CHRO’s in India
Still recovering from the flight and jet lag, but overall had a ton of new experiences and learned so much during my week in India. For instance, when you first meet someone in India they may greet you with pressed hands and say “Namaste.” It’s like the Indian version of “Aloha.” You’ll also be in store for a surprise by the way they drive in India, very much like in Mexico City. It’s intense, but unlike here in the U.S., never once did I see an accident or traffic come to a complete stop. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, mopeds and pedestrians all move in an orchestrated manner just missing each other by inches and think nothing of it. The people of India are very welcoming and are extremely proud of their country. I found out that there are 29 states in India and while English is the predominantly spoken language, there are over 129 different dialects of Indian spoken within the country.
The purpose of my trip was to keynote and moderate three CHRO Panel Discussions in New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai (Bombay). There is a ton of interest in developing and implementing advanced Human Resource processes via “High Tech” & “High Touch.” Apart from being on the opposite side of the world from the U.S., what the CHRO’s desire for their organizations and employees is not much different than their U.S. counterparts. I’ll do my best to summarize, feel free to stop just below, or continue to see my travels through India with greater detail.
CHRO’s for India – Themes & Trends Discussed:
Skilled talent is Hard to find. Middle Management is as problematic in supporting Development in India as the U.S. Business Context for HR is essential! HR must Understand the business. Employee Tech Expectations are High – Consumer Grade. Younger employees have a need for instant gratification on the job. Interpersonal Skills need development. Change Management needs to be incorporated to improve success of programs. Empathy must be part of the “High Touch” in “High Tech.” Technology enables “Velocity” in the business. The Executive Mindset can be a Challenge to HR progress. There isn’t enough Critical Thinking being done to solve business and HR challenges.
New Delhi
My first stop on the three-city tour of India was New Delhi, the Capital City. Unfortunately, my timing could not have been worse for the visit. They are experiencing terrible air quality due to several factors. Geography, or shall I say “topography’ works against New Delhi as the city sits in a bowl which doesn’t allow for cross wind / air movement. Just to the North farmers are clearing their land from the recent harvest and preparing it for the next rice crop. In doing so, they set fire to the fields which contributes heavily to the smog.
We kicked off the first of three sessions here with great cross representation of industries as well as local and international organizations. The guest speaker for our session was from the Indian Oil Corporation. The theme of his presentation regarding High Tech & High Touch was the preverbal “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink;” a metaphor for our employees that refuse to leverage many of the assets companies have made investments.
His presentation shared their methodology and approach to engage employees with their development. One challenge noted in this process of leading employees to “the water” was Middle Management getting in the way. As I’ve seen here in the U.S., the same occurs in India. While Executives and Employees agree that development is important, Middle Management often becomes a barrier due to their accountability to KPI’s from Executive Leadership. Development is seen as a “nice-to-have” after the work is done.
A few themes from this roundtable centered on HR aligning with the business and understanding context for their decisions. When it came to the learner, CHRO’s noted the “instant gratification” aspect many employees exhibit. Short attention spans and a desire for consumer grade technology were also mentioned. All agreed that on the flip side of tech needs, many saw interpersonal skills lacking with newer employees and a need to develop those softer skills.
Bangalore/Bengaluru
At the conclusion of our New Delhi session, it was off to Bangalore/Bengaluru, about 3 hours flying time due South. The city is known as “The Green City” as well as being India’s equivalent of Silicone Valley in the U.S. Many of the leading tech companies have offices in Bangalore. Interestingly, the weather varies greatly between the cities. After 3 days sequestered inside in New Delhi, I spent as much time as I could outside in the blue skies and cool breezes. I tried to hold the session outside, but was voted down. The event was held at the very beautiful Leela Palace hotel. Our attendees were eager to jump in and discuss the latest in HR Tech.
The guest speaker was from Wipro Limited, an IT Services company based in Bangalore. He discussed how technology enables “velocity” in their ability to respond quickly to the changes in the market. Focusing on their employee needs as well as the business, they have invested in a huge initiative to align their HR systems to provide best-in-class service to their employees, and data to the business. Empathy was a big topic for the CHRO’s when it came to ensuring the “High Touch” aspect versus “High Tech.” We discussed how initiatives such as Mass Personalization through Technology might be one way to achieve both.
There was significant discussion from the group regarding Learning and Learning Styles. While many discussions tend to steer toward online training as High Tech, not everyone learns or processes information the same way. The CHRO’s in the room discussed the importance of delivering a mix of content appropriate to different learning styles and mediums. A balanced mix of titles, mediums aligned with proper licensing will help ensure full utilization of the content.
The group touched on similar themes from the New Delhi session, particularly around the alignment between business and HR. It would seem this is increasingly more important to the success of both the business and HR to be on the same page. Toward the end of the session one the attendees, brought up a point that had been missing throughout both events to date; Change Management! I was thrilled to hear this mentioned. As organizations look to balance “High Tech” and “High Touch” it is essential to ensure that proper Change Management principles are applied for the greatest success.
During one conversation with a CHRO, we discussed the challenge of developing Critical Thinkers. Too often he sees younger employees somewhat myopic in their work. Lacking an ability to see disparate points that connect to solve a problem. It was very much a Gen X moment as we discussed how often in our lives we’ve been challenged to learn new technology, constantly adapt and grow. These experiences contribute to our own critical thinking skills. Now the question is, how best to teach that skill?
On the return trip to the airport I did manage to see my first cows in the roadway. Cows are considered a sacred animal in India and as such can go and do whatever they want. The one moment of drama during the trip occurred at the airport when I was informed my ticket to Mumbai had been cancelled. Luckily there was still a seat available on the plane. Ironically, that change resulted in me sitting next to another American on the flight who happened to have lived in my neighborhood at one time. It truly is a small world after all! (couldn’t resist).
Mumbai – Formerly Bombay
A short 2 hours Northwest of Bangalore/Bengaluru is the city of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, which is a coastal city on the Arabian Sea. The climate reminded me of home as being coastal there was significant humidity in the air. In our third and final event we again found a very energized group of CHRO’s. While aligned with many of the theme’s from our previous two sessions, this group honed in on the point that Leadership/Executive’s Mindset regarding advanced HR initiatives has been the challenge to greater success. We did not have a guest speaker for the event, however it provided more time for Questions during my Keynote into the moderated discussion.
Being the last of the three days, we were feeling really good about our conversations and themes that have developed. The audience in Mumbai was as diverse and impressive as our first two meetings. The similar themes from the previous two sessions came up again. More alignment with the business, while working to align the business to what HR can provide. Overall the session was a great capstone to our three-city series.
Overall I found India to be a culturally rich country with extremely friendly people. Every city, hotel and event was an opportunity to meet some amazing people. It’s not a place that’s easy to get to from Texas; at least two flights and approximately 24 hours of flight time. They’re 11.5 hours ahead, so it’s a real wallop when it comes to jet lag both ways. But what I found, and continue to find in my travels around the world this year is that the macro trends in Talent Development are universal. We’re at an interesting time where technology is finally capable and scalable to meet the business needs that have been desired for the past decade. I truly feel that we’re on the verge of some amazing things as we get closer to 2020. Who knows where my travels will find me next. Till the next time, Namaste!