“Let’s say that I have to go to a tower a few kilometres away from where I am. What matters is not only to identify the path to reach there but also how to reach the desired destination,” says Mr. S. Vardarajan, EVP and Chief Human Resources Officer at Quattro BPO Solutions, in a recent conversation with HR Talks Team, National HRD Network on Execution Excellence.
Raja, as he is fondly called by the members of the National HRD network, has had an illustrious career in HR. One of the founding members of Quatrro BPO solutions, he has played a major role in the company’s rapid growth to over 3000 employees in less than five years. Under Raja’s visionary leadership, Quattro has won several awards and recognitions such as Watson Wyatt Awards (2002 & 2003 for the most innovative HR practices), the World HR Congress (the most innovative HR practices in the Services Sector, 2003), Great Places to Work Survey 2003 and 2004, Hewitt Best Employers of 2003 and 2004, and National HRD Network (Network Trailblazers Award 2004). He was also awarded with the HR Leadership Award by World HR Congress in 2009 for his thought leadership and contribution to the field of HR.

The statement above was spoken in context to delineating the role of strategies in achieving a particular goal. “If you are able to achieve what you have planned to achieve in the most optimal manner- i.e. at the right cost and at the right time- this is what I would call excellence in execution ,” says Raja. Execution is to do with strategy, whereas excellence would be doing it right in a shorter period of time.

It is true that the focus has always been on formulating strategies in majority of the organizations. But it only makes sense because strategy forms the backbone of any goal that organizations want to achieve as it gives a clear cut direction for them to follow. “Strategy plays a very critical role because it provides the overall path to reach a particular goal. It is necessary to understand the steps to achieving something-only then can those steps be implemented to realize the ultimate purpose”, explains Raja. “The focus should be- 80% on strategy and the remaining 20% on the action steps”, he further elaborates.
The role of the manager becomes extremely important in implementing the plans charted out. His/her role should be that of formulating strategies for majority of the time. “However a manager should give equal importance to the execution of the plans as well”, he reminds us.
Achieving organizational excellence is what Mr Vardarajan speaks of in earnest passion. He says that it is important for organizations to plan properly and monitor the action steps that will be followed. “Once the steps are laid down one should monitor the action steps during the course of these steps rather than responding at the end of the entire process. You should keep monitoring your action steps as you go by”, he adds.
Even though managers have a pivotal role in formulating strategies, every level of the organization has to be involved for achieving excellence in execution- “ it is not a one man job; each person has to be involved at every step from the VP of the company to the lowest level of worker. Execution should be done by everyone in every manner”-he says. This only makes sense because today i.e. the age of Gen X, people want to feel empowered and the more involved they are in the processes of the company, the better it is for all concerned.
Communication also plays a very critical role. ‘Communication is extremely important in explaining the strategy, defining the steps and measures of performance” he explains, “because clearly communicated steps ultimately leads to high performance level”, he adds. He also points out that communication plays a vital role in giving feedback to the employees. Communication and strategising therefore are very important to let the workforce know as to where they are headed.
In conclusion, Raja avers that one should strategise and execute the plans correctly, as also communicate the plans to the people involved to achieve execution excellence.

Execution Excellence S Vardarajan

The hard times are not over - I sure hope that stock market knows something that my clients don’t. But it’s clear that the worst is behind us. The demand destruction means that companies still have some overcapacity but I think the HR community needs to start getting ready for the next high tide. The many personal and corporate tragedies of low tide have blurred our memory of what high tide as like but India’s long term trajectory means that our ability to find skilled people at the right time will again, at some time in the not so distant future, become the binding constraint for company growth and expansion. The Skill crisis has not gone away; it has just been deferred and it is coming to bite us with compound interest.

The question for the HR fraternity to introspect about is do we pass the two tests of Noah? The first one is that predicting rain is not worth anything but building the ark is all that counts. The second is that the best time to build the ark is when it is not raining. In other words, have we taken any specific actions to build our supply chain? Have we used low tide to prepare for the next high tide? Timing is everything in life and things that are possible in low tide seem impossible in high tide.

