NHRD National Conference 2018 on “Next Wave of Excellence”: An interview with three Millennials

I have been blogging since September 2012. At that point of time, I was heading L&D of Hyundai Motor India Ltd at Chennai. Initially my blogs were based on my experiences and insights gained from a career in HR, spanning over three decades. Subsequently I wrote a book “Straight from the Heart- Thoughts and experiences of an HR professional, the material for which came from the blogs I had written. ( http://aliveshadow.blogspot.com/2015/09/book-review-straight-from-heart-by.html  )

After my retirement, I have been doing corporate training programs through my Bangalore based company, Niche Learning Services Pvt Ltd (OPC) and also serving as external faculty for the wellingkar Institute of Management Development and Research, Bangalore. These days I write mostly about the learning in the evening discussions organized by the professional bodies of HR, NHRD and NIPM.

 Recently, on August 17 and 18^th NHRD organized its 21^st national conference on the subject “Next wave of Excellence “at the Hyderabad international convention centre. I could not attend the conference. However, I was delighted to learn that Wellingkar in line with its mission of providing opportunities for excellence, sponsored three of my students (the entire travel and stay of students at Hyderabad was met by the college) for the conference billed as“Asia’s biggest HR conference”. I encouraged them to take notes during the conference so that we can share the knowledge and insights to a wider audience.

All the three youngsters enthusiastically agreed and returned with their experiences, memories and learning from the conference. It is with immense pleasure that I interview Vishal Kumar, Sanchika Rastogi and Sakshi Negi, the future practitioners/ leaders of our HR  profession. So here goes….

Question:  This is the first time the three of you have attended a national level conference of this magnitude. How was your experience?  

Vishal:  I was thrilled to see the overall arrangements for the conference which was huge, but excellently managed. The conference was my best learning experience so far. It was a great exposure to the prevailing industry practices and gave us an idea as to what to expect as HR professionals in the future.

Sanchika: Attending the conference was a big exposure for us. It had four main tracks/ themes namely People, Leadership, Technology and Future of Work. Further there were 20 more master/mega/meta/ sessions with more than 100 International and Indian Speakers, involving Panel Discussions, Research Presentations, Big Fight & Chat(s). It was particularly interesting to note that with the advent of technology everything is changing, including the HR processes.

Sakshi:  :  I liked the way the whole conference was structured covering a variety of topics. It was a surprise to learn that a Government department such as the Telangana police is working so effectively like a corporate,using management concepts and that they have achieved great heights in the area of digitization. However, what excited me the most was the understanding of practical application of concepts that I had only read in the textbooks.

Question: It is clear that wide-ranging subjects were discussed during the conference. Could you tell us about one topic that you particularly liked and felt was an important learning?

Vishal: I liked most of the sessions, but one session of particular interest was the change in the industrial relations scenario highlighted in the panel discussion on “Employee and employer response to new age IR’’. The participants in the discussion were Mr. N Mallikahrjun, Head HR, API & OSD Operations,Mylan and Dr. Suresh Kumar-Head HR, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd.. Fast evolving business climate in terms of performance, productivity and profits will dictate the norms of new age industrial relations.

Today, the IR managers need to create a progressive work environment integrating the workforce, unlike earlier times when the only concern of an IR manager was to maintain industrial peace. The millennials, who are entering the workforce in increasing numbers, are interested in resolving their grievances at a personal level rather than relying on unions or third party interventions.

The panelists underscored the point that in the new age, the employer and employee must come together to beat the competition. Their coming together should serve as the competitive advantage for the organization. 

Sanchika: I found the session on compensation and reward very interesting and enlightening. The session titled “New Models for rewards” had an eminent panel of Ms Sucharitha Palepu- M.D, I.C.F, Mr Viivek Verma- Chief strategy officer, Srinavasa Farms, and Mr Shubhayu Sengupta – HR, HG Solutions as the moderator, The initial discussion was on the Mercer and Hay study 2018 which covered 700 organizations across various industries and  geographies/states.

