IILM Management Review

R IM THE JOURNAL OF IILM INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION

IILM MANAGEMENT REVIEW 

Building a Sustainable City – Gurgaon Case Study

By Nitin Seth, Fidelity International



Innovate in India

By R. P. Mehrotra, General Manager-HR (Training), Engineers India Ltd.

 Leadership

By Anil Munjal, VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki  Time to Shift Gears in HR!!!

By Anju Sabharwal, AVP - HR, Vodafone India  Knowledge-led Strategies to Succeed in the Complex Business

Environment

By Rudolf D'Souza, Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting  Practical Road Map to Business Focused HR Analytics

By Siddharth Nagpal, SPHR, AVP - Talent Management & Organization Development, Encore Capital Group  Do Not Just Stand Out, Justify It

By Prateek Srivastava, Stern Advisory India  New Approach to Performance Management System

By Indraneel Som, Director HR, Herbalife

Book Review 

Age of Sustainable Development

By Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia, Associate Professor, IILM Lodhi Road

VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1 DECEMBER 2015 200

IILM MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Board of Editors RAHUL K. MISHRA Director (Executive Education) Professor of Strategic Management, IILM RAKESH CHAUDHRY Senior Director (Teaching & Learning) Professor of Strategic Management, IILM SANJAY SRIVASTAVA Professor of Marketing, IILM

Contents 

Building a Sustainable City – Gurgaon Case Study

By Nitin Seth, Fidelity International

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

Innovate in India

By R. P. Mehrotra, General Manager-HR (Training), Engineers India Ltd.

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 Leadership

SHIVANI KHURANA Professor of OB & HR, IILM

 Time to Shift Gears in HR!!!

SHIVANI TEKCHANDANI Director (PGDM) Professor of Finance, IILM

 Knowledge-led Strategies to Succeed in the Complex

SMITHA GIRIJA Director (PGDM) Professor of Marketing, IILM SUJATA SHAHI Senior Director Professor OB & HR, IILM TARUNA GAUTAM Director , IGSM, Professor of Economics, IILM

Editorial Associate: Lekha Mukherjee Publisher: Rajiv Kumar Owner: IILM Institute of Higher Education Design by: Cream Group

Printed & Published by: Rajiv Kumar on behalf of IILM Institute for Higher Education and Printed at: Pushpak Press Pvt Ltd., 153, DSIDC Complex, Okhla Industrial Area - I, New Delhi and Published at: IILM Institute for Higher Education, 3, Lodhi Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi Editor: R. Srinivasan Copyright © 2014 IILM. All Rights Reserved

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By Anju Sabharwal, AVP - HR, Vodafone India

Business Environment

By Rudolf D'Souza, Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting

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 Practical Road Map to Business Focused

HR Analytics 25

By Siddharth Nagpal, SPHR, AVP - Talent Management & Organization Development, Encore Capital Group  Do Not Just Stand Out, Justify It

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By Prateek Srivastava, Stern Advisory India  New Approach to Performance Management

System

By Indraneel Som, Director HR, Herbalife EDITOR: R. SRINIVASAN

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By Anil Munjal, VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki

 Age of Sustainable Development

By Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia, Associate Professor, IILM Lodhi Road

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The Editorial Mission Statement IILM Management Review (IMR), the bi-annual journal of the IILM Institute for Higher Education is intended to be research-oriented, scholarly in nature with editorial contributions from the fields of management, business and economics. The primary target of readers are professional managers. Another yardstick for potential papers or articles in IMR would be whether they could be taught to a group of business or management students. In a broad sense, IMR seeks to reach out to thought leaders who influence leadership, management and practice through teaching, consulting, managing and other professional activities.

Ideally, articles should be based on research evidence, either quantitative or qualitative. Papers could include what we already know about academic literature but advance our knowledge in the areas of business, management and economics, or be reviews of themes of particular topics - those that have implications for society or public policy and from areas that have been neglected largely in prior research.

India is increasingly becoming a global engine of growth and a lot of this growth is being driven by Indian corporations. The country has several well-acclaimed business schools, great managers and reasonably good academic research, but so far, there is no single publication that captures this growing dynamism to disseminate lessons from success and failure. Further, research from the business side is far and few between. At another level, India is also grappling with issues of poverty and corruption. This calls for greater focus on social sector management and governance.

Through the Journal, in course of time, we hope to:

 provide a thought leadership platform for Indian business and non-business managers, academics, policy makers and students of management.

 create a world-class management publication to record, understand and disseminate research and knowledge on best practices in Indian business and nonbusiness organisations.

 create a forum for discussing and validating new research, ideas and management innovation across the country and possibly in the future, in emerging economies.

 build a knowledge network involving business schools, academic researchers, business managers, government and other social institutions.

 develop in part a global Indian view of management theory, research and practice.

IILM MANAGEMENT REVIEW

From Editor's Desk The global meltdown in the year 2008 redefined the way the business was conducted.

Frugality and lean management became the buzz words. Companies that had lot of flab, shifted their focus on cost optimization and management of human resources.

Though the focus on HRM always existed; the relationship between the employer and the employed has passed through various stages over the decades. The employees have been treated in different ways at different times; and this relationship has evolved over the years. Employees have been treated as slaves, servants, workforce, personnel, employees, and in some cases as partners.

In present times, there is realisation that no organisation can exist or operate efficiently without the support of human assets. The focus on human resources (HR) has never been so high, as it is today. Human Resource Management (HRM) is significant part of management education. Till two decades ago, the HR function was generally referred to as personnel function, handling mundane jobs, like time keeping, attendance, salaries, and payroll related jobs. In the recent times it has evolved as part of the corporate strategy; and has assumed strategic role. It covers gamut of areas such as planning, organising, directing, compensation, integration and maintenance of people for the purpose of contributing to organizational, individual and social goals. Today the focus of HRM is on HR Development, HR Analytics, so on and so forth.

As the work domain increases, so does the challenge of managing all the related aspects. In the recent times HR Analytics has assumed greater significance. As the organisations increase in size and go global, and the number of employees become large, the diversity of the employees increases. This has increased the related challenges. Due to increased diversity and size, huge amount of data is generated in the system.

Like any other department in an organisation, information technology has crept into the HR function as well. HR Analytics is at a nascent stage. A huge amount of data is captured and processed, to understand the specific skill-sets of its workforce, and use it to the advantage of the organisation.

This issue of IILM Management Review primarily focuses on issues and challenges related to the human resources, ranging from HR Analytics, knowledge-led strategies, leadership, performance management etc. An article by Ms. Anju goes one step further and talks about how HR analytics can be useful and how HR function in the organisations are contemplating, the abandonment of the bell curve and focussing on designing competencies in this VUCA world. Another article talks about shrugging off the past failures and concentrates on positioning and branding of self to prepare for the job market. It also discusses about being an intrapreneur rather being labelled just as managers. One of the authors has tried to attract the attention to innovate in India, through which he is trying to advocate for India to focus on Research and Development, rather just being another manufacturing hub. Finally, there is the review of the book on Age of Sustainable Development, by Jeffery Sachs that focuses on the “interaction of three complex systems, namely, the world economy, the global society and the Earth’s physical environment�.

IILM MANAGEMENT REVIEW

Building a Sustainable City – Gurgaon Case Study

By Nitin Seth, Fidelity International

Nitin Seth is the Managing Director and Country Head for Fidelity Worldwide Investment in India. He is responsible for Fidelity’s offshore operations across India and Tunisia. Nitin was in McKinsey for 8 years where he was the Director of McKinsey's global knowledge center in India. He is keenly involved in development of the IT and BPO industry and is recognized as an industry leader. He chairs the NASSCOM Regional council for Haryana.

Nitin holds an MBA (majors in Finance and Operations) from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, where he was awarded the Chairman’s Gold Medal for graduating first in the MBA program. He also holds an undergraduate degree in engineering (B.Tech) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

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et’s start with why sustainability is a topic business leaders need to worry about and do something about. A recent ranking of top cities in the world on sustainability, ranked Frankfurt, London, Copenhagen and Amsterdam as the most sustainable cities in the world. Further, it rated fast-growing cities like Jakarta, Manila, and our own Mumbai and Delhi at the absolute bottom of the list (Mumbai ranked 47th and Delhi ranked 49th out of the 50 cities surveyed!). If you search on Google “building sustainable cities”, the first article that pops-up is a Harvard Business Review article by John Macomber, and the case study he mentions is on how not to build a city like Gurgaon!!

These global studies are an eye opener but at some level we don’t need them to tell us what is wrong with our cities. We live it every day. The traffic congestion, pollution, power outages, law & order concerns, high cost of living are just some of the problems we face on a daily basis. While our fast-growing cities are currently a magnet of economic opportunity, it is clear that if they continue growing in this crazy, unplanned, unsustainable way, this party is not going to last. History is full of examples of great cities that died. I give some of our fast-growing cities like Gurgaon not more than 10-15 years in which they will become ungovernable and unlivable, and will choke themselves to disaster.

Reversing the current mess and the ongoing pattern of unsustainable growth will require a paradigm shift in mindsets & planning and a herculean effort in execution. Typically, sustainability is one of those Important but not urgent topics. We worry about it but actions around it rarely make it to our Monday morning To-Do list. Friends, we just do not have the luxury of time. We all have to act; because, it is such a massive problem that government has neither the intellectual thought process nor the resources to make positive changes happen by themselves, certainly not alone. If we don’t take urgent and significant actions, the future of our businesses and families in these cities is doomed.

I am sorry I have started off like a Cassandra and talked about doom and gloom!! Let me now turn to the glass half full side and focus on solutions. I have had the opportunity to be a part of NASSCOM Haryana over the past 4.5 years, initially as the Co-Chair and past 2.5 years as the Chairperson of the NASSCOM Regional Council. This has given me the opportunity to come across and work with a number of industry leaders who have great awareness of the sustainability challenge and are taking concrete actions around it.

Thus NASSCOM Haryana has set a charter for itself

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that is not just about developing the industry but also contributing back to the Gurgaon ecosystem and helping it develop in a sustainable fashion. There is a sense of realization that with 350,000 employees, the IT/BPO industry has become a very big driver of Gurgaon’s growth and is uniquely positioned to help it develop in a holistic manner. There is also a realisation that if we don’t contribute, who else will? We have been working closely with the state government at many levels, with experts and with a number of citizen groups. Based on my work in Gurgaon, I have developed a framework of six action areas necessary to build a sustainable city in the India context. These six areas are: 1) Economic Engine, 2) Physical Infrastructure, 3) Environment, 4) Social Ecosystem, 5) Governance and 6) Citizen Participation.

I would now like to share brief perspectives on these 6 action areas. I have taken the context of Gurgaon but the insights are perhaps relevant for many Indian cities.