I agree that there is probably no viable, sustainable and scalable business model for Corporate India to manufacture its own employees; it is very hard to get clear financial returns on training investments at entry level skills. Even if a company invests the money there are three holes in the bucket; the first is when candidate goes through training but does not qualify for the job, the second is when the candidate get training, get the job but is not productive and the third is when the candidate goes through training, gets the jobs, is productive but leaves. So I think the privatization of skill development may largely refer to private delivery but we will have to find other solutions to funding. There have been a lot of public policy initiatives in skill development; Modular Employment, National Skill Development Corporation, ITI PPPs, National Skill Co-ordination Board, etc but these have taken longer than we thought for them to show up in outcomes where the rubber meets the road. But there is nothing more powerful than idea whose time has come and education and employability reform are ideas whose time has come.

Our ability to get the right person at the right time in the right place became the speed limit to taking advantage of high tide last time. India is getting ready for its next next high tide and this will be broader, deeper and more ferocious than last time. The global crisis has made India more attractive and what is happening in India is not once in a decade or once in a millennium but once in the lifetime of a country. Those in the HR fraternity that will take the time and attention to build an sustainable and scalable people supply chain will be putting themselves at the heart of their companies corporate strategy. Because if strategy is defined as the art of creating an unfair advantage, there will no unfair advantage for companies in India like a people supply chain that is able to match qualified candidates, repair last mile candidates and prepare their pipeline candidates.

Uncategorized Manish Sabbarwal

Dear Friends

It’s a pleasure to be part of this wonderful HR fraternity led by National HRD Network. Since it’s my very first interaction with the group, I thought I would start off by sharing a bit about myself and a few of my reflections on some other issues. I see this blog as a new two-way communication platform on the internet and I hope that this forum would help us share ideas and suggestions. I request your wholehearted participation to ensure that we can communicate meaningfully.

About Me: I currently head the HR function at Bharti Airtel Ltd. I started my career with Eicher Tractors in 1984 as Unit Personnel Officer and thereafter have held various roles in Hindustan Lever Ltd and Unilever, spanning the diverse areas of HR and Organization development. After spending 20 years with Levers, I joined Airtel. I have over 22 years of professional experience in enterprise level roles, change management, performance management, people alignment and driving the HR transformation agenda to deliver strategic value for the business.

I start off our journey of sharing ideas by seeking your thoughts on what do we need to do as HR professionals to make a lasting impact on our business performance? With increasing competition, the key differentiators for any organization are its people & capabilities. Therefore, our focus needs to be on ensuring that the best people continue to be with us and perceive our companies as ‘employers of choice’.. Hence, this is the time when we have to seriously re-evaluate the HR role and bring in cultural changes.
Which brings us to the next question-Are there any areas that we could work on to build a culture conducive to delivering high performance? One of the areas that has been recognized as a catalyst to this is ensuring a healthy work life balance for our employees. This topic wasn’t as important in the past as it is today because, in the past, people often were able to attend primarily to one major role in their life (eg, working, housework, etc.), rather than to several (eg, to a career, being a parent, pursuing hobbies, etc), such as today.

The importance of ensuring a good work life balance and adjusting patterns to help combine our work with other aspects of life can not be overstated. According to a study done by Gallup Inc, 76% of employees in a managerial positions want more time with their families & friends; 50% claim to be too exhausted mentally and physically to do anything but work and sleep; 30% said that their life is out of control and 20% said that they are too stressed to enjoy life at all.

As HR professionals, we understand that work has evolved from a matter of necessity/survival to also a source of personal satisfaction. Also, to me work life balance is not just about the amount of time you spend working vs. not-working or office vs. home. It is about Achievement and Enjoyment for each one of us. These two characteristics are the different side of the same coin. To lead a happy life, we need both these key ingredients in our lives.

Hence, how can we as leaders assist our employees to strike this balance- In order to be driven to give their all to their organizations?