The study revealed that 70% of the employees working in an organization are outsourced contract workers. Thus, it is very important to connect with and address issues of  contract workers who perform bulk of the work.The quality of their work is directly connected to customer satisfaction. 

In respect of rewards, it was found that  50% of the workers are concerned about health and wellness benefits. The organizations planning to revisit their total rewards strategy in the next 6 to 18 months is as high as 59%. Another 12% plan to do so for specific job families. 24% of the Indian workforce wants their rewards plan to be customized. In this connection, 53% of companies are watching the personalization trends closely with only 20% not interested in  personalization..

During the discussion, the relevance of fixed pay came up and it was opined that the time has come to focus on performance based or outcome based pay. As a part of the total reward strategy,  apart from outcome based pay, the other models of reward discussed are stock option program (should  be fair and transparent) and a change in the work culture facilitating work from home/ Login from anywhere in the world (which has become the new trend). However, the panelists said that not all companies are comfortable with “Work from Home” and in fact, IBM is reversing its policy in this regard.

Today, the focus is on aligning the interests of the company and the individual interests of employees. There is a shift from the slogan of “Customer is the king” to “Employee is the king”, with employees being seen as the first customers of the organization.

Sakshi: In line with the theme of the 21^st National conference 2018 viz “New Wave of excellence”, we had a session on leadership titled “New wave of Leadership excellence handled by Mr Yogi Sriram, SrVP & corp HR, and member of Exe.Committee, L&T Ltd. The speaker said the previous waves associated with leadership such as personality, behavioural, transactional, contingency and transformational would all be inadequate to deal with the DVUCA (Disrupt, Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) world and to manage a multigenerational workforce. 

Therefore, there is a need for a new wave, which can be called the invisible wave wherein the leaders are invisible. Both, the leader and the follower work towards a common purpose and this common purpose inspires and motivates them to give their best. For applying the invisible wave of leadership, a leader has to avoid undesirable behaviour such as narcissism, complacency and greed. 

As an example of this type of leadership, Mr Yogi cited the recent Thailand cave rescue mission in which twelve boys and their football coach trapped in a cave were rescued. All the players in the mission drama, had a common objective viz of rescuing everyone safely from the cave. They were all invisible leaders in their own way playing their individual roles effectively. 

Party /players                                                                                  Contribution

Rescuers                                                                                    Vision, Agility and Adaptability

Trapped Boys                                                                           Followership and Resilience

Coach                                                                                          Inspirational Servant Leadership

Government,/ community & family                                Empathy and Compassion, Leveraged Networks   

The Qualities that define the new wave leaders include Trust, Empathy, Humility, Resilience, Rooted Cosmopolitanism and a Nurtured sense of Shared Leadership. The speaker said that additionally, an element of eccentricity is necessary for effective practice of invisible leadership. He gave the example of  Sergio Marchionne, Former CEO Fiat Chrysler who is known to exhibit characteristics of  straight talking, being driven by challenge and having an experimental approach to business.

To summarize, under the new wave of invisible leadership, leaders need to get rid of undesirable behaviour, work towards a common purpose/ goal and be eccentric like Mr.Marchionne. 

Question: Is there anything you would like to say as concluding remarks?

Sanchika: Being a part of this conference enabled me to enhance my knowledge. It provided answers to questions such as “How analytics can be used effectively in various areas of HR and not only in recruitment, what is liquid workforce (one that is able to rapidly adapt and change based on the environment that they are in) and how digitization is changing the way people perceive HR as a function. The workplace is changing. More and more tasks are becoming automated, performed by computers or machines, and this means humans need to adapt.

Sakshi: Although most sessions of the conference were very useful and insightful, I felt a few like the one on digitization lacked depth. For instance having heard of the Block chain technology, I was looking forward to learning more about how it is used effectively in recruitment and other areas in HR. However, “the How” of it was never explained.  Even in the Q &A session, it was disappointing to see couple of panelists dodging questions and talking in circles.

