offtake.

“The first step was the most important one”. When the country started the Unlock 1.0, 2.0 etc, we had to be nimble to re-open and re-start business, resolve issues which were the result of the pandemic to ensure business continuity. In our plants, we have ensured the strictest COVID hygiene and safety regimens including splitting teams into smaller groups/ “pods” to maintain social distancing.

We recognised the huge opportunity for up-skilling our workforce during the downtime (successive lockdowns).

We are looking at the very important balance of supplier-company relationship to identify areas of cash release, potential cost negotiations and identification of local sources to have “shorter, reliable supply chains”.

Our supply chain function has been ever on alert to determine how to fulfil the “destination” from “whichever source was open for business” including direct dispatches from our manufacturing sites. With every business opportunity becoming crucial, we instituted regular “war room reviews” with our zonal teams to identify and mitigate market challenges (including competition moves), incorporated digital in the way we book orders and tied up with banks to offer channel financing for our partners to tide over liquidity issues. We have also accelerated our focus for the year on our “Rurban initiative” which has proven effective, going by the numbers for the 1st quarter.

Over the months of April and May, we’ve done 150+ hours of trainer-led sessions and 60+ hours of e-learnings for the entire sales team. These skill-enhancing sessions and workshops covered a broad range of topics including product feature knowledge, selling & negotiation skills, channel management and digital for our entire nationwide salesforce. The result is a highly motivated and trained team that is ready for the pandemic and beyond. Already, there have been 150-plus hours of training imparted on MS Teams and 60-plus hours of e-learning completed. I am confident that through resilience fostered by intelligent planning and swift, decisive action, Godrej Locks is well-set to overcome the huge pandemic-related challenges and emerge as winners. In the end, I would offer a small parting thought – every bit of effort counts. Every opportunity matters. Every small win is a cause for celebration. It is when you start putting the jigsaw together, you realize that you have the arsenal to beat the odds. We are getting there!

INSIDE G&B

Engaging With Key Stakeholders in a Pandemic World Godrej Appliances’ live virtual product launch events for trade partners across India. Swati Rathi, Godrej Appliances

The COVID Crisis has impacted consumers and businesses alike – challenging them to adjust quickly to a new normal. As consumers navigate their ways around it, brands need to re-orientate their products, services, channel and communication to fit the Covid-19 landscape. For a business like Godrej Appliances, where the product offerings are delivered to the customers through a network of almost 20000 stand-alone retailers over and above the large format chains, modern trade and ecommerce channel, it is important that the entire ecosystem undergoes a transformation to be able to meet the need for safety and health in every aspect of business. Trade partners form a vital part of this ecosystem. So, Godrej Appliances took the challenge of enabling its vast network of retailers – making them self-reliant as well, when it comes to digital transformation, to create a win-win for all stakeholders.

The brand developed its very own playbook to drive digital adoption – the cornerstone of which has been a series of trade partner engagement initiatives. The objective here was to sensitize our dealers and retailers of our extensive sales and service network across the country about the changing face of business, changing consumer lives and our priorities. This process started in end April, ’20 as a series of meets covering various Lines Of Business (LOBs) – our Exclusive Brand Outlets Partners (EBOs), our Preferred Brand Outlets Partners (PBOs) and our Green AC Hub Partners. In the first round of meets, we engaged with close to 4000+ trade

partners and laid the foundation of the digital drive that we embarked upon subsequently. This drive included multiple initiatives such as driving partners to adopt Google My Business, creating 13000+ Facebook Business Pages for retailers, a large-scale industry first, structured video-assisted remote selling initiative, tying up with the new age merchant platform, Pine Labs’ ePOS & digital payment technology platform Benow, registering exclusive outlets on Amazon, extensive online product training programs for advisors and registering 2000+ partners on Ms Kaizala for direct communication. The success of these meets empowered us to step beyond and hold virtual product launches. In the appliances industry, a successful new product trade launch can bolster trade confidence, educate them on the product and encourage initial placement of the new product. The face-to-face engagement was a huge essential. The pandemic times changed all that, ruling out such events. However, new product launches are key to holding and gaining share in the industry and successful introduction to partners was very important. June witnessed the launch of three products – Edge Neo and Rio Refrigerators and Ultima Semi-Automatic Washing Machines. All high-volume mass products, these products were specifically meant for the large retailer network. While the first set of meets was conducted independently via a TEAMS Webinar in early June to conduct these launches, we tied up with an agency and set up a launch platform to give the launches a real feel - complete with a block your date, a formal invite and for a more interactive approach, a live chat window wherein all the participants could share their views, their queries and first reactions related to the products and the event at large.

Godrej Appliances was being lauded for being the most agile brand during the pandemic lockdown, by trade and competitors both.

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The launches saw the addresses from our Business Heads, our National Sales Head as well as a detailed product showcase and unveiling by the product teams. While the larger dealers and distributors often got an opportunity to attend such dealer meets in the offline world, the large retailer community in the past did not attend launches where they could hear the top management introducing products and strategy to them. This was therefore a welcome new move for them. The launches for the year were aptly themed ‘Breaking Barriers’.

Response Over a course of these 6 virtual launch events, we reached 7000+ trade partners, Pan India. Again, a first for the industry, which went on to receive very positive and enthusiastic responses from our trade across all zones. Godrej Appliances was being lauded for being the most agile brand during the pandemic lockdown – by trade and competitors both. The success of these launches encouraged us to continue this format and more launches lined up through the year – we have introduced 5 new models, Onam Offers and the brand new, Godrej ViroShield 4.0 so far. We have also conducted two rounds of press meets virtually, complete with live Q&A rounds. The most recent event was the annual business event hosted on MS Streams where we reached our entire employee base successfully, on the same day vs what would typically be a 7 day affair to reach out to the entire population.

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Pros and Cons The biggest advantage of these virtual event based engagement sessions was the reach. Where a typical offline event could reach a max of 350-400 participants a virtual event could reach up to as many as 1200 participants at a go! The cost of reaching 7000 trade partners in a series of offline events would be a min of 50 L to a max of a Cr vs a 6.5 Lac incurred for the virtual meets. The set-up costs were one time and could be repeated within a certain amount of time to cater to multiple launch events reducing material wastage inevitable in offline events.

In a PR event, a single event in a certain location would help us reach 30-45 journalists typically. Here a single event could help us reach out to 100+ journalists from all over the country.

Capturing live feedback was much easier on the virtual platform, particularly important for new launches. However, it comes with its own limitations - a virtual experience of the new products vs the actual product touch and feel. On one hand it provided the partners with the option of being a part of the launch from the safety and comfort of their home, and on the other, it is difficult to guarantee exclusive attention of the participants and more importantly, nothing can replace the human face to face bond which plays an important role in dealer relationships. The smooth streaming was also dependent on the network bandwidth available at the partner end and that proved to be a limitation in some of the upcountry participants. To sum up, as difficult as the COVID crisis has been for businesses, it has also presented us with many opportunities that could be exploited through digital transformation. Virtual meets with trade partners represents one such opportunity that we must continue to embrace in a post pandemic world as well. We have found it is both effective and efficient in establishing continuous engagement with key stakeholders.

FOCUS

Gearing Up To Fight The Pandemic To alleviate pain around us, we took risks and resumed production of hospital equipment. Rajiv Khanna, Healthcare Marketing, Godrej Interio

Corona Virus is the biggest challenge facing humanity today. The first lockdown was declared on 25th March 2020 and India came to a standstill. A lot of despair, anxiety and fear were felt as people were forced to stay at home. The panic kept building up with each passing day. As cases were increasing daily, Covid-19 was declared a pandemic and the Government initially announced that all affected patients should be treated only at the Covid dedicated Government Hospitals. This meant that our Government health care system required an upgrade and the shortages of hospital beds and other vital equipment to provide care become critical.

To mitigate the situation, the Government appealed to the members of healthcare Industry to open their facilities and start the production of supplies required as these were now declared as essential items to fight the pandemic. Taking the above appeal as a call of duty, Interio went into fast action mode and obtained various permissions necessary to open its works at Pirojshanagar Mumbai, which manufactures Hospital Furniture. It was clear to all of us at Interio that this is a noble cause that must be pursued vigorously to alleviate the shortages that cripple the efforts to save many lives. The required clearances were obtained by end March and from 2nd April onwards, the Team Hospital Furniture (THF) responded with alacrity and began operations in all earnestness. The team realized that now the rubber had hit the road and they had no option but to surmount the challenges facing them.

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In this effort, our operations team is undoubtedly a hero, but there are other teams such as design, procurement, warehouse, logistics and installation who have performed fabulously to assure success.

FOCUS

Some of the significant challenges overcome were:

Challenge 1: Sanitization and Safety Our top management had made it clear right at the outset itself that health and safety of our people and those of our vendor partners is paramount and should be accorded topmost priority. It was strongly emphasized that all the guidelines issued by the authorities for the safety of people including the preventive measures must be followed strictly. Our safety team and the supervisory staff were made aware of these requirements and they ensured that these practices were followed strictly at our works as well as those of our partners.

Challenge 2: Getting People to work It took considerable communication and effort from our dedicated supervisors, Union Representatives and line managers to persuade our workmen to come forward and contribute to this noble cause. All measures of safety and precautions were put in the shop floor. Our other businesses were also approached for reaching the required strength of people. Wherever skilled employees were not available, training programs were put in place readily to overcome the shortages. Overall, it was a ‘fly as you go’ kind of an effort which yielded

results. It was also our Front-Line Sales team which took this cause as their duty and at a pan-India level the team physically reached out to the key stakeholders in hospitals and Medical Corporations. Our value proposition for Isolation creation and ICU Setups were presented and orders secured. The frontline sales team efforts were well supported and guided by the Branch heads and Zonal heads.

Challenge 3: Procuring of Components As the factories of our vendor partners were also under lockdown, it was difficult to get components for sheet metal beds, stretchers, trolleys and the like. Our procurement team arranged permissions for the partners as well and helped them commence production. Our team activated 100 + partners at various locations across several states. We provided support including PPE kits, transportation, accommodation, food and other facilities to enable their people to come to work. It is worth mentioning here that overcoming these challenges was not easy. It was the commitment of THF to the cause and the support of the top management that enabled us to move forward. Timewise, we were now approaching end April, ’20. Let’s call this period the Phase I of our operations. In this phase, we supplied sheet metal beds primarily to the hospitals in Mumbai run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal

Corporation (BMC) . The supplies of the first week of April amounted to more than 600 beds and other equipment to BMC hospitals.

We had ramped up the production to around 150 metal beds and 20 ICU beds per day and by the end of April , we had supplied more than 1000 metal beds and 150 ICU beds to various hospitals. With each passing day, the demand for different kinds of beds kept rising and the problems of absenteeism, shortages, transportation, etc. began to surface and the team felt that a larger and more concerted effort was called for to meet the challenges. In response, a high-level core team at Mumbai was formed under the leadership of our business head, Mr. Anil Mathur, to boost production even further. All the efforts put in till date were doubled to meet the demand. Our team went out of its way to ensure that workforce, components and other inputs were made available to support the higher production. By this time, it was mid May ‘20 and Phase II of our operations began. In this phase, apart from meeting the demand for sheet metal beds, it was critical to meet the demand for critical care and ICU beds as the cases were rising rapidly.

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ICU, Twin Function, single function and plain beds supplied to hospitals and centres for quarantine.

It was strongly emphasized that all the guidelines issued by the authorities for the safety of people along with the preventive measures should be followed strictly.

This meant activating a completely new set of vendor partners for items like electronic control systems, actuators and the other components that were involved. Our dedicated procurement team rose to the occasion and procured these components from various sources, and even from the countries abroad. It must be mentioned here that our Design and Development team worked tirelessly to adopt the existing designs to suit the available electronic items. Without modifications and adaptations, it would not have been possible to boost the production of critical and intensive care beds.

In Phase II, by end July, ‘20, more than 7000 sheet metal beds, 5000 isolation beds, 4000 mattresses, 900 fowler beds and 600 motorized ICU beds were supplied to hospitals across India – a noteworthy achievement considering various operational constraints. In this effort, our operations team is undoubtedly a hero, but there are other teams who played significant roles which must be recognized such as; First, the Warehouse Operations & logis-

tics team – This team had a difficult task of not only getting inbound materials but also delivering finished articles to the hospitals in Mumbai as well as at locations all over the country. They did a fabulous job of obtaining permissions for delivering the articles expeditiously. Second, the installation team – As these articles are delivered in a knock-down condition; unless these are assembled and installed, the patients could not be accommodated. This called for working in the premises of hospitals where COVID -19 patients were under treatment. This situation can be very unnerving for the persons not normally working in the hospital environment. Our installation teams overcame their fears and embracing all the risks, worked long hours to complete the installations quickly so that additional patients could be admitted timely. The Organisation was clear that safety of the Technician team visiting hospitals should be a pre-requisite and technicians were provided with full gear PPE Kits, sanitizers etc. and permissions were taken for these technicians for commutation during lock down. This team performed superbly, and we have many testimonials that bear witness to their valiant efforts. The team Hospital Furniture has a great satisfaction of contributing to the wellbeing of thousands of COVID-19 affected persons and is committed to do so until this virus is defeated. CHANGE congratulates Team Hospital Furniture for this exceptional effort.

FOCUS

Speed of Trust at Work The Story of the Development and Production of Ventilator Valves. Anand Sarda, Godrej Aerospace

Honest and frequent communication amongst all the teams created and fostered trust, leading to a better way of working together. In March 2020, the novel corona virus was spreading at an alarming rate across Europe and other countries. Our Government was worried about how to manage the oncoming pandemic in the country having a population of 1.3 billion. Almost all the items required to manage the pandemic were either in short supply or were imported at a long lead time and that too at a considerable cost. The Government wanted to indigenize the production of various items on a war footing including that of ventilators, a vital equipment for saving lives. A quick study revealed that existing capacity to manufacture ventilators was fully booked with no head room for additional production. The Government asked the DRDO and Bharat Electronics (BEL) to manufacture 30,000 ventilators using the technology from Skanray – Mysore. As the suppliers of

components to the OEMs of ventilators were fully booked or severely handicapped by the lockdown, the DRDO had no option but to develop new industry partners for manufacturing various components of ventilators. The DRDO assigned this task to the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) who in turn approached Godrej Aerospace (GA) to check if we were interested in this project. GA was selected on the basis of having developed primary activators for Tejas - India’s Light Combat Aircraft. All this happened during the last week of March, ’20, and promptly our business head Mr. S.M. Vaidya, sought the permission to undertake this project during the lockdown. Not withstanding many risks and uncertainties, our top management gave the permission to go ahead with the project. ADA sent us in the first week of April, few sketches and

photographs for our study and team GA immediately began to explore the availability of materials, manpower, machines and vendor partners. Getting permissions from the local authorities was not an easy task. Our construction, P&A and Security Depts. worked in unison and obtained the required permissions to open the facilities for undertaking production. So far, so good, but we were in for a shock when we entered our facilities. Massive housekeeping had to be done as the facilities were under lockdown for more than two weeks. A carefully selected area was restored to its original condition to ensure that hygiene and social distancing norms were adhered to. Having cleaned up, we had to get a team of about 18 operators and engineers/ programmers to the facilities to commence the work.