With increased access to improved technology, options such as telecommuting have been instrumental in enabling increased work life balance for organizations. Organizations of today are also opening up to providing increased flexibility (in terms of work schedules) to employees- Which also helps them balance their lives. However, the success of any such initiatives lies in the willingness of the people managers to drive it as a personal agenda. Translating this intellectual awareness into day-to-day practice involves enabling your teams to prioritize their work and striking a balance. This would not only make them many times more productive, but would also provide them the time that they need to lead a ‘whole’ life.

Once again, this is a two way platform and should help us share our ideas and thoughts, so do contribute openly.

Krish

Managing Culture Design & Change, Performance Management Krish Shankar

The Indian industrial scenario has seen rapid transition in the last decade. From a traditional factory based mindset the Indian industry has moved on to become world class large conglomerate. Indian industry has moved on beyond the Indian borders and is spreading it’s footprint across the globe. Indian family owned businesses are today an epitome of professionally run multinational organization. Indian Family run businesses now employ Expats, CEOs and employees to run their profit ventures.  Clearly the business mindset – the way we were used to conducting business of our industries - has undergone a sea change.  How and why did this transformation transpire?

In the late nineties, Indian manufacturing sector has undergone an economic slowdown. This resulted in closure of many well known businesses. People working in these industries were rendered jobless. In order to survive, the industry resorted to various cost cutting initiatives, which included rationalization of its employee force. The Trade Unions raised this as a big issue as one of the basic principles of the constitution of the Trade Unions – protection of jobs – was being shaken. That was the time when the industrial Managements embarked upon the journey of building effective and transparent communication channels to win over the partnership, collaboration and working trust of the Unions. The downturn was long enough to enable these efforts to stabilize. The Trade Unions became effective partners in progress and actively participated in cost elimination drives, manpower rationalization drives. Although, manpower rationalization was implemented through various Voluntary Retirement Schemes (VRS) or Golden Handshakes. This process in the late nineties till about 2002 helped organizations to close non profitable / non sustainable sections of their businesses and also did effective cost rationalization and manpower rationalization – thus becoming LEAN in the industrial sense of the term. Later, when the upswing came these lean organizations were absolutely ready like a crouching tiger and made the best use of resources in taking all possible advantages of an ever liberalizing economy. Trade Unions which had witnessed the recent downtrend were happy to support all the progressive programmes initiated by the new Managements. The now leaner and more prudent Managements also made it a point to take the responsibility of spreading the knowledge amongst their workforce and started working towards enhancing employee connect and engagement. The above scenario and resulting efforts brought about a change in the erstwhile Management / Union adage of US & THEM. There was now a TEAM which worked together for the betterment and fortification of the industry and its employees.

I have the privilege of advising a lot of industrial units by virtue of my holding honorary positions in the industrial associations both at the local and at state / national levels. I have clearly seen a marked change in the industrial dispute resolution process.

First: as I have mentioned above, due to the maturity of the TEAM in an industrial organization, the complexion of industrial disputes has undergone a change. The small, individual – sometimes frivolous – type of industrial disputes have reduced and more issue based disputes which affect larger population or the ones which challenge a question pertaining to interpretation of a policy or its clause are now becoming more in numbers.

Second: The shift from Tripartite to Bipartite way is happening at a very fast pace. The Managements and the Unions have realised over a period that the way the dispute resolution process runs under the Tripartite based system – involving Government agencies – it only results in delays and as they say justice (read Resolution) delayed is justice denied. Therefore, the Managements and the Unions now sit across the table and after hearing each other out are finding resolutions to their differences. The positive side effect of such type of resolutions is that they are respected more and thus are more long lasting.