1. Economic Engine Sustainability does not come at the expense of wealth; they do not need to be at odds with each other. Every city needs a vibrant economic engine that drives jobs and prosperity. It is important that this economic engine is sustainable and for that, it might need to keep on reinventing itself. If the economic engine dies, the city also tends to wither away. Good example of this is Detroit. In 1960, it had the highest per-capita income in the US, driven by its position as the manufacturing hub for the booming automobile industry. However,

Six action areas necessary to build a sustainable city in the India context are: 1) Economic Engine 2) Physical Infrastructure 3) Environment 4) Social Ecosystem 5) Governance 6) Citizen Participation

Detroit struggled to find solutions to the loss of manufacturing jobs and by 2013, it had become the city with the highest poverty rate in the US. Rapid growth of Gurgaon over the past 15 years has been driven by the meteoric rise of the IT/BPO industry. This industry is a strong economic engine as India has a strong competitive position in it. However, we need to be mindful of the mega technology trends like social media, cloud computing, mobile and big data that are changing the business landscape dramatically. These could be a big disruption and severely impact the headcount and cost arbitrage based proposition that the IT/BPO industry largely relies on currently. Gurgaon lags Bangalore in the start-up activity. It is imperative that Gurgaon (and other Indian cities) build a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. NASSCOM is trying to partner with the state government to set up start-up warehouses and develop a forward-looking IT Policy that encourages innovation and start-up activity in Gurgaon. Much more still needs to be done!!

2. Physical Infrastructure

Reversing the current mess and the ongoing pattern of unsustainable growth will require a paradigm shift in mindsets & planning and a herculean effort in execution.

The poor quality of physical infrastructure – broken roads, water-logging in monsoon, traffic jams, and exorbitant cost of housing – is the most visible manifestation that our cities as they exist today are just not sustainable. Transportation is the area that requires the biggest paradigm shift. Our fascination with bigger and more powerful cars is fatal. Cars are the most inefficient way of transportation in so many ways. They occupy large volume for the number of

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infrastructure commitments by the government.

3. Environment A city is nothing but an aggregation of our individual mindsets and behaviors.

Therefore, if we want to build a sustainable city, it cannot happen if our individual lifestyles are not sustainable.

passengers transported and have high pollution footprint. Our roads are bad and need to be improved, but no amount of road construction can keep pace with the growth of vehicles. There is no option but to embrace public transportation and multi-modal transportation in a very pervasive way.

If we look at some of the highest ranking cities on the Sustainability Index like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Singapore, their success has been driven by their highquality transportation infrastructure. Metro in Delhi and Rapid Metro in Gurgaon are good initiatives but we need to scale them up and focus on the last mile connectivity. This requires an integrated approach to planning the transportation infrastructure. Currently, we are hampered by multiple agencies often with intersecting responsibilities. They tend to be focused on this own piece and often at loggerheads with the other agencies, as a result nobody is connecting the bigger picture.

Our natural environment provides conditions for development and growth, but it can also cause danger and damage. Quality of our environment is perhaps the best lead indicator for how sustainable our cities are going to be. We constantly interact with our environment and are damaging it so much that in turn, it is going to be toxic for us. Let’s take the example of Gurgaon. It has one of the highest air pollution levels in the world. Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 levels are at 966 micrograms/cubic meter, which is four times the concentration levels marked as unhealthy (based on CSE study, state government study was much lower!!).

Therefore, children are developing respiratory problems and many households are forced to install air purifiers.

While air pollution is more apparent (and public transportation that we have talked about earlier is potentially a key solution), the depletion of the water table is perhaps even a more serious existential issue.

Ground water levels are depleting in Gurgaon at 2-3 meters per year. At this rate, ground water reserves will be all but extinguished by 2030. That is only 15 years away!! History is full of examples of cities that died because they lost their source of water. I worry that a similar doom will face Gurgaon unless we take serious steps around water harvesting and rationalizing water usage.

4. Social Ecosystem

Special emphasis needs to be given to encouraging walking and cycling. Many cities have managed significant transformation in short periods of time.

London, a city where I spend a lot of time, I have a seen a cycling revolution take place over the past five years.

We are slowly developing a culture of recreational cycling in cities like Gurgaon. We need to build on that and encourage more executives to start cycling to work. Investing in cycling infrastructure and addressing road safety will be key enablers for that. Car-FreeDay initiative in Gurgaon is doing a great job in raising awareness, but it needs to be followed up with real

Healthcare, education, entertainment and law & order are key elements of the social ecosystem that determine the quality of life and the culture of the city. A new city like Gurgaon has much to offer in terms of entertainment (e.g., the CyberHub, various malls) and has a nice, young buzz to it. The problem with Gurgaon’s ecosystem is the socio-economic disparity. Worldclass office complexes and high-quality condominiums are interspersed with slums and shanty towns. While there is a growing affluent class who are consuming very visibly, there is also a large underclass of original

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inhabitants who are now landless and of migrant workers. This socio-economic disparity is a key contributor to law & order problems. Gurgaon has the perception of being an unsafe city especially for women and children. They often live a cocooned existence, afraid to walk around and being transported around the city in cars. While police has an important role to play in addressing the law & order problems, we need to address the underlying social factors to have sustainable solutions. Investing in skilling infrastructure for those displaced is important for them to find gainful employment. Businesses have an important role in helping develop their local communities. The recent CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) provision of the Company Bill is welcome in that context providing impetus for investment back into social causes.

5. Governance Along with physical infrastructure, the element most broken in Gurgaon is governance. Large parts of the city have been developed by individual developers with little integrated planning. There is multiplicity of government agencies, which leads to little accountability and lots of passing the buck. This multiplicity of the agencies is a key reason why Gurgaon is in such a mess.

The so called ‘’millennium city’’ with aspirations of being a ‘’smart city’’ came only 3rd behind Karnal and Faridabad in Haryana government’s own assessment on the smart city criterion.

To move Gurgaon forward, it is essential there be a single body responsible for the administration and development of the city. Ideally, that should be achieved by empowering the elected Municipal Corporation (MCG). If that cannot work for some reason, then government should consider setting up a single development authority like what Noida has done.

One of the first tasks that such an empowered body should do is to develop an Integrated Master Plan for Gurgaon. It is critical that we move beyond ad-hoc decisions and “band-aid” solutions and develop a long-term vision and plan for the city. Cities that have

made significant transformations in recent decades have often been led by strong leaders (often City Mayors) who have set an ambitious vision and have then been very persistent in executing it. This need for leadership further points to the necessity of having a single-point of empowerment and accountability for running the city.

6. Citizen Participation The task of building a sustainable city is so vast that it just cannot be done by the government alone, it requires strong citizen participation.

In fact a sustainable and “smart” city is one where citizens are able to come together and find solutions to their civic problems on their own. However, lack of civic responsibility has been one of the banes of India in the recent past. We are focused on our individual success and that of our families but rarely take responsibility for problems around us. This attitude has to change. I have mentioned a number of negatives about Gurgaon, but this is one aspect where I see a lot of hope for Gurgaon. Increasingly, I am seeing citizens coming together and taking proactive steps for the betterment of their communities. Gurgaon is famous for its very proactive Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs). It has also seen a citizen’s NGO build the Aravali Biodiversity Park and help reclaim a forest. Perhaps the most visible success story of citizen participation in Gurgaon is the Raahgiri Day. This started as a movement 1.5 years back to reclaim some of the roads in Gurgaon on Sunday mornings for pedestrians. It has turned into a real celebration on the streets where you can see citizens from all walks of life enjoying walking, running, cycling, yoga and much more. This event, which was started by a couple of committed citizens in Gurgaon has now become a full movement and spread across multiple cities in India. This shows that in today’s digital age, if you have a good idea it can go viral very quickly.

The final point I want to make on citizen participation is that a city is nothing but an aggregation of our individual mindsets and behaviors. Therefore, if we want to build a sustainable city, it cannot happen if our

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individual lifestyles are not sustainable. This is easier said than done. We are living in a hyper-consumerist age with ever increasing wants and desires. Gandhiji said it well, “there is enough in this world for everybody’s needs but not for everybody’s greed.”

This in many ways is the final frontier. All of us need to reflect on our individual lifestyles and see how we can change and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.

In conclusion, I would say that urbanization is an irresistible force. We have seen a movement of people from rural to urban centres and that is likely to

continue, or perhaps even intensify in this century. We need to accept this trend and instead of dreaming of utopian solutions (move back to villages), we should focus on how we can build sustainable cities. The challenges of doing so are huge but not unsolvable.

With the right vision, focus on execution, and collaboration between the government, businesses & citizens, we can make it happen. If we do so, we would not only support in building a sustainable city but also help in solving some of the greatest challenges facing the world in the 21st century!!

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Innovate in India

By R. P. Mehrotra, General Manager-HR (Training), Engineers India Ltd.

R. P Mehrotra is the structural engineer in ENERGY sector with proficiency in layout, onshore and offshore engineering in Engineers India Limited. He has been associated with structural design and detailing of numerous domestic and overseas hydrocarbon refineries. He represented Engineers India Limited as a committee member at the Bureau of Indian Standards. As an Engineering Manager, he oversaw, project engineering of mega refinery/ strategic storage projects.

He has presented papers on Quality Management and Structural Engineering at National/ International workshops. He is also the Project Manager for selection and implementation of enterprise-level e-documentation system.

Presently, he is the Chief - Learning & Development at Engineers India Limited and is responsible for organizing knowledge sharing technical programs for domestic and international clients in ENERGY/ other sectors.

“Make in India” is the laudable objective of the present government. The good part is that it may bring some administrative reforms as the government is keen on improving the World Bank ranking of India on "Ease of doing business index”. Some complex and archaic laws are going to be simplified in that process. The boost to "Make in India" will come from three important developments. The first is completion of DelhiMumbai dedicated freight corridor which will reduce the transportation of goods to 17 hours from the present 48-72 hours. Along the freight corridor, many industrial parks and manufacturing units will be established and expanded. The second boost will come if GST gets implemented, it will simplify and lower excise and sales taxes which will boost profitability of manufacturing firms. The third boost will come from arms and defense equipment production. Companies like Bharat Forge and Reliance have taken important steps in this direction; though nothing can be sure about India, till plan gets implemented on the ground, these positive developments can give fillip to “Make in India” programme.

R&D and Innovation. Apple which is the most profitable company in the world does not own a factory. In a way, it does not manufacture its most successful product I-phone. It relies primarily on its Research and Development (R&D), Design and Innovation, Branding and Marketing and comes up with unique features in its phones and tablets and charges very high premium from customers around the world. The economic value is created mostly through ideas, innovation and marketing. Companies like Foxconn of China does low-end manufacturing for Apple. In the same way, Nike does not have its own factories. It defines its main activity as R&D, design, branding and marketing. There are several Chinese

The boost to "Make in India" will come from three important developments - completion of Delhi-Mumbai dedicated freight corridor, if GST gets implemented and from arms and defence equipment production.

But there is another perspective where economic development and progress mainly comes from the

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I N N O V AT E I N I N D I A

Technology, Design, Innovation, and Branding are the new rules of the game where maximum value is created and profit is made. Intellectual Property Rights are the most important assets which a company can have more than its tangible assets.

and Southeast Asian companies that are willing to manufacture shoes on Nike's specification.

Technology, Design, Innovation, and Branding are the new rules of the game where maximum value is created and profit is made. Intellectual Property Rights are the most important assets which a company can have more than its tangible assets. This is creating both advantage and crisis in the US. People who are highly educated and creative are getting very high salaries and people who low-end jobs are losing out as their jobs are getting shifted to China, Vietnam and other low-cost manufacturing countries in the world.