Vishal: It was clear to me from the deliberations in the conference, that there is a gap between the theory that we learn and the practical aspects in the industry. It is necessary to make changes in the syllabus and curriculum of students. It should include the current and future expectations of the industry from HR professionals.

However, I am fortunate and happy that my college, Welingkar Institute of Management, gives a lot of importance to this aspect and organizes sessions/ lectures by a number of prominent specialists from the industry. The college also arranges for industrial exposure through visits and internship program.

Rajeev Moothedath: Thank you Vishal, Sanchika and sakshi for sharing your experiences and learning from the conference. It was a pleasure interacting with you!

Vishal, Sanchika & Sakshi: Thanks a lot sir for the opportunity. It is the first ever interview in our life and we thoroughly enjoyed the interaction. We had a great time! 

Diversity and Business

As I drove to the venue of the evening discussion organized by NIPM Karnataka chapter I was hoping that the talk would not be too similar to the one I had attended and written about on "Gender diversity" some time back. (https://hrdian .blogspot.com/2018/04/breaking-barriers-to-gender-diversity.html ). My apprehensions were misplaced as the day's discussions by Ms Anjali Pais was on the  more comprehensive aspects of 'Diversity' of which gender is one among many that impact business.

Anjali is the Founder and Managing Principal, of Aquilar Strategic Services. She has experience both in corporate and consulting roles in HR for a period of over 16 years.She was the area HR Head, for India, Srilanka and bangladesh of a Danish MNC before founding her company. The speaker started out by saying that psychology has been her passion and that it considerably influenced her approach to work and living. She said that diversity is not possible until we accept it in spirit. There is a need to accept, appreciate and embrace the concept of diversity.

Before going into the specifics of diversity as a key factor affecting business, the speaker discussed broadly the subject of diversity, pointing out that diversity is the very essence of life. As for example in nature, the natural environment of wild animals, rocks, forest and in general, those things that has not been substantially altered by human intervention provides the diversity and balance. We can afford to  disturb  this balance of the ecosystem only at at our own peril. Anjali  also called attention to the fact that man is a sentient being (capable of experiencing things through its senses) and it is important to nourish this basic nature of feeling pain, hunger, pleasure, the environment etc. which enables him to be more inclusive and accepting of other beings around him. 

In terms of human beings, diversity would mean understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing individual differences. This diversity can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.When an organization embraces diversity, it can broaden its skill base, become more competitive and innovative. Divergent opinions could mean more energy and an accepting environment. 

A McKinsey study on diversity revealed that companies with more diverse work forces performed better financially. In their latest report, Diversity Matters, Mc Kinsey examined proprietary data sets for 366 public companies across a range of industries in Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It also reported that diverse boards of companies achieved 53% higher return on investment and 14% more Ebitda. 

Anjali said that as per the Credit Suisse findings, boards with women on the board, compared to  men only boards, generated higher ROE ( Return on equity), lower debt to equity ratios. higer price/book value and and higher average net income growth. A study with mock juries found that panels  with diverse members (Black and white members) uncovered more angles and deliberated broader to come to a decision than white only panels. Companies with diversity had better stock piling and had 58% more accurate pricing decisions. New and varied view points facilitate better decision making and results.

A study conducted by Northwestern and BYU by giving the task of solving a murder mystery, found that the groups with diverse sets of  participants were more successful than those with uniform members. Research papers written by diverse groups receive more citations and had higher impact than papers written by the people from the same ethnic group. 