Third: The way the Government agencies have gone about resolving disputes, has left much to be desired and delivered. The approach in most of the cases has been enforcement than conciliation. The Indian Laws are by and large are labour protective. This was necessitated by the way earlier industrialists used to run the industries. This is not the case in India only but it has its roots in the ’sweat shops’ of 19th century industrialised Europe. However, on one hand, like in other developed / developing nations, Indian industry too has embraced modernization and follow processes which are ergonomic, safe and produce world class quality products. On the other hand the Indian Industrial legislation still remains archaic.  I would like to bring forward a point here that the Indian Trade Unionism took birth when India was not an independent country. The Trade Unionism took its roots in the fight for freedom – freedom struggle and this added a very strong flavour to the recipe of Indian Trade Unionism. Then, the Indian industrialists – the pioneers – the first generation – have their industrial rooting in an Imperialistic & closed economic scenario. Even after India won its freedom, this negative inertia continued to drag the Indian industry. Combined with the above said archaic and over protective labour legislation – this became a recipe for disaster. Indian industry struggled with this recipe for almost 50 years post independence.  Then dawned the era of LPG – Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization.  Suddenly, the over protected Indian industry was exposed to the harsh presence of a giant – Global Economy and the related competition. Many large Indian Business houses could never come out of this sudden awe. Whereas, most of the industrial houses showed quick responses and they were very swift in adapting to the new world order. In my view the Indian industry took about ten years time to unlearn the business ways which it was entangled with for more than a century. Now the Indian industry is seen with a renewed global level of respect. I have many examples to quote here which would make any Indian proud. What did these successful Managements do?

My view is they decide to do much more than just what was absolutely required under our laws / legislations. They took over the right to manage from these laws and their enforcers and took upon themselves to devise their own guidelines. Management, it is not just fulfilling the peripheral needs – outer standards of Labour Laws. In the open and liberalized Indian market economy the issues of Productivity, Quality, and Globalization are the ones which are currently under a lot of focus, and sadly our Labour Legislation or for that matter the dispute resolution machinery is not up to speed on such important points. Therefore, Progressive industries are moving away from the legal peripheral issues. They are stepping into the ARENA – where all the action is. There is a need of the industry to distinguish between Laws and Management – to wean away (not avoid) from Labour Laws as these are laws and just laws are not Management. The focus has changed from just fulfilling the bare minimum legal requirements to doing much more so that the focus shifts from just complying with the laws but the same energy is being focused on transformation of employee mindset towards becoming World Class. Coming over to the Dispute Resolution…..what is it? I can say it is primarily about two things…  - Assuaging hurt feelings -Protection against insecurity generated by actual or perceived threats  Although, everyone has heard the saying’ Prevention is better than cure’, I strongly believe that in Employee Relation scenario – ‘Prevention is the ONLY cure’.

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ER & Labor Laws Rajiv Kapor

Organizations like organisms evolve continuously; the success of an organization depends on this evolution and the effectiveness with which it can manage the change that comes with it. Change may be looming on the horizon due to business transitions impacted by strategic mergers, joint ventures, divestitures, expansions, new business solutions, infusion of technology, market changes, financial downturns, compelling competitive scenarios, new opportunities or even a new dimension of growth. “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change” observed Charles Robert Darwin way back in 1859 in his seminal book “Origin of the Species”.

Our body, composed of trillions of cells, is a classic metaphor of change constantly engaged in a dynamic never ceasing process where cells die, repair, renew, and rebuild. Change is indeed the way of life and being able to transcend disruptions must become a way of life for organizations too. “It is not success that makes good genes. It is good genes that make success” remarked Richard Dawkins. Humans, unlike other organisms, are blessed with the ability to reason, and in turn can endeavor to predict or envision possibilities and prepare for it. When we can anticipate what may happen tomorrow, we enable the ability to commit ourselves to action today. Organizations normally endeavor to react and respond when compelled with a crisis at hand. A real and ongoing transformational ability, on the other hand, may serve as a powerful and differentiating core competence.

Applying the Occam’s razor, when a business is at cross roads, the imperative is implicit; change the environment or the business itself must attempt to change. Metamorphosis is imminent when disruptions happen. As Shakespeare’s Hamlet contemplated, “Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?” How a business responds by accelerating change, minimizing possible resistance, and achieving organization’s desired outcomes will define its success and determine its future.

