S02 E07: Personalization - The Modern Manager’s Go-to Tool to Boost Employee Engagement
In this episode of CultureClub, we interact with Varun Vijaykumar - Head of HR at Upstox who talks in detail about personalization as the go-to tool that modern managers have in engaging employees.About VarunVarun Vijayakumar brings with him 13+ years of experience in human resource management. Over the years, he has managed a variety of functions within HR and Talent Management, including but not limited to HR business partnering, total rewards, talent acquisition, talent engagement, payroll, and HR operations.Prior to Upstox, Varun also worked with brands like Directi, Microsoft, Zinnov Management Consulting, and Hireworks Consulting. He is an alumnus of XLRI - Jamshedpur and IBMR Bangalore.In this videocast, Varun highlights how engagement has transformed over the years. In the past, engagement was mainly about celebrating birthdays, organizing ethnic day contests, etc. but today it is much more customized and personal; it is possible to build one-to-one connections with employees using technology.Here’s a gist of what Varun speaks about in this video:Why the role of a manager is not limited to administration but is also about mentoring and caring for employees How employee engagement is not an HR or manager’s problem alone but a business problem that needs to be solved How compassion shown towards employees can impact their commitment to work Why employee engagement will constantly keep evolving and how personalization will be the future of engagementListen to the entire episode right here and don’t forget to leave your views in the comments below.And if you’re an employee engagement enthusiast, do check out our community for HR professionals, the CultureClub.View the videocast here.CultureClub is a community initiative by CultureMonkey, for more information on CultureMonkey, visit www.culturemonkey.io
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S02 E06: Day-to-day Role of Managers in Engaging Employees
Yet another new episode of CultureClub is here! And this time, we have with us Sunitha Lal, CHRO - Ather Energy who discusses the day-to-day roles and responsibilities of managers in engaging employees.Sunitha emphasizes how important it is for managers to invest heavily in the growth and wellbeing of their teams, to not only engage or retain the employees but also build an A-team that can enable the organization to meet its goals.Sunitha draws an interesting parallel between a kanjeevaram saree and an organization’s culture. She points out that the culture of any organization has to be carefully woven just like a kanjeevaram saree - with a keen eye for the intricate details, and a focused and slow approach to create a sustainable culture.About Sunitha LalSunitha is a seasoned Human Resource professional and an expert in organizational culture whose work focuses on the unconscious processes in individuals, teams, and systems.Prior to Ather Energy where she has been working for over 4 years now, Sunitha held instrumental roles at Matrimony.com, Mphasis, AIG Systems, Talentpro India, and others.She is also a published author and speaker. Her book ‘Dotting the Blemish and Other Short Stories is a collection of short stories on inherent prejudices surrounding women in society.Here’s a gist of what Sunitha speaks about in this podcast:The secret recipe for ensuring top-notch business delivery by teams: Managers who disproportionately focus on personal development of each team member Employee engagement by managers seen through a day-to-day lens: From listening to employees to capacity building, managers build employee engagement in small yet significant ways Can managers rethink their hiring practices - hire people who are more talented and capable than oneself to grow the overall capability of the team.Catch all this and more with Sunitha Lal in Episode 6 of Season 2 of CultureClub and don’t forget to share your views in the comments below.CultureClub is open to all employee engagement enthusiasts. Click here to join.View the videocast here.CultureClub is a community initiative by CultureMonkey, for more information on CultureMonkey, visit www.culturemonkey.io
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S02 E05: Autonomy for Managers - A Must in Driving Employee Engagement
In this episode of CultureClub, we are joined by Anil Monteiro – CHRO at Tecnotree Corporation, a telecom software company from Finland.Tecnotree is listed as one of the top 80 companies for Diversity & Inclusivity by Financial Times in a study covering 15000 European companies and is also recognized as a Great Place to Work.In this session, Anil discusses the criticality of autonomy for managers in driving effective employee engagement.With more than two decades of experience in Strategic Human Resource Management, Anil has been instrumental in developing global HR strategies, leading organizational development and change management, innovating HR processes related to compensation management, performance management, learning & development, competency planning, employee engagement and more.Prior to Tecnotree, he worked with Dell Services, Mahindra Engineering, CG Maersk, and Satyam Computers.Anil is also a Gallup Strengths Coach and has worked across continents including Europe, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa.In our conversation with Anil, he drew a rather humorous yet on-point parallel between burgers and organizations to signify the importance of managers in a workplace. He said - "Managers are the patty in a burger which organizations cannot do without. While the roles and responsibilities of managers evolve with time, they are crucial to not only drive business delivery but also engage employees."In this podcast, you’ll hear Anil share insights on:- How Tecnotree built its culture bottom-up by actively engaging employees in the process of defining their culture- How empowering managers can make them the game changers of employee engagement at organizations- Why the role of a manager should be a balance between business delivery and people management- How important autonomy in decision making is for managers to effectively engage their teams- How the role of a manager is evolving with the changing workplace - digitization and new generation workforceListen to this episode to hear a CHRO’s perspective on all things people managers.Do share your thoughts and feedback on the session in the comments below.Listen to the entire conversation to know more about this insightful session.View the videocast here.CultureClub is a community initiative by CultureMonkey, for more information on CultureMonkey, visit www.culturemonkey.io
