Interview published in Silicon India

What kind of Challenges are there in Planning Human Resource Strategies in an Ever-Changing Business?

Business situation is dynamic. There are no ideal conditions now. Situation is always turbulent. Yesterday’s strategy will not work today. There is no one solution for all issues. You have to work on tailor made solutions of different talent and again as per the business need. These are main challenges.

One of the major challenges, I see is aligning HR strategies with your business needs. With changing demographic landscape, the HR role is crucial. Right talent, right skillset, right & productive culture, creating solid leadership pipeline & creating specialist pipeline is very important.

What are your thoughts on education system in India. What measures to be taken into consideration to improve its quality?

I came from the middle-class family. I educated from vernacular medium school till SSC. Teachers, that time, were more committed. I remember when our teachers use to take extra classes without any extra tuition fees. It does not mean that they were earning well, but their commitment to the teaching profession was high. My success still is in the commitment and values taught by my parents and committed teachers. It does not mean that it was best education system, but teachers were going extra mile and students’ success was considered their success. Our education system is focus more on instructions. It is a time to re-look the whole system. More focus on Modelling and experiential sharing should be given. Academics and theory make your foundation sound, but students should be allowed to make more experiments. To summarize with the education should be more practical, on the shop floor rather than in class rooms, with the use of technologies.

What are some of the Different Qualities You look out for while hiring People?

·       First: Culture fit

·       Second: Team Fit

·       Third: Job Fit.

Apart from this their attitude is important. Of course, their knowledge and skills are important, but more important are their attitude and soft skills, like team skills, communications skills, his way of interacting etc. However, it purely depends upon his area of work.

What can professionals do on their own to help India become a developed country?

Winning professionals are successful because, they made experimentation. They learn from the mistakes and they excel in their profession. Most importantly, they succeeded in adverse conditions. There are no ideal conditions. I think their experience is motivation to the aspiring professional. These professional can support India by giving their inputs for making policies. They can be mentor and coach to the students and researchers. They can be viewed as role model. Let’s use their expertise. Unfortunately, their expertise is not fully utilized. In business colleges and institutes, these professionals are invited just for the rituals. Is there any motivation to these people to share their wisdom and expertise? There are autonomous industry association bodies, but does government invites these professional? Very few.

I think their role should be recognized in economy and should be proper system of acknowledgement. Professional are happy to support the nation.

My suggestion is “don’t stop learning.” Update your concepts on different HR practices. Benchmark with others and try to implement the best things. Improve on soft skills. HR success is not only for functional expertise but is on how you play the role of partnering the business. HR needs to be more credible and advise business leaders on their HR issues. Another factor is how you engage your employee with creating your own personal brand. So, network in the organization for selling your HR ideas.

How Do You Recruit & Retain the diverse and ambitious Generation Y. Are they Really Ambitious?

There are different perspectives to this. Generation Y from metro cities are different from Generation Y from tier 2, small town or rural areas. In totality they are different from each other. Students from metro cities have more opportunities due to their socio-economical background. When I look back and see myself, I think, I was the thinking the same what so called generation think today! They are ambitious because their social values. The youth from rural area may also be ambitious, but will not change the job so frequently, because his priority may be different. We recruit all these guys considering all these dimensions. The correct value proposition as per the generation’s requirement is required. The expectations and ambitions are high because there are lots of opportunities in the market. Their engagement is crucial. We need to understand their motive and drive first. They need Empowerment, Entertainment, Education, Enrichment, Enlightenment and Encouragement.

What are the Biggest Pain Points for HR?

As said by Jack Welch, business is the game and it is all about winning. The team that wins is the team with the best players. HR’s job is to field the best players. Biggest pain areas are deploying the right talent. I believe that talent is vital in business growth, but right talent is. The struggle of line managers is to identify the right talent in their team. Another pain point is engagement and retention of the right talent. Now a day, employees have lot of expectations; their target year in any company is, maximum 3 years. Their drive is totally self central but still believes on hardworking and performance. The issue is how to match their expectations.

What is the way should follow to communicate with HR Department and top management team in effective handling of employees?

HR is the culture and it is driven by the top management. Hence, HR is always important agenda on the table along with other business issues.

How do you attract good people, retain the better performers and advance the best?

We have the best practices in the company for all functions. The company brand is the solid. We adopt best in the industry.

Do you have any Advice/Suggestions for Fellow HR Leaders?

I have seen most of the HR professional don’t update themselves. 

My suggestion is “don’t stop learning.” Update your concepts on different HR practices. Benchmark with others and try to implement the best things. Improve on soft skills. HR success is not only for functional expertise but is on how you play the role of partnering the business. HR needs to be more credible and advise business leaders on their HR issues. Another factor is how you engage your employee with creating your own personal brand. So, network in the organization for selling your HR ideas.

 

What are the upcoming trends that you see in HR world today?

There will be different roles in HR function itself. HR experts, HR services and HR business Partner. As per the drive of HR professionals, they can move in all these functions. Use of technology will be crucial for right HR decisions in Talent Management. HR business partners will be expected to play the role of advisers to business leaders supported by other two functions. They are expected to be change agent & drive the HR strategy.

What Websites/Books/Magazines Do you Recommend to fellow Professionals in the industry?

Silicon India, Human Capital, APS Labour digest, Harvard business review, Indian Management and book written by Dave Ulrich, TVS Rao etc. I also suggest to read motivational books written by Steven Covey etc. You can also visit my blog http://vinodtbidwaik.blogspot.in/

My others books in simple language are available on Flipkart, Bookganga and Amazon.

How do You Identify Leaders and Promote them to the Next Level?

Talent in the organization is calibrated and identified as per their potential. This is validated by different functional leaders based on their interaction with the person and his performance. The identifies potential also go through the development center.

What are Some of the Leadership Development Programs which are being held and the what results have they achieved?

We have to check the leadership life cycle in the organization. It starts with Leading self, leading others, leading managers, leading functions and finally leading business or enterprise. Development programmes should be in align with these leadership life cycle. I think leaders can be developed and the leadership skills can be taken at next level. We have programmes in place like Management Leadership Programme, Executive Development Programme, Inspirational Leadership Programme, Coaching Programmes. We are in the process to implement the Leadership Model across the organization.

(Ref: Silicon India)