On the road to transformation, Kurt Lewin encapsulated the three critical steps required as unfreezing (where you unwind the current state), changing (where you enable and implement) and refreezing (where the new model of business is institutionalized). The levers of enabling sustainable and effective change include appreciating the very need for change, creating a shared vision, continuous and effective communication, addressing the critical culture gaps, carrying stakeholders along, building coalitions, forming a supporting infrastructure, sustaining the urgency for change and facilitating quick wins. The prerequisite, no doubt, is the need for a committed leadership that ensures organizational congruence and execution focus to the task on hand.

Change that endures at a fundamental level, even when desired to be affected across the entire organization, has to be invigorated at the individual level as it necessitates a behavioral transformation. As CK Prahlad observed, the power of n=1, where the real change is brought about through transforming one employee at a time, with the focus on the centrality of the individual. Transpersonal psychology highlights the fact that we, as individuals, are suffused with energy owing to our desire to grow and develop ourselves. When employees see a resonance between the compelling need to change and how it can impact their lives for the better, it creates a reservoir of energy that fuels the transformation sought. As custodian of the intellectual capital in the organization, the Human Resources function must take primacy and play the vital role of a transforming catalyst towards enabling sustainable change.

Building HR Strategy, Managing Culture Design & Change N S Rajan

Possessing requisite competency is the key to success in any job. But one seldom expects these competencies to change very rapidly, especially with the shift in economic scenario. Not too long ago communication with employees at large and conversations with employees at individual level revolved
around growth, expansion and diversification. All these have changed in last one year. With many organisations facing the inevitable reality of taking hard decisions a competency, rarely sought after earlier, has now become a business imperative. The competency of having difficult conversations with employees.

In many organisations managers are faced with the challenge of maintaining productivity and morale while meeting seemingly impossible business goals with reduced resources. Whether the topic is delivering difficult news, giving tough performance feedback, or change in a policy, large numbers of managers feel reluctant about having that ‘difficult conversation’ with peers or employees.

Conversations become tough when employees feel threatened with the possible outcome of the conversation or when perception varies and also when emotions are high. In all such circumstances, an
inevitable conflict occurs. Thus handling all such conversations sensitively calls for a set of competency for both line as well as HR leaders.

Successfully handling difficult conversations requires considerable amount of planning. It calls for analysing the situation from both, organisational as well as individual perspectives and understanding the impact on both, of the expected results at the end of that conversation.

It is therefore, important to anticipate the expected outcome from this conversation. The starting point therefore becomes articulation of the main problem itself. It is often tempting to gloss over issues or to use vague language. However, it is critical to be clear and candid about the main issue or
problem. And the staring point in such preparation is gathering of facts and data rather than rely on assumptions. Effective managers rely on gathering or alternatively verifying these facts directly rather than depend upon indirect sources of information. At the time of conversation, this helps considerably in conveying the message with conviction and increases its effectiveness many folds.

Many managers go off the track while conducting a difficult conversation when they describe a situation or an issue in a generic term or assign a label instead of speaking objectively about the situation. For example - ‘You are not a team player…’; ‘You do not have a sense of urgency…’ Without specific details, comments like ‘more of a team player’, ‘more service oriented’ or ’show more initiative’ mean nothing to the concerned employee. On the contrary the employee feels highly defensive. Labels without supporting evidence or examples leave employee feeling helpless about
making changes because they do not comprehend what changes are being expected from them or even what the problem is, or what needs to be different. A manager therefore needs to gather specific
facts, observations, and behaviours that needs to be addressed and also illustrations of what impact the current situation is having on the organisation. Asking employees to change their attitudes or thinking is ambiguous. Pointing out to the employee what behaviours need to change and why is specific and measurable.