It is not so easy to create an ecosystem of Innovation in the country. But Modi government has taken certain steps that need to be appreciated. NITI Aayog, the planning agency of the Government of India, has appointed a panel headed by Prof. Tarun Khanna of Harvard Business School to suggest ways and means to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Newspaper reports suggest that the committee has given its recommendations to the government. It will be interesting to see how these recommendations are implemented on the ground.

The committee has suggested creating research labs in Universities in India. It has recommended the government to give tax benefits to companies willing to invest 1% of their profit towards research in India. The committee has also suggested investing in incubators which in turn would support early stage ventures. Yet another suggestion by committee is to institute grand prizes to foster innovation. These and many more

suggestions by the committee, if implemented, could start innovation movement in India. Without this, there is no redemption or any boost to “Make in India" initiative of the Government of India.

The investment in R&D by the Public Sector Undertakings (PSU) and Private sector are so low that nothing much is happening in terms of original technology and innovations. The only place where innovation and R&D have happened in India is in the space research and nuclear science establishments. The massive investment has given benefits in terms of the know-how to launch satellites at lower cost and also fabricate satellites for our own use at much cheaper cost. India needs such experiments in all other fields.

The key issues are investment and borrowed technology. Beyond a point economic growth will lag behind unless Indian companies (both the public and private) undertake serious and important innovation and build new technology and processes. This is serious longterm stuff. To replicate Silicon Valley in India, India needs to institutionalize the process of innovation.

India needs create and support Universities like Stanford University, a multidisciplinary university, the biggest strength behind the success of Silicon Valley, where entrepreneurship, innovation and research are fostered through incubation labs and centers of excellence. In India, compare this with our insular IITs and IIMs and our top grade universities are not allowed to frame policies on their own. Some of the Stanford professors are entrepreneurs, running companies with market capitalization of billion dollars and more.

The key is to promote research, be it in universities or in companies.

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The future of economic development depends on the country's ability to create innovations which can have global impact.

Such innovation can bring in higher productivity, consequently resulting in sustainable economic growth.

In Silicon Valley, apart from private venture capitalists (VC) and angel investors, the US government and its organisations have huge fund to the tune of over two billion dollars to promote startups and research. The other important part of the Silicon Valley ecosystem is the close relationship with universities, research organisations and companies. Strong relationship between Industry and research fosters ideas, which can translate into businesses. For example, the Google was founded, when its promoters, while doing their Ph.Ds from Stanford did a project of writing an algorithm for searching library database on the US governmentfunded project. Starting from that, the huge information company called Google got started.

The key is to promote research, be it in universities or in companies. In Indian context, we can take the examples of pharmaceutical companies that have increased their R&D budget. Companies like Tatas and Mahindras have also started making investments in R&D. Similarly, innovations cannot be restricted only to manufacturing industries but also is required in school education, agriculture and logistics, medical sciences, sustainable and clean environment. Companies and research organisations are building their intangible assets through Patents and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). Students are allowed to work as interns in companies while pursuing their education. A lot of flexibility and supporting infrastructure are needed to get this culture of Innovation going.

The future of economic development depends on the country's ability to create innovations which can have global impact. Such innovation can bring in higher productivity, consequently resulting in sustainable economic growth.

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Leadership

By Anil Munjal, VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki

Anil Munjal is a Human Resources leader with diverse industry experience. He has significant Pan India exposure to all facets of HR and organizational effectiveness. At present, he is the VP-HR, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd and is involved in Transformation and Leadership Development of Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd. He has worked with Telecom for almost a decade with more than eight years of experience in US Telecom MNC. He has also worked for more than ten years in manufacturing and consumer industry.

His specialized skills include Strategic HR, Transformation / Change Management, Leadership Development, Expertise in Setting up Green Field Projects and Employee Relations.

simple. They always practiced the Theory of Simplicity. They believed in the Values of Life, building strong connections inside and outside the culture, knowing when to wield influence rather than authority, and take decisive action, etc.

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n today’s world, the leaders who scaled the ladder of “Success with knowledge” are the people who adjusted with firm stage and have changed world realities.

These figures include Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and others. The Leaders first, become aware of their thoughts, words, and feelings. But, how did these individuals manage their emotions and create a positive attitude; how did they re-program themselves and bounce back time after time, when they felt they couldn’t put any more effort into their cause; what kept them motivated to take action, to keep trying, and to never quit? The answer is

A leader can see the big picture and knows how to paint the same. He knows where he wants to go with his people. He devotes his energy and aptitude in fulfilling that vision. It makes no difference how much time it takes but what matters is, to achieve that goal. As an example, it took 27 years for Nelson Mandela to free his country. The leader always knows where the movement is going; he keeps the eye on the ball. He is focused to achieve what he has painted.

Some of the qualities the leaders possess are: Trustworthy The most trustworthy leaders are the most notable.

They appear with their intentions on their face and make their vision clear. Trustworthy leaders are reliable, hold diversity and inspire their people to share their thoughts and principles.

Share Their Wisdom The leaders give wisdom by sharing knowledge and evolve intelligence. Leaders make you understand the 14

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Behaviour A leader can see the big picture and knows how to paint the same. He knows where he wants to go with his people. He devotes his energy and aptitude in fulfilling that vision. It makes no difference how much time it takes but what matters is, to achieve that goal.

Leaders are coupled with personal accountability exemplifies leadership. Leadership is evidenced by those who openly accept responsibility for their mistakes, and mentor and teach to enable the success of others. Leaders consistently set the standard for ethical behaviour and commitment to the organisational mission and values through their behaviour and words.

Confidence

big picture and enable you to develop a sense of pride in self. Leaders will put their time and knowledge up for Auction. Notable leaders are those who enjoy sharing their wisdom and secrets of success. They are the Best Mentors and Tutors, and their ability to take peoples’ involvement through storytelling alone makes them memorable. The leadership lessons they share is appreciable later in life.

Positive Attitude A leader’s action is a reflection of his attitude. Leaders manifest Positive Attitude by having a positive, constructive and creative thinking; optimism; motivation and energy to do things and accomplish goals.

Encourage Leaders empower their people. He sets the firm's direction and motivates each person to get there on his own. He gives them resources and opportunities to grow and, thereby, the firm. He sets goals, and guides people to achieve those goals. He masters the carrot and stick, all the while knowing where the road leads.

Leaders recognise individual and team accomplishments.

Ignite Enthusiasm Leaders inspire self before igniting people. Every inspired leader is abundantly passionate to unleash people from within. Passionate leaders truly endorse people as their most valuable asset by not letting their ego get out of hand. They need people to buy-in to implement their passion.

Leaders lead from front, they don’t give up or panic in odds and failure, by staying calm and confident. They know how to put out fires and maintain the moral of the team. Leaders keep up your confidence level, and assure everyone that setbacks are natural, and the important thing is to focus on the larger goal. The key objective is to keep everyone working and moving ahead.

Decision Leaders are proficient decision architects. They enable the dialogue to empower their colleagues to reach a strategic conclusion or they do it themselves. They focus on “making things happen” at all times – decision making activities that sustain progress. Successful leaders have learned the art of campaigning and thus, don’t waste their time on issues that upset impetus.

Unleash Leaders unleash your Leadership Potential, no matter who you are; you can lead and lead well. The consum-

Some of the qualities the leaders possess are: 1. Trustworthy 2. Share Their Wisdom 3. Positive Attitude 4. Encourage 5. Ignite Enthusiasm 6. Behaviour 7. Confidence 8. Decision 9. Unleash

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mate leader offers a succinct and inspiring framework for enhancing the leadership abilities you already possess. Learn how to follow your vision and bring others with you, produce a lasting legacy, make continual investments in the quality of your leadership, increase your ability to influence and empower others through mentoring and use of self-

discipline to improve your character and your results.

Leadership is the art of serving others, being bold enough to have vision, and humble enough to recognise achievements. Leadership is a belief, intensity, life-force that brings the present with future.

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Time to Shift Gears in HR!!!

By Anju Sabharwal, AVP - HR, Vodafone India

Anju Sabharwal is currently the AVP-HR for Delhi/ NCR circle at Vodafone. She is a HR generalist with over 20 years of experience across sectors viz BFSI, IT, Telecom and Consulting. She has a wide and in-depth experience in all areas of HR be it acquisition, policies, leadership development, diversity, rewards, talent management, coaching or HR operations. A post graduate from XLRI, Jamshedpur she has also worked with Companies like Fullerton Securities and Wealth Advisors, IBM Daksh, ICICI Pru Life Insurance, CitiBank, AF Ferguson.

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inston Churchill expressed a classic statement about a forward-looking journey: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Nothing can be more apt than this for Human Resource (HR) profession journey. HR profession has been through many transformations which can be classified broadly into three. First was the administrative work of HR, where HR (or Personnel Department) focused on terms and conditions of work, delivering basic HR services, and working on regulatory, labour compliances. Second was, designing innovative HR practices in talent acquisition, compensation or rewards, learning, employee connect and so on. Third has been the strengthening and aggregating these practices by being strategic HR business partner. The fourth, which is emerging, is using HR practices to respond to and create value based on ever changing business situations and environment. One is hearing of HR analytics, abandonment of bell curve, designing competencies and policies for new age work force, leadership development, coaching and succession planning in this VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) world.

HR professionals often say, “What’s next in the HR organisation?” A report by the Cranfield Network on International Human Resource Management, in collaboration with the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) revealed that HR is now more

likely to have a place on the board of directors or a similar executive team (up from 41% in 2004 to 66 % in 2014-15). However, to reach there, we have the responsibility to equip ourselves for the exciting and unexplored difficult terrains ahead.

Innovations in recruiting through social media platforms have made it easier to find and hire right people. As HR fully embraces these changes and other technological tools, it will free up to focus on the strategy and play business partnering role. No longer is a back office system used to house employee records, the next generation of HR technology delivers human capital solutions that integrates entire gamut of HR activities. HRM is getting increasingly more tech-based because of the business needs to streamline processes, reduce administrative and compliance costs, provide real time metrics and more. Without rigorously

Innovations in recruiting through social media platforms have made it easier to find and hire right people. As HR fully embraces these changes and other technological tools, it will free up to focus on the strategy and play business partnering role.

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With HR analytics, line managers and HR professionals can better justify, prioritise, and improve decision-making rigor. While HR practices enable sustainable results, HR analytics document the value that HR creates.

This will help HR to become a decision science, not a data warehouse.

tracking HR investments and outcomes, HR decisions and priorities remain whims, not science. HR from the outside/in is a seismic shift in how HR thinks and acts.

We no longer create value just by serving employees; we must also make sure that services we offer inside the company align to expectations outside the company.

This positions HR not just to respond to strategy, but also to help shape and create it. As HR has become more aligned with business, evidence-based HR and HR analytics have become increasingly important.

With HR analytics, line managers and HR professionals can better justify, prioritise, and improve decisionmaking rigor. While HR practices enable sustainable results, HR analytics document the value that HR creates. This will help HR to become a decision science, not a data warehouse.