The speaker then discussed the situation in India and the extent to which bridging the diversity gap in the work place has been implemented in Indian companies. In this connection she drew attention to the Boston consulting group (BCG) study. According to its report titled "From Intention to Impact", the "Indian companies recognize the need for a more diverse work force and have initiated programs to drive inclusion. While there have been some success stories (Axis bank, Dr Reddys laboratories, Hindustan, Unilever), progress remains slow overall. Companies have launched a number of diversity initiatives and feel 'they are doing the right things' yet, they have not made substantial progress."    

The study reveals that although women are equally ambitious as men, they account for only 17% of the senior management positions; only 3% of CEOs in India are women.  60% of women respondents agree that the company is doing a lot to improve gender diversity but only 29% of women have actually benefited. As against 80% men, only 56% of women feel that the entire management team is committed to gender diversity.

Women perceive advancement as the biggest obstacle to gender diversity. Women who participated in the study feel that bias in promotions and evaluation are key obstacles to advancement- " Men are handpicked for future roles." Poor implementation is the primary reason that 50% of initiatives have not been effective.  It is to be noted that the Indian context discussed was limited to gender diversity. Perhaps more studies are necessary to understand inclusion levels of the differently enabled, regional, social and other diversities in India. 

The speaker rounded off her talk with the observation that "our assumptions influence our decisions". Often, it is assumptions based on limited data and personal perceptions that come in the way of openness to a diverse cuture in the organization. She related her own experience when she had demonstrated  preparedness to take the risk and a willingness to work in various functions such as operations, sales and HR. Initially, many based on traditional beliefs, felt that being a non engineer she would not be able to sell and contribute to supply chain sales. They believed that only engineers can speak tech specs. However, Anjali proved them wrong and became an achiever touching quite a few milestones.  

As a parting gift, the speaker played a video highlighting the fact that there are many type of intelligences ( Musical-rhythmic and harmonic. Visual-spatial, Verbal-linguistic,  Logical-mathematical, Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Naturalistic) and for best results we need to concentrate on enhancing all of these intelligences. Currently, the focus is only on one type of intelligence viz Logical-mathematical. Alienation from one another is the result of this trend. As people see the world in different ways, it is imperative to have a diverse culture which provides the opportunity to empower  all forms of intelligence/ perspectives resulting in a more holistic decision making and wholesome results. 

Finally I would like to end this post with a quote of Verna Meyers, American author and cultural innovator, that the speaker shared. To my mind, this quote is very significant and important as it underscores the fact that diversity and inclusion cannot and should not be seen in isolation  -  "Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance."  Not much will be gained if we recruit people with diverse backgrounds but do not include or involve them in the key decision making and running of the organization....

Interaction with the authors of the book- "HR Here and Now:The Making of the Quintessential People "

In the monthly meeting of May 2018, NHRD Bangalore chapter arranged an interaction with the authors of the book "HR Here and Now", Mr Ganesh Chella, Mr Harish Devarajan and Mr V.J Rao who are all veterans in the field of HR. They have worked for many years in the industry and then moved to consultancy and coaching. The proceedings commenced with each of them outlining the reasons why they wrote the book which was followed by more information about its contents. Two readers Mr Varadan and Prof Vasanthi Srinivasan of IIMB also shared their impressions about the book.

Ganesh Chella who has previously written two books ("Creating a helping organization" and "Are you ready for the corner office" as coauthor) said that over the years the image of HR has been anything but positive. HR has not been able to project its contribution to the organization effectively. The book seeks to correct the image. V.J.Rao and Harish agreed and stated that love for the HR profession, was the common thread that motivated them to write the book- To do something for the profession; highlight the good examples in terms of perspectives, practices, purposes and handling challenge.

HR, today, has a big challenge of dealing with employees at a time when relationship boundaries whether in terms of contractual, legal or social are changing. Today there is an increase in the number of temporary employees. As against an earlier ratio of 80:20 in favour of permanant employees, the trend seems to be exactly reversing. How to create a consistent talent pipeline when most of your employees are temporary is a major challenge. The positioning of the function is important. The extent to which the function is central to the organization's business is the key to the extent of its importance in the organization.