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The family members of our team were worried about the safety, but we could demonstrate that it was safe to go to work as all possible precautions were taken and high safety standards would be maintained during the execution of the project. Let me place on record the exceptional courage shown by our team members in coming to work for the project. In the next six days, our team managed to develop the first five sets of all parts which were then sent to ADA Bangalore by a special vehicle with the necessary permissions for travelling across Maharashtra and Karnataka. Our transportation partner did a fabulous job of transporting the parts manufactured to Bangalore without any glitches and delays. As the designs were evolving, we had to send four sets of parts for verification to ADA before the designs were frozen for production. The batch sent on 13th April was approved and simultaneously we started working on a testing rig to qualify the parts for usage in the ventilators. An accelerated test of 10 million cycles was stipulated as the minimum required. Components, Assembly and the valve ready for delivery.

Successful tests after a few trials gave the DRDO confidence that GA could manufacture the valves to their standards. We were asked to quote for 5000 nos of ventilator valves. As you can see, all usual procedures were set aside for this project undertaken in the mission mode for saving lives. Everything happened at the speed of Trust which was like a dream to us. A proportional solenoid valve is not the product that we have produced earlier. We were awarded this project by ADA purely on the basis of their assessment of our capability to produce precision parts and our willingness for partnering in their R&D efforts. The way we began working on the project in terms of working out the bill of materials, choosing manufacturing processes, arranging for materials, understanding their requirements, producing prototypes and several other building blocks of the project convinced them that we were the right partners in every possible way and our commitments to complete the project expeditiously were indeed high. We believe that outstanding collaborative working by the ADA Team in terms of considering our suggestions, making counter suggestions, accepting minor changes in specs, approvals and many other decisions progressive in nature enabled us to move forward swiftly. This constructive way of working combined with concurrent engineering and design approach helped us achieve the goal set. Almost all activities were carried out concurrently. For e.g.: as we were awaiting materials, we were finalizing testing standards. We were also simultaneously working on the designs of the testing rig, calibration standards, SOPs to be followed and the like. Parallely, our engineers were working on jigs and fixtures for serial production and lowering cycle times.

We are proud to state that the actual cycle times achieved were about one fifth of the estimated. All of the above measures combined with the inspired leadership of Mr. S.M. Vaidya resulted in Godrej Aerospace delivering all the valves in a short span of time. In addition to the above, several positive driving forces were unleashed for the Team which are as below: » The noble purpose of the project was clearly communicated to all including to

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the union leader, vendor partners, our other businesses like E&E, PES, Tooling and MHE, and our own team members. All of these enablers contributed in the best possible way. The communication with DRDO, ADA and others was two-way and continuous. The planning process followed was dynamic, meticulous and participative. Compliance to all statutory requirements was thorough. Excellent teamwork ensured that all the permits were obtained expeditiously. Our customer teams and vendor partner teams gave excellent support through 24/7 access to each other for resolving problems quickly. The DRDO team supported us in a wonderful way by issuing letters necessary to enable our vendor partners open their premises to carry out the work ordered by us. Constant follow-up was done for rubber parts and their dies, establishing of testing rig, testing flow layout and final assembly. Throughout the project, the process of self-certification was followed with random checks by QA vindicating our stand that inspection is necessary and not inspectors. Confidence above all. Confidence of our team members to take on any challenge that came our way made all the difference in overcoming them. Outstanding teamwork and the attitude of helping each other played a crucial role.

The successful execution of this project highlights the fact that public-private partnerships can be a very powerful mode of working to overcome dependencies in many strategic areas of defense, space and medical equipment to make India truly Aatmanirbhar. The missing link from the essential triad of technology, talent and trust is sadly, the trust. If we can only establish trust between public and private agencies, our critical missions and projects can be completed at the speed of trust as it happened in this case to combat the pandemic.

BOOKMARK

The Toyota Story Everyone is responsible for changing the situation from negative to positive. Indrapal Singh

Steely resolve must be combined with the deep commitment of the top management to engineer a successful bounce back.

If we examine the recent history of businesses and look for the companies which have been resilient in the face of calamities, then we will find Toyota Motor Company at the very top of the list. In this context, Toyota is an outlier because; first, very few companies could have faced severe crisis, serially, of different kinds and second, not many companies have staged a spectacular bounce back to emerge stronger. The period 2008 to 2012 was perhaps the toughest for Toyota. The financial meltdown of 2008 had taken its toll, globally. In 2009, millions of cars had to be recalled in the US by Toyota for rectifying and engineering defects. This recall was perhaps the largest ever faced by the company, considered the global leader for quality of cars. As a result, the brand image of Toyota suffered heavily, and it lost considerable market share besides incurring huge rectification and penal costs. As if these were not enough, the tsunami in Japan destroyed several of Toyota’s plants and thousands of cars awaiting shipment. All these calamities taken cumulatively had a disastrous impact on the financial health of Toyota, particularly when it had incurred a huge capital expenditure of billions of dollars for expansion to become the number one car maker in the world.

Toyota incurred a loss of USD 4.7 billion in 2009 for the first time in its existence for more than sixty years. It shook the company from the top to the bottom. The existing top management either retired or moved sideways to make room for the new top management. Mr. Akio Toyoda took over the reigns of the company and took the decision to address, through a

press conference, all of its stakeholders. In the press conference, he rendered an apology to the public admitting that Toyota had become too big, arrogant, neglected quality and distanced itself away from the customers. He promised to set things right in two to three years. This unprecedented public apology sent a strong message to all its employees and partners to accept their mistakes and shortcomings. They had to realise that it was their complacency and arrogance that had made the company bite dust. Mr. Toyoda conveyed that he had taken the responsibility for the disastrous results and now in turn, he wanted everyone else to take their share of responsibility for changing the situation – from negative to positive - and negate the beatings taken in reputation and results

What did Mr. Toyoda do? He gave orders to trim costs ruthlessly and bring the company to shape. He set up a high-level committee led by himself to monitor the resurgence of quality at Toyota in every aspect of its operations. He initiated a new product development program with quality and conservation of environment at its foundation. He made sure that all advertising and public relation campaigns were recast to say that Toyota was moving ahead despite the negatives of the recent past.

All the measures taken together, showed that Toyota had a leadership that took its responsibility seriously and was determined to bounce back quickly.

A sure sign of resilient management which wanted to strengthen its culture of resilience that had weakened. For strengthening the culture of resilience, he ensured that the right information to take timely decisions was available to everyone and there was huge transparency in internal and external communications to let everyone know the progress the company was making in regaining its leadership position. To build strategic resilience, he mandated that at all manufacturing plants, the breakeven points should be lowered to around 55% from the existing 65% or so! He vowed that in future, Toyota would never pursue arrogant growth to become number 1 or 2 in the world. It would, however, continue to grow at a rate that was healthy and holistic for the company. He undertook a massive restructuring programme to have a strong built-in resilience to face the disruptions of the future.

The top management of Toyota had thus demonstrated its strong commitment to building a new culture and reshaping of the organisation, all in the wake of a high degree of self-awareness and humility not commonly found.

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As the recent results show, Toyota has become the largest car maker in the world and perhaps the one with the most consistent record of profitability.

It is evident that Toyota has imbibed the learning of optimism and fortitude in the face of crisis, decisiveness, accountability and an ability to change directions to align with the emerging forces. To get a glimpse of Mr Toyoda’s approach to business, the reader is urged to watch a recent video of Mr. Akio Toyoda’s address to the graduate students of Babson College, Boston, USA, to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

INSIGHT

Building Robust Supply Chains Understanding in depth the key drivers of costs is vital for taking effective decisions. Rohinton D Contractor, Corporate Procurement

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The current pandemic has altered the way the businesses worldwide view and accord importance to their supply chains. The pandemic has caused huge disruptions to supply chains globally. The impact of these disruptions on the health of businesses is a major concern for the senior managements across industries and countries. Frankly speaking, the prevailing chaos is rather worrisome. In addition to these woes, the supply chains had to undergo adjustments at a short notice due to the changes in policies and regulations announced in quick succession by the Government. The call of Aatmanirbhar India and the appeal for localization of manufacturing requires a new play on the ground significantly different from what it has been so far. Another complexity impinging on the chaos is the shift in the behaviors of consumers; who are either postponing consumption or are looking for higher value for their money particularly from the products made in India.

Quality First To adopt to these unexpected changes, the first and most important decision we made was to shift our sources of supply closer to G&B’s locales of manufacturing. We began promoting localization wherever possible by providing support on many dimensions.

We emphasize strongly to our supplier-partners that focus on quality is now of utmost importance to us. They must now cultivate a global mindset and build their capabilities to serve global markets. In practical terms, this means that the quality has to be consistently high, innovation relentless and technology upgradation continuous. The components, sub-assemblies, assemblies and products must not only meet the functional requirements but should also score high on fit and finish. Our supplier-partners have to integrate modern technology into their operations and develop systems and processes to help their customers compete effectively. This is the only way forward. As supply chain managers are driven by quality, price and delivery periods, they have

a mandate to shift among the sources of supply to enable our businesses to improve their competitiveness. The Government must support the SMEs by ensuring continuity of policies to encourage investments and offer tax breaks essential for enhancing attractiveness of manufacturing in India, so that a healthy ecosystem of sources of supply flourishes.

Role of Analytics In our experience, meaningful analytics has proved immensely useful in many areas. For e.g. it is helping lower the cost of Bill Of Materials (BOMs) besides helping in reducing the working capital deployed. Analytics has given us insights for identifying the areas that should receive our maximum attention for restricting the working capital used afresh and improving the working capital turns. Analytics has also helped us benchmark costs across our businesses. Digital platforms like reverse auctions and Business Intelligence (BI) cubes have greatly helped in improving BOMs to net revenue ratio as well as working capital turns. The recently developed BI cubes alert us about the likelihood of specific events happening as well as to focus intelligently on the emerging areas of concern.

cost of obsolete inventories of raw materials and products. To cope with these shifts, swift realignment of supply chains becomes an imperative for profitable continuity of businesses.

Operating Cost And Digitization One important element of focus is the operating cost of a Supply Chain. Understanding key drivers of this cost in depth is essential to quickly make the changes and ensure that the budgeted costs are not exceeded.

Digitalization and Robotic Processes Automation helps us reduce the operating costs, improve productivity and accuracy.

Consumer Preferences

We have started to deploy these tools across our businesses at G&B. Our ongoing initiative of collecting, cleaning, classifying and analyzing every item under the United Nations Standard Product and Services Code (UNSPSC) is helping us streamline our Spend Analysis which identifies opportunities for reducing costs, improving efficiencies and ensuring compliances. The Government of India’s recent directive on E–Invoicing will also help us reduce operational costs. We are actively engaged in digitalizing the supply side by adopting e-invoicing as a base. All our supplier-partners will have to compulsorily provide us with digital invoices having QR codes. This will improve productivity and avoid duplication of work in reconciling of the GST paid. We are providing the necessary help to our SME supplier partners so that they can digitize their processes and create conditions where the entire supply chain can reap the benefits.

Changes in consumer preferences have highlighted the need to have speed and agility in the supply chains to fulfill the new patterns of demand - a global phenomenon. Faster changes in patterns of demand calls for prudent management of capital invested in raw materials and traded products. Strong efforts are made to minimize the

At the Core of Supply Chain Management function are the Godrej values which are continuously shared and strengthened to ensure a brighter future for all.

Releasing cash blocked in various inventories is the need of the hour. To accomplish this, we have created digital dash boards for the top ten major items. We continuously monitor inventory levels and strive to hold lowest possible inventories to meet the demand. Digital dash boards help us in liquidating obsolete inventory.

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Building Capabilities of Mid-Level Managers Opportunities abound in every crisis if one knows where to look. Kanchan Sandhal, Corporate P&A

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The need to develop leaders of tomorrow is critical and is accomplished through leadership interventions, mentoring across levels and building competencies considering current and future needs of organisations. The Pandemic has brought about uncertainty and disruption as a result of which we are witnessing strategic shifts in the way businesses, their customers and partners, regulators and employees think and operate. In the new world the concerns for health and safety are paramount. These conditions have led to an unprecedented rise in contactless and digital interactions. Prolonged lockdown has highlighted the need to create high levels of financial liquidity and further strengthen the balance sheets. The Pandemic has also brought about an opportunity for the businesses to reset, reorient and reinvent themselves so that they can bounce back, perhaps higher, once the economy rebounds. Godrej & Boyce is a manufacturing company engaged in marketing, selling and servicing of products ranging from consumer durables, furniture, security systems & locks to products of industrial infrastructure, aerospace & defense sectors. Each BU has a unique product portfolio and competencies and skill sets expected from the BU resources. This varied mix of products and markets create a complex portfolio of needs which must be matched with the academic expertise and ever-changing basket of capabilities required by our businesses. At G&B, Capability building is a development process which draws on adult learning principles and utilizes experiential learning for enhancing capabilities at work. It involves learning, new knowledge and skills to improve performance at work. It also includes inputs necessary to reshape the prevailing mindsets for changing behaviour at work for greater effectiveness.

The key objectives of the Capability Building from an organisational perspective have always been to: Create a shared, across G&B, understanding of Corporate Values, Code of Business Ethics & Policies and various processes. Build Functional & Technical skills and bridge the gaps between theoretical knowledge and the knowledge required for effective practice and tangible outcomes. Develop talent and a competent workforce through enhancing competencies in leadership, technical and functional skills, keeping in view the present and future needs.