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S02 E04: Manager-driven Employee Engagement in New-age Organizations
In this brand-new episode of CultureClub, we chat with Soniya Goel, Lead – Learning & Development (L&D) and Organizational Development (OD) at Emami Agrotech Limited. Soniya brings with her over a decade of experience in the HR space and in this discussion touches upon the various ways in which managers contribute to engagement and discusses means to bridge the manager-driven engagement gap in new-age organizational formats.Prior to Emami, Soniya worked with Maple Consulting Services and Aditya Birla Group. She has, in the span of her career, been actively involved in talent management, recruitment, learning & development, and more.In our 30-minute interaction with her, Soniya shed light on how everything in HR is subject to suitability to an organization. There is never a one-size-fits-all. And she emphasizes this by saying that even though organizations without managers is a reality across various sectors, this doesn’t mean that this is the new-age organizational format that every company needs to follow. She goes on to suggest that every organization, regardless of the trend, should be able to choose an organizational structure that works best for them.Furthermore, she talks about the difference in physical and digital workspaces while pointing out the pros and cons in both setups. For instance, while water-cooler conversations may have gone redundant, the stringent personal and professional boundaries are blurring in the digital setup, which can be seen as a good thing. In the same context, she added that empathy from managers has become one of the top expected qualities in the COVID era, and rightly so. However, how much of these changes are here to stay and be the new normal, only time will tell.To listen to the entire conversation with Soniya and the valuable insights she has to share, tune in to the episode right here. And for those of you who worry that they don’t have the time right away, just plug in and listen up whenever you are taking a much-deserved break from work!Listen to the entire conversation to know more about this insightful session.View the videocast here.CultureClub is a community initiative by CultureMonkey, for more information on CultureMonkey, visit www.culturemonkey.io
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S02 E03: Redefining Manager Roles for Impactful Employee Engagement
In this episode of the second season of CultureClub, we were fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to chat with Sunil Naik, Director of Human Resources - India & South Asia for DHL Global Forwarding. Sunil who started his career on the business side says he stumbled upon Human Resources 15 years ago, and there has been no turning back ever since.In this fun-filled, insightful chat, Sunil candidly talks about how the role of managers as we once knew it has transformed into a newer avatar that goes with the current needs of the workplace and the workforce.Along with being a people leader, Sunil is also a coach and foodie. He completely believes in the magic that lies within each of us and works with individuals to help them discover “ridiculously good” versions of themselves.In his overall career spanning across Sales and HR, he has been instrumental in building strong teams, setting up successful channel partners, developing people policies and HR practices, and making the organizations he has worked with great places to work for. Above all, Sunil cherishes the great stories of people, achievements, and initiatives that he has managed to collate along his journey.In this interaction, Sunil speaks about the changing organizational structures, be it because of remote work or project-specific teams that are being formed, and how this change impacts the roles of managers. From a control-and-manage standpoint, managers are now expected to coach and mentor teams. He also goes on to add that the role of managers has clearly evolved beyond designations and tenure, and managers are no less than leaders now.Further on, he talks about how a shift in perspective can change the way engagement is managed within an organization. He proposes that leaders see engagement as necessary for driving business results than as a mere KPI of the HR team. And for this to happen, he believes it is important for everyone from the top management to frontline managers to be in alignment, feedback taking to be a part of the organizational culture, and actions on the feedback to be communicated to employees.Furthermore, he also shares his point of view on technology’s role in people management and how a changing workforce is impacting engagement.So, if HR conversations around employee engagement, the evolving workforce, and the manager’s role in engagement are something that interests you, here’s a chat hosted by Ketan (Head of People Function, Rentomojo) and moderated by Senthil (Founder & CEO, CultureMonkey) that you will thoroughly enjoy. And who knows, you might just stumble upon some ideas to enhance engagement within your organization.Listen to the entire conversation to know more about this insightful session.View the videocast here.CultureClub is a community initiative by CultureMonkey, for more information on CultureMonkey, visit www.culturemonkey.io
Company Culture is already very complex, messy, vague, and extremely difficult to define. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a niche community to discuss, debate, disagree, define, and disentangle all open ends around culture? Isn’t there joy in co-solving?
We intend to solve the problem around company culture with CultureClub, a community initiative by CultureMonkey, where a group of highly aware employee engagement evangelists come together to innovate, collaborate, discuss, resolve, and foster the theories of company culture.
Our host Ketan Krishna, is dedicated to understanding the nooks and corners of aspects driving a successful company culture in an organization by interviewing the industry leaders in the HR fraternity to provide valuable insights to our listeners.
For more info on CultureClub, or to be part of our club, visit,
www.culturemonkey.io/cultureclub/
CultureClub is a community initiative by CultureMonkey, for more information on CultureMonkey, visit,
www.culturemonkey.io
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