There are many organisations which are drifting away from the bell curve approach. Some of the reasons cited for this move are lack of continuous, structured and

HR should continue to be an active contributor in developing and measuring the individual competence, commitment and contribution of the talent within the organisation.

constructive feedback, promoting organisation politics, ranking more competitive rather than collaborative, rewarding individuals rather than team performance, etc. However, organisations need to ascertain the maturity level of leaders, readiness from a culture point of view, designing alternate reward systems, assess complexity and scale of operations etc., before doing away with the bell curve.

Lastly, HR should continue to be an active contributor in developing and measuring the individual competence, commitment and contribution of the talent within the organisation. HR needs to measure organisation capabilities within the organisation and linking with the organisation identity inside and outside the company. None of these can be created without having the leadership depth. The journey toward HR contribution will continue to be on-going and sustaining.

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Knowledge-led Strategies to Succeed in the Complex Business Environment

By Rudolf D’Souza, Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting

Rudolf D’Souza is the Founder and CEO, In-Kno-Win Consulting. His role includes facilitating companies to leverage their Intellectual Capital for sustainable competitive advantage in order to grow profitably.

Rudolf D’Souza has immense experience as a Knowledge Management Specialist, consulting with leading Indian Corporates. He has served on CII Knowledge Council. He has been the Speaker, Session Chair, Workshop Leader at National and International Conferences on Intellectual Capital and KM. He is reputed for path breaking and innovative knowledge sharing programs. His work has been featured as cover story on 'Inside Knowledge' Journal published from US. He has also led the KM function to 9 MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise) Awards and KM Hall of Fame and has been recognized by Observer Research Foundation for 'Outstanding Contribution to Mumbai Vision 2015'

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oday, organisations exist in a complex environment. The key challenge that occupies the attention of the Leadership Team is Growth, Profit Margins, Leadership Development and creating a Resilient Organisation prepared for the future. In their quest to address these challenges, managements constantly scan the horizon for new management trends and strategies.

However, there exists within the organisation a powerful resource – Organisation Knowledge, which, if harnessed effectively, can become a sustained foundation of competitive advantage. There is a wealth of knowledge that is constantly being generated in the organisation – in transactions with customers and suppliers, in processes and in interactions among employees. This knowledge is unique to the organisation context and the industry.

Why is Knowledge Important?

We are in the Knowledge Age and the key asset or wealth creator is Knowledge.

In the Agrarian Age, the key asset was land. In the Industrial Age, the key asset and wealth creator was capital. In the Information Age, those who unleashed the power of information led the pack. We are well into the Knowledge Economy and the key asset and wealth creator is ‘Knowledge’.

The Knowledge Economy is entering into an exciting phase – the Digital, Sustainable Age. We are right now in the very early stages, one whose core is as fundamentally different from its predecessor as, say, the automobile age was from the agricultural era. There are new dynamics, new rules, and new drivers for success.

It is all about envisioning and preparing for the future, the capacity to create new products or services, the courage to engage with customers in novel ways, and the ability to transform organisations into new entities that yesterday couldn't be imagined.

But, at its core, Knowledge will continue to be the key asset. How do we know that? There are two stark indicators that emerged this year.

A) ISO 9000: 2015 Introduces ‘Knowledge’ and its Management as a New Separate Clause: For the first time, Knowledge and its management are a core part of one of the International Quality Standards,

Fig 1. Key Assets/Wealth Creators over the ages. Fig © In-Kno-Win Consulting

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creation, protection and harnessing its potential value.

In the Agrarian Age, the key asset was land. In the Industrial Age, the key asset and wealth creator was capital. In the Information Age, those who unleashed the power of information led the pack. We are well into the Knowledge Economy and the key asset and wealth creator is ‘Knowledge’.

against which manufacturing and services businesses around the globe will be audited. This is what it states: Clause 7.1.6. Knowledge • Determine the knowledge necessary for the operation of its processes and to achieve conformity of products and services • This knowledge shall be maintained and made available to the extent necessary.

• When addressing changing needs and trends, the organisation shall consider its current knowledge and determine how to acquire or access any necessary additional knowledge and required updates.

NOTE 1: Organisational knowledge is the knowledge specific to the organisation. It is generally gained by experience. It is used and shared to achieve the organisation’s objectives.

NOTE 2: Organisational knowledge can be based on: a) Internal Sources (e.g., intellectual property, knowledge gained from experience, lessons learned from failures and successful projects, capturing and sharing undocumented knowledge and experience; the results of improvements in processes, products and services); b) External Sources (e.g., standards, academia, conferences, gathering knowledge from customers or external providers).

While knowledge was always seen as important, the emphasis by the ISO 9000:2015 standards will make organisations look at a structured approach to its

B) Managing Your Mission-Critical Knowledge, (Harvard Business Review, Jan-Feb 2015) In the article, the authors, Martin Ihrig and Ian Macmillan, note that leadership needs to focus on the proper management of all their strategic knowledge assets; i.e., the core competencies, the areas of expertise, the intellectual property, and the deep pools of talent. Leadership needs to have a clear understanding of the knowledge drivers of an organisation’s future success in order to create a sustainable competitive advantage.

The authors believe that a knowledge-led strategy is more relevant in today’s context with the potential of Big Data and Analytics. However, in the absence of a clear understanding of the knowledge drivers of an organisation’s success, the real value of big data will never materialise.

So, while the article goes on to provide a framework to enhance the knowledge assets, the key takeaway is that an organisation can actually map their knowledge assets and craft a strategy to leverage these assets.

Knowledge-Based to Knowledge Driven: “The future belongs to those organisations that best create and leverage their knowledge assets,” said Ron Young, Founder, Knowledge Associates, Cambridge UK. According to Ron Young, who has been at the forefront of Knowledge Management when it first emerged as a promising discipline almost 20 years ago, a paradigm

By understanding which aspect of Intellectual Capital – Human, Structural or Relational is perceived by the customer as providing most value, an organisation can calibrate its emphasis to enhance customer experience. This is the starting point to becoming a knowledge-driven organisation.

In other words, the organisation is now identifying its Key Knowledge Assets.

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shift in thinking is required. Organisations need to make that strategic step from being knowledge-basedwhere knowledge is recognised as an important resource within the current business operations, to knowledge-driven i.e. recognising knowledge as the key asset across the business. Only when this paradigm shift happens, does the organisation begins to appreciate its knowledge assets and put in place a strategy to manage the knowledge assets like it manages other physical assets.

There are enough examples of organisations that are knowledge–driven. Elon Musk of Tesla famously declared “You want to be innovating so fast that you invalidate your prior patents, in terms of what really matters. It’s the velocity of innovation that matters.”

Tesla is an example of a knowledge-driven company.

They are now unleashing the power of knowledge by opening up their patents for free, to anyone, including their competitors. Instead of hoarding their knowledge, they have opened it to everyone. They realised that on their own they were not making a dent in ‘conventional’ automobile industry. So, instead of keeping their knowledge assets to themselves, and benefitting a miniscule population, they hope that by sharing core knowledge, the industry will shift away from fossil fuels much faster.

Closer home, Sanjeev Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto Finance, transformed the company from a mono-line auto finance company to the leading non-banking finance company in the country, through a knowledgedriven strategy. It included a multi-line strategy,

To enhance the value of the Knowledge Assets is the role of every leader in the organisation. A lot of awareness, training and emphasis needs to be placed on growing Knowledge Assets. It has to emanate from the top leadership team. The focus needs to shift from short term OUTCOMES or immediate tangible business results like sales, margins, market share, etc., and realise that a knowledge asset strategy is about longterm organisation sustainability.

Leveraging the source of competitiveness is the Holy Grail of a Knowledge-led Strategy. This is where knowledge really provides the organisation with a new source of revenue and growth.

identifying the people with the right skill sets and even deciding what growth opportunities to forgo to ensure profitability. The group now has a market capitalisation that is set to overtake the better-known Bajaj Motors in a couple of years. Bajaj Auto Finance is an example of a company with a knowledge-driven mindset.

Shifting Gears to a Knowledge-Driven Organisation: The starting point is to do a market capitalization exercise. The exercise can initially be done in-house before undertaking a full-fledged independent assessment. The resulting valuation will throw up startling disclosures, such as, how much of the market value is based on tangible assets and how much is based on the intellectual or knowledge assets can become the starting point for a deeper study. This is the Intellectual Capital Model.

In the Intellectual Capital Model (Fig. 2), Tangible Assets are also known as Financial Assets while Intangible Assets are associated with Intellectual Capital.

Figure 2: Intellectual Capital Model

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Typically the skew will be 1/3rd Valuation in the form of tangible assets and the rest in the form of intangible assets, as shown in Fig. 2. However for pure knowledge based companies the skew could actually be 1: 99. If the market capitalisation details of other competitors are available, an organisation can compare the outcome of their strategies on the Valuation.

The Intellectual Capital Model provides an excellent starting point. As depicted in Fig.3, the Intellectual Capital is the sum of the Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital of the organisation.

calibrate its emphasis to enhance customer experience.

This is the starting point to becoming a knowledgedriven organisation. In other words, the organisation is now identifying its Key Knowledge Assets.

Identifying the Knowledge Assets: An organisation is able to function because of certain competencies that it builds up. Customers experience these competencies when transacting with the company. Based on the experience, the customer makes choices and forms preferences or opinions about the company.

A clothing company launched ‘Ready-to-Measure’ stores. In this showroom a customer gets an outfit tailor-made, stitched to his personal preference and fit.

There are customers who require this service and are willing to pay a premium. The company is focussing on its Human Assets.

Figure 3: Intellectual Capital and its components

You can see Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital at work in every industry. For example: in the eat-out segment you have gourmet restaurants which use a famous chef to indulge your taste buds (Human Capital); McDonalds provides standardised menu with uniform taste and experience (Structural Capital); then there is your favourite restaurant in say a club, perhaps not so fancy, but intimate. The manager and hostess know you by name and know your tastes. You feel relaxed and just like at home. The food and ambience are to your liking (Customer Capital). So you see how as a customer, your preference to an organisation is shaped by the experience. For the organisation, these become stickiness factors for loyal customers and over time translate into competitive advantages.

Human Capital, Structural Capital and Relational Capital are present in every organisation. It is just that one of the three may be over-emphasised as compared to the other two.

By understanding which aspect of Intellectual Capital – Human, Structural or Relational is perceived by the customer as providing most value, an organisation can

When one visits an outlet of a clothing department store, they experience the convenience of having many brands under one roof. The chain of department stores has created standardised formats and processes. The staff is well-trained, polite, knowledgeable and helpful. So whether you visit the store in one city or another, you are confident of a uniform experience.

The chain is focussing on its Structural Assets – standard processes, training, brands, etc., to provide a uniform customer experience.

Near our home we all have our favourite ‘Kirana Shop’ – the neighbourhood grocery shop. The shopkeeper has been in the business for a generation or more. He provides you credit, packs and delivers odd quantities of grain or whatever, and even delivers a single loaf of bread, if required urgently. He knows the family members and their quirks and takes back goods that you suddenly decide you have no need for. While you go to the malls for the monthly shopping, you still rely on the good old ‘Lucky Stores Kirana Shop’ because Manish, the shopkeeper, provides convenience no ‘organised retail’ shop can provide. The humble ‘kirana shop’ relies on Relational Assets to be relevant to his customers.