To meet these objectives, Corporate capability building (CCB) team has focussed on institutionalising capability building through the adoption of various processes and tools. To have flexibility in the learning structure and scalability to reach the needs of every employee, we have adopted a comprehensive training platform. Special attention is given to offer learning content to match the learning styles, attention span and preferred modes of learning across generations- baby boomers, Gen X &Y and millennials. Working in a collaborative manner with HR teams of businesses, CCB ensures that the learning content is up to date, relevant and delivered with impact. Modern training methods such as self-directed learning and others are progressively adopted. These are delivered through customised video sessions, webinars and on demand informal knowledge sharing workshops available on learning platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, EdX etc. The need to develop leaders of tomorrow is critical and is accomplished through leadership interventions, mentoring across levels and building competencies considering current and future needs of organisations. The key competencies/priorities that G&B is focusing on are; » Digitization: Adoption of a companywide technology » Innovative Design solutions to drive businesses to be future ready » Developing Business specific functional/ technical competencies » Sharpening Business acumen across business teams

INSIDE G&B

The only way to tide through unprecedented unpredictability is to keep learning better and faster. In the recent COVID months, most of our employees have been working from home including our senior and mid-level managers. A look at the management pyramid reveals that the mid-level managers make up for about 70% of the total managerial staff. We took the availability of these mid – level managers as an opportunity to strengthen their capabilities and thus strengthen the overall managerial pyramid. So, here is what we did in the capability building area for our mid-level managers:

Training requirements covering the leadership, functional and technical competencies were scanned by the team through various channels i.e Training Needs System, PDM system, 360-degree feedback process and Development areas (IDPs) identified for the individuals as part of the Talent Management Process. We collaborated and reviewed various internal and external platforms for relevant training modules/programmes applicable to all sets of employees. More than 30 customised internal training modules, 200 external courses/articles and videos from educational websites (e.g. Udemy, Coursera, edX etc.) and 80 webinars on various functional, leadership and technical topics were created accordingly. Additionally, more than 150 business specific training sessions were also made available through MS teams. A total of 500 courses/modules were offered to the middle level employees, with approximately five unique programmes undertaken by each employee in this duration.

Focus was given to incorporating content and E-modules pertaining to dealing with COVID-19 and its aftermath, building resilience and enhancing personal and professional productivity in times of crisis. Special thrust was on competencies of Future Readiness such as Being Digital, innovation, sustainability and managing uncertainty, with close to 40 learning options provided across these focus areas Along with adequate communication through Godrej Connect, Emails, Business Council etc. there were programmes through E-Learning and Webinars on Importance of Ergonomics while working from home and Values & Code of Business Ethics Mentors and L+1s continued to focus on active mentoring efforts so that employees could best leverage the time available from a learning perspective. Articles and videos pertaining to the process were also circulated to the mentors with a view to build the effectiveness of mentorship activities.

The content of the modules and thrust on learning that was exhibited was well received by the employees, with positive qualitative and quantitative feedback being received by our team for the same. Today the restrictions hamper the in-person learning, but by responding to such changes pragmatically it is possible to keep meeting the objectives set. Accordingly, we have explored alternate learning strategies depending on the context of businesses for improved performance. The emerging stronger learning capabilities of this year

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could prove extremely useful in helping G&B businesses pivot to greater heights in the future. Our aim has been to maintain the momentum of learning built until now and keep harvesting benefits as we go along. We are offering virtual learning options including application-based interventions in sync with business requirements, internally designed E modules based on the Leadership Competency Framework, E modules based on BU/Organisation specific functional/technical competencies and organisation level conferences and seminars

on various topics like Digitization and Supply Chain Management.

Adaptability will continue to be a key skill even in post COVID-19 times. Our evolving work practices and processes will continue to be redesigned to cope with the challenges ahead.

All of us will be tested continuously for our core beliefs and our ability to adapt, grow and succeed in this Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous and Hyper-Connected (VUCAH) world. The only way to tide through unprecedented unpredictability, is to keep learning better and faster. Happy learning!

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VIROSHIELD 4.0 FROM GODREJ APPLIANCES A UV-C Technology Based Disinfecting Device. Covid 19 has made Indian consumers accord topmost priority to their hygiene and safety. Consumers are doing their best to protect themselves from the virus by washing hands frequently, sanitizing things brought in, quarantining items of daily consumption and the like. And yet, the consumers are not sure whether these measures are effective against the virus. A quick survey conducted by Godrej Appliances revealed that more than 60% of the households are isolating all the parcels and the packages received for more than a day, washing vegetables using disinfectants and in some cases, even washing them with soap water. The survey clearly indicated that there is a need for a device that can assure the consumers that its usage will make the items of daily use free from viruses and bacteria. Godrej Viroshield 4.0 is the device specially designed and offered to keep consumers safe, that solves the problems mentioned above. It is a UV-C technologybased device that disinfects more than 99% of Covid-19 virus and bacteria in only two to six minutes! The wavelength of UV rays used is 254 nm, an optimal wavelength for neutralising viruses and bacteria. Godrej Viroshield is tested and certified by the Indian Council Of Medical Research (ICMR) empanelled laboratory for its UV-C irradiance – a big plus!

Some of the unique benefits of Viroshield are: » To ensure 360-degree UV-Coverage, the Viroshield has 4 UV-C tubes and reflective interiors on all six sides. This is the best available in the industry. » To have a uniform dissemination of the UV-C rays, the Viroshield has a cubic design which helps disinfect almost anything from grocery packs to vegetables to mobile phones, headphones, to car keys, currency notes, toys, wallets, spectacles, laptops, newspapers and the like. It has adequate internal space of 30 L. » Opaque, no see-through surfaces, thick sides and door walls with gasket based magnetic sealing and an auto cut-off of UVC rays as soon as the door is opened, makes the Viroshield 100% leak proof, thus making it completely safe for use. Its leak proof effectiveness has also been tested and certified by the ICMR empanelled lab. With Godrej Viroshield at home, the consumers will not be taking any chances with the health of their loved ones. Also, they won’t have to perform time consuming and cumbersome chores such as washing, soaking, quarantining and the like.

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My Reflections on “Working from Home” Implications of a new experience are known only after the elapsing of a certain time period. Sachin Agrawal, Godrej E&E

The onset of Covid-19 in India was officially announced by our Prime Minister on March 22 by imposing “janta curfew” until further notice. This lockdown created a major major challenge for our senior management which required striking of a balance between the continuation of businesses and the safety & health of our people. At Godrej, as wellbeing of our people always comes first and we were asked to work from home immediately. This decision set in motion a set of conditions which are now called the New Normal. As I began working from home, my daily routine changed completely. This sudden change also led to many changes for my family . The first decision we took was to stop our househelp from coming. This meant, we now had to perform all the chores she was assigned. We now had to start our day at 6 am so that before the kids were woken up, we could finish some of the daily chores like cleaning of the utensils, sweeping, swabbing and the like. Initially, it was demanding as we were dependent on the help as my wife is a practicing Ayurvedic doctor. No Newspaper, No Car wash, No school for kids …. It was altogether a new world for me. The new standing dry mop replaced the conventional one.

Online shopping has become an order of the day for groceries, vegetables and medicines. New small businesses set up by the housewives of the colony have come to our rescue for items like pickles, masalas, snacks and ready-to-eat dishes. Unlike earlier, we are now stocking groceries to last at least two months. Many new items have been added to our shopping cart such as hand sanitizers,

masks, disinfectants, cleaning agents and the like. I had stocked up on medicines like paracetamol, multi vitamins, Oximeter (Oxy med make), muscle spasm & pain relievers.

Earlier, we used to buy vegetables to last three to four days but now we had to buy them to last at least a week. This change prompted us to replace our old refrigerator with a new one; a decision that we have been putting off for months! Sundays were now dedicated to car wash and the children were encouraged to help me out. We now found that we had more time at hand to connect with our neighbours, friends and relatives and we began experiencing the warmth of a close-knit community. One of the many positives of WFH. A new sharing arrangement for sharing responsibilities emerged. I have the responsibility of attending to office work, helping out in household chores and looking after the children. My wife took the responsibility of taking care of the kitchen and looking after all of us. In the beginning, the work would simply not end, but as we moved along, we began to complete the work with some breaks in between for rest. I would say the new normal at home had set in and we began living as if we were in Singapore or New York! On the work front, meetings and reviews on MS Teams have become omni present. The work now frequently extends to 09.00 PM. All the business leaders and team members have started mapping existing Annual Business Plans (ABP) to alternate near term scenarios. Review of working capital and particularly of debtors is now an ongoing area of

focus to have more cash at hand, particularly to make promised payments to our small and medium size vendor partners. With every passing week, it was getting clear that the pandemic would intensify and not go away in the near future. As this fact began to sink in, we nudged ourselves into making more lasting changes to our routines such as exercising regularly, meditating whenever possible, eating healthier and keeping peaceful disposition. I suppose this comes with a deep sense of acceptance. By August 20, the newness of WFH began to fade and now in September, I am badly missing my office routine. I now crave for office meetings, meetings with customers and the intoxicating energy experienced by

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working in teams for grabbing opportunities and solving problems. There’s nothing like face to face working which I believe cannot be substituted by WFH, regardless of the advances in technology. As we are social beings, ‘human touch’ is vital and cannot be replaced by online interactions. To confess, I worry more about the job losses, unemployment and the economic hardship that millions are undergoing. I also worry about the slowdown of the economy and what it may entail for business. The news of our ongoing tensions with our neighbours is yet another source of concern for me. And finally, I daily look for good news on the vaccine front and wish that effective vaccines become available to save thousands of lives.

On the positive side, the news of less pollution, cleaner air and skies create a sense of assurance in me that if we all made a determined effort, our environment can be restored to its best in a few years. Also, I am aware now that besides vaccines, we need to rejuvenate our traditional systems of health care such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Homeopathy, Naturopathy and others. These branches of medicines can manage many ailments reducing the burden on mainstream healthcare systems. We need to adopt a more holistic approach to our wellbeing. Take for example my wife, who is an Ayurvedic doctor is busier than ever, treating people with all kinds of ailments. To sum up, it was a self-realisation for me

that WFH which was initially thought to be a good change turned out to be not that great.

I now believe, a mix of office and WFH is necessary for better worklife balance – the key to higher productivity and satisfaction. I hope that the pandemic ends soon and hope that you will keep safe and help others stay safe by social distancing, wearing masks and washing hands frequently. Let’s be responsible and do our bit.

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Making Work From Home Work The adage that ‘all that glitters is not gold’ applies strongly to work from home. Medha Vatsyayana, Godrej Interio

Several decades ago, the advent of an open space concept in the workplace design marked the beginning of the shift in the thinking of many organisations for designing their offices. Concepts such as well-being at work or flexibility in layout, became the new priority for organisations. Today’s workplaces are designed to stimulate creativity, increase agility, enhance social capital, improve returns on real estate investment and boost productivity. Over the intervening years, in developed countries, “Work-from-Home” (WFH) became the means of introducing some ﬂexibility in working conditions. In India, the conventional work from office system continued to prevail, with only a few exceptions in sectors like IT and in some MNCs. In most of the other sectors, WFH was unheard of and simply not acceptable.

WFH was largely adopted as an exception rather than the norm and restricted Our Research WFH were offered to people At Godrej Interio, we surveyed over 1,500 in special cases only. office workers from different sectors such The COVID-19 outbreak and the nationwide lockdown has changed everything. Today, almost all organisations, large or small, have resorted to WFH to keep their businesses running. This has been a drastic change for majority of office workers as they have never worked from home until now. This sudden change coupled with pandemic-driven disruptions has impacted their personal and family lives.

as IT/ITES, MNCs, Educational Institutes, Government Organisations, Financial Institutions, PSUs from 50 cities across India to capture the ‘Voice Of Office Workers’. We have attempted to identify the benefits as well as the challenges faced by the respondents while working from home. We have also tried to understand the effect of working from home on the health of office workers at work remotely. Given ahead are the findings of the survey;

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Benefits of WFH Commuting time

Today, almost all organisations, large or small, have resorted to WFH to keep their businesses running.

Office workers in cities spend at least 3060 minutes daily for commuting to work. Commuting is not only time consuming and energy draining, but is also stressful. 64% of the respondents valued the time saved by not commuting. Infact, they felt that this was a key benefit of WFH. They believed the time and energy conserved enables them to work more effectively from home.

Time for Family Personal and professional life can peacefully co-exist while working from home. In the survey too, 47% of the respondents cited

this as an important reason to prefer working from home. Working in office has built in wastage of time such as that which goes into meetings, socialising, waiting and delays. These wastages are not there when working remotely. The respondents felt that they could complete the day’s work quickly and have more time for family and personal work.

Pace of Work The respondents said that at home, they could work at their own pace with the required flexibility to complete the assigned work – an advantage according to them. In their view, the micromanaging that happens in offices, along with the inevitable disturbances, affect the pace of work in offices adversely.

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Challenges Faced in Working From Home Distractions Many respondents said that they struggled to go through their workday as planned, because the workday now involves unavoidable tasks such as childcare, parent care or both, household chores, and tempting options for entertainment.

Adequacy Of Workspace This emerged as a key problem area given that most of the respondents were never required to set up a functional workspace at home before the pandemic. 33% of the respondents reported that they do not have a dedicated work area at home.

With the sudden need to work from home, the respondents had to choose from sofas, beds, kitchen tables, or the floor to work, rather than the usual office desk and a chair. Some of them stated that they had to sit on the floor and work as there was no space to accommodate any furniture. Inconvenient working results in incorrect postures coupled with an excessive gadget usage for prolonged periods create devastating effects on the bodies of the respondents.

Disrupted Routines The sudden shift to WFH has disrupted the routines regularly followed by many respondents. It was found that upsetting routines has serious ramifications for the physical health and mental wellbeing of the persons working from home. Elevated stress levels soon begin to take their toll. Once good habits are broken, poor habits can easily take their place, creating severe consequences overall. To sum up, a major change in lifestyle always has its downside along with its benefits. Being able to work from home is a dream that many Indian office workers had for a long time. It is evident from our findings that despite significant benefits, in reality WFH creates several issues that prevent those working from home to be fully productive. It certainly is not a dream come true.

Making WFH Work To help those working from home become productive, energised and experience a sense of satisfaction, we suggest a threepronged approach.

Organise the Workspace One should have a dedicated work area at home with minimum clutter, fewer distractions and adequate privacy. Creating a dedicated workspace with the right furniture, charging points for laptops and phones and fewer distractions helps work comfortably.

Clean and clutter-free workspaces improve concentration and consequently productivity.

33% of the respondents reported that they do not have a dedicated work area at home.

The family members should be advised to not disturb the person at work.

Adopt the right posture

Interio’s WFH Initiatives

One should adopt ergonomically desirable postures to prevent aches and pains and, in some cases, serious injuries to the musculoskeletal structure of the body. Godrej Interio through its research-oriented approach has created a range of ergonomic solutions that provide flexibility, comfort and safety.