HRDians need to retrospect and review their role and contribution to the organization. In the earlier times they plunged into IR situations and sought to solve them. They wanted to be "seen doing/ experience doing". At the same time, the pursuit of a  single minded objective of industrial peace and employee harmony, attracted criticism of HR  being too soft (like 'halwai')  to unions and employees. HRDians have modified their approach and activities to cater to the changed expectations.

However, the obsession today with strategic HR, (thinking, conceptualising and being strategic), appears to have thwarted  the very essence of the HR role. HR folks are now thinking business, seeking to be a business leader, to get a seat at the table. But "no one is feeling for the employee which was its core function."  Another matter of concern is the relationship HR has with the CEO. The general feeling that "Anyone can do HR, has to go." This can be achieved if HR takes initiative to educate the CEO about doing HR activities the right way. There are several success stories of HR professionals who have played this role effectively which needs to be to shared widely. This book is an effort in this direction.

Innovative and impactful HR practices  

The team observed practices on the field at the factories and work places and found some very good work done in Wipro, Cafe cofee day, Amazon,Tech instruments, Taco and other companies in areas of recruitment,employee practices, retention etc. The stories, insights and perspectives have been included in the book. It is interesting to note that although doing good work, many managers were reluctant to to be named or have their work highlighted.

A research exercise was  initiated for the purpose of the book interviewing CEOs and CHROs.The team also spoke to union leaders.The exercise was appreciated by everyone who cooperated whole heartedly. Unlike earlier times, the union leaders conveyed high acceptance of cost effectiveness and other efficiency measures. Infact one union had given in writing that "There are no demands from our side."  As 'CL" or temporary employment is a fact of life today and cannot be wished away, it is important to look at equitable salaries and other ways of strengtening their cause.

Employee referral has become an important source of recruitment in many companies.Properly planned and administered, the scheme can ensure that appropriate candidates personally known to the employees are recruited. You can also determine "Who are the people who are likely to give appropriate, right fit references. Royal Enfield has designed a scheme to ensure that a 24 year old engineer is recruited at the shortest possible time- 7 days to identify and 15 days to be on the job.

Another matter that was discussed during the evening was the importance of HR professionals building themselves in terms of (1) Foundations of functional expertise (2) Becoming a specialist/partner (defining people problems and defining the business) and being (3) HR Expert/ Strategic HR leader. It was opined that HRDians are the worst when it comes to mobility across the organization and geographical regions. Here, mobility needs to be understood in the correct perspective (organizational/strategic interest) and  it is not about moving people every two years for mobility's sake.

I would like to conclude this post by sharing the feedback given by two persons in the audience who have read the book. Mr Varadan was very appreciative of the book which according to him gave "moments of joy" while reading. He particularly liked the closing reflections of each chapter, with the focus on the doing, feeling and thinking paradigm. He appreciated the case study of Brakes India, Sholingur and other "lovely Indian case studies" that gave insights on the sprectum of relationships. He also liked the idea of including liberal arts in executive education and involvement of families in Learning and Development.

Prof Vasanthi Srinivasan of IIMB, said that she liked the reflective practices.(reflecting on one's actions so as to engage in a process of continuous learning) and the compensation practices discussed in the book, particularly the differentials. She felt that OD (organizational development) was important as people no longer speak "the language of OD any more". While appreciating the bouquet of case studies, Prof Vasanthi opined that "not enough role models of HR professionals" has been discussed in the book and that including more role models would have added to its appeal and value. 

Overall, the discussions of the evening painted a brief, yet clear picture of the book "HR-Here and Now" which appears to be a  holistic, comprehensive assessment of where we are as professionals in all gamuts of HR, the best practices currently practised in Indian companies and the journey forward.The book is backed by solid research findings and case studies. 

Link for the purchase of the book:  https://www.amazon.in/HR-Here-Now-Quintessential-Champion/dp/935280693X