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Like the examples above the company has to identify which aspect of Intellectual Capital is valued most by the customer. The next step in a knowledge-led strategy is to identify the Key Knowledge Assets in each of the three domains of Human, Structural and Relational Capital.

There are specific techniques to identify the knowledge assets. However, it needs to be dwelt on separately.

Knowledge Asset Management: Once the Knowledge Assets are identified, it is important to know that a Knowledge Asset is to be managed exactly like a Tangible Asset.

It has a life cycle, generates income, creates tangible value, requires maintenance and can be accounted for.

There is no difference in the management of physical and knowledge assets.

To enhance the value of the Knowledge Assets is the role of every leader in the organisation. A lot of awareness, training and emphasis needs to be placed on growing Knowledge Assets. It has to emanate from the top leadership team. The focus needs to shift from short term OUTCOMES or immediate tangible business results like sales, margins, market share, etc., and realise that a knowledge asset strategy is about long-term organisation sustainability.

Change in Perspective: The biggest challenge to implementing a Knowledge Asset Management strategy comes from the management. Implementing Knowledge Asset Management requires a change in the perspective. Instead of focussing on instant results, one looks to build the capacity to produce results. This aligns with the principles enunciated by the late Stephen Covey in his book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’.

It is not that it is recommended to do away with “Today’s Results”. The EXCLUSIVE focus on this month’s or this quarter’s results, without building in the process for growing capacity, is what needs to be changed. If for a complete year, an organisation can ensure a rigorous emphasis on growing Knowledge Assets, it can be assured that they will have built a resilient, nimble structure capable of higher output with lesser effort.

Where does one start? It is not too difficult to know where to begin. Taking the help of Stephen Covey’s ‘7 Habits’ again, one needs to look at all the signals that are emanating from clients, from employees and even investors; and focus on addressing those concerns, in a systematic manner. These are the Quadrant II issues that are referred to by Stephen Covey.

Fig 5: Extending the connection between ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and Knowledge Asset Management

Management can form expert groups to identify the recurring high-noise issues that are currently addressed through ‘Quick Fix’ patchwork solutions.

These are issues that are important but the underlying Knowledge Asset has not been developed. And customers are giving you enough indications and chances to change (Quadrant I). In Quadrant II, benchmarking of the best practices in the organisation can be initiated. Then a program to identify the underlying Knowledge Assets needs to be implemented. These are small indicative ways to begin a High-Impact Knowledge Asset Management Program.

Leveraging the Knowledge Assets:

Fig 4: The connection between ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ and Knowledge Asset Management

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source of revenue and growth. Walt Disney has a division called Disney Institute that leverages its Customer Capital. Built on the global success of Disney, the institute provides expertise in their timetested best practices, their sound methodologies, and real life business lessons that facilitate corporate culture change by conducting training to other corporate organisations. IBM realised that knowledge business pays more than manufacturing and have completely turned into a consultancy. Indian companies too are leveraging their competencies and

reaping the benefits. An early example is RAMCO group. They formed RAMCO Systems in the 90’s, based on the expertise developed in implementing ERP for their organisation. It is a standalone ERP solutions company, in its own right.

Conclusion: In the digital era, a Knowledge-Led strategy is vital.

Digital is a platform which can be replaced. But Knowledge Assets are the bedrock for a sustainable and profitable organisation.

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Practical Road Map to Business Focused HR Analytics

By Siddharth Nagpal SPHR, AVP - Talent Management & Organization Development, Encore Capital Group

Siddharth Nagpal currently, leads Organization Development at Encore Capital Group Earlier he worked as a Senior Consultant in Talent & Organization Consulting team at Aon Hewitt. Prior to joining Hewitt, Siddharth used to work as Operations and Human Resources lead for Jaypee Capital Services. He was responsible for setting-up of Human Resources processes, systems and practices from scratch.

Earlier at Ernst & Young, he has been working on several engagements in the areas of Organization structuring, Post Merger Integration, Job Evaluations, Compensation & Benefits, Performance Management (including implementation of Balanced Scorecard), Competencies and Reward Management. His area of interest is in the deployment of business strategy through organization design and HR processes.

Siddharth has worked in teams to solve strategic, organizational and operational issues for global organizations across varied industry sectors.

Diagnosed issues, conducted analyses, developed and syndicated recommendations and assisted with implementation.

Specialties: M&A related HR integration work, Change Management, Organization Design & Restructuring, Performance management, Competency Profiling and Development of Competency based HR applications, Compensation & Benefits, Equity linked Incentives, Job Evaluations, HR systems, policies & processes, Ramp-up support, Recruitment support.

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ollowing a data-driven approach to build smarter workforce!

capital which could provide them with true competitive advantage over their peers.

The domain of HR analytics has gained a lot of popularity in the recent past - and rightfully so. HR analytics, when leveraged the right way, has the potential to provide deep insights to senior business leaders around direct impact of various HR processes and initiatives on business outcomes. In other words, HR analytics is the application of analysis and data processing procedures to HR/people data to provide information and insights about the nature of individuals in organisations and the value that they add.i

On a global scale, many established organisations are increasingly leveraging HR analytics methodologies to gain insights into various aspects of the HR processes and strategies. From recruitment of key talent, and retention of critical roles, through to the development of targeted learning and development interventions, HR data is guiding how modern organisations should make important human capital decisions and deriving maximum value from the same.

HR analytics is fast becoming the next big thing in the field of HR, rapidly improving technological capability and providing easier access to people-related data, thus creating the perfect conditions for the use of data to make HR and business decisions. Many organisations are now waking up to the potential of analytics to shed a light on the aspects of the workforce's human

Despite above mentioned evolution, HR analytics continues to be at a nascent stage across the globe, primary reasons for the same could be a dearth of requisite talent and capabilities in this field or lack of IT/data infrastructure; and more often than not there are several misconceptions around what HR analytics is and what it is not.

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HR analytics is fast becoming the next big thing in the field of HR, rapidly improving technological capability and providing easier access to people-related data, thus creating the perfect conditions for the use of data to make HR and business decisions.

for instance financial indicators like EPS, EBITDA, profitability, costs, market share, etc. Focusing on these business outcomes also helps in generating adequate support and buy-in from the business.

Step 2: Build Cross-Functional Analytics Team This team should not only be formed out of the HR personnel, but should comprise of data owners/ reporters from various business functions; one of which could be HR. The teams should comprise of analytics experts, who are needed to determine data requirements, to scientifically link the necessary datasets, and to conduct the requisite statistical analyses.

beyond the operational level and produced highaccuracy, business focused predictive analytics. Most organisations are instead focused on Efficiency Metrics/Scorecards and ensuring that they report robust HR data on a consistent basis. In the more evolved organisations, HR teams are focusing on reporting gap analysis vs. benchmarks and correlations between key HR metrics, which in all fairness are valuable and critical steps in the right direction but they still lack the evidence-based direct connection with business outcomes.

It's tempting to start with the data you have rather than the data you need. At Google, the People Analytics team tries to understand the challenge before choosing what to measure to try and solve it. Asking the right questions and developing clear hypotheses are critical before starting to think about the right data and metrics.iii

The next step in the evolution for HR may well be a radical shift to focusing on driving business results by improving the workforce performance by using factbased insights from science and analytics. This new developmental phase of HR will fundamentally transform the function, not only in terms of the practices and processes it advocates, but also in terms of the people and roles it comprises. It might do nothing short of revolutionise the field of HR.ii

This step should focus on understanding the current sources of reliable data within the organisation and further identify the depth of data available; for instance, frequency, level of detail, data cuts, accuracy, validity, reliability etc. Understanding these data characteristics is critical before the framework for HR analytics could be established. Robust HR data architecture will facilitate building a strong foundation for the HR analytics framework. This step often turns

Step 3: Understand Data Availability

A Comprehensive, Practical Road Map to Business-Focused HR Analytics For organisations intending to take the next leap in the field of HR data and analytics, here is a suggested practical roadmap that could be considered:

Step 1: Focus on Critical Business Outcomes

Step 1: Focus on Critical Business Outcomes

Step 2: Build Cross-Functional Analytics Team

An organisation must first identify the top two to three most critical outcomes to focus on. These could be key financial indicators that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO) are focused on;

A Comprehensive, Practical Road Map to Business-Focused HR Analytics

Step 3: Understand Data Availability Step 4: Structural Equations Modelling (SEM)

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out to be the most challenging step in the entire journey.

Step 4: Structural Equations Modelling (SEM)

iv

This part of the process will require advanced statistical knowledge to link the data. If organisations don't have access to internal talent /capabilities/resources, then hiring an expert statistician is strongly suggested. This analysis should work on Structural Equations Modelling (SEM), a statistical analysis approach that econometricians and market researchers have used for decades and more recently by industrial/organisational psychologists. This approach provides you with the opportunity to: 1. Consider multiple independent and dependent measures concurrently; 2. Imply cause-effect relationships; 3. Calculate a more robust Return on Investment (ROI); and 4. Correct for measurement errors.

The first point is important because we know that each individual piece of employee-related data does not exist in a vacuum; and organisations measure numerous outcomes. The second point is critical because, as mentioned earlier, correlations do not tell you what came first; for example, did financial improvements take place after employee satisfaction or the other way round? By following the guidelines of SEM, we can uncover cause-effect relationships. By demonstrating cause-effect relationships, the third point becomes much more defendable to other senior leaders, because ROI will be shot down if based on correlations (we've seen it happen). Finally, the point number four is technical, but important too. Peopledata collection brings with it a portion of measurement error that is typically shown through a reliability assessment. Unfortunately, correlation analysis assumes that everything was measured without an error, which is a flawed assumption.

Using structural equations modelling provides us with the ability to determine, for example, whether employee attitude about work-life balance has the

By using HR analytics, organisations can more effectively manage and improve performance. HR analytics can help an organisation to improve its profitability through more effective workforce, cost control, balancing the lowest effective headcount, while ensuring satisfactory service delivery, thereby appealing to the CFO.

cause-and-effect relationship with that of increased customer satisfaction. This implied cause-and-effect relationship is important for understanding how these different measures relate to each other as well as for calculating an expected ROI for the initiatives.

The statistical component of this step accomplishes three things: 1. Understanding the relationship between employee initiatives, skills, behaviours, attitudes and meaningful business outcomes.

2. Prioritising the types of interventions (i.e., determine where to spend time, money).

3. Calculating the expected ROI to determine levels of investments and returns.

This work is designed to allow you to determine your HR priorities and how much to invest in them. The final result generated from the data analysis step is a list of priorities that have data and analysis behind them to ensure an impact on the business. It will also show which initiatives are not having their desired impact and could be candidates for cost-cutting.

Transforming HR Analytics into Actionable Insights Building a robust HR analytics framework is only an academic exercise and doesn't realise value until and unless the business leadership buys-in to the framework and the recommendations are auctioned through front line leaders. In a nutshell, this becomes a pivotal change management challenge in most organizations, wherein the way HR team communi27

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cates the framework and builds commitment towards the same becomes critical. HR teams should focus on making HR analytics available, simple, easy to comprehend and actionable for front-line leaders. This will expand the impact of robust HR analytics framework in the organisation.

