Leadership is a skill, and any skill must be learned and developed.

Q. In today’s scenario it has become essential to keep reinventing oneself. How can an organisation help its employees in this endeavour?

A. Make it a part of the review process. Get employees to think bigger in terms of their work; challenge them. People and organisations that are too comfortable rarely reinvent themselves.

Too often we ask employees to do things without teaching them how. Do you have an organisational process for reinvention? Develop tools that managers can use with those, then lead to help them reinvent themselves.

Q. Today, succession planning has become critical to leaders and organisations. What measures would you suggest to deal with this complex issue?

A. The first step is awareness. That sounds obvious, but I find many firms are in a kind of denial: they know they need a succession plan, but “not yet”. We should always be thinking at least two steps ahead, especially in terms of future leadership.

The next step — and I have referred to it already — is having an effective process. Succession planning should never be haphazard but rather a carefully considered process.

Q. So, what is the most interesting project you are working on, and what are your future plans?

A. I am spending more time these days thinking about who gets followed and why. I am interested in understanding how leadership may have changed due to technology, generational differences and other factors. And, as always, I have got at least two new book ideas I am working on.

Q. You have authored some bestsellers on leadership and management. What inspires your writing?

A. My goal is simple: to help readers. I try to provide insights that will make the reader’s personal and/or professional life better.

Q. What is your advice to young professionals set to enter the corporate world?

A. Expand your horizons and think beyond the familiar. I believe experience is the best teacher, and therefore, advocate trying lots of things to get lots of experience. But it is also important to contemplate what you have learned from your experiences. A variety of experiences without any reflection is of limited value. Read more...

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Challenging the public’s mind

Masters in science and management, Mr. Himanshu Sinha is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). He has nearly 19 years of experience of leading the HR, Personnel and Administration departments. Mr. Sinha has also worked with organisations such as, Asahi India Glass Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., and Gordon Herbert India Ltd.

Q. Please share your thoughts on the turnaround in a public sector organisation? How different are the HR challenges here in comparison to the private sector?
A. Turnaround in a public sector organisation is mostly undertaken to revive it financially, by taking it on the new or different trajectory, change of products or services, due to loss of competitiveness, failure to achieve the desired results, modernisation and other such factors. Any such turnaround exercise is supposed to be undertaken in a well planned and systematic manner in order to achieve the desired goal.

The basic challenges, as far as HR is concerned, remain similar in both the sectors. In a public sector organisation, the challenges lie more in motivating and changing the mindset of people. It is the same set of people who have been working with the organisation for a long time and that too in a value-based culture. As far as HR is concerned, several tools in the form of various OD interventions are available today to support a turnaround and to attain the desired objectives or results. Although even today there is little agreement on what HR strategies lead to a successful turnaround, either in public or private sector organisation. Read more...

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Ready to nurse an ailing business?

With 30 years of experience in the corporate sector, Dr. Michael Teng has been a torchbearer for many companies facing corporate distress. He has spent 20 years working as a CEO for multinational, local, and public listed companies, and has authored 27 books which can help sail companies through turbulent times.
His bestseller, ‘Corporate Turnaround: Nursing a sick company back to health’, talks about how to diagnose a company when it is sick and prescribes effective management principles and theories for a holistic corporate turnaround.

Q. Define the HR’s role in turning around a healthy business in to a world-class organisation?
A. It is important for a business to develop a strong corporate immune system, i.e., corporate culture which is flexible, innovative, and swift in handling the marketplace changes. The human resource management has an important role to foster this culture by making sure that the message is properly communicated, and policies are put in place and executed well.

Q. Please give us some effective and easy-to-administer techniques which can help HR restructure a company during turnaround.
A. The concept of 4Cs: Communication, Concentration, Cost Control, and Cash Flow Improvement, applies here so as to get control over the sinking ship.

Communicate with your key stakeholders to explain and get their support to your turnaround plan. Concentrate by focusing on core competency, which is necessary to avoid dissipate the limited resources. Cost control is the best antidote in bad times, but one has to be careful in cutting costs as it might hamper the business in a long run. Cash flow improvement is the lifeblood of the company and one has to look into the receivables and payables, inventory, credit terms, etc.

Human Resource department also needs to monitor and follow up to ensure employee morale does not take a beating, messages and policies are properly communicated and implemented. Read more...

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Partners for a sustainable solution

Q. How can a CEO help transform traditional HR to strategic HR?
A. If a CEO believes that “people are the most important assets an organisation has”, he or she would be personally involved in building talent pipeline, developing talent and strengthening organisation culture.

Q. What are the CEO’s expectations from HR?
A. Primary goal of strategic HR function is to increase organisation effectiveness by focusing on real business challenges. The expectation is to identify HR focus areas which help the organisation achieve its objectives. Overall, employee motivation and productivity have to be at the centre stage.

Q. And what does HR expect?
A. The core of the expectation is for the CEO or the functional leader to believe in the criticality of people and the focus needed on building talent. The core expectation of motivating employees, developing them and enhancing their effectiveness remains the same.

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