One of the most important requisite of conducting a difficult conversation is the ability to listen actively. When employees feel heard, their minds are open and they are ready to hear what the manager has to say. Many managers are too eager in such a situation to express their viewpoint and
start justifying the same thinking that it will convince the employees better. They try and persuade the employee to accept their viewpoint. The truth is employees can not or will not listen when what they need is to talk. An interactive session interspersed with silence, for reflection, is the ideal situation that a manager should strive for. This is not a selling game. It is an exercise to convey
facts and ensuring that desired results are achieved.

Douglas Stone in his book “Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most” puts it simply in stating that there are three deeper conversations in any difficult conversation. The ‘what happened?’ conversation usually involves disagreement over what happened, ‘what should happen?’
and ‘who is accountable?’ Stone identifies common errors that people make in these sorts of conversations. The key to having effective, productive conversations is to recognize the presence of these deeper conversations, avoid the common errors, and turn difficult conversations into learning
conversations. Most conversations fail because people begin by describing the problem from their own perspective, which implies a judgment about the other person and thus elicits a defensive response.
Instead, what works better is to start conversations from the perspective of a third party that describes or at least acknowledges the difference between the conversing partners from a neutral term. An effective difficult conversation starts with an invitation to join in a dialogue seeking mutual
understanding or joint problem solving and without compromising the dignity of the individuals.

Managers need to keep in mind that in a situation of conflict it is always safer to aim for improving the situation and not focus only on identifying problems. Simply identifying problems - highlighting what is not working - is only part of an issue. More important is to identify solutions to tackle those problems.

A manager who embarks on a difficult conversation, with the intent to win at the other person’s expense risks further conflict and loss of credibility. In contrast, an approach that takes into consideration a joint exploration of what could be a pragmatic solution yields better results. Such an
approach may take more time but is more enduring and sustainable.

In a difficult conversation, one may be tempted to spend energy telling. Telling the other person what they did wrong. Telling them what impact it created. Telling them what you would like them to do differently. While some of this may be important for them to hear, it is an error to begin with this
approach. The concerned employee may have lot to tell and if the dialogue is not balanced, it is likely to be ineffective. One has to also recognise role of emotion in such a dialogue. All difficult conversations tend to have a high degree of emotions. As long as a manager is careful not to let emotion overrun reason, the conversation will stay on the right track.

Effective communication skills are arguably among the most important traits a manager can possess. From empathetic understanding to assertive delegation, a manager must adopt the whole arsenal of
communication techniques to elicit the best performance from their team. Giving consistent, honest feedback and having difficult conversations at work is one of the most challenging tasks of the leader’s role. Many managers avoid difficult conversations with employees, hoping that the problem will
solve itself but in that manner, the problem only gets worse.

It makes good business sense and also enhances transparency in a system if a respectful yet effective difficult conversation is held in a timely manner. Avoiding difficult conversations is only postponing the pain not curing the illness.

Uncategorized Aquil Busrai

Every manager is required to do Performance Appraisals. Generally, the season for this is once a year. The employees keenly look forward to this, because they are expecting a ‘good grade’ after a year of hard work and more importantly, their compensation increase would be based on this. The managers, usually, do not look forward to this season. During this time, all the ‘work’ stops and only this ‘HR activity’ happens. The 3rd party in this season is the HR team. This is their time, and they push the whole system to get the ‘job’ done. The ‘policy’ already exists, and all clarifications and questions generally are answered with the ‘policy statements’. All departments are required to meet the ‘normal’ distribution of the ratings.

So why do managers generally detest this? There is this huge emotional dialogue and debate with the team members. They get upset. Managers get emotionally overdrawn. Each review lasts for a couple of hours, without seeming to reach a closure (you thought you closed it and pop…there is an email in your inbox from the employee raising some or same points again!). A few even ask for group change and occasionally some even leave citing bad review! Who likes this anyway?

The more important question is – How to do this right? Let’s start with the expected outcome. The employee must feel good after the review and look forward to doing more in future with the manager and the company. The manager is very hopeful for employee’s growth and performance.