By using HR analytics, organisations can more effectively manage and improve performance. HR analytics can help an organisation to improve its profitability through more effective workforce, cost

control, balancing the lowest effective headcount, while ensuring satisfactory service delivery, thereby appealing to the CFO.v The HR analytics framework proposed here is logical; and multiple organisations have leveraged it to gain competitive advantage. It is time for HR leaders to start solving business challenges, in contrast to just focusing on employee engagement score. A robust implementation of HR analytics framework is imperative to making HR a strategic functioning in any organisation.

References: i Evolution of HR Analytics: A Middle East perspective, Research Report, CIPD, April 2015 ii Talent Management Meets the Science of Human Behavior, Colin Sloman, Janice Simmons and Susan M. Cantrell, Future of HR Research , Accenture Strategy, 2015 iiiChoose your data and metrics, Re:work (https://rework.withgoogle.com/guides/analytics-adopt-an-analytics-mindset/steps/choose-yourdata-and-metrics/) ivMaximizing the Impact and Effectiveness of HR Analytics to Drive Business Outcomes, Scott Mondore, Shane Douthitt and Marisa Carson, Strategic Management Decisions Volume 34/Issue – 2, 2011 v HR Analytics: Driving Return on Human Capital Investment, An Oracle White Paper, September 2011

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Do Not Just Stand Out, Justify It

By Prateek Srivastava Stern Advisory India

During his tenure as a security expert at Stern Advisory Group, London, Prateek Srivastava had an epiphany of forming a stringent corporate risks solutions umbrella for organisations spread across the globe; which would provide a pool of multiple risk advisory services to businesses of varied scales. This umbrella would neither have any geographical confines nor be curtailed to handling risks specific to one business function but would shelter all critical business functional units. This zeal instituted his business concept and to work towards which he up-scaled his intrapreneurial approach to that of an entrepreneur. Further, the conceptualisation of his business benefited him beyond a skill set, it was endowed with financial assistance from his employer company.

In today’s time and age we are well aware that businesses circle around its “people” as they are the biggest asset of any and every organisation but the biggest asset can also transform into the biggest liability and there is a very thin line between the two. With adversities like corporate frauds, economic warfare, corporate espionage, data theft, geo-security political risks, reputation risks, global expansion risks, compliance risks and the most infamous terrorist activities constructing their path on the corporate landscape; it is imperative to identify the root cause and that again is “people” – your organisation’s biggest asset and liability.

These elements get infused in organisations by way of employment, business partnership relationships, business transactions and the list is endless, as their very existence forms the existence of your business.

At this junction, Stern Advisory India aka STERN INDIA comes into play where their vision is to align with the vision and values of organisations across the globe by acting as risk partners who secure not only all business functions but also safeguard the supreme most aspect of an organisation – “reputation”, most laborious to make and most easy to lose.

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t is the last lap of submissions, preparations and examinations and as if this was not enough that you need to pull up your socks for the real world out there.

The world which leaves you no time for preparation and presents everyday as an examination in itself, at least that is how the society defines it. As a result, you are a bundle of nerves till the interview door and finding yourself at the mercy of interviewers while mustering up the courage to answer their “Why should we hire you and how are you different” question.

Now this is one of those moments when you feel that the cat caught your tongue and are busy ransacking your brain for the right answer. Stop there, rewind and rethink, maybe something you could have done in college that would have made you avoid all this

embarrassment….

Many of us are of the belief that there is not much that we can do in our student days that will place us in a distinct light during our corporate pursuits. This is where we go totally wrong and the below example of a 22 year-old will throw all your preconceived notions out the window.

Build Your Brand Now, Get Hired Later Lindsay Shoemake believes in the above line. While being engaged in her college classes, she took out time and acted upon the teachings of her personal branding class. She created a blog – That Working Girl for young women eager to jump start their careers in the public

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relations and media industries.

This scheme spread like wildfire and soon attracted the attention of a public relations company which made her an internship offer; the company was already quite impressed and did not think twice before contacting her. Needless to say, she has been bombarded with job offers from across the globe and is busy picking out the best one for her.

As many college students fail to think strategically about their online presence, they do not take the time or effort to cultivate their web presence, consequently, the few who make the effort are the ones who steer clear of an uncomfortable interview environment and eventually reach bigger heights, leaving their mark.

Personal branding puts you ahead of the curve. It eliminates a majority of the competition. Think about it - you have well established yourself over the digital world and have highlighted your expertise, skills and passion. A company would be thoroughly impressed by your presentation and the great content that you have displayed to promote yourself. Unknowingly, you make yourself come across as “recruiter-friendly”.

This endeavour puts you in the spot where companies want to hire you and know more about you.

Additionally, modelling your personal brand/ website as per the desired industry/company assignments can ameliorate your chances of getting selected by a manifold. Given the age of Millennials, employers are no more expecting the traditional outlay of qualifications on a piece of paper, they want to know who you are as a person and what makes you tick for their company.

It is a simple logic: if you do not want a snail’s pace repetitive job, then show that in your approach. Break the ice unconventionally, for example: a candidate asked to be interviewed in Spanish to showcase his language skills, having social profiles in correlation with the company’s vision and mission, indulging in positive social interactions with the company, etc.

Refrain from taking these online social interactions lightly as they can make or break your career. Data

Personal branding puts you ahead of the curve.

It eliminates a majority of the competition. Think about it - you have well established yourself over the digital world and have highlighted your expertise, skills and passion. A company would be thoroughly impressed by your presentation and the great content that you have displayed to promote yourself. Unknowingly, you make yourself come across as “recruiter-friendly”.

shows that 93% of hiring managers will review a candidate’s social profile before making a hiring decision. Hence, it is imperative to have a social media strategy because it is the primary medium of communication. The impact of social media is such that it can contract or dilute your message; it has to be used strategically as your online profile is part resume, part portfolio. Build it in a manner so that it resonates with your personal as well as professional image to attract recruiters. For instance, LinkedIn is strictly a professional channel but Facebook or Twitter can be used in the personal sphere; highlighting volunteer experience (if any), your heightened awareness for certain causes, preferred sports, etc. All in all, it has to reflect a favourable and enthusiastic image of yours.

Having drunk photographs or even the slightest inclination towards a drug can make you lose the job.

Experts say that though there is a plethora of privacy settings but it is called the World Wide Web for a reason, so do not post anything that you would not want your employer to see or would be ashamed of at a later stage. Additionally, always focus on quality over quantity – it is one thing to be super active on all social media accounts and another to copy-paste mindless content and share it on all the channels.

It is perfect to have two or three social accounts, provided that the content is well-drafted and meaningful. Copying and pasting any information can be identified easily by employers for whom social screening is more of a staple diet. You need to understand the role and complexities of each social 30

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media channel and post information accordingly. You do not need to fill in jaw dropping lengths of content.

Instead, you have to fill in eye opening content.

Nobody is going to follow you if you paste the same content on all social channels, let there be a differentiating factor among all. Further, even Google’s SEO (search engine optimisation) rankings will completely disown you. So be original, keep it simple and effective.

However, there are two sides of a coin; acceptance and rejection go hand in hand. It is not about being put down, it is about getting up after having faced that. The story of Nina Mufleh is the right example: Dead On Target – Creating Multiple Opportunities Nina recently moved from the Middle East to San Francisco and fell in love with Airbnb. She had previously worked for Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullah from 2006 to 2009, after having work for a decade in the marketing industry.

She tried every possible means of interaction, from job boards to emails to telephonic conversations.

Thereafter, she even networked with some of Airbnb’s chief employees but that did not result in a job offer.

Then she did something disruptive which caught not the CMO’s but also the CEO’s attention – she created her resume in the format of the host page of Airbnb.

This garnered massive attention of not only Airbnb but also Uber, LinkedIn and Dropbox. Most importantly, she got support from strangers who like her were involved in applying for jobs but were unable to make the cut.

Today the cream of the cream is passionate, motivated, hardworking and innovative, but the differentiating factor is that of continuous innovation and hard work which needs to be disseminated across the right network as presentation and positioning matters.

The fundamental point is to do justice to what you have asserted in your CV, not only in your eyes but in the eyes of your employer too. You need to weigh the statute of the employer, his/ her background and then decipher the expectations. More importantly, in a bid to meet those expectations, refrain from overshooting your image and experience as it does not have to be in accordance with your judgement but with that of the employer.

In one week, she put up a website which had not an ounce of her past work experience (as that is easily traceable on LinkedIn). Instead, she had conducted an in-depth research for Airbnb’s marketing venture, listing out the gaps to be fulfilled for an overall penetration. For which she chalked out a chart for Middle East penetration along with outlining its importance, drafting out a step-by-step approach for penetration and enumerating the challenges and solutions. This information spread highlights both, her knowledge base about the Middle East and close assessment of Airbnb’s locational expanse. She combined her travelling passion and knowledge for creating an action plan for her preferred employer company.

But this also speaks volumes about Airbnb’s charismatic culture as Nina was first a loyal customer of this company and then its contagious enthusiastic culture spread to her, she states that she was “enamoured by Airbnb’s internal culture”. This is a classic example of effective employer branding which paid off by converting a loyal customer into a prospective candidate. Airbnb’s service and warmth have been instrumental in attracting and engaging a steadfast like her. She got encouraged enough to publish a white paper in which she states as to how to apply the foundations of marketing to creating a successful career opportunity. The white paper breaks down the approach followed by Nina for creating the campaign as – the hurdles, the reasons behind the hurdles, the solutions, results, her achievements and takeaways for the audience.

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Nina strategically not only showed that she is aligned with the goal and values of Airbnb but also used this as a platform to be available to other prospective “high impact technology companies that have a stellar team”.

By showing her dedication for the Airbnb venture, she opened dialogue with several other industry giants – she created a win-win situation for herself by even showing her dedication and keeping all her options open. This has been pointed out in her results of the campaign.

Moreover, Nina4airbnb campaign has been unsparingly used for her publicity which has garnered support of various other candidates who are looking forward to making similar disruptions to get their dream jobs. Everyone talks about innovation but no one is aware of the formula and this is well explained

by Nina in her campaign. She profited her image by setting herself as an example for several, in turn increasing her fan base and followers. For her future endeavours she shall always be encouraged by them and her every tweet or post would spread at enormous speed. This is an immediate boost given to her social media presence, giving her a status of no less than that of a celebrity.

Here, she built opportunities for herself as that of a marketing guru as she openly invites her “readers” to connect with her for more marketing insights. Hence, generating a plethora of opportunities in one go. The ripples of these opportunities can be felt across the following domains:

By building a credible identity, an image that is true and is easy to connect with while carrying an authentic seal: A seal which reaffirms your unique stand and voice, and automatically makes you a preferred choice over thousands of other candidates.

The devil is in the detail – refrain from profanity or from making grammatical errors as these are sure turn-offs for recruiters and they would not even consider viewing your profile any further, forget about making an impression or getting shortlisted.

