Oana Scarlat, CEO of EXEC-EDU: “I learned the lesson of adaptability in the last 2 years”

What word best characterizes the year 2021?

Flexibility – flexibility in reconfiguring the route along the way, in finding new innovative solutions, and last but not least, behavioral flexibility.

What were your concerns about the business you run in 2021? (pandemic, economic crisis, commodity crisis, inflation, labor, government crisis, others). What are the results of the company’s / group activity compared to the estimates at the beginning of the year?

Both the pandemic and economic crisis were alarming in our industry because this whole pandemic picture had effects, both personally (unexpected situations that led to programs cancellations, illnesses of students or family members) and economically (budget cuts or more cautious investments). Compared to the estimates from the beginning of the year, the expected results until the end of December are 10-15% higher, because we have constantly continued to adapt our portfolio to current realities and we have brought to our customers’ attention the newest and current training topics.

What were your reasons for satisfaction or optimism in 2021?

What made us happy and brought us optimism was firstly the fact that we welded as a team, despite the fact that we have collaborated 90% from a distance. All the changes we have made along the way didn’t destabilize us, on the contrary, they made us stronger and got us closer. Another reason for satisfaction is the energy of our students, the programs sessions being equally dynamic and participatory in the online environment.

How do you characterize the Romanian private business environment in 2021 in terms of resilience and dynamics? Motivate.

The private business environment continues to be dominated by a total lack of predictability. The crisis generated by the pandemic has accentuated the instability, many industries have been affected, but there are also companies that have managed to reinvent themselves and change their business model, even managing to grow.

What are the good decisions the government has made to encourage and support the Romanian business environment in 2021? What are some things they had to do but didn’t do?

A number of incentives and tax incentives have been provided to small and medium-sized companies in difficulty.
On the other hand, this year’s political chaos has exacerbated the economic instability, and another shortcoming has been the mismanagement of the pandemic crisis and vaccination campaigns, which led to the October-November disaster. The economy has also been severely affected by large exchange rate fluctuations.

On the other hand, I would add that the real leaders have adapted even in these conditions. We are glad that they are our customers. They make creative and correct decisions for the benefit of their customers and the companies they work for, without expecting help from outside. They have learned to be even more efficient and productive than before, they have taken care of their people and that is why they have increased or maintained their competitive advantage, despite the triple crisis – health, economic and political.

What do you think will be the biggest challenges in the world in 2022?

Certainly in 2022 the pandemic will be present in our lives, but most likely, we have learned the lesson of adaptability in the last 2 years. From the perspective of companies, the challenge will be to find an optimal balance between remote and office work, the hybrid model being definitely a dominant one, as also shown by EXEC-EDU studies. Digitization will also raise challenges for companies that have not invested in this direction. Last but not least, companies will have to find solutions to maintain the well-being of their employees, given that the pandemic will no longer be considered a one time episode, but a reality with a major impact on our mental health.

We can foresee an increase in the concern of executives for genuine leadership and employees well-being, while developing strategies to help companies cope with the crisis. The most successful CEOs focus on the future of work, giving increased importance to HR managers, from whom they expect strategic skills. The same can be said about CFOs. In other words, strategy, agility in front of ubiquitous, permanent and exponential changes, people management and care for their well-being, digitalization, continuous learning will make the difference between competitive and marginal companies. There will be a permanent need to renew skills, mediocrity will be severely punished by the competitive environment.

Article published in Forbes România.