The inaugural session of HR Conclave 2014 focussed on leadership for sustainable growth
The ability of corporate to develop leadership for sustainable growth will determine the sustenance and success of organisations in times to come,” said RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India ltd. He was delivering the keynote address during the inaugural session of HR Conclave 2014, organised by Pipelines Division head office recently. The theme of the conclave was ‘leadership for Sustainable Growth’.
In the day-long session, Suneel Sethi, executive director (HR), SY Siddiqui, COO, Maruti Suzuki India limited, lt Gen (Retd) Gautam Banerjee, Ester Martinez, co-founder and managing editor, People Matter, Ashok Bhat, Mindshare HR Consultancy Pvt ltd, Maria Mathai, director, MM Advisory Services, Sunita Singh Sengupta, professor, OB Area, faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University, Pramod Sardarjoshi, senior director, People and Change Advisory Services, KPMG Management Consulting and SK Bose, GM (HRD, MS & Trg) deliberated on the theme leadership for sustainable growth. JP Ojha, executive director (operations), VK Khurana, executive director (I/C-Projects), AK Tyagi, executive director (M&C) were among the dignitaries present on the occasion. Dr Pritam Singh, director general, International Management Institute, presided over the concluding session of the conclave.
Deliberating on the prevailing economic scenario in India and across the globe Bhargava said, “We are living in times of persistent global economic challenges, profound geopolitical shifts, and other significant dislocations. In such critical times, sustainability has become the finer basis of conducting business. Today, India is in need of sustainable growth. It is the corporate, both in the public and private sectors, who must contribute to sustainable growth of the country. Hence, leaders in the corporate sector must understand the Indian eco-system — the socio-political, cultural and economic factors where they conduct their business. leadership must be developed and nurtured in the Indian context for sustainable growth.”
Sethi, in his address said, “To survive in the new, fiercely competitive and hugely diverse globalised market, everyone needs to adapt to the evolving trends in industry and commerce. Business leaders need to seek broader horizons and embrace fresh strategies. They need to develop a profound understanding of the nature of the global landscape, with all its complexities and local variety. Businesses and corporate leaders must hone their skills and fast track their growth in the prevailing turbulent economic climate. The leaders need to develop their leadership pipeline and develop leaders at all levels of the organisation so that it contributes to execute their strategies and realise their vision.”
He observed that Indian Oil’s human resource management has evolved over the ages. “It has become more dynamic, innovative and system oriented with the advancements in technology. There has been a paradigm shift. Our endeavour has consistently been to focus on the emerging and contemporary roles of human resource. This role involves bringing a certain degree of balance in our emphasis that HR would be viewed as a true and credible advocate of people, and at the same time, regarded as a key value adding player in organisational performance and success,” he said. He added that within the human resource management function, we face the leadership challenge of simultaneously operating in these two domains, represented by people and business, and developing a practice in which the two are not viewed as discrete and disconnected but as aligned and interdependent.
Sethi remarked, “While theoretical advances may have reached a point of saturation, there is much to be learnt about leadership from unique practices and examples of individuals and organisations. This conclave will precisely offer this opportunity and lead to new insights on leadership. The other design feature of this conclave is to explore the role of leadership from the perspective of three broad themes — inspiration, talent development and leadership capital management. While the ability to inspire and mobilise people is a critical leadership competence; developing and leveraging talent for competitive advantage is a key leadership deliverable.”
He further remarked, “Talent is not merely a fashionable management jargon but a potent resource for achieving competitive advantage. We need leaders who can articulate a new talent management philosophy and guide organisations in building institutional frameworks that will enable them to mobilise and deploy talent for long term success and growth of organisations.”
Addressing on the occasion Dr Pritam Singh said that leadership is not a technique; it is a philosophy of life. If one fails to understand life, he or she can not exercise leadership. He remarked, “A leader needs to demonstrate qualities that inspire his people to believe in people aspects that create the cultural fabric of the organisation. Too often, in the absence of an influential and inspiring leader, the organisation loses track of the larger picture of the values, objectives, and goals of the business and operates with short-term horizons in mind.”
He observed that in today’s work environments a leader is required to be accommodating, inspiring and motivating while leading from the front. “Organisational leaders must understand their people well and their expertise, potentials and capabilities to bring in sustainable growth,” he said.