At Interio, we have been regularly sharing recommendations for comfortable WFH with our institutional clients. This includes sharing of details of products from B2B as well as B2C portfolios such as study tables, recliners, bean bags, sofas and accessories for creating an ensemble for a productive and healthy lifestyle. We take special care to recommend work desks and chairs that meet ergonomic requirements. Our ergonomically designed products provide excellent lumbar support and help relieve pressure on the back. This initiative helps us strengthen our relationships and improve our mindshare with the clients. In the pandemic months until now, we have engaged with several leading organisations across various sectors such as Deloitte, Salesforce.com, Siemens, Google, Ola, Qualcomm, SAP India, FORD, PowerGrid, Delhi Transco and the others. This engagement has yielded sizeable business besides strengthening the business bonds .

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Wellness Initiatives

Interio’s Ergonomics Cell has been partnering with various organisations across India and has been offering customised programs for improving wellness at work for their employees. Our experts provide online programmes based on ergonomic considerations giving guidance on how to sit right, work on laptops in the right way and how to utilize the home space optimally. We also conduct ‘ Work from Home’ webinars which provide » Guidelines for adopting ergonomically correct practices at home. » Recommendations for setting up personal workstations. » Suggesting options for wellness enhancing workouts. » Sessions for Q&A to offer tips and low cost/no-cost ways to stay comfortable and healthy. We take great pains to emphasize that it is vital to invest in ergonomically sound WFH solutions for the wellbeing of people working from home so that they stay healthy and productive.

We have so far conducted programs for more than 50 organizations like Merck, Colliers, Knight Frank, TCS, Zensar, C&W, HDFC Bank, AstraZeneca and the others. These webinars have helped Interio in strengthening its position as an expert for creating optimal workspaces for people besides generating considerable business for WFH solutions. Godrej Interio aims to transform Work from Home spaces with its thoughtfully designed furniture to create a brighter work environment. Designers at Interio are working hard for developing products that score high on functionality, ergonomics and aesthetics, making the WFH experience joyous and fun. Left page: Eezy sit. Right page: Folding Table with Motion Chair.

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My Reflection of Working from Home Something more, Somewhat different, Something new, Somewhat better. Khushman Bhathena, Homemaker, WFH Entrepreneur and PR professional

Post the lockdown, life has changed 360 degrees. As I have always seen the fuller side of the half glass, I decided to make the most of it. It was time to work on keeping the body active, the energy levels high, the mind positively engaged, the sleep pattern regular and the food intake healthy and nutritious. Strong immunity being the need of the hour.

Work for Home I wake up every morning wearing the crown of a ‘mummy queen’ and telling myself this is my kingdom and I will help bring in prosperity and happiness. At home, having my 9 year-old attend her online school gave me a further kick. When our dear principal ma’am and teachers could do so much, why couldn’t I? Family food time became more conversational, having gathered some values from yoga.

Family bonding came in the form of pillow fights, chess conversations and watching MasterChef series. Food, food shows, chefs, blogs, groups, recipes and reviews have become the talk of the town, so why should we be left behind? We also explored, simple, quick, one pot cooking. This got extended to even eating from one plate (let’s save on vessels, soap, water and mummy queen’s efforts, and bond better). There was an achievement here too: many kids when seeing their parents eat something new to them, will quickly desire to taste it, which otherwise never happens. With online shopping and some home deliveries still being active and a blessing in disguise, now is the time to get everything at your doorstep, rather than you going to theirs. No more stress to travel, carry, hunt for vehicle parking spaces, traffic signals, pollution, and more. With more saved time, we get more time for family and entertainment.

Though it got a little tricky with 3 generations, 1 television set and 5 different sets of demands. Taking this opportunity and making the most of reduced screen access, it was time to discover new, alternative, exciting and engaging family activities. We have art, crafts, cooking, watching movies together, dancing, singing and even fighting when things go overboard.

Work for Health Yoga is started in full form with the 21 Days Course by The Yoga Institute which completely changed my perspective and gave me the energy and push that I need the most. It drives me to convert my hobby and passion ‘to cook’ into an income deriving source and helps me bring back my financial independence, my enthusiasm and my self-confidence.

Work from the Heart Being a PR and Marketing professional with experience of over 12 years, I told myself that now is the time I use my skills and experience to promote my own business. I started with baby steps. It is important to do some grass root level planning and work tactfully as I have no kitchen assistant, few resources, and a crowd with an increasing demand for choice of food. This is when the thought of Associate Marketing came my way. I researched online, tasted personally and then filtered and connected with some of the best home chefs, picking their famous dishes and adding them to my menu, to which I added a few of my own bestselling dishes, and I was able to make offers that were exciting and changing with time. To my surprise many deals closed as a barter. I was stubborn on my belief in Quality. Yes, one would pick expensive items, but one was assured what came their way was the finest and then the word of mouth would do the necessary marketing.

Work for Hobby I engaged myself in online research, market study, competitor analysis, digital updates, engaging digitally with target groups, audiences and staying on top of consumer connect initiatives. One success lead to another. To groom myself, I further joined skill building workshops, sourcing quality raw material vendors and more. Today, after about 6 months, I have found success in my emerging little food brand that serves Parsi Homecooked delicacies called ‘Fiona Foods’. It is named after my daughter since she is my lucky charm.

Work for Humankind With deep research and some constructive analysis, I have derived my speciality - Ready to Cook pastes of famous Parsi Delicacies. With these pastes one can quickly churn up the Parsi delicacy of their choice in minutes and it tastes authentic! These are rare dishes and some are only found in Parsi homes and no restaurants. Having researched some authentic recipes, using some of the finest ingredients and with great effort, I churn up

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pastes for items like – Kid Gosht, Curries, Bafat and not to forget the famous Dhansak, and many more...

My pastes have won me many laurels from my clients, as they make for fulfilling meals and halve the cooking time.

Today, I can proudly say that I am a tad-bifamous in our Godrej Hillside Colony of the West and Godrej Towers in the East of Vikhroli. And am happy that, in my little way, I have helped many homemakers make yummy quick fixes on manytiring days.

Work for Happiness All in all, life has changed, for the better. I’ve got my confidence back. I have found my balance in life. Someone like me, who is been

on sabbatical, has got the opportunity to analyse her skills, her potential and gear herself to jump back into the Corporate wagon once everything opens up. Until then, here is a new feather being added to my resume – ‘Khushman The Entrepreneur’. And from what I can see, my food does put a smile on many faces. Does that give me happiness? Well, it gives me more than just happiness. It gives me prosperity too.

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Fighting the Odds: Prayers & Positivity A story of my recovery from Covid-19 and the lessons learnt. Ken D’Cruz, Former Product Trainer at G&B.

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All my life, I have valued physical fitness and strived to stay fit through keeping discipline in my diet and exercise routine. I have kept my zest for life intact through 66 years. I have a strong faith and I believe in the power of prayers and leading a clean life. Even post retirement, I have kept myself engaged by conducting astronomy classes in schools using 3D Digital Projection.

Engaging with children is very invigorating for me. When the COVID 19 virus hit us in March, last year, I became more conscious of my health. I started exercising regularly and eating sensibly. Wearing a mask, I would walk about an hour and a half everyday in my building compound.

Being fit, I took care to wear a mask but ignored social distancing and washing hands. I was also careless about taking my medicines regularly, assuming that my exercise routine would take care of it. All these factors enhanced my vulnerability as I can see now, in retrospect. On 6th of September, I started feeling feverish, had a sore throat and a runny nose. I began treating myself with analgesics, on and off gargling, sipping warm water and doing other common household remedies. I refused to believe that I had caught the virus. I continued to delude myself but finally, under the pressure of my family, took the Covid 19 test on 17th September, which turned out to be negative. Still coughing and feeling weak, I went and saw my diabetologist who insisted that I do a chest x-ray. One look at the x ray, and my doctor insisted that I do a chest scan immediately. The chest scan showed a frightening cluster of patches showing 50-75% lung damage. This showed that the Covid 19 virus had infected me and I was advised immediate admission to the hospital on 20th September. The doctors began treating me with the med-

icines of the approved protocol for Covid 19. My diabetes which was a bit out of control was also treated alongside, and I was put on a diet to bring my blood sugar within limits. So much for my illnesses but my mind was foggy and full of fears. All kinds of strange thoughts kept visiting me and to put it mildly, I was severely anxious. I concluded that to recover faster, the doctors were doing what they could but I too had to do my part.

I began praying fervently and exercising five to six times a day including the prescribed breathing exercises. By 22nd evening, I began feeling better and stunned the doctors by holding my breath for more than 30 secs repeatedly. My oxygen level had improved to 95% which was below 90% at the time of admission. It was a remarkable improvement on every front. The doctors were simply surprised at this speed of recovery. And yet, they wanted me to take injections of Remdesivir, which I refused. Another day passed, and by 23rd evening, most of the symptoms which were there at the time of admission had gone and the doctors felt that I was ready to go home.

I believe that my strong faith, prayer and a positive mindset helped me recover the way I did. As I was about to be discharged, I learnt that my wife and our support lady who has been with us for more than thirty years had tested positive. They were quarantined at home and were being treated by a doctor who is also our family friend. This news saddened me and my stay at the hospital was extended and my own home was out of bounds for me. The doctors continued to treat me with the reduced dosages of medicines and oxygen available erratically. My younger daughter pleaded with the doctors that I should be released as I was needlessly exposed to the viral infection. Doctors extended my stay by a week. I passed my days contemplating and

praying as there was nothing much to do. I was in the general ward merely waiting to be discharged. The nurses and helpers began treating me differently when I was not a patient. Now, they were friendly and would exchange pleasantries frequently during the day, not only cheer me up but also spread the cheer around. As the atmosphere in the ward improved a lot, the nurses and helpers began congregating around me and were eager to know what I did to heal myself that fast. I gave them some fundas about having a strong faith, power of prayers and building and keeping a huge amount of positivity throughout. Listening to it all, they urged me to start a WhatsApp group for those who were interested, which I did, and I still remain in touch with sending them daily positive affirmations and messages. One negative comment that I can’t help making is the condition of the toilets. Notwithstanding the shortages of staff, cleaning agents and facilities, toilets can be cleaner and more hygienic. I did give this feedback to the doctors. Once again, my younger daughter approached the doctors and convinced them that I will not be returning home but would be staying at my other home if they discharged me. At home, but still separated and isolated from my family, I did not like being dependent on the family for my meals, medicines and care. In conclusion, I would say that despite what we go through in our lives, we must keep our faith strong and strive to derive inner strength from it.

It is beneficial to acknowledge that prayers are powerful and can indeed help create that aura of positivity which, according to scientists, goes a long way in accelerating the healing process. Having recovered fully, I feel like a brandnew creation with a fresh lease of life.

INSIGHT SUCCESS STORIES INSIDE G&B

The Two Pillars of Resilience Experiential insights from Godrej’s ‘Leading Change’ initiative Karuna Chavan

The ability to ‘spring back’ from setbacks and take charge has been so fundamental to human evolution that it shall remain eternally valuable.

Crises faced by mankind over centuries have been providing both the inputs and the impetus for its ongoing research. However, there are a few fundamental factors which have stood the test of time and have enabled people to spring back. Of these, two factors have been the unchanging pillars of resilience, in my view and experience. ‘Pause’ and ‘Self-Discovery.’ My belief in this way of thinking stems from the two decades of Godrej’s ‘Leading Change’ (LC) journey that I have been privileged to be a part of. Having facilitated over 300 of these workshops, I can confidently say that after experiencing self-discovery driven workshop, there is a step jump in the calmness, positivity and buoyancy among the participants and they all walk out feeling empowered, confident , energised and hence, resilient. Let’s take a closer look at these two pillars.

Pause Let me begin by sharing the concept of “Querencia”. In Spain, during bullfights, the one event the matador (bull-fighter) is most afraid of is the break which the bull takes suddenly in the midst of the fight. It goes towards its corner and stays there in a deep meditative silence for a few minutes. That’s it. But lo behold, after that pause the bull is altogether transformed! It is so charged up that it becomes now doubly difficult for the matador to tame it. This pause, their Querencia - is a very potent source of inner strength and resolve for the bulls. This concept made me realise that a big secret to fight back any challenge or adversity is the ‘power of PAUSE’. i.e. taking a break, stepping back to delve deep into one’s core.

The pause triggers a volcanic effect for the inner strength to explode with all its might!

‘Resilience’, by its very definition suggests a built-in elasticity. Just as a spring’s potential energy determines its power to spring back, human resilience is linked to the potential within us. The more we can connect with our core, the better we can tap into it to take charge. And I believe there is an unlimited well of potential within each of us mostly not brought into play. G&B provides this three-day unique workshop to each of its employees as an opportunity to take a pause from work as well as daily routine. With no specific connection to one’s role or function, the holistic workshop is dedicated exclusively to getting in touch with one’s true self and the potential within. Einstein had reinforced this principle when he had said: “no problem can be solved at the same level of consciousness at which it is created”. A pause can enable us to rise above the current level of consciousness and form perspectives that can redefine the problem itself and enable a higher-order solution. It is rightly said: ‘More Breaks, More Breakthroughs!”. This break can take any form or shape in your life: a walk in nature, meditation, game of sports, an adventure, a good vacation, time with kids, art or hobbies.

Anything which is linked to one’s purpose/ passion or nature (within or without) can be a break for us as long as we get in touch with our true self. A right pause always triggers objectivity, halts a downward spiral, enables a shift in the paradigm and invariably instils a sense of rejuvenation.

Self Discovery Let us now turn to the second pillar: SelfDiscovery. Or Knowing thyself. Though this factor is intricately interwoven with the first, it is fundamentally a distinct phenomenon and deserves equal attention. Why Self Discovery? Sri Ramana Maharishi, a saint from the south, has answered this question beautifully:

“Wanting to reform the world without discovering one’s true self is like trying to cover the world with leather to avoid the pain of walking on stones and thorns. It is much simpler to wear shoes.” The more one understands and accepts oneself, the more relaxed and happier one becomes. Self-discovery helps one feel centred, composed and offers a direction and meaning to life. Realising what matters most to us (our values) and the reason (purpose) to get up and get going every morning is fulfilling and energising. The more we are aware of our resources and our true nature,

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the more inspired we feel. Let me substantiate this by describing one of the activities undertaken in the workshop - ‘creating one’s lifeline graph’. This activity enables the participants to witness their entire life from a distance by creating a graph capturing all significant life events (positive and negative) on paper. The graph once done, becomes an amazing moment of truth for all! Without any explanation, invariably each participant realises the resilience that is inherent inside him/her. This is when they learn that they have survived so many ups and downs in their lives. They get a concrete proof of their inner strength and feel empowered with the renewed belief that they can survive, no matter what. Steve Goodier has well captured my sentiments in the quote below: “My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.

