Learning from the Best : My experience from the HR Summit IIM Raipur
IIM Raipur organized its 1st HR Summit on 19th and 20th of September, 2014 which proved to be a huge success as industry professionals and academicians from all over India shared their experiences and insights on the various topics related to the central theme of “Aligning HR with Business Strategy”. The two day event saw participation of over 50 HR Directors, Presidents and Vice Presidents from the industry voicing their opinions during the six panel discussions. For students like me who are looking for a career in HR, the Summit gave an opportunity to get an industry perspective. The Chief Guest, Mr. Narendra Kothari, CMD, NMDC, in his inaugural address stated that better HR policies are the best way of motivating employees and there is a need for performance differentiation during appraisal. In his words, “While hiring a new employee one must try to align the job requirements with the personal requirements.” Mr. Ramkumar, Executive Director, ICICI bank, built his speech around leadership. He ascertained that techniques can be learned but passion cannot be and as business professionals we should stop identifying ourselves with our specializations. His opinion that we should refer ourselves as leaders and not as HR or marketing professionals was intriguing and made me realize how we limit ourselves as we inch a step closer to the doors of the corporate world. On the first panel discussion, titled ‘Managing Intangibles – Connecting with Internal Customers’, the panel members talked about the best HR practices across the industry and how they manage, motivate and reward their employees. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the third panel, which was on ‘HR as a strategic business partner’. As an HR enthusiast I do feel that HR should move from the administrative role and be a part of the decision making process of any organization. The discussion revolved around the changing roles of HR. Key speakers in this panel shared their opinions about the practices that could be implemented to achieve this. The second day of the summit was as enriching as the first day and started with the discussion on how organizations can develop a high performing culture. At this time I remembered the article, ‘Characteristics of High Performance Organizations’ by André de Waal which talks about various dimensions an organization should assess itself on to be high performing. The discussion revolved around the same dimensions and the members of the panel shared their firm’s culture and expressed views on the dimensions which their organization focused on to become high performing. The last panel discussion on ‘Leadership in volatile times’ was very interactive and the panelists stressed that all times are volatile times and a leader should be prepared to face any challenge that comes along their way. All in all, the 2014 HR summit organized by IIM Raipur was an exciting experience and as a student I found it to be a very enriching journey. This article is written by Prasha Mishra, of PGP 2013-15. She can be contacted at pgp13101.prasha@iimraipur.ac.in
