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Coming Soon: New English Book authored by Vinod Bidwaik (Pre-book your copy)

Coming Soon: New English Book authored by Vinod Bidwaik published by BohoSoul Publication. 

Publication will be in Feb 2020

• MRP: 175/- 
• Pre-book copy: Rs. 150/- (Just sent mail to bohosoulpublications@gmail.com)
• If you want to buy 10 or more copies: Rs. 130/- (Just sent mail to bohosoulpublications@gmail.com)

About Book:

Unpredictable events around the world has impacted on the business and the way business is done. Automation and digitization are changing the landscape of the workforce. Managers are expected to be the first HR managers for their team. With such challenges, we also need to redefine our approach towards the human capital in the organization. In fact, we need to focus more on “Human” factor than earlier days. It is also crucial to coach managers on managing Human Resource with right intent. Everybody needs to find the human factor in automated HR processes. After all, human resource function is related to people. It is understanding “human” into the human resource processes. This book is the compilation of such examples of finding “Human” factor in HR processes. You will get insight about Human in all HR processes, from hiring to separations. Events and stories mentioned here will help you to crystallize your thought process. This book is not only for the HR professionals, but also for other Managers and management professionals who are handling teams. As a manager, you will also get some insights about your own development. Some chapters are dedicated to individual learning and as a manager, you can always help your team members to develop in assent perspective. In short, this is a booster dose for improving your Human Resource acumen.

This book is perfect gift for Managers. Please send mail at bohosoulpublications@gmail.com

HR Business Partner Capabilities

Learn more from Vinod Bidwaik #HRBP #HRBPcapabilities

Outstanding HR Professional 2019-2020

It was my great honour to receive the “Outstanding HR Professional award 2019-2020” constituted by “Only HR (OHR) Foundation” Pune at the hands of Shri Pralhad Vamanrao Pai, of Jeevan Vidya Mission. This award was a great surprise today. Thanks OHR trustees for choosing me for this award.

Outstanding HR Professional 2019-2020

Publication of second edition of "College to Corporate Via Interviews" (Marathi Book)

Second edition of my book, "College to Corporate via Interviews" is published in 19th Oct 2019 at MIT WPU. The MIT book club is also launched on this occasion at MIT.

Some snaps of this event: 

 

Book Publication at the hands of dignitaries.
Dr. Sailee Gankar, dean of MITWPU, Pro chancellor of MIT and other guests. 

Second Edition of College to Corporate Via Interviews

Happy to announce that second edition of My first Marathi book, Collage to Corporate Via Interview is released. Thanks for making this book best seller. This book has positively impacted the life of candidates and gave them hope. You can grab your copy from Flipkart or BookGanga.

Agility in HR

I was one of the panelist speaking on agility in HR during the panel discussion organised by HR Federation of India at MIT World Peace University  on 20th Jul 2019. You can view my session here.

My journey from campus to this far, The Ups and Downs

I interacted with Management Students at Sri Balaji Society on 13th Jul 2019. I spoke about my journey from campus to this far, The Ups and Downs.

You can view my speech here.

Webinar Organizational Design/Redesign

I addressed senior HR professionals on Holistic Approach HR should take while organizational design,  re-design or restructuring. This webinar was hosted by corehrir group on 11th Aug 2019.

Please watch the recorded session.

Agenda for gender diversity :- My views published in Special edition of Silicon India Magazine

Creating Best Workplace for Women: Agenda for Gender Diversity

CXO Views

Please read here Silicon India Magazine

Benefits of the gender diversity is well known, however the Labour force participation rate for women is one of the lowest in the world. There are challenges.

The subject of women and gender has long been discussed as an interesting but somewhat minor issue in the business world. It has been variously seen as a diversity issue, a Human Resource issue and an ethical debate about equality and equity. The growing economic, political and social consequences of women’s changing roles have not always been very clear to the people currently in power. Yet the issue of gender in the 21st century represents a major political, economic and social discontinuity. I think of it as one of the 2 W’s that is changing the lives of countries, companies and couples all over the planet:

Web: The technological revolution, the rise of the internet and the instantaneous inter-connection of people around the globe.

Women: The massive arrival of women into the economy and the resulting shift in gender roles and power, and the growth of the sum total of human intelligence.
Getting these 2 W’s right is the key to unlocking huge opportunities and avoiding some of the biggest risks we have yet faced as a species. And getting them right will take the energy, understanding and commitment of both halves of the human population—the Man and Woman.