Learning about one’s uniqueness, strengths, purpose and values is by itself energising. Further I have noted that when there is a non-threatening environment, even accepting their limitations and realising what is holding them back encourages the participants to take responsibility for change in their mindset and behaviours. They enthusiastically create a roadmap to overcome the barriers. All this self-understanding is so invigorating that they can’t wait to take charge and lead the change. Just a week ago I received a call from a participant who had undergone the LC workshop in 2013. He happened to see his LC notes after many years and was so excited to share with me how almost every detail he had put in the description of his vision for himself back then had come true so far. Those three days had provided him the required impetus to move into the driver’s seat of his life to lead the change. I believe such deep transformations get triggered because of the participants’ intense engagement with their real selves. There are plenty of instances where participants have

quit smoking or begun jogging or initiated some small but significant good changes like having daily breakfast or completing long pending tasks, learning new skills, enrolling for helpful courses, etc. The credit of such countless transformations belongs to the amazing design of the LC process which forces them to have an abundant experience of the two miraculous ingredients: pause and self-discovery.

The comfort experienced in their own skin is one of the most wonderful gifts possible through this workshop. I never get tired expressing how grateful and blessed I feel to be a conduit for this mission. I am convinced that anyone wanting to feel brighter, stronger and resilient will unquestionably benefit from a pause and deeper self-understanding as these two pillars are valid and fundamental. Let us not wait for a crisis or a challenge to make us realise the significance of these pillars. May we all learn from the wisdom of bulls and proactively invite regular querencia experiences and grow wiser with self-knowledge. May we all integrate these two simple but powerful pillars into our day-to-day lives so that we can bounce back from inevitable setbacks and continue to soar towards fulfilment and actualisation!

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Developing Resilience: A Spiritual Approach Spirituality is the art and science of living fully. Dr. Vikas Paonaskar, A student of Vedaanta and a family physician

The following questions are edited excerpts of an E-interview done by Team CHANGE.

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TCH: Please explain spirituality in a way that a lay reader can understand. VP: Spirituality should not be confused with religion. The purpose of any religion is to build a worthy, positive character, a personality conducive to mental evolution and growth. Religion comprises prayers, rituals & rites, culture, beliefs and attitudes. It can be shared, explained and taught to others. Faith, devotion and blind following are integral to religion. On the other hand, spirituality is pure philosophy. When one begins to question the doctrines of religion – Who am I? What am doing in this life? Why was I born? Why do I have to die? Spirituality is never given, it must be taken, it must be drawn out from the Guru, from texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. It must come from within - driven by curiosity, inquiry and one’s own search for answers. It cannot be readily shared or explained. Religion tells you how to act – spirituality tells you how to view life.

TCH: Why does boosting TCH: What are the baby Spiritual Quotient (SQ) have steps one can take to a special significance now? embark upon the journey of being spiritual? VP: The world is changing fast every moment. posing new challenges from Coronavirus to the changing lifestyle. Modern gadgets, entertainment and material attractions are resulting in intense desires, increasing levels of greed and impatience, increasing levels of dishonesty and crime.

Vedaanta philosophy lays great stress on the need to accept and be content with whatever comes one’s way – good, bad or indifferent. In Vedaanta-shaastra, one of the means to attain this is explained as ‘Ishwara-ArpittaBuddhi’ and ‘Ishwara-Prasaad-Buddhi’. ‘Ishwara Arpitta Buddhi’ means whatever actions you perform are offered Ishwara, God, and whatever the result, the consequences of those actions are accepted as IshwaraPrasaad-Buddhi. Prasaad in Indian culture is a gift from God and is to be accepted for what it is, sweet or bitter. Such an attitude helps us to bounce back to centre after every challenge we face, whatever the outcomegood or bad.

VP: As preparation, one must first cleanse one’s own mind through a process involving karmayoga, bhaktiyoga and jnanayoga. The mind is cleansed when the seeker works on specific elements such as viveka, which is to discriminate between that which is permanent and unchanging; which is Brahman, as distinct from all else which is time-bound and impermanent. The second element is vairagya - being free from any sense of wanting at any point of time. The third element is shama - watching over one’s mind, the fourth being dama - watching over the physical body, the fifth being uparamaa - to withdraw from all activities and remain balanced in all situations. The sixth element is titiksha, which means to tolerate and endure gracefully, all opposites - heat & cold, pain & pleasure, joy & sorrow. The seventh element is shraddha, which is absolute unconditional faith in the teachings of shaastras and the guru. And finally, samaadhaanam – a mind completely free of all distraction, having a single pointed concentration and devotion. And mumukshatvam, an intense desire to be free from afflictions of the samsara, the constant changes taking place, to free oneself from bondage of samsaara and to gain moksha.

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TCH: What are the obstacles one may face as one traverses the spiritual path and how do we cope with them? VP: The first obstacle to spirituality is raaga-dvesha – intense binding likes or self-centred desires (not simple, mundane desires) that impel a person to move towards what he likes or away from what he dislikes. The six by-products of raaga-dvesha are kama (desires), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (arrogance or pride) and maatsarya (envy) – all serious obstructions to spirituality. The second obstacle is a restless or agitated mind, which is a result of raaga-dvesha. And the third and the worst obstacle is ignorance – I don’t know, I don’t know that I don’t know! I know that I don’t know, and I don’t want to know! These three are the major hurdles along the spiritual path.

TCH: Should one take the help of a guide for this journey? VP: Yes. It is impossible to gain any spiritual knowledge by self-study. It is like trying to get an MBA by self-study. Vedaanta-shaastra is written in ancient Sanskrit in a cryptic form like formulae in physics. Thus, everyone can read E=MC2 but how many truly understand the meaning?

The words of the shaastra must be gradually unfolded step-by-step and explained in the true guru-shishyaparampara. Besides, translations can never convey the nuances of the original Sanskrit.

TCH: How will one benefit from this journey and what are the changes the practitioner may experience in himself? VP: If the knowledge of the scriptures is clearly understood and ingrained, a person evolves spiritually - it will subtly change the practitioner’s attitude, personality and character. He will still experience pain and pleasure of the daily ups and downs, yet he will remain well composed, balanced and bounce

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Without faith you can never achieve anything, even in the material world.

back to centre quickly. He will develop a high level of patience and tolerance which will help him come to terms with the reality of any situation – good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. With diminishing distractions of the material world, a serious practitioner will have more time to spend on worthy activities and further study. The resulting calm and focussed mind will help him concentrate on whatever he has to do and do it speedily, with no mistakes. As a result of an unoffending personality all his relationships improve. He is likely to succeed in whatever he undertakes because of a poised and undistracted mind.

In the course of spirituality, one should never make a conscious effort to change. Just gaining the right knowledge will spontaneously bring the change just as to climb a ladder when one grabs the upper rung to rise higher, he has to leave the lower. With higher spiritual knowledge, automatically all the raaga-dveshas, its by-products and mundane material distractions drop off.

TCH: Currently most of us TCH: Are there any points of are working from home caution that one should be and are experiencing looking out for? considerable stress. How VP: The human mind always looks for an easy can spiritual journey help route and getting lost in material comforts in mitigating this stress and and irresistible worldly attractions is far easier than following the spiritual path. This is being more effective? VP: To be spiritual at home or in the world, practice karma-yoga. Karma-yoga is not karma, which simply means action. Everyone performs karma, but karma-yoga means doing it with an attitude of ishwara-arpitta-buddhi and ishwara-prasaad-buddhi. Gain knowledge of the scriptures – jnaanayoga. And above all have unshakable faith – bhaktiyoga. Without faith you can never achieve anything, even in the material world. Perform yagnya, not the elaborate ritualistic ceremony, but in in its true spiritual sense which is – any action performed with an unqualified attitude of ishwara-arpitta-buddhi, dedicating all thoughts, words and actions to Ishwara with absolute faith and accepting whatever comes as a result as ishwara-prasad. The scriptures describe five essential yagnyas. These are (1) paying back to Ishwara for maintaining the order of the universe and nature, (2) taking care of all life forms, (3) revering and honouring all gurus and teachers, (4) serving mankind, (5) respecting and repaying our elders and ancestors. Daanam - giving is an important means of strengthening spirituality and an essential aspect of all religions. Daanam means to give food or other needs, wealth, knowledge, time, expertise… to others in need, with sincerity, compassion and kindness. True daanam is when one gives generously and without expecting anything in return.

TCH: How would spiritual practice impact one’s professional working as one progresses on the path? VP: Sincere spiritual practices lead to maturity, an increasing degree of patience and tolerance. A calm, undisturbed mind increases concentration, enhances one’s ability to think clearly, perform optimally and foresee ramifications of actions done or not done, thus, improving performance and efficiency dramatically. A gentle, pleasing, compassionate personality earns the respect of seniors and juniors alike, increasing co-operation and teamwork.

the greatest challenge in spirituality. Ancient stories in the Puraanaas and great epics like the Mahabhaarata abound in stories of highly evolved rishis, kings and even gods, who slipped and fell off the spiritual path. And the higher one is evolved, the greater the fall.

Our scriptures also say that to really test one’s consistency the ‘gods’ send increasingly difficult situations, to test their firmness and commitment. For most of us the fall would happen because of powerful worldly attractions and distractions, loss of focus, impatience with lack of progress or obvious results. Ignorance is the greatest culprit and can only be destroyed with jnaanam – knowledge. Therefore, always seek further knowledge.

TCH: And finally, what would be your advice to the new practitioner? Would you suggest any text for his study i.e. Abhyas? VP: Anyone truly interested in spiritual evolution must find a guide – he may be a Guru or a teacher or simply a more learned and evolved person. However, to gain true knowledge of our scriptures, including the Bhagavad Gita, one must seek a genuine Guru who is of the Guru-shishya-parampara lineage. Reading books, attending talks occasionally, watching YouTube lectures, all play a supplementary role. They can never unfold the true meaning of the scriptures and therefore may lead to misunderstandings, which can have a negative impact. The Bhagavad Gita is a simple, yet complete concise text, ideal to begin one’s study.

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Dimension: Building Self Immunity Often, we let the simplicity of things belie their profundity; breathing is a case in point. Sunny Job, Life Coach and Learning Consultant at Unblock Life

I understand that you are probably being bombarded with similar looking forwards, videos and plenty other “secret health tips” on your WhatsApp since early March this year. Neither the novel solutions for immunity boosting on WhatsApp have subsided nor has the novelty of the latest version of Coronavirus diminished thus far. Every new recommendation brings with itself newer and often unreliable information. With the influx of an excessive cacophony of information, the list of such confusing queries abounds. But can it all be simplified into something practical, easy and quick while still being supremely effective? The good news is YES.

In the wake of the current pandemic, ‘Immunity Boosting’ is soon turning into the next multi-billiondollar mammoth. Since February this year there has been a remarkable spike in the demand for multi-vitamins, health supplements, minerals and other such immunity boosters all over the globe. Before you spend some more of your hard-earned money on additional health supplements, here’s a fun fact: The human body has its own internal pharmacology system which is responsible for creating chemicals or hormones required by the body. What if I told you that you’re truly self-reliant with regards to your own immunity against diseases? In fact, all of us have access to a wide range of pharmacy within our bodies. Imagine the possibilities if you could release specific bodily hormones and chemicals inside you and do so at will (in safe doses of course).

You could even fortify your immune system against pathogens and viruses of all sorts. Who wouldn’t want that kind of superpower? What if every single human being without exception has this natural ability built into them already?

We are all born with extraordinary abilities but somewhere down the line we forget about them because they’re not consciously introduced to us as life skills. For instance, it is most likely that you have watched babies breathe when they’re fast asleep. They breathe perfectly. You will notice that a baby’s belly inflates as she inhales, and it deflates as she exhales. Every single inhalation is a clean, downward diaphragmatic push to make more room for the lungs to expand along with the rib cage. Optimum breathing is performed by healthy babies in every part of the planet effortlessly, every single time. Pause reading this write up for a moment and observe your breathing right now. How are you breathing currently? Are you only filling up the first half of your chest as you inhale? If so, you are not alone. This is not to say that you are breathing incorrectly. But consider the possibility that there may be several ways of breathing which you may not be deploying now. There is reasonable amount of scientific evidence which suggest that these ancient breathing techniques can create optimum states in our body and mind. Consider this: what is the one word we tell someone who is having a panic attack? Which

word is used again and again in the labor room as women go in labor? When someone is in shock due to an accident, what is the first thing you tell them? It is to “breathe”. We all know the importance of breathing for nurturing our life force quite instinctively, yet we underestimate its simplicity. Quite often in life we let the simplicity of things belie their profundity. Breathing is one such thing. Every single noteworthy performer in his or her own field, be it sports, music, performing arts, business etc. is strictly trained in the various methods of maneuvering their breathing and thus their mind.

Control of one’s own mind is non-negotiable when it comes to peak performance. The same powers are available to all of us. In the next three minutes, let’s explore how we can elevate our immune system to its top-notch shape by approaching it from two deeply interconnected points of view. The best thing about these simple yet life-changing tools is that they do not cost any money, but only your intentions.

Breathwork With just as little as 15 minutes a day of deep breathwork you can boost up your immunity significantly high. How significant you might ask? High enough to take your anti-inflammatory mediators up by 200% and pro-inflammatory mediators down by minus 50%. Your body becomes more alkaline which is the anti-inflammatory state. This is in peer reviewed science as of 2014. Basic Breathwork Exercises: » Isolate the breathing system mindfully. E.g. Sit or lie down and breathe like you

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» »

are running. Hyperventilate but with zero movements. Be still and hyperventilate as rapidly as you can by picturing yourself sprinting for about 3-5 minutes. After the buzzer of 3-5 minutes, stop inhaling. Suspend breathing if you can. It is completely safe to hold your breath at the stage. When you are ready to inhale again, draw a deep breath in and hold it in for 10-15 seconds. Exhale and repeat step 1-3. This completes one cycle. Do 3-4 such cycles in succession. You can do this any time you like. It works much better on an empty stomach, going by personal experience. Download the app to go through an easy guided method. Choose the “Easy Bubble Guide” option. It’s free of charge.

