Courage and HR an Experience Sharing

The “Meet the Mentor” session organized by NHRD, Hyderabad had H N Shrinivas (HNS) Sr Vice President Taj Group of Hotels talking about “Courage and HR”. The talk centering around how the Tata Group dealt with the November 26th tragedy was not only enlightening but extremely inspirational. Hosted by Mahindra Satyam, it was paradoxical that here were two companies struck by severe tragedies on November 26th 2008 and Jan 7th 2009. Both faced severe tragedies, but both were in opposite situations altogether.

The DNA of one was of a very high human value system where it was extremely important that a tragedy was addressed with the highest level of dignity, sensitivity and kindness safeguarding and retaining a century old prestige, while that of the other was one of very survival of an Organization which was fraudulently inflated to be categorized as one of the top software service providers in India, within a span of 20 years.

One was rich in Tradition, Values, Culture, Reserves and Assets. The other was struck by a Financial Fraud and was almost zero in reserves and bank balance. Strong Leadership in one was willing and was in a position not only to take care of the survivors, but also place all the unemployed in alternate avenues of employment in the group. While in the other, interim Government Leadership which was replaced by the Management team of the new buyer could only look at managing and reducing costs . It was a choice between saving an organization and returning to the real “Satyam = Truth” vs. closing the shutter and leaving the rest to a historical irreparable “Virtual Falsehood”.

Lessons learnt from both these episodes clearly go to prove that only those Organizations that are built on solid foundation, values, culture, practices, ethical code of conduct with long term strategies and perspectives can meet and survive challenging situations and trying times. A powerful statement was made by HNS – “Not a single employee left the group because of the scare and tragedy caused by the terrorist attack”. Whereas in the other organization, quite a few leaders and team members have not only left even while the ship was sinking but were seemingly encouraged to leave to make way for the new captains and crew. In one organization/industry people are valued for the services and assets they create, while in the other organization/industry people are valued for the hourly dollar they bill. In one the Chairman responds to an over ambitious compensation proposal with a response “can we do something more”. While in the other, circumstances and financial position force the management to state the opposite.

An important learning was the way Clinical psychologists and Counselors were utilized to work with the employees, relatives of the deceased employees and also with the guests in the trauma centers as they were being moved out of the Hotel. These counselors were physically present and attached to work with employees in focused and small groups. Post Jan 7th we did something similar and set up a virtual help desk and hotline where callers would be talked to and referred to internal trained coaches and external professional counselors. We also organized series of Webcasts on "Engaging Associates" through our "Planet Satyam" facility. Surprisingly there were very few takers for this service and the lesson learnt could be the inhibition for Indians to approach a counselor or a coach on their own. Maybe it would have helped if we brought the counselors and coaches into our office premises and allowed them to interact with associates in small groups.

Answering a question HNS was incisive to mention that a HR professional must be a good listener and through silence, feeling, observation and study of body language she needs to understand the people, groups and situations. Actions are more important than speech and intentions need to be demonstrated to build trust and everlasting relationships. For leaders who face and go through such tragedies and the subsequent human drama as it unfolds, a realization that strikes is one of surprise and remorse that we attach so much importance to peripheral office politics and bickering without realizing the true value of selfless dedication and contentment.