The question is how to do this…..

This can be done on the lobbying for the right policy on national level.
There is an urgent need of overhauling the mindset of men dominated society and norms. Traditionally, we are very much into maternity leave. There are good companies who are supporting a lot on this front. But can we think differently here?

Shift from maternity leave to paternity leave

Does child care is the responsibility of woman only?  Why not shift from maternity leave concept to paternity leave? This concept is well adapted in Europe. Child needs both mother and father and it is the responsibility of both to raise the child as a good citizen. The decision of taking the leave should be with parent and not only for the woman. Six months maternity leave can be converted with paternity leave. After the delivery of the child father and mother can share the leave. This will not only create the opportunities to women but men will also have the choice to invest their time with the child. The problem today is the whole responsibility is with the employer and the government only enforces the legislation. Government is planning to subside the leave with certain limits which is good.

In Alfa Laval, we have taken a small step towards this with introduction of paternity leave and creche facility not only for women but also the men. 

Strong policies at workplace

Organizations need to play the major role to create the friendly policies for women and if required extend this to their men workforce. Extending the policies to men also creates positive environment is families where they get the flexibility to share responsibilities with their spouses. Policies can be distributed as under:

Environment & facilitation:

• POSH: Effective execution of Prevention of Sexual Harassment Policy which is mandatory as per the law is still a big issue. Anti-Sexual Harassment Committees are prepared on the paper but not effective. Committee members are either very junior or not properly trained. Employees are not sensitised. Government made it as a part of Model Standing Orders but enforcement is very poor. We, at Alfa Laval has made it a priority and senior woman member of Management Team chairs the Committee. Further every employee joined has to undergo the sensitization programme.    
• Health, Safety and Environment: Every organization declared their HSE policy. Sometimes it is only for audit purpose. Organizations needs to come out defining the clear guidelines when it comes to safety and health issues of women. Simple measures like tracking devises and CCTVs in cars and buses will help to minimise safety issues. Another measure is regular health check ups for all employees but few special tests for women. We have introduced yearly medical check up for all employees and some necessary tests for women employees.
• Creche facilities: I have seen companies discussing a lot about this with new guidelines introduced by the government, but few organizations are finding loopholes and looking this as compliance exercise. As earlier explained we have introduced this for male employees also.        

Work Life

• Flexi work & work from home policy: It is a business decision and such policies always have business context, but with technology and modern IT tools, working from home and flexible working hours are possible even in manufacturing industries (except shop floor jobs). This really is a amazing policy where employees are willing to work more, improves productivity and have the flexibility to focus some family issues. We have already introduced this in Alfa Laval and very much appreciated by our employees.   

 Hiring & promotions

• Dedicated & focused efforts in hiring are really required. We have an open recruitment policy where any employee can apply to open position with Alfa Laval. We encouraged all including women employees to apply higher level jobs. Further it also necessary to educate managers recognizing their unconscious biases about women.
• While hiring, focus on hiring women employees is increasing. There are lot of challenges not from organizations side, but women are not opting for manufacturing and engineering careers. Hope this will change in future.       

Strong development focus at workplace

It is also important that women should feel included in the organizations. This needs conscious efforts. This can be done in three ways:

• Supporting in higher education: If women employees wish to grow in her career, she needs some motivation. Education assistance schemes can play important roles here.
• Mentor & Coach: Breaking the glass ceiling is a big challenge for women employees. Sometimes they are stuck, and they need help. Coaching & mentoring programmes and helping them to realise their inner strength helps them to think that growth is possible even in challenging situations.
• Appointing them on special projects, elevating them on larger & global projects will help them to develop their leadership skills, cultural, business acumen.

Alfa Laval is making some progress in this.       

Encouraging managers to have women employees in their team

• This can be done by introducing the policy where manager is held responsible for development his team including woman employees. After all, it is the responsibility of manager to create the positive, friendly, open and free atmosphere in the team. When team members feel free when they are heard and give opportunities without any biases. 

High Performing Culture : Cover Story in Business Manager (March 2019)

Do you think that developing and maintaining a high performance culture is practically possible and easy in organisations or it is merely a buzzword far away from reality and difficult to achieve?

VB A high-performance culture is a set of behaviours and norms that leads an organization to achieve great results by setting clear business goals, defining employees' responsibilities, creating a trusting environment, and encouraging employees to continuously grow and reinvent themselves.