Science behind breathwork: Here’s what happens when you isolate the breathing system mindfully. For instance, when you sit or lie down and breathe like you are running you are basically hyperventilat-

ing but with zero movements. When you are running, your body will naturally switch to hyperventilation. The excess oxygen drawn in due to the rapid breathing gets distributed to the muscles used while running. It is sent to the muscles in your arms, core and legs. When you carry out the same breathing but without the activities that demand the excess oxygen for your other body parts, all that oxygen is sent to your brain. When this happens, several healthy chemicals in our body are released - namely serotonin, as well as a plethora of endocannabinoids. A drop in serotonin levels is clinically linked to mental depression.

Gratitude This may seem clichéd, but it is highly misinterpreted too. It doesn’t mean saying thank you alone but experiencing the deep, sincere feelings that are represented by those words. As you finish your breathwork, think of three things you feel truly blessed to have in your life. Enter them daily in a grati-

tude journal and observe your state of mind shift towards being more joyful. According to a Harvard study, practicing gratitude daily makes people happy as they feel connected to something greater than themselves.

The state of happiness is closely linked with the overall wellbeing and a strong immunity. Out of everything I could excuse myself from, I couldn’t come up with any excuses when it came to practice mindful breathing. And since I can breathe well, I have immense gratitude for my healthy respiratory system. You have nothing to lose by trying this out today. At the very least it will deliver copious amounts of oxygen to your body overall and make you feel happy without burning your wallet! Now that’s an awful lot to be grateful for in the times we find ourselves, is it not?

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HIIT, A Short and Effective Route To Fitness Discipline is doing what needs to be done, even if you don’t want to do it. Debashish Sahu, President’s Office

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With the pandemic raging on, all of us have been forced to confine ourselves to our homes. Add to it the ‘work from home’ which is sans the morning dash from home to parking lot or to the nearest bus or railway station, a quick dash to the printer, a 50 step walk to the washroom, means there is less movement overall of the body every day compared to the pre-pandemic days. This only means the physical fitness level, if not given attention to has been slowly getting eroded as we moved from a 68-day hard lockdown to multiple levels of softer lockdowns. So, what should we do? Go to your YouTube app and you will find many different kinds of workouts being recommended. The sheer range of choices lets fatigue creep in even before we zero in on one workout, let alone beginning with it. I want to suggest an easy, efficient and effective workout which can be followed as we remain confined at home.

Known as High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), these workouts can be done by anybody using only one’s own body weight and without any fancy equipment. However, there are a few points of caution that are important to know before you make HIIT a part of your weekly routine. As the name suggests, the intensity of any exercise as part of this routine needs to be done at a high intensity, followed by a short duration of rest and repeating this sequence for a certain number of times, depending on your level of fitness. What exactly is high intensity? Well, it depends from person to person. In a very simplistic way, I like to define it as a level where you struggle to have a conversation with someone even if you want to. So, your heart rate must be up, kind of like panting, but not so high that you may feel uneasy or giddy.

HIIT is a set of exercises which are to be done for a short duration of time followed by a short duration of rest. For e.g. you can jump on the spot for 30 secs and rest for another 30 secs before doing the jumps again for the same duration. Since jumping on the spot can become boring after a time, its best to choose 4 to 5 exercises which you are comfortable doing so that the boredom is kept at bay. When I say exercises, these should be active exercises and not passive - like sitting in a lotus pose. Some examples of HIIT exercises* done for 30 secs followed by 30 secs of rest are: » » » » »

Spot Jumps Jumping Jacks Butt kicks High knees Mountain climbers

*These are simple exercises which can be done by anyone. Please refer to YouTube in case you want to know how to do these exercises. With each of the above exercises completed once, you complete one set. Rest for 2 mins and repeat the set again. You can do all five sets together which may take about 33 mins.

The best part of HIIT is that it gives you the flexibility to change the exercises depending on what is challenging and yet doable for you. For e.g. someone with good fitness levels can do each exercise for 45 sec and rest for 15 sec while someone just beginning the journey can do each exercise for 20 sec followed by a 20 sec rest. To begin with one can, choose to do 3 sets and build it up to 5 sets or more gradually over couple of months.

The benefits of HIIT are far more than a simple walk or even a moderate intensity jog at a steady pace. Since HIIT continuously spikes your heart rate up and down, it gives you greater benefit for the same amount of time spent walking or running. Here are the five key benefits: » Burns a lot of calories in a short span of time and continues to do so even after you have stopped the workout. » Helps burn fat (a goal for most of us) far more effectively than a steady paced walk or a jog. » Improves oxygen intake and assimilation. » Works wonders for your heart rate and blood pressure lowering both (within safe limits). » Lowers blood sugar levels However, like all things associated with health, a word of caution is warranted. While HIIT offers a wide range of benefits without any frills, it is important to begin gradually when starting out and let the body get used to the routine. People with underlying health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, should consult a doctor before embracing it. It’s best to limit HIITs to 2 or 3 times a week if you are a beginner. With no end in sight for the pandemic, a lot of us have reservations of accessing a gym or stepping outside our homes. HIITs can be one of the most useful routinse you can follow to keep your body fit and functional. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that your health is eventually in your own hands. So, all that you need to do is to discipline yourself into investing 30 minutes a day, thrice a week, to keep your health in a good condition - a small price to pay for the invaluable gains!

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U&Us HOME DESIGN STUDIO AWARDED A TRADEMARK Co-creating dream home interiors.

Godrej Interio’s U&Us Home Design Studio is now registered as a trademark for its distinct character and concept. Additional trademarks are also secured for innovative layout format, appearance and ambience. It is the first Indian business to have these coveted trademarks.

Discussion area – Customer’s taste and style are determined by our designers from the mood boards selected. Then, on a touch screen, a 2D room layout is created which is augmented by miniature furniture models. If required, 3D layouts can also be created.

U&Us Studios deliver an outstanding cocreation experience from ‘design to execution’ in solutions for home interiors. These studios are equipped with state-of-the-art digital technologies and have a dedicated team of design experts to support. At the core of these studios is a design thinking led customer-centric framework that helps in creating a seamless journey for customers in making various choices. Collaborative working is backed by innovative, patented technologies and project management tools.

Color visualizer – Here, color scheme selection for the room/home is done. This fun based activity helps customers shortlist colors for the interiors such as walls, fabrics, floor, laminates, wood polish using color cubes. Pre-set color scheme which can be customised is also an option.

Conventionally, customers face a daunting task in getting home interiors done as it involves deciding on furniture lay outing, designing, material selection etc. which is often tedious and time consuming. At U&Us, these pains are mitigated by deploying simple, playful means using modern technologies. The Trademark covers three applications:

Material library – A one stop destination for choosing a variety of materials required for the furniture and interiors. All finishes can be selected at a place as opposed to having to visit many stores. At present, U&Us studios are there in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with plans underway for expansion. U&Us’ studios set a benchmark for specialised retail formats and are at par with leading global peers – a milestone in our journey. Our advanced technology-driven platform enables our customers to engage deeply in co-creating their dream home interiors.

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Emotional Resilience: What is it & why is it important? To boost your energy, learn to manage emotions as they are nothing but ‘energy in motion’. Dishaa Desai

Coping with change arises at different points of life but arises nonetheless. Everyone experiences setbacks to varying degrees. Some might be relatively minor challenges whilst others might be tragedies.

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The current pandemic has illuminated the need for resilience and proven the human capability to adapt to a completely unfamiliar way of being and an uncertain future.

The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, or even significant sources of stress”. It is commonly known as ‘bouncing back’ but in addition to that, there is an element of immense personal growth involved. Not only does resilience involve confronting and coping with the current stressor but presents a roadmap to coping with future stressors as well. So, does this mean that resilient individuals are immune to any distress when life throws a curveball their way? Resilience does not prevent, eliminate distress or erase setbacks. Resilient individuals do experience the emotional pain that the stressor often provokes. It is their resilience that determines how they cope with it in that moment which reduces their distress and moulds the lens through which they deal with future setbacks. On the Predictive 6 factor resilience scale, 6 domains of resilience were identified: The first domain, Vision, includes having a purpose in mind and a direction. Secondly, Composure, looks at emotional regulation i.e. altering the way emotions are processed rather than trying to eliminate it which may not be possible. Reasoning, the third domain, involves the ability to plan, anticipate and understand how to approach setbacks. This influences our problem solving ability and resourcefulness. Stress impacts the mind as much as it impacts the body which necessitates the importance of Health, the fourth domain. Collaboration involves the social context and support system which serves as a protective factor to stress and bolsters resilience. Lastly, Tenacity-persistence is influenced by perspective and thought. This then determines adaptability to setbacks.

Developing Resilience

The Benefits

There is a widespread misconception that resilience is innate - when, in fact, it is to the contrary. Resilience includes certain ways of thinking and behaving that are possible for everyone to learn. Research evidence demonstrated that most people recover from emotional loss and trauma. Even after a traumatic event such as the 9/11 attacks, most individuals recuperated over a period of time and demonstrated resilience. So, how exactly can we develop resilience, especially in these unprecedented times? Consistent with the domains, the following aspects, over time, help in developing resilience:

Developing emotional resilience has far reaching benefits in different realms of our lives - physiologically, personally and professionally. Physiologically, it is associated with improved cardiovascular health (present and future risk) and better sleep. Personally, it has the benefit of being prepared to deal with stressful situations and emotional regulation.

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Focus on developing an internal locus of control focusing on what is in your control and the difference you can make to your situation equips you with a greater sense of control, thereby reducing some of the distress and providing a sense of purpose in an action oriented way. It could be through small steps that lead to a goal that is attainable and realistic.

Nurture your wellbeing By taking care of physical and mental health. Proper nutrition, sufficient sleep and physical movement strengthen the body and the mind. Some factors which were found to impact resilience positively, specifically during Covid-19 were the presence of social support, daily activities, time spent outside in sunlight and time spent in daily physical exercise.

Reaching out for support Knowing when to seek help is as important as reaching out for help. Once you have identified when you need that support, the next step is to tap into your social support system and share - be it friends or family. A vital part of this step is to also identify if professional mental health help is essential and to reach out to a trained mental health practitioner for the right kind of help (therapy, psychiatry or both).

Resilience equips us with an increased ability to adapt, sense of control that leads to a solution oriented outlook and resourcefulness. Furthermore, it reduces the anxiety and helplessness. The negative effects are less likely to be lasting. Relationships (personal and professional) are also better maintained over time and healthier. Resilience has a ripple effect professionally - the impact is felt through improved communication, better performance, increased productivity and reduced absenteeism and burnout, to name a few.

Research showed that employees, whose workplaces have actively provided resilience trainings/workshops, were more satisfied, less stressed and performed better. In conclusion, resilience is the need of the hour, in these unprecedented times. However, resilience is a quality that gets depleted over time, thus making it essential to engage in practices to replenish one’s reserves. One can also get caught up in the unhealthy comparison of one’s resilience to that of others around them - the experiences that affect each individual are different and so is one’s adaptability. Discovering one’s own resilience and what replenishes it is a life-long process that takes consistency, time and effort and is different for everyone.

SUCCESS STORIES

Corona Chronicles The endeavour of having responsible citizens begins in kindergarten, only blossoming later. Binaifer Chhoga, Principal, Udayachal Pre-Primary and Primary Schools

The world was on the brink of a hitherto unknown pandemic which struck with all its might. No one was ready for what followed... least of all, schools.

But education prepares us for unforeseen situations, and we rose to the occasion. Since it was the month of March, we had already completed much of the year’s syllabus. We decided to review and revise the matter taught. We began with revision worksheets of recently taught content. Then we began using content from the beginning of the year and sent out questions on the class WhatsApp groups, this being our only contact with parents. At the start of the week, there would be a worksheet on each of the 3 core subjects. Over the weekend answer keys were sent which helped students to self-correct their work. Each week we covered a unit or two. We also sent out worksheets for Hindi and Marathi. The Art teachers sent out relevant videos to help students de-stress and the PE teachers sent fitness related videos. This continued till 5th May. We realised that we had to work differently since the virus would not be gone soon. At that time, we had absolutely no idea of how long the lockdown would turn out to be.

As a school we had always advocated minimal use of the screen as we staunchly believed in experiential learning. None of our teachers were thus prepared for online teaching. This was a first for us and we had to try our hand at something not done before. Fortunately, May is generally a month when the students have holidays. We gave them a short vacation. But this turned

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out to be a time for planning and practice for the teachers. Marathon meetings ensued. We asked other schools which had begun teaching, as ICSE schools had begun their term in March. Mr. Prasanna pushed us to explore online avenues and we hesitatingly began our learning. We had meetings using Zoom till furore broke out over safety issues. Then we began exploring Google Classrooms. A core group was established. This included a few teachers who were good with computers. New leadership emerged. Senior teachers were no longer the more experienced ones. Each day the group would explore and then teach the others. Anant Pandey, our ex-student, gave us our first taste of this app.

Lessons were on at any time of the day, yet no one complained. We realised that these were unusual times. The staff worked hard, encouraging each other. The teachers in the core group were extremely patient and there was a lot of hand holding as we began with our baby steps. To achieve our set targets, we put in several hours each day. Smitaben then suggested using MS Teams as it was a platform which Godrej was already using, and we would get help from our GITL team. Our stint with the Teams app began with an orientation class for the teachers.

The teachers were now students! We had to put in more hours and work at a brisker pace as June was fast approaching, and we would have to begin our classes with the students. But we were prepared to make lemonade with the lemons life threw our way. We had to simultaneously develop content and it had to be interesting and interactive. The regular syllabus flew out of the window.

We designed our syllabus according to the topics which better lend themselves to the Audio Visual medium. We had to keep in mind the skills that had to be developed in the children. We also kept their holistic development in mind. So, Art, PE and Music also were a part of the classroom learning.

SUCCESS STORIES

In turns, teachers became students as well as teachers and practised in small ‘ classrooms’ with each other. Slowly our confidence levels started to climb. However, a lot of experimenting with method and material ensued. We had to discard some things in place of others which worked better. We passed through the test of fire by several rounds of trial and error. 10th June came up faster than we thought and the students of Std 3 and 4 had their very first online class. We always stagger our opening dates. Std 1 and 2 began later, followed by Sr. and Jr.KG. We had PTA meetings followed by parent orientation classes before we began. That, I believe, was vital to our

smooth transition. We also introduced the simpler features of the Teams app initially and had other orientation meetings almost a month later for some more uses of the app.