A manager has to play the judge and deliver a verdict about the performance of the employee. As a Judge, you carefully look at all the data, and make a judgment taking into account the law (in this case the policy). The big difference here is that the Judge is himself or herself involved – they provide the relevant data and then judge it too, and the employee is judging the Judge too (is my manager being fair to me?). Hence there is an inherent conflict of interest here. If the employee’s expectations are not met, then he/she gets frustrated.

In order to accomplish the goal, the manager, perhaps needs to become the coach of the employee. A coach is also making judgments. But there is a difference. A successful coach earns the trust of his team. The team knows that the coach is working towards their success. This is all the job of the coach is. Hence they listen to the coach. The coach gets to know the ‘game’ and the ‘capability’ of each of the members, and then helps each of them to make a plan to make this better. Trust means that the team does not doubt the agenda of the coach. The agenda is obvious – the team wins and this can happen only when each of the members gets better, and this is what the coach is working on. The coach is helping on a regular basis. He/she is giving pointed feedback, and then asking how the team member plans to improve. The coach gives his/her own suggestions too. A good coach is very demanding, much more than managers. But his/her team listens because they have unwavering trust in the coach – that he/she has their success in mind, and that he/she is competent.

A manager despite competence finds it hard to become as effective as a coach. The team members may not be sure whose success the manager is interested in – theirs or his/her own. Most of the time the manager spends time reviewing the task and not connect to the employee. Employee thinks that manager is focussed on the project success (i.e., his own success) and does not care about employee’s interests. It is hard to have a trusting relationship in this situation. Sometimes, there is also lack of clarity on the overall goal. And hence the feedback looks like a judgment, and team members could feel violated because they consider the manager as an outsider rather than aas one of them. To top it all, most managers do not give feedback for improvement until the ‘season’, that is once a year, through the review. The employee gets a surprise, and we all know that unpleasant surprises of this type do not build trust.

Perhaps we as managers must see ourselves as coaches who are able to demand high performance from their team because the team trusts them completely. The right way to measure the success of a review is that a manager mails the review document to his team members in advance and asks for a meeting. Many employees say they are willing to sign it off without the meeting. The meetings last for 30 to 45 minutes and are focussed on discussing the future, and not arguing about the past. And, the team wants to retain the same coach!

Irrespective of the strengths or limitations of the Performance Appraisal Policy of their company, good managers earn the trust of their team and are able to drive their performance, and make them successful. They are able to Make A Difference to their team. Everyone wants to work with these managers. And the HR team can perhaps focus on how to enable managers to be coaches.

Question 1: In your experience, what determines the success of a Performance Appraisal System?

Question 2: What is the main reason for failure?

Your thoughts and questions will be a learning opportunity for everyone. Won’t you like to (be) M.A.D.?

Performance Management, Talent Management, Uncategorized Aadesh Goyal

Building HR Strategy, Execution Excellence, Strategic Thinking & Alignment Aadesh Goyal, Krish Shankar

Why does this idea of writing on HRTalks– a space created for all human resource professionals – on this Independence Day remind me of an article from The Atlantic Monthly which was published in 1959?The article was titled “India’s Masses: The Public that Can’t be Reached” and was a first-hand account by the author Arthur Bonner of his stay in India during the ‘50s. It starts with a revealing episode:

“I first began thinking about India’s communication difficulties three years ago… I stopped at a post office and saw, in a corner, a short spear with two little bells attached to the shaft near the head. I recognized it, from descriptions in books, as a spear carried by dak (mail) runners. I thought it was a relic of the days when the mail was delivered by runners who needed the spear to protect themselves from robbers and wild animals… as they jogged along jungle trails. But the postmaster assured me that he still delivered some of his mail by runners who took three days going out along one route and three days coming back by another. “

He went on to describe the mammoth efforts that went into reaching out to India’s masses, and connecting and uniting them around a common identity of a newly-formed nation– a nation

HR profession, Uncategorized, nation building, unorganised sector Dr Madhukar Shukla

A recent research study shows that the number of women members on the Corporate Boards of organizations in India is a mere 4%. (Source: Review of the balance sheets of 175 companies). The study throws up another interesting fact - 50% of women Board members are related to the Chairman or CEO either as mother, sister, wife or daughter. This means that just 2% of the members have attained the top position in organizations.

