Leaders shouldn’t be afraid of policies that seem stupid at first
Following a peoplefirst agenda, minimising hiring errors and reading employees right will help organisations adapt to today’s changes
Leaders need to be willing to take risks, understand that everyone makes mistakes and be daring enough to bring in policies that seem stupid at first but actually work. In a world driven by technology, where the internet of things has come to dominate workers’ lives, organisations are confronted with numerous dilemmas today. At the sixth CII HR award confluence and conclave on HR game changers, in Delhi recently, conversations revolved around learning and development, business alignment of people strategies, integrated development of HR strategies and CEO perspectives on the potential of HR game changers.
Hiring right and leadership development had to be “up there” in the list of HR priorities. Pramod Bhasin, chairman, CII national committee on skill development, founder vice chairman Genpact, and chairman The Skills Academy, talked about an interesting hire in an organisation he worked in and how he almost didn’t support him in his efforts to move up. Joining at the junior rung, the hire asked Bhasin for more responsibilities and was made head of logistics and infrastructure, handling transportation etc for his company. He was then sent to Europe on assignments and came to Bhasin wanting to do more. Thinking he had a lot on his plate, Bhasin was not willing to add to his workload, but the young man looped in HR and other associates to help convince him. Today, he is the global the head of marketing and sales on a million dollar salary, Bhasin says, underlining the importance of reading people right and trusting them.
According to Richard Rekhy, CEO, KPMG, organisations need to intensify their focus on training and development. If the people agenda is right, he feels, everything else will fall in place. The cost of attrition, undoubtedly very expensive for organisations, has never been scientifically calculated. Not much effort is also made by organisations to retain talent. As he is in the knowledge sector, Rekhy says he has to deal with knowledge people, some with huge egos. “How do you give feedback? Most of the time feedback is not given because we are afraid we are going to lose the people, especially who do not receive feedback kindly.” Leaders at times also have to think from their heart and not their head while announcing policies that seem outrageous at first. When he ordered that KPMG offices remain shut for 10-odd days during Christmas and New Year, he was urged by competitors and others to reverse his decision. Things, however, turned out all right in the end. International business slowed down during the holiday period and today Rekhy says it has become a motivating factor for many people in his organisation. “They come back relaxed and refreshed and all renovations in office are done at that time and nothing is impacted.” Hiring is a science but hirers are not properly trained to read people during interviews, which perhaps could be the reason why most organisations report fail to match candidates properly with jobs, says Bhasin. Organisations like McKinsey, GE and Goldman Sachs have very little hiring failure rates because candidates have to go through “excruciating” processes where they are interviewed and rated by people from multiple verticals. Adapting to change is also crucial, says Rekhy. Technology changes at an amazing pace and HR has to adapt to it quickly instead of just throwing processes at everything. Recalling an incident Rekhy says a manager he had worked with had resigned and was getting ready to leave office on his last day at work. As he was collecting his things he got a call from someone he was not familiar with in the HR department. He was asked not to leave and finish a few ‘‘formalities first. The manager’s reply was, “I don’t know you, you have not touched my life when I worked here so I am not going to let you touch my life on my last day here.” GenX or GenY, HR has to know and understand its people, says Rekhy. “Put policies in place that make people happy. Want a person to work? Don’t put a fire under his chair, put the fire in him. He will never leave you,” he concludes.