It also means that high performance culture is possible if the top management is willing to do the same. But the Top management should be not being tolerant with mediocrity.

Organizations having focus more on performance get better business results and it is proven. High performance culture is possible with dedicated efforts.

After all, we need to understand that business is set up for specific purpose; the main purpose is to make the impact on something and it is not possible without profits. You need money to make the larger positive impact. It is important to understand how employees are aware about such impact; how they understand that their each action has the consequences on the future. Understanding this creates the culture of high performance.

What should be the key initiatives for creating high performance culture in your view and how do you define them?

VB It is a journey. If the organization and teams are dysfunctional and are in the trap of mediocrity, you need to do the surgery. It is about creating the example in the organization. It starts with C level executives. If top management favours somebody at the cost of performance, then it is very difficult to create the culture of high performance.

You can start this journey with

• Identifying core values and behaviours expected from everybody in the organization;
• Translating these values and behaviours in actionable points;
• Communicating these values and behaviours on a daily basis with some examples while speaking with employees;
• Incorporating values and behaviours in your performance management system;
• Role modelling by management and managers is very important to create the culture;
• Creating the system of feedback and two-way dialogue in the organization and system of handling poor performers. Strict but human approach while handling poor performance is necessary.
• Creating the eco-system and mental safety nets so that employees take risk, there is no high-performance culture without taking risk.
• Reward & recognition system.

In this complex process, what challenges and issues do you expect HR should be ready to address?

VB HR role is to be a change agent and catalyst in the process. Main challenge of HR is their understanding about the business and their ability to respond to the new a way of working. Main accountability of the change is with C-level executives, but HR role is to drive such change in the organization.

HR also needs to know about the political and bureaucratic dimensions of the organization.

Another challenge to HR is about understanding of human behaviours. Unfortunately HR professionals are not properly trained on the concept of HR business partners. In India the term HRBP is widely used but rarely understood, hence the big issue.

Does high performance mean high pressure and more stress on employees? How do you propose to handle this side effect?

VB Oh no. Not at all. High performance culture doesn't mean pressure and stress. You need to create the culture so that employees enjoy the work. There are organizations which have high performance culture with less stress. Optimum stress is necessary, but this does not mean pressure. It is the part of life. The question is how organizations support to handle this with best practices, policies and freedom to employees.

Having a high performing culture is a matter of direct influence from the top? In such absence, what strategies should HR adopt to keep employees' morale high to maintain high performing culture?
VB HR also can create the high-performance culture by 

• Hiring for the potential,
• Creating the learning culture in the organizations,
• Having strong performance and talent management practices,
• Being gatekeeper and helping manager to deal with poor performers,
• Educating line managers to be leaders and not just supervisors.
• HR also can investigate following areas
• Too many layers slow down the decision making and energy of employees?
• How much time employees spend on internal issues instead of their core jobs or customers?
• How much employees are busy with conflicts and just ticking the processes?
• Are employees empowered & managers willing to take risks on their talent?
• Are there too many initiatives and people are spending their energy handling those?

In organisations having diverse workforce and multi-generational effect where technology is fast coming in to mainstream employee processes, what kind of obstacles and psychological blocks you foresee in creating high performing culture and their possible solution?

VB People fear because they think that they will lose something. People resist change because of fear; fear of losing power, job, position and status.

I already said that creating learning organization is the key. Culture of learning and agility will support to have bigger impact and change.

People change because of Pain, Gain and Vision. And these three also can be the psychological blocks. They don't understand that what they will lose, if they don't change, what they will gain something if they change and they don't see the larger, bigger picture of the change.

Solution of psychological block is in same pain, gain & vision. Help them to realise this.

(You can also read this article at Business Manager)

Interview published in Silicon India

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

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

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

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

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

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

·       First: Culture fit

·       Second: Team Fit

·       Third: Job Fit.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are the Biggest Pain Points for HR?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Ref: Silicon India) 

Interview published in internal magazine

Tell us a little bit about yourself?

After graduation in Microbiology, I was into media sales for 1 year and then I joined for Masters in Personnel Management.  My first professional stint embarked at Indian Steel, a heavy engineering Indian company in 1997. I was hired through the campus recruitment. It was a great generalist HR experience. I moved in Semperit Group, a European MNC when they entered in India through acquiring big Indian company in rubber compounding. I started heading the plant HR function with diverse work group and my job was to integrate the organization with MNC processes and culture. I also worked with Indian auto giant, Mahindra & Mahindra & one of the largest Media Group, Sakaal Media Group, on different leadership roles.