• Getting an interview with the dream company – Airbnb • Interviews in the pipeline with other “high impact technology companies that have a stellar team” • Amassing a large base of followers and ardent supporters • Boosting her social media presence • Attaining a celebrity status • Establishing a demand for her marketing insights This is what marketing yourself is – positioning yourself as the product and strengthening your brand with the inputs of impeccable content and design, which needs to be supplemented with well-researched information. But are these efforts enough to achieve your primary target, in this case, the dream job at Airbnb or are there some more steps that a prospective candidate has to take?

The Verdict – What Do Employers Look For? Now, many of us would be of the opinion that Nina would have surely got her dream job with Airbnb as this was quite a disruptive innovation and the formulation of a rare CV, which does not entail the traditional layout but serves as a platform which focuses on the target company growth.

Despite these efforts, she did not get hired by Airbnb.

She had everything going right and rolled the balled in her favour by demonstrating passion, motivation and sharing it across the right connection i.e. the right network. Having worked in the Queen Rania’s

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communication team, got her in loop with the right media personnel who guided and maybe to some extent even shaped her digital presence.

and experience and maybe for the interviewer it had to be explicit in the context of his industry and its workings.

But that was not enough. It was surely enough to grab eyeballs and build a launch pad into the C-suite but the “contextualisation” that she has spoken about in her entire campaign and white paper was not evident to the Airbnb interviewer as “he was unable to contextualise her experience because she had not worked at Facebook or Google or studied at Stanford”, as mentioned in the blog post titled “the good, the bad, and the ugly” of Nina’s blog – eatwritewalk.

The fundamental point is to do justice to what you have asserted in your CV, not only in your eyes but in the eyes of your employer too. You need to weigh the statute of the employer, his/ her background and then decipher the expectations. More importantly, in a bid to meet those expectations, refrain from overshooting your image and experience as it does not have to be in accordance with your judgement but with that of the employer. The worst that can happen is not being able to do justice with what you have written, the employer automatically loses interest and will not be concerned about the other parameters that you fulfil. Understand that once you have let down the employer on the main point, then he/ she would not be interested in the rest of your dialogue.

She describes that she was not been able to comprehend such a reason and even her several attempts at explaining her decade-long achievements in marketing and social media did not come to her rescue. She was helplessly trying to convince the interviewer but it did not work to her advantage.

Some can say that this was the interviewer’s shortcoming to only stay pivoted on association with brands whereas some C-suite interviewers agree with the problem of being unable to contextualise without having in place a constructive candidate background.

Either way, none of them are right or wrong. Every company and for that matter, every candidate has their reasons as per their experiences, circumstances and expectations. For Nina, everything was unfurling in the right direction – from the strategy implemented to her presence to the response generated and so much so that she bagged an interview with Airbnb.

But, at the interview location, when she and the interviewer sat together, the interviewer unlocked a different paradigm wherein he put forth his questions as to how Nina can contextualise her experience for the desired position. Having stated that she has not received a formal marketing education and has not had a corporate holding of a similar nature, made the interviewer question the contextualisation that she had been talking about and that was the aim of her interview. This contextualisation can carry varied connotations – for Nina it was implicit in her campaign

Secondly, once you have furnished a rare CV and presented your ambition for the company, you need to continue working i.e. your research on the company and your desired contributions to it cannot end, it needs to be continued. It means that you do not have to sit back and relax after creating a CV and wait for the interview day, keep working, keep refining your search and make it more appropriate and recent to the company’s advancements and projects. This attitude is the most cherished attribute by an employer. Your work will precede your reputation and demonstrate your skills prior to you being on board.

Today the cream of the cream is passionate, motivated, hardworking and innovative, but the differentiating factor is that of continuous innovation and hard work which needs to be disseminated across the right network as presentation and positioning matters. Do not advertise yourself as that will show the desperation for a job but rather focus on marketing yourself as that shows your intelligence, your approach and confidence. You need to be subtle in your efforts and keep the tone of your achievements mild instead of overbearing.

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Putting the pieces together – studying the job terrain One can be disappointed but not outraged at Nina’s rejection by Airbnb. As a candidate, you have the right to put yourself out there to the best of your potential and exhibit your skills and efforts in the most alluring and engaging manner. Besides, as you need the job so you are the one who has to toil. No matter how simple, complex, enriching or predictable your attempts are, they do not put the employer under any obligation to owe you the job. If you get selected then you have proved your worth and if not then the competition is cut throat and maybe you are better suited for another environment. Do not lose hope; instead create multiple ripples of opportunities just as Nina.

The Various Elements That You Need to Get Right are as Follows: 1. Innovation The predictable and stable job market conditions do not exist. So running the same basic script for years will serve no purpose. Same basic script = clerical job.

Searching on job boards, applying and waiting will take you nowhere. You need to jump the queue, as while you wait for a reply on your job portal, somebody else jumps the queue by presenting themselves via an influential network. Such people do not go out and say “I want this job”, instead, they build and foster a corporate network through which they are introduced to the desired company executives. Here, the right networking and being with the right set of people comes to play. This shows innovation in your approach and thinking. Use this network to spread your work and campaigns.

Nina has beautifully exemplified this by creating a strong campaign which caused not only one but several employers to act upon the profile displayed by her. But obviously the network was an add-on; the campaign built by her was what went forward. Serving to the company in their format is innovative; it gives the company a sense of belonging and also makes it feel that this candidate is dedicated towards bringing the company forward and is serious about its initiatives

and projects. Further, search close assessment of the company’s workings are commendable as it makes the job of the candidate much simpler as they have already surpassed the orientation and educated themselves with the company’s logistics. So once on board, such candidates will take their tasks spiralling towards the company’s success.

2. Separation of efforts from results Your effort does not entitle you for anything from anyone and does not demonstrate that you are the right person for the company. You can come up with the best of ideas and share them with the company but that does not mean you get hired solely on the basis of these or that the company cannot implement them without you.

The value of work is not received when you get reactions from that one group of target people. The value has to be more and more intrinsic, for which it needs to attract a boarder audience and take into consideration the reactions of all domains of people.

This, in fact, demonstrates your capability which is not limited to the one task that you performed but the initiative that you took to start off this task.

3. Adaptability Rome was not built in one night and therefore, it is not necessary that your effort has to pay off in one go. Like for Nina, it did not happen. Airbnb did not take her in as an employee. But that does not mean that life ends there. No. You have to create multiple opportunities from one; it is about learning the art of being aligned with one goal or vision but at the same time, keeping yourself open to other avenues. This can be done by nurturing that one goal or vision in such a way that it paves a path for other avenues by way of giving a positive impression of yours, a person who is adaptable and indispensable for any and every industry type.

Master your subject, your line of work and represent it with such enthusiasm and detail that your proficiency is up for grabs. Create competition among the employers to have you as their resource.

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4. Hard work Hard work is done by all, even the labourers who are involved in the daily construction. But it is the right kind of hard work that gets paid in unexpected ways.

Hence, it is a mixture of hard work with smart work.

You need to do the right kind of work at right intervals of time.

The Solution The fix to the above stated problems and how to cumulate them under one roof lies in the following pillars: • Efficient management of social accounts • Personal branding efforts • An element of authentication 1. Efficient management of social accounts As per a survey conducted in 2014, 55% of the recruiters use social media for recruitment and as per an analysis, the spending of recruiters to view social profiles is to increase by 73%. Hence, hiring is supposed to become more competitive in the next twelve months.

This means that you need to up your game in both online and offline networking. Stay active with your status and comments and indulge in networking offline in live meetings and informational interviews.

However, if being active on social media gets you overwhelmed, then be active on LinkedIn as that is the place where most employers are continuously searching. Keep all elements of your profile complete – photo, headline, summary, etc. Also, join groups so that you can stay abreast of trends and network easily.

You absolutely need to stay on top of your digital footprint, set Google alerts on your name so as to ascertain the internet searches on a regular basis.

Additionally, staying active on social media will help you fill the internet with positive information about you and your brand. Your tweets, your posts relating to your industry or knowledge area will help you earn brownie points. Further, look at the LinkedIn pages of your desired companies, they have a mammoth of

posts, discussions and employees referrals; in the same breath you need to show yourself – collect recommendations, get endorsements, have posts and discussions and frequently comment on those of your desired company.

Most importantly, the devil is in the detail – refrain from profanity or from making grammatical errors as these are sure turn-offs for recruiters and they would not even consider viewing your profile any further, forget about making an impression or getting shortlisted.

Hint: recruiters use social media for vetting purposes.

2. Personal branding efforts Social media activities constitute a very minor part of personal branding efforts. Perceptions run deep and one needs to modulate brand value across the spectrum to remain authentic and credible. You need to take the stakes higher as today, employers are not looking for mere “employees” who perform instruction-based tasks, they are looking for intrapreneurs – an absolute resource for the company who promotes the company’s products as their own and works in the capacity of an entrepreneur i.e. taking responsibility, being innovative, coming up with solutions rather than problems, etc.

To present yourself at such a scale you need a personal website that is a reflection of you and effortlessly shows as to how personal pursuits complement your professional ones. A platform where you showcase yourself as a brand – your blogs, video interviews, discussions, networking needs, engagements, etc., need to be collected at one place. Your website will complement your social profiles and eventually transform into a leadership board of your digital presence.

Personal branding allows you to establish a reputation and an identity while maintaining a personal level of trust and interaction. Moreover, employers hire you and not your skill sets alone, so your attitude matters which can be perfectly gauged from your personal

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branding efforts – how seriously you take yourself. It helps you create a signature image, a unique voice and a recognisable stand.

The failure to build a personal brand not only leaves you out of the competition, but also keeps you away from coming across as credible. Also, do not just be active once in a blue moon, be consistent because if you lose consistency in maintaining yourself then what good can be expected out of you for a company?

I&Me helps you achieve your personal branding goal, its goal can be read as follows: Do you know why few become celebrities… & leave a mark?

Because we cherish, we value, we want, we see …

For… what they are, what they did and what they believe.

We know them because they make it impossible to ignore…….

Do you want people to see who you are, what you do and what you want to be…..

ascertain that you are being genuine?

By building a credible identity, an image that is true and is easy to connect with while carrying an authentic seal: A seal which reaffirms your unique stand and voice, and automatically makes you a preferred choice over thousands of other candidates. After all, it is a known fact that companies conduct a thorough vetting on their employees, first via social screening aka social profiling and then, a formal, stricter and legal procedure which authenticates all your whereabouts.

Having such a pre-screened persona spread over the digital space makes you stand out and also, it shows how prepared you are for the job interview and the company. You are being considerate as your prescreened profile will save the company of time and money and create a positive impression of you; automatically you put yourself out as the best.

This will be beneficial for you as well because it saves you of:-

Your life, your dreams, your vision…

Say I & Me Say I&Me and establish yourself as a brand…..

3. An element of authentication Being your authentic self is a mandate if you want success in any realm of your life and so this definitely holds true for your digital presence. After all, if you are looking for honest connections then first start by being honest with yourself. Moreover, it is you who knows that you are being honest, whether it is a case of over achievement of under achievement, you have blurted out your true story. But how can you convey this to the other person? Will they buy in your story and contact you?

