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Viswanath PS
Viswanath PS
MD & CEO - Randstad India, a talent company

Viswanath PS (or Vishy) is a business and finance veteran with over 28 years of experience across multiple industries. A pragmatic leader, Vishy's track record reflects his unending commitment of accelerating growth through the implementation of financial & operational strategies that are geared towards sustainable growth and profitability.

Vishy joined Randstad India in 2014 as the Head of Shared Services Centre (SSC) and was subsequently elevated to CFO in 2016. He was appointed as MD & CEO, Randstad India in July 2021. At Randstad, he has championed many transformational initiatives - from overhauling the financial structuring & planning process to implementing policies, procedures and systems to enable quick and informed decision making, while enhancing productivity. His vision and rigor have seen him helm the turnarounds of several non-performing business units to profitable ones in admirable time.

Prior to Randstad, Viswanath has held several leadership & management positions with industry titans including General Electric, Motorola and the TVS Group.

A Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Vishy is unsurprisingly a certified black belt in Six Sigma.

A keen fitness enthusiast who enjoys running, yoga and cricket, Vishy's definition of an escape is retreating to the wilderness.

Q:Why is building an agile organization ever so relevant in the VUCA world?
A:Building an agile organization is extremely relevant in today’s VUCA world due to its transformative impact on how businesses navigate through constant change. Embracing agility at scale requires a paradigm shift towards reimagining the organizational structure as a network of interconnected, high-performing teams. These teams, driven by clear end-to-end business objectives, possess the skills to deliver value rather than just execute functional tasks. This ensures that organizations can adapt to evolving market dynamics by tapping strategy, structure, people, and processes. By decoupling from traditional hierarchies, agile organizations can leverage their operating model as a competitive advantage.
Q:What according to you are the 3 factors contributing to organizational agility?
A:Organizational agility thrives on a multifaceted approach, incorporating strategies such as empowering employees, embracing disruption, and experimenting with work processes. Empowering employees requires creating a culture of autonomy and trust, allowing individuals to make decisions and drive initiatives without excessive bureaucracy. Creating diverse teams fosters innovation, while cross-functional collaboration breaks down silos, thus enhancing agility. Embracing disruption involves viewing change as an opportunity for growth and improvement, with open communication. Experimenting with work processes drives innovation by challenging rigid structures and empowering self-directed teams to drive change. By integrating these strategies, organizations can cultivate a culture of agility.
Q:A prominent way in which technology is used in your organization to facilitate agility.
A:At Randstad, a majority of our systems are automated and it definitely helps us boost productivity and allow people to work on more strategic aspects. We acknowledge the importance of tech adoption and the value it can add to becoming more agile and competitive.

An area of AI we are actively looking at is predictive analytics. It can help us stay ahead of the curve by preempting employee behavior trends, culture shifts within the organization, the overall pulse of the teams, attrition rates, employee engagement data, etc. This will help us become a more proactive organization and be more future-ready.
Q:3 to 4 best practices that you might want to share for young leaders to adopt, in order to remain agile and relevant.
A:Through self-education, engaging in peer discussions, and participating in practical simulations, young leaders can cultivate a culture of agility from within. Secondly, they can spearhead intentional efforts to pursue value creation, emphasizing the alignment of agile practices with organizational goals and cross-functional collaboration. By championing structured approaches to transformation, they can lead by example and inspire their teams to embrace agile ways of working. Moreover, they can play a pivotal role in driving operating model transformations, advocating for comprehensive rewiring across strategy, processes, people, and technology.