The National Census conducted across the country every 10 years shows that close to 50% of the overall population in India is women. In the last couple of decades, there has been a steady and significant increase in the number of women joining the workforce. This has been catapulted by the emergence and rapid growth of the services sector, that has provided a better working environment for women and leveraged their natural talents, that the factories and manufacturing facilities could not, unless it was say a high-technology/pharmaceutical plant.

Another important thing to note is that in India, there have been exclusive women’s colleges in existence for decades. In fact, some of them have been established even before India attained its freedom from British rule. To quote a few examples, Women’s Christian College in Chennai (founded in 1915), Women’s Christian College, Kolkata (1945), St. .Xaviers, Mumbai (1868), Women’s College, Kolkata (1937), Mount Caramel Bangalore (1948). Several colleges celebrated their Golden Jubilee years in the last few years, e.g. the Lady Shri Ram in 2005. Such colleges have been a lighthouse of learning and significantly for the nation, have been successfully producing a large number of women graduates and post graduates. Besides these prestigious institutes which continue to be held with great esteem, a large number of medical, engineering and management schools have come up, which have a good proportion of girl students.

So if there’s such a rich woman talent pool and there are industries that provide a better enabling environment for women employees, the million dollar question is – where are all these well educated women, and why are they not among the top positions in organizations?

An obvious response – which definitely has more than a grain of truth at least in the Indian context – is that the majority of them have preferred to become home makers at some stage in their career, and only a few really focused on building their careers as a long term commitment, like men do.

Is it because women experience the pain of a ‘glass ceiling’ to reach senior levels – something that is never talked about or blatantly visible, but only to be felt, experienced, and that too only by women employees. Several Western countries have been having debates on whether such a glass ceiling indeed exists…do such discussions happen in India? Is it high time such a dialog started in India?

Let’s look at India a little more closely. Traditionally in India, educated women  have been employed as nurses, teachers, secretaries, and bank employees. The new economy sectors such as IT and ITES have provided employment opportunities for women like none before. At ‘skilled category’ level, a small percentage of women work in facilities like precision component assembly units, where the dexterity with which they use their fingers make them a perfect fit for the role. Then, of course there are industries like apparel, fashion, jewelry, advertising, etc, that play to the creative talents in women.

Over the last decade, realizing the benefits of having a diverse workforce for business performance, several global organizations have started Diversity programs. One common initiative is to make conscious efforts to increase the percentage of women at various levels in their organizations – in other words, diversity metrics like % women in the workforce.

However, it must be said that through all these efforts, we are only scratching at the surface as the corporate world is missing out on a large productive population out there who’s still not part of the labor force.

Here’s where I’d like to ask - Can we as HR professionals, revisit some of the moth-balled excuses and prejudices that still exist for not recruiting women, e.g. “The moment she gets married, she’d leave her job’, ‘she takes leave often to attend to her family needs, ‘she can’t work late in case of urgent deadlines’, ‘Maternity leave is expensive and it means I will not have a team member for 90 days or more, ‘she can’t go on tours’, ‘a majority of women are not REALLY serious about their careers”…and so on.

Wearing the hat of a pragmatist, in today’s context, dual household income has almost become a must due to factors like increasing consumerism, high cost of living, a strong desire to ‘do the best’ for our children, e.g. providing best possible schooling and facilities to our children, etc…In such a situation, can women from middle class families afford not to consider having a working  career and be content just being a homemaker?

Can we then be aware and reflect upon our own biases, prejudices and fears as HR professionals and human beings? Before we convince the line managers and the top management, it’s important that we have a strong conviction that having a greater representation of women in our organization will lead to improved business performance and foster harmony at the workplace.

So, when we are next hiring for a position, let’s ask ourselves: Can this responsibilities of this position be carried out well by both a competent man or woman?

Uncategorized Dr. PVR Murthy