Before joining Alfa Laval, I was with DSM India, the subsidiary of Royal DSM, Global MNC, heading the country HR function and HR transformation at Asia Pacific level. I worked in DSM almost 9. 5 years across all functions of HR; extensively worked there on Culture Agenda, HR transformation, Talent Management, salesforce effectiveness & organizational re-design. I also got the opportunity to work at Netherland and Shanghai on short- & long-term assignments.

I like reading books, writing and mentoring young students and groom them for the corporate in my leisure time. I have authored 6 books on self-help, management etc.

My wife is doctor, she has taken a break and pursuing her hobby in art and my son is in 10th grade.

In your opinion, what are the important points that any HR professional needs to take care of while dealing with diverse organisation environment?

I think, HR role over a period of time is evolving. There are lot of expectations from HR from business leaders. 

HR needs to be more proactive and HR professional has to play different roles like, strategic adviser on people issues for people managers and business leader, facilitator for talent discussions and people development, challenger & change agent. They need to be functional expert in functional domain. They have to understand the nuances of business. They are also the gatekeepers for values and code of business conducts. 

At another side, employees expect better employee experience. They need simplicity and freedom of work. They expect HR to intervene if something goes wrong in the team, function or the organization. They also expect that HR should be fair and reasonable and devise simple policies. Another expectation is of transparency and openness. They expect HR to be a role model.    

Few points HR professionals should be clear on,

• Diversity is important; ensure the diversity but also work on inclusion. We should create the culture of inclusion and make diverse people conformable in the organization.
• Simplify systems & HR processes so that Managers and Employees feel comfortable to work with such systems. As in a new way of working managers have to pay the important role in all HR processes. 
• Focus on right talent coming in the organization. Educate managers to identify the right talent as high potential, top potential. 
• Talent Acquisition, Talent Management & Talent Development is crucial. HR should know how to do it. 
• Leadership development and succession planning is another area where we need to have dedicated focus.
• HR analytics is one of the area where HR professional has to support business and managers on people demographics, prediction in attrition etc.  
• And finally challenging ourselves and asking the question “Are we Future ready?”  with right IT tools, new methods and systems, future capabilities in the world of AI, IOT and Bots.   

Along with above, we also need to have the balance between strategic & other tactical and operations HR issues so that we have harmonious employee relations and employee experience through different IT tools and HR service delivery.     

What are top 3 things from your experience you think are important in People management?

In people management, following are 3 areas which are very important.

• Regular feedback to team members not only on performance but also on their development. There should be regular feedback sessions with the team. Taking interest in the development of team members and having the right capabilities and competences is vital in the growth of the business;
• Understanding the future growth drivers and having the right skillset in the team; talent acquisition is very important and people managers should train themselves on hiring skills.
• Identify the talent in the team, be the coach for the talent and sometimes encourage him to take a larger role within or outside the function. 

What are Alfa Laval India priorities for 2019?

Delivering on the budget with expected business growth is priority for all. India is growing market, market trends are positive, but competition is also high, in such situation staying the course is very important. Keeping employees engaged, skilling and re-skilling is important. We are having some global initiatives like product and application development competency building will continue in 2019 so that our sales team approaches customers with right mindset.    

We have just launched the Peoplepro (Workdday) successfully in India. It was successful because of involvement of managers and stakeholder. There will be few other modules like PDD, Hiring and Talent Management will be go live in 2019 & 2020. Priority is to ensure that managers and employees are comfortable to use the system and resolve their issues.

Another priority is to stabilize the HR service delivery model. HR service delivery model in implemented in India in 2017, there were some hiccups initially, now the team is set up. We have also conducted the effectiveness survey and we will work on the improvement areas like response time, payroll integration etc.  

There will be structured and more focus on Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, and People development. We have already discussed the framework in aligned with global guidelines. We will talk more about talking talent and developing talent. 

What is your message to colleagues?

Alfa Laval has very open and transparent culture. The company is best workplace to work.  My appeal to colleagues is to be courageous to challenge and think differently.  Be curious to know new things in your functional area. Be open to give new ideas and suggestion on how we can improve. We all need to work in a new way. Look for challenging business opportunities and continual improvements. 

While doing this, identify development areas and new skills to learn and take care of yourselves.  

Q-4-2018