Plus with the cases of fraud and over the top exaggerations increasing by manifold you cannot blame anyone, even the people who are giving a session for the first or second time label themselves as “inspirational speakers”. At the top off your head even you can enumerate a few examples wherein you have had a tough time believing someone and have been sceptical of being associated with them. So how does one

1. Possible mistakes in the authentication procedure: As you will have the opportunity to review negative information, as you will be able to take action on information that is incomplete or inaccurate. As you represent the original source of information, you can request for recheck and this issue is resolved within your domain without besmirching your name in front of the employer.

2. Exposure of lies or past mistakes: If you have a history of lies or past mistakes then when these are uncovered in your authentication results, you can readily provide explanation or proof for these. Explain your ground and state in advance at that point in time when you made a blunder and additionally mentioning a resolution that you have worked upon for the same and how will you apply to the future positioning for which you are aiming.

3. Concerns about privacy: An authentication procedure is more or less invasion of privacy. It goes back to your past credentials in order to ascertain their credibility and reliability for those of your present and future. Instead of sharing such confidential informa36

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tion with an unknown third party, you can share it with a known entity while holding the right over its usage and dispersion.

It is a breakthrough in personal branding and authentication. It is beyond being competitive, it is about being indispensable and proving your worth and reach before your hiring. It is about having your facts sealed in via a medium of authentication channel working in collaboration and supporting your personal branding efforts.

About the solution provider Stern Advisory India is a corporate risk advisory firm, and a part of the Stern Advisory Group Ltd., United Kingdom with a strong multi-location presence in India, holding vast global experience in providing bespoke research and investigative solutions to corporations as well as private clients.

It has been actively involved in various assignments that pertain to facilitating Mergers & Acquisitions, investigative due diligence, market research and India market entry services, alongside has a separate business vertical which covers the background screening at a global level covering checks across any geography. This also extends to compliance and risk management issues

that most businesses now have to deal with and be auditable. All these services are backed by a strong inhouse specialist research team, robust network of sources spread throughout India and South Asia and tie-ups with various enforcement agencies in the region.

At the moment, the company is at the verge of synthesising a technological solution for meeting the authentication and branding needs under one roof. The demand for such a unique platform has been assessed over the months. People are unable to present themselves in the desired manner and this in turn severely affects their branding efforts. They have the information but lack its proper presentation skills and a platform where they can be visible while amalgamating their social media presence and thus expanding their digital footprint.

Furthermore, trust as an attribute has gone up in vapours and to regain and maintain the same in one’s digital endeavours is no less than of a task in itself. If there are several benefits attached to creating your own credibility, then all individuals will sign up for this. As it is no more about standing out, it is about justifying it.

To know more about us and our projects, please look up sternindia.com, fsin.in and iandme.me

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New Approach to Performance Management System

By Indraneel Som Director HR, Herbalife

Indraneel Som is currently the Director of Human Resources at Herbalife. Prior to this he was the Director, Human Resources for Cognizant Technology Services. He was also with IMRB as Group Director, HR. He has been associated with IBM from 2006 to 2011.

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he year 2015 will probably be remembered by HR professionals as the year of redefining Performance Management System.

and low contributors was the most arduous task for any organisation that was taking up performance assessments to closure via the bell curve.

For quite some time, most organisations have been managing their performance appraisal using the Bell Curve Methodology. They adopted the methodology to drive high performance culture in their organisation so as to retain and reward high contributors, develop moderate contributors and let go of the bottom/ low performers.

The challenge of adopting the methodology was:

What is Bell Curve?

General Electric was the first to adopt the Bell Curve Methodology wherein employees were categorised into three groups and were differentiated strongly so as to encourage high performance culture in the organisation. The three groups were: • Top Contributors: The top 20% who received merit increase, promotions and stock options.

• Moderate Contributors: Employees who meet the expected goals at their level. Majority of the employees, 70%-75%, were bucketed as Moderate Contributors.

• Low Contributors: The last, 5%-10%, of the employees who do not receive any reward and are unlikely to stay.

Pitfall of the approach

Firstly, the bell curve, more often than not, is a difficult process to implement in complete fairness. In the name of a continuously improving organisation, the bell curve is designed into slotting a team into layers of top, middle and bottom performers, so what if the manager felt (& knew) that his team comprised all top performers. Therefore, performance has often been sighted as ‘compromised’ in the name of relative ranking.

Secondly, Bell Curve is often not applicable in smaller teams where slotting performance got difficult, considering a smaller headcount. Therefore, the bell curve process comes in with its own shortcomings with smaller teams.

For quite some time, most organisations have been managing their performance appraisal using the Bell Curve Methodology. They adopted the methodology to drive high performance culture in their organisation so as to retain and reward high contributors, develop moderate contributors and let go of the bottom/ low performers.

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Thirdly, the bell curve is logistically a mammoth project for large organisations to complete. The bell curve is linked deeply with several HR initiatives – be it an accelerated program or engagement for the top talent, as defined by the bell curve, or phasing out of bottom performers, as highlighted by the curve. Very simply put, an organisation with, say 1000 employees will typically have 150-200 top performers and an equal number of bottom performers. Now to churn an accelerated program for top talent year on year (this 200 will become 400 and so on) will also mean some factual outcomes for the top talent. Therefore, organisations need to be in a position to create such outcomes at the same pace at which they identify top talent. Similarly, bottom performers will also constitute around 150-200 employees. To phase off a number as massive as that has its own people related challenges – organisation could be perceived as the one that ends up firing employees. This is just one of the problems. Whether the organisation should hire back fills for the employees being phased out (this is another debate that has two distinct and diametrically opposite voices), the messaging going out into the market on account of phase offs, client feedback v/s actual performance, exceptions, billability of identified bottom performers and how the organisation justifies revenue loss in the name of improvement, etc., – these are all big ticket debates that consume weeks of leadership time.

Lastly, the bell curve has not resonated as a very positive process with managers. There are several stories and examples of how managers have not taken the performance compartmentalisation well in their stride. The bell curve outcome often becomes like a Supreme Court judgement – you respect it but not necessarily agree with it! There is a tendency for managers to feel their assessments get lost in translation simply because people had to get slotted.

The New Approach: Most of the well-known IT organisations such as Accenture, HP, Dell and IBM have gone back to the

Most of the well-known IT organisations such as Accenture, HP, Dell and IBM have gone back to the drawing board and are developing their Performance Management System which is based on identifying and developing employee strength and provide feedback post project completion which is more “In-The-Moment” feedback for the individual and is more accurate than the year-end appraisal system.

drawing board and are developing their Performance Management System which is based on identifying and developing employee strength and provide feedback post project completion which is more “In-TheMoment” feedback for the individual and is more accurate than the year-end appraisal system.

Priorities for organisations to manage their performance in the coming 12 months will be to focus on: 1) Coaching for development; 2) Giving in-the-moment feedback; and 3) Increasing alignment of performance goals with business goals.

In conclusion For Management to agree on a paradigm shift from the current model of Bell Curve to the new approach was not an easy decision as most organisation’s rewards policy were aligned to the bell curve methodology.

However, the pain every organisation went through in terms of the man-hours spent and the dissatisfaction of employees post every review cycle, which would lead to attrition or disengagement made them realise the need for a different and more transparent approach.

And we as HR professionals have an extremely challenging time ahead to ensure the new framework is able to align itself to the organisation’s objectives and is able to create a culture of development for the employees.

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New Approach to Performance Management System

By Indraneel Som Director HR, Herbalife

Dr. Gurpreet Singh Bhatia is Associate Professor in Economics. He is PhD in Economics from National University of Singapore. He completed his M Phil from IIT Bombay. He had earlier worked in State Bank of India.

The author Jeffrey Sachs, Professor at Columbia University and the special advisor to Secretary General Ban KI-Moon of the United Nations, provides a timely book on the topic of Sustainable Development. The subject of Sustainable Development is discussed in relation to topics such as Inequality, Historical Perspectives of Economic Development, Differences between Rich and Poor Countries, Extreme Poverty and How it can be Mitigated, Planetary Boundaries, Social Inclusion, Education, Universal Health, Food Security, Resilient Cities, Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development Goals.

The author begins by pointing that the world population has increased nine-folds since the start of Industrial Revolution in 1750. The rising population would be detrimental to planet Earth unless we follow the path of sustainable development. Sustainable development is defined by the author as “interaction of three complex systems, namely, the world economy, the global society and the Earth's physical environment� (page 28). Author provides various other definitions of sustainable development, citing resources such as Brundtland Commission and the UN

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NEW APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

The author gives utmost importance to the role of technological changes in sustainable development, citing these as the main driver of long-term economic growth (page 40), but the world needs to combine economic growth with social inclusion and environmental sustainability.

urban population where the latter enjoys higher standard of living. Richer parts of the world tend to have higher density of urban population, as a result, the quality of public services also differ within a country. But the author considers the governments as great equalizers, wherein they can use revenues to promote universal access to education and health c

Prof. Sachs argues that the topic of extreme poverty is a multidimensional concept, essentially characterized as incorporating not only a lack of adequate income, but also the inability to meet essential human needs for “food, water, sanitation, safe energy, education, and a livelihood” (page 77). The author suggests the idea of Community Health Workers (CHWs) who bring health care to citizens in poor villages with extreme poverty.

The author then goes on to discuss six waves of technological change, the latest being the wave of sustainable technologies, which helps in producing and mobilizing energy and transporting the teeming millions of people such that there is minimum humaninduced destruction of the Earth's ecosystems. An example of these technologies is alternative ways of producing energy sources like geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar.

The climate change has resulted in environmental calamities like flooding that has resulted in economic damages worth millions of dollars. On the other hand, drought conditions in parts of world like the USA has had devastating effect on crops. It is ironic that the manifolds increase in world output is the cause of climate change. The author mention a number of climate-related catastrophes but at times seem to introduce very academic concepts like “hydrometerological disasters”, which are weather and water-related disasters. Fossil fuels have been identified as one of the chief culprits of CO2 emitters, the gases chiefly responsible for climate change and global warming.

The author warns that changing climate pattern will negatively affect the industry and would require technological innovation to cope with its negative effects. The chapter also introduces the concept of ten major planetary boundaries that humanity is in danger of surpassing. These are climate change; ocean acidification; ozone depletion; nitrogen cycle; phosphorus cycle; global fresh-water use; change in land use; biodiversity loss; atmospheric aerosol loading; and chemical pollution.

Eight millennium development goals (MDGs) are discussed in subsequent chapters. It is also pointed that Global market forces fail to ensure sustainable economic growth, mainly because those who impose planetary damages don't end up paying for these.

Topic of social inclusion is also discussed in great zeal by the author.

The author provides ten basic recommendations for primary health could be achieved in the next decade.

These are broadly characterized as Financial, setting up of Global Health Fund, funding health in lowincome countries, G8 country's need for a commitment to provide antiretroviral medicines to the developing world, a global plan to eradicate TB, funding for access to sexual and reproductive health services, providing finance for fighting tropical diseases, a universal heath window and provision of mass prevention and treatment for non-communicable diseases.

The author ends the book with elaborate definitions of ten Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as recommended by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

On the topic of inequality, Professor Sachs discusses the inequality within countries based on rural and

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VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1 DECEMBER 2015

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