Several parents who were in the villages had to be gently coaxed and taught the app, one on one. Teachers have called them in the evening after school hours for this. In hindsight I realise that we made several good decisions, one of which was pairing teachers. Though this involved teachers working for both shifts,

it took care of network issues. Teachers also got to see different teaching styles as they ‘entered’ another class and could observe it. The pre-primary teachers were having to take the same lesson 4 times as we wanted to work with smaller groups. This too brought good results. The responses to our survey of most suitable timings also helped us cater to parents’ convenience. We also shared resources. Teams were made to prepare PPTs and activities for each topic. These were uploaded in the teacher’s private channels for common use. These were reviewed at each of the planning meetings held with the Supervisors on a regular basis: another useful feature in the long run.

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Most of our lessons, including the ones in Math include values, which are quintessential Udayachal. Mindfulness was woven into the tapestry of our teaching-learning process. We have already had guest speakers, planned festival celebrations and participated in competitions. What filled our hearts with pride was how quickly our little ones learnt and adjusted to this new norm.

Resilience is an attribute which is going to remain a part of the 21st century learning system.

All is not smooth sailing. There are still some difficulties we continue to face, the primary one being poor network connectivity. Our inability to see the children at all times also leaves us unfulfilled. We continue to find ways and means to make sure that no child is left out. We also have to come up with virtual incentives like stars and stickers or give points to teams to keep up their motivation levels. Rules have to be revisited to ensure some semblance of discipline is maintained.

Our staff worked as a team. There was no ‘I’, only ‘We’. This was one more challenge we have surmounted.....and emerged stronger, for the quality of our lessons is hard to beat. The children seem to enjoy their classes. And they respond well to questions posed. That is our benchmark for success. On the eve of our first online class this was a message I sent to my wonderful team of teachers:

Relearning to Learn The pandemic has reached a new height But we are prepared to give it a good fight Transforming into digital warriors overnight At Udayachal, a fresh chapter we shall write. The students of Std 3 & 4 we shall engage And will also have to gauge Parental anxieties that we have to assuage And get everyone on the same page. One hurdle is crossed and overcome. Meeting everyone will be great fun Learning too will get done The race is on, though yet to be won. With high spirits let’s hit the technology trail Check the Teams calendar without fail Post our chats as a mail Virtual notebooks we shall hail. The right buttons we shall select For our efforts, win respect Though physically apart, our hearts will connect Tamsoma Jyotirgamaya will be the effect.

What filled our hearts with pride was how quickly our little ones learnt and adjusted to this new norm. Years later we may look back at this state of affairs as being a fantasy tale. Who knows? This may be a page out of the future too. The Creator has the answers. We are players on his earth, and we have to be responsible for looking after his creations or sadly another devastating blow will be dealt.

We must remember how nature has rejuvenated herself and children have lovely stories to share of what they saw from their windows. Our children have spoken about coexistence of Man and Nature. Now they have to prove that with their actions. I cannot help but end by thanking the Godrej family. Their unstinted support has spurred us on to take on new challenges and overcome hurdles. We have locked horns with this one and won. The family celebrates our successes and we bask in their appreciation and look forward to a brighter future.

PERSPECTIVE

Leading from Darkness to Light: Digitalising Education Education is not about knowledge, it is about action. Ms. Rekha Pandey, Principal – Udayachal High School

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.” These words of wisdom by the great Albert Einstein resonate with the current pandemic situation. These unprecedented times have brought about a paradigm shift in the educational landscape. Edification has traversed from the classrooms to the virtual medium so that student learning and engagement is not hampered. We have always leveraged the digital tools and online resources to enhance our lessons, but their use was limited. However, with education going completely online, we had to hone and sharpen our capabilities to adapt to the new normal. This sudden transformation was the need of the hour and our teachers have risen to the occasion and gained digital competency. As rightly quoted by the renowned librarian, John Cotton Dana, “Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”

Though the current situation has confined us within our homes, it has opened several windows of opportunities to upskill and pivot to the new. In the same vein, we as educationists have taken up the mantle to inculcate and develop digital literacy skills and an attitude amongst ourselves and our students. There were indeed quite a few challenges along the way, but together we have mitigated them to provide the best possible learning platform for our students. The transformative shift to the virtual medium required top-notch preparation and execution, but most importantly efficient teamwork. With well-structured trainings

and orientation sessions, effective change management was implemented to ensure a smooth transition. The candid conversations I had with the teachers proved vital to comprehend their thoughts and bridge the gaps between planning and implementation. It was important for the whole team to understand the need for this change and accept it whole-heartedly. Once we had the team on board, we initiated a fast-paced pilot project with a selected group of teachers and students to ascertain the feasibility of the different online platforms. We shortlisted a few options and performed a comparative study by using them on an experimental basis to identify their strengths and lacunae. This resulted in our selection of Microsoft Teams as the ideal platform to engage our students in a prolific manner. This also helped us to determine the time and effort that would be required to get all our teachers and students equipped to use the online platform. The role of our very own Godrej Infotech technical team was critical in ensuring that our teachers had the application set up on their devices and became well versed with the functionalities. As a leader, it gives me immense pride to see the adaptability exhibited by our teachers in terms of conducting classes as well as attending meetings and assemblies online

with diligence. The way they modified their teaching strategies and approach to cater to the online medium is commendable.

The resourceful teaching aids, interactive assignments and engaging videos created by the teachers are testimony to our resolve of providing an enchanting learning experience to the young minds at home. Apart from regular lessons, sessions by experts and ex-students along with special assemblies are organised online to add a different flavour to learning. There is meticulous planning and monitoring involved in scheduling of classes such that the screen time for students is optimal. Also, it is heartening to witness the overwhelming response of students and parents who got attuned to the new way of learning like a duck takes to water. The success of this initiative would not have been possible without the proactive attitude and zeal of our teachers, students and parents who arranged for the necessary devices and internet connec-

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71 tivity in a timely manner. With the unflinching support and guidance of the Godrej family and management, we pulled out all the stops to ensure that no child is deprived of learning due to lack of facilities or devices at home. Our concentrated efforts ensured that we could start the new academic year with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. Though online education has risen like a knight in shining armour during these difficult times, I believe it cannot replace traditional classroom learning.

In fact, in the future, digital learning will complement classroom learning and act as a catalyst to enhance the overall learning experience of the students. Based on my experience as an educationist, I firmly believe that education is not just learning of facts, but it encompasses the overall development of the mind, body and soul. As has been well articulated by the renowned poet, William Butler Yeats, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” The education landscape is very dynamic and to prepare students to excel in their respective careers and life is a challenge and responsibility for today’s educationists. The inculcation of vital skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity as well as the core values of kindness, integrity and empathy in students can be best achieved through face-to-face interactions with teachers and peers. Also, the co-curricular activities like physical education, music and art require students to be in a conducive environment with essential amenities that might not be feasible on the virtual medium.

Online education is indeed a boon in the current times and the digital expertise that teachers gain from this experience will hold them in good stead when offline classes resume. They will be better equipped and skilled to leverage the prowess of digital platforms to provide blended learning to their students. This will only lead to a better tomorrow. I am optimistic that as the dust settles after this pandemic, education will continue to rise like a phoenix. As rightly quoted by Sun Tzu, “Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.”

INSIGHTSTORIES SUCCESS

Becoming Financially Resilient - Asset Allocation “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is an old adage which rings true when we speak of personal finances. Heena Ganjawalla, Tata Capital Wealth Management

Asset allocation is an investment approach that aims to balance risk and reward by apportioning portfolio’s assets to suit an individual’s goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon. Asset allocation is an important approach for creating a portfolio that can weather market volatility and other economic upheavals and yet protect the wealth generated. It is a crucial factor that determines your overall returns, even more than the selection of specific stocks. Deciding on an appropriate asset mix of stocks, bonds, gold, cash, and real estate in the portfolio is a dynamic process where the mix varies over time. Ideally, asset mix at any point in time, should reflect your financial goals being pursued. Personal assets are classified as liquid, partially liquid and illiquid. Examples of liquid assets are cash in bank, stocks , mutual funds (equity, debt and hybrid), exchange traded funds (ETFs), bank FDs, corporate and government bonds, non-convertible debentures, etc. Jewellery, physical gold, gold MF, bonds and ETFs are partially liquid. Immovable property such as land parcels, flats and commercial properties are illiquid.

Your financial situation and goals are different and unique depending upon on your age, income and expenditure. As you age, you may revise your financial goals, for example; the goals in the 30s may be vastly different from the goals in the 50s. Regardless of the goals at different stages of life, you need to be disciplined in managing your finances.

One of the most oft quoted, personal finance quote of Warren Buffett is “Do not save what is left after spending but spend what is left after saving”. You should always set aside your savings first from your earnings and only then plan expenses from the balance. Let me share scenarios at your different stages of life, your financial goals and the possible investment options keeping in view the logic of asset allocation.

Age 20-25

Age 25-30

You would have completed your studies and secured your first job. A typical goal at this stage could be paying off the education loan. As expenses match the income, the savings are minimal. In case the savings are there, then SIP in equity MF can be started.

Your job is stable, and plans are afoot to start a family. Your financial goal at this stage could be to accumulate funds, to make a down payment for a home loan or to acquire a four/two-wheeler. The savings are moderate; therefore, investment options are increased SIP in MF, a fresh SIP in debt MF, a small investment in gold and if any funds are still available, then consider investing in international equities through MF.

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The financially astute in India believe that “After 45+, your savings need to earn at a faster rate than your own job or the source of steady income”. This becomes a possibility only if you have started saving and investing wisely, early in your life. Generally, when we speak of asset allocation, the two main asset classes that are compared are Equities and Debt. A rule of thumb is you should invest “100% minus your age in equity class and the balance % in Debt Instruments. For e.g., if you are of age 35, then you should consider investing 65% in Equity Class, and 35% in Debt instruments. Similarly, at 60, you should invest only 40% in Equity and 60% in Debt products. These rules are not cast in concrete but can be modified. It all depends on your financial stability, your family wealth and your risk appetite or aversion.

Rebalancing of Assets Different asset classes in the portfolio need to be rebalanced not only as you age, but when there are material changes in your life such as marriage, childbirth, divorce and the like. Also, the assets of different classes grow at different rates necessitating rebalance. You may adopt a constant-weighting approach to asset allocation where you may continually rebalance the portfolio by purchasing more instruments of an asset class if it declines in value and sell more of an asset class if it increases in value. Under this approach, there are no hard and fast rules for the timing of rebalancing. A rule of thumb commonly followed is the portfolio should be rebalanced to its original mix when any given asset class moves more than 5-10% from its original value, or once every year. To build resilience in your personal finances, asset allocation is the only way out which ensures creation of wealth while striking a balance between the risks and rewards.

To build resilience in your personal finances, asset allocation is the only way out which ensures creation of wealth while striking a balance between the risks and rewards.

Age 30-40

Age 40-55

Age 55 and above

The career is on the upswing and you may want to buy a house, get an increased value of life and medical insurance , travel and begin the process of creating a corpus for retirement. The savings are growing well, hence the investment options are to increase the quantum in all kinds of MFs mentioned earlier, invest directly into equities and Portfolio Management Schemes. Also, an emergency corpus can be thought of.

At 40-55, the career is at its peak, education of children and their marriage are the new goals added here. The savings are at the peak. The investment options you have is to clear the house loan, save for the marriages of your children and fortify the retirement corpus through relatively safer debt and fixed income products.

Your retirement is imminent, hence, the goal is to reduce the risk in the investment portfolio and plan for regular income. Now as the savings are high, the investment options to consider are Government schemes for senior citizens and other fixed income products. At this stage, protecting the capital accumulated is vital. You must learn to say ‘No’ to market risks and keep balancing your portfolio in favour of debt investments.

INSIDE G&B

An Oasis of Wilderness Mangroves help in containing air, water and soil polution. Laxmikant Deshpande, Wetland Management Services.

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Pirojshanagar Township of Godrej & Boyce (G&B) , located on the west bank of Thane creek is a confluence of many habitats like forests, mangroves, hills, grassland, plantations, creek, ponds and open spaces. These habitats have been scientifically managed and nurtured by G&B since its inception. Pirojshanagar Township is a leading case study of a sustainable industrial and residential habitat for its greening initiatives, improvements in industrial processes, efficient management of air, water and soil pollution as well as the conservation of the mangrove ecosystem.

Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) Eurasian Curlew is a winter migrant to Mumbai, flying all the way from Europe, for appropriate temperature, food and habitat. With its specialized long and curved beak, the Curlew seamlessly probes mudflats in Pirojshanagar mangroves in search of worms, shrimps, crabs etc. The Curlew, categorized as ‘Near Threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is an indicator of teeming, invisible biodiversity of apparently barren mudflats.

Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa) Named after the posture of its front-legs, the insect, Praying Mantis is a ruthless hunter and eats its prey alive. The cannibal female often eats her partner, even during mating, to secure the proteins required for laying eggs. This common insect found across the manicured gardens and natural habitats of Pirojshanagar, camouflages itself very well to survive its predators.

Golden Jackal (Canium aureus) Pirojshanagar Creekside Colony is surrounded by grassland and mangrove forest that are among the last few habitats for the Golden Jackals in Mumbai. This versatile, omnivorous predator feeds on anything available - crabs, lizards, snakes, birds & bird eggs and dog pups. It devours dead & decomposing animals, berries and fruits as well. These images are recorded by us in one-year long camera trap research, first of its kind, on Golden Jackals in Mumbai.

INSIDE G&B

Milky Mangrove (Excoecaria Agallocha) The Milky Mangrove, a plant, represents India’s rich cultural heritage with its sculpture in the renowned Chidambaram temple built in 14th century during the Chola Dynasty. The plant is also called ‘Blind Your Eyes’ as its milky latex and vapors, on contact, can cause temporary blindness. The latex that

oozes out from the leaves and wood of the plants, on being cut, is mentioned as a cure for rheumatism, ulcers, leprosy and paralysis in the traditional system of medicine. This, and the forthcoming articles as a series, is our humble effort to help CHANGE readers know and appreciate the biodiversity of Pirojshanagar Township. The city of Mumbai is constantly under stress from habitat loss and pollution. The Pirojshanagar

Township mitigates this stress by providing several ecosystem services to G&B, local fisherfolk and in some cases, even the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Please share your feedback on the series at mangroves@godrej.com. Images Hemant Karkhanis, WMS.Department, G&B.

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INSIGHT

Step In First & Then Step Out For Forging Lasting Relationships Honesty is the glue that helps us build stronger bonds. Indrapal Singh

The ongoing pandemic is stressful if not extremely stressful on most of us.

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Our emotional world experiences a huge turbulence full of negative thoughts and emotions. The emotions of fear, helplessness, loneliness, anger, confusion seem to dominate the mental space. This turbulence often leads us to say and do things to the members of our family, friends and colleagues, damaging our bond with them. We tend to snap at people even in a casual, one-time encounter only to realise later that it was not called for. The stress experienced is so oppressive that our tolerance cultivated over the years just evaporates. Surely, you must have experienced such unwanted emotions and behaviours in the recent months. What causes such debilitating stress? This stress is induced as we stay confined within our living spaces for months. We are by nature social beings and we love to connect, socialize and belong.

Not being able to move out creates a feeling of being prisoners in our own homes. And worse, there is nothing we can do about it without taking disproportionately large risks. As we are deprived of external stimuli in terms of meeting our friends, colleagues and others, we tend to get bored with our own people living with us, creating a suffocation of sort. The same routine is followed day in and day out, the same things are said and heard day after day, reinforcing a feeling of being held prisoner for no reason whatsoever. Hours spent on struggling to reach solutions amidst the prevailing chaos

makes us frustrated adding to the turbulence already in the mind. Lack of exercise, addiction to Netflix, irregular sleeping hours, excessive food intake and constant unease at the way things are shaping up also adds to the stress levels created by truncated salaries, job uncertainties and the like. In this setting, what should we do to strengthen the relationships we have and also to ensure that the relations are not damaged in anyway. The first thought that comes to the mind is the Biblical lesson learnt in the early childhood, namely, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” To follow this in daily life is easier said than done. It is a wonderful prescription. But to be aware of it all the time and then act accordingly requires more concerted effort. The work to be done is mostly internal, in our own mind space. This work is about changing our awareness and consequently, our feelings, utterings and actions. The work consists of two parts; the first one being our relationship with our own self and the second one being our relationship with the others. The work begins with the reflection on what is our relationship with our own self. Is it positive? Is it full of respect? Does it reflect the fact that we are divine deep within? Do we love our selves? Are we at peace with ourselves? If the answers to these questions are largely in the affirmative, only then is it possible to relate to others in the ways that may lead to stronger, resilient and enduring relationships. Let’s now come to the second part which is about relating to the others. Here, two aspects are of utmost importance. One is conditionality and the second is expectations. If we can cultivate ourselves to connect with-

out any conditions, i.e.; unconditionally, then we will be perceived as selfless, authentic beings with no axe to grind.

Pure intentions and feelings generate positive vibrations that go a long way in building mutual trust. As we know, trust begets trust, which leads to a clearer understanding and acceptance of each other and therefore communication that works. This leads to stronger bonds. Now turning to expectations, we know they lend a colour to what we say and radiate. Expectations have an element of selfishness somewhere which may remain undetected but its presence itself creates a feeling of disbelief, leading to the weakening of the bond. Hence, if we can avoid expectations and learn to relate with a sincere wish for the good of others, then the relationships will certainly begin to bloom on a stronger foundation. Apart from these fundamentals, learning to be not judgemental can help greatly. It all boils down to becoming an objective well-wisher. We must learn to listen first and then say something, if at all it must be said.

Listening with silence within, understanding, weighing and then saying something in a manner that does not hurt anyone in any way goes a long way in preserving and reinforcing relational bonds. If others perceive what we are saying and doing as pure and backed by positive intent as well as devoid of any selfishness on our part, then such ways of relating are bound to create stronger and enduring bonds. To sum up, having a positive relationship with our own self and with the others is essential for building relationships that last. Cultivating a habit to say things surrounded by the aura of goodwill is crucial. A network of sound, healthy relationships is perhaps the most important resource we need today to sail unhurt through this pandemic or any other in the future. We can certainly learn to change our behaviours and habits by checking daily on our thoughts, emotions, utterings and actions as to where they deviated and how often. Reflection of this nature will make us more aware of ourselves and thereby help us in becoming better versions of ourselves.

PERSPECTIVE

Reigning in Resilience for a Brighter Tomorrow It is our responsibility to make the most of what we have. Elizabeth Bocarro, Brand and Corporate Communications

The Oxford Dictionary: resilience (noun) the ability of people or things to recover quickly after something unpleasant, such as shock, injury etc.

A colleague once jokingly remarked, “You’re like sunshine, always bringing brightness and cheer to a room.” When I was asked by Team CHANGE to write on what it means to be resilient, this seemed like a great opportunity to spread some sunshine (awareness) on a few reminders that can be of help in such strange times. But first, I’d like to state that being resilient isn’t about always seeming like sunshine and rainbows. It means accepting situations, finding new ways to deal with it and growing from the situation to emerge brighter and stronger.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns brought about big changes in all our lives. Never before did we ever have to imagine that we’d be stocking up on all possible sanitizing products, staying home for months on end, not meeting friends and colleagues, and most of all, a complete shift in the way we view both life and work. The pandemic changed everything as we knew it. It put into perspective all the small joys such as ‘catch-up’ sessions at the coffee machine, short walks on our lovely campus to catch a breather from the day, walking over to a colleague’s desk to grab a stapler, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee as you enter Hubble; all of which we might have taken for granted. It also brought about changes in the

lives of those most dear to us – professional changes, personal losses, and much more. In such a time, it can certainly be difficult to keep up the sunshine and rainbows, and that’s perfectly normal. So how does one bounce back?

It’s ok to not be ok. …And this is something I cannot stress enough on. Losses, of any kind, can be hard-hitting and everyone experiences them differently. It is important to acknowledge your feelings and allow yourself the time and space to heal. Being resilient doesn’t have to mean turning yourself into Fort Knox – having an unbreakable exterior. It means allowing yourself to come to terms with your situation and allowing others to help you when needed. For many individuals, lockdown became a productivity game. Which meant that if you don’t come out of the lockdown having gained some skill, you’d have wasted your time. The fact is, it’s an abnormal time, and processing the situation is of far greater importance than adding anything you’re not ready for. Be kind to yourself and to others around you, for you don’t know their circumstance. Its ok, to not be ok.

Be optimistic for a brighter tomorrow. As happy coincidences may have it, the ethos of Godrej’s ‘Brighter Living’ is firm-

ly rooted in optimism and resilience. Let’s break these two words – ‘Brighter Living’ down for you. ‘Bright’ – is symbolic of being full of ideas, colour, life and energy. The brand expresses optimism in everything it does. ‘Er’ – symbolizes the belief in making restless progress and constantly innovating keeps the brand agile and in line with or ahead of the dynamically changing world to meet present and future customer needs. ‘Living’ – is symbolic of being empathetic towards our customers and understanding them better so we can help improve the quality of their experiences with the brand every day. Brighter Living isn’t only limited to our professional life. It is a wonderful reminder to us that no matter how the world might change, it is our responsibility to make the best of what we have and always be optimistic that a better and brighter tomorrow awaits us.

It takes a village, and then some. “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Some time ago, my best friend was going through a particularly low phase in his life. We spoke everyday about different things – the weather, the world, and our lives – both good and bad. We decided to talk through situations and acknowledge what was going

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on. By doing this, we chose to not ignore the elephant in the room – mental health and the factors affecting it. Talking about our situation to those whom we feel most safe with – friend, family member, colleague, or a therapist, is so important and it definitely helps.

Showing empathy towards someone in need shows strength of character and can be rewarding in intangible ways.

I find the quote by Dumbledore most suitable for the situation we all face today. Times may seem tough but friends, family and those that care about you will always be around to have your back and help in your journey towards being more resilient. Growing up, my parents always told me to be resilient, because that’s what will carry me through life. Today, I understand that a little better.

Reigning in resilience isn’t about not feeling or denying your feelings. It’s about accepting it and finding ways to move forward and growing stronger. It’s about having hope and believing that tomorrow will be brighter than today. It’s about asking for help and being there for those that you care for. I’ll leave you with one of my all-time favorite quotes that really encapsulates everything it means to be resilient. “Let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” - Rainer Maria Rilke.

INSIDE G&B

India Moving With Every Migrant Underperformance of various areas of work can be traced to the underestimation of the contributions of migrants. Shweta Sawant, Godrej Archives.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country, India witnessed how such pandemics can quickly result into an economic and migration crisis. Migration has been an intrinsic part of human history and to understand migration histories in India, your best bet would be Prof. Chinmay Tumbe’s path-breaking research presented in his book ‘India Moving: A History of Migration’ published by Penguin Viking. Prof. Tumbe, an Assistant Professor of Economics at IIM-Ahmedabad, was the speaker for the Godrej Archives 14th Annual Lecture (2018) where he had shed light on the scale and variety of Indian migrations that have created the India as we know today. In this article, we bring you a few tidbits and the takeaways from the talk that was laced with amazing research arguments, evidence, a lot of wit and humor! To begin with, Prof. Tumbe firmly put forth how India as a hugely diverse country is the culmination of the intermingling of people moving from and to as well as within India. To prove this, he cited the most important and most voluminous yet hidden contour of migration in India, migration of women for marriage.

Migration often involves crossing linguistic boundaries, regional boundaries and more, thus adding to the diversity of the country. And throughout the talk, peppered with statistics and anecdotes, he proved how – especially voluntary migration – benefits various social groups and communities to climb the socio-economic ladder that leads to the development of areas they come from and of the regions they migrate to. India was commonly described as ‘Sone ki chidiya’ in school history textbooks and that people from Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia flocked to India for trade and

business, including the British whose contributions influenced migration patterns in India. Prof. Tumbe briefly yet deftly navigated through this century old India’s history of migration but he mostly focused on the contemporary - internal as well as international - migrations of labour and capital, that took place despite the stigma of ‘kaala paani’ (crossing the seas). So, he mentioned different diasporas - Malayalis in the Gulf, Punjabis in Canada, Gujaratis in the UK, Khatris in Central Asia, etc. - but more fascinatingly, he argued that it is the internal migrations i.e. within India that had the most impact. Here, he also discussed the cases of clusters, of one or two districts, in different parts of India – Ganjam in Odisha, Udipi in Karnataka, Ratangiri in Maharashtra, Saran in Eastern UP / Western Bihar, Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu, etc. - which constantly have an outflow of people. This is because of poverty, climate conditions, trade concessions, better access to education and other amenities and the like.

Migrants contribute in tangible ways to shape the character of the cities they migrate to. A good example of this is the rapid industrialization of towns in Northern Maharashtra such as Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar and others where the largest population of Marwaris in the country is concentrated - contrary to the belief that Marwaris are largely found in Calcutta. The Marwaris have contributed vital capital in these regions at a particular point in time. The contribution of other migrant business communities such as Parsis, Jews, Sindhis, Kutchhis, Chettiyars, Marathas, Patels and more were also likewise traced. Prof. Tumbe also drew attention to the caste dynamics among these communities and the rest of the society groups, their role

as leaders or the opposite. Impact of involuntary migrations such as those caused by partitions, land acquisitions, climate changes, etc. were also touched upon. Prof. Tumbe’s talk concluded with a plausible prediction about the future migration patterns in India. Internal migrations, he believes, will be from Northern to Southern India. Given the increased demand for young hands to supplant the increasingly aging population of South India, continually improving universality of spoken English, Southern India might be the next preferred destination for the millennials. In terms of international migrations, the world will come closer than ever before and thus India may see more of a cosmopolitan society with more and more young from the western world making India their workplace or home!

Great Indian Migration Wave The central idea that Prof. Tumbe’s talk revolved around and what the book also builds upon is the ‘Great Indian Migration Wave’ having the following characteristics. It is, » Semi-permanent. People migrate for work but they almost never settle; they go back to their home towns in the end. For eg; Udipi restaurant workers going home even after working for decades in Mumbai, or the Marwari traders returning to their palatial havelis in Rajasthan. » Remittance based as they send a large sum of money back home to their families. » Male-dominated

Over 200 million people have been affected by this Wave since the 1870s, making it the largest and longest duration migration anywhere in the world!

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Centre (Left) - Vrunda introducing Chinmay to Mr. Nadir Godrej. Centre (Right) - Prof. Chinmay Tumbe, IIM-A at Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai.

Bottom - 14th Godrej Archives Annual Lecture at Max Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai. Seated L - R: Vrunda Pathare, Prof. Chinmay Tumbe, Dr. Pheroza. J. Godrej, Harpreet Kaur & Anil Verma. Standing L - R: Kishor Vaity, Medha Chhabra, Amruta Marathe, Shweta Jadhav, Sudha Jadhav, Pallavi Ramane, Sriya Sircar, Tushar Kansara

BOOKMARK

The Hugging Tree - By Jill Neimark Learning to stay strong at the edge, makes the edge seem not dangerous anymore. Gillian Dennett, Corporate P&A

Surviving all odds, I still stand tall, at the edge of the cliff. While I weathered thunderstorms, crashing waves and chill winters, all my suffering culminated in the love of a little boy that nurtured me to goodness and a feeling of belonging. His love and kindness became my reason to provide and bloom. My story begins with me, a little sapling, clinging to the edge of a cliff. My frail body found it very difficult to weather the breeze and eventually the trials and tribulations that followed. Fate got me here, and here I would stay. With that hope, I was determined to make this place my home. Inch by inch I grew every day. Seasons, I willingly welcomed. In summer, a pair of beautiful loons – an aquatic bird commonly found in North America, made their home on me. They nested on my branches and had babies that eventually flew away in winter. My branches nurtured them

lovingly. These are the memories I cherish. I stood at the edge, longing for a new day, a new beginning, a new story, until one day a little boy noticed me. My lean branches folding over the edge of the cliff. He came right by me and hugged me. I felt his heart, I felt a connection. He came to me every day and so that I don’t feel lonely, planted little flowers around me. A little path followed right through to me, with beautiful flowers on either side. He would lay below my branches and soak up the shade. I had become his place of peace and solitude. I looked forward to his visits. Seeing this little boy, people would too drop by and rest beneath me. It doesn’t take much to love, to belong. Nurturing and caring are the ample reasons to help you bloom and look at life positively. Loving gestures of the boy were my sole purpose to be.

I knew there was a reason I had weathered just about anything to stay strong on the edge of that dangerous cliff. That edge does not seem dangerous anymore. The tree represents us, in the community that we live in. Ours could be the story of strength, willpower and perseverance.

We need to get in touch with our inner hopes and dreams as life throws many challenges our way, however daunting they may be. We must not give up hope, stay strong and learn from our experiences all along our journey.

Resilience is a reflex, a way of facing and understanding the world that is deeply etched into a person’s mind and soul. Resilient people and companies face reality with staunchness, make meaning of hardship instead of crying out in despair and improvise solutions from thin air. Others do not. This is the nature of resilience and we will never completely understand it. - How Resilience works by Diane.L. Coutu, HBR, May 2002.