“CHRO's People-First Approach Adds Value To Board”: S.Y. Siddiqui

 According to Deloitte Global's ‘Women in the Boardroom’ report, women leaders account for only 17.1 per cent of board seats in India. Executive Advisor and Board Member and Former COO of Maruti Suzuki India, S.Y. Siddiqui believes that the major reason for this setback is the social structure of the country.

“In our society, women are not trained for handling certain life situations and career milestones together. Taking a personal break from work puts them behind in their careers. The only way to catch up is to compete even on a sabbatical and keep in touch with the industry throughout.”

Creating a healthy work environment for women is essential for growth. The organisations should come forward in taking initiatives such as setting up an area dedicated to children to avoid causing mental fatigue and guilt in the minds of working mothers.

Sharing insights on leadership succession for women, Siddiqui said, “Starting at the junior management level and moving upwards in the hierarchy to head management levels is a slow and steady process. Companies should focus on providing equal opportunities to female talent. Learning the basics is essential to create a strategic mindset and to become more functionally exposed in order to become a great leader.”

Today, the workforce should have the capabilities of reskilling and upskilling to survive in the dynamic business environment. The capability-building process should be aligned with the new world order to gain global exposure to the industry.

“To build dynamic capabilities among employees, organisations need a futuristic vision. It is important to learn about developments happening across the world and further challenge the thought processes which should not be local. One such marquee concept is 'listening leadership' to embed values of compassion, sensitivity, patience and perseverance among the young talent, which helps them adapt to the fast-changing landscape”, highlighted Siddiqui.

Incorporating employee’s voices in the governance structure such as redressal issues and decision-making has become an integral part of organisations. Earlier, human resource was limited to issues concerned with equity, but today it goes beyond what is prescribed.

Highlighting the importance of employee engagement, Siddiqui said, “Addressing the concerns of the existing employees should be the top management’s priority. The analysis of the situation coming from different business verticals should be further raised at board meetings. At the board level, employee perspective should be discussed in detail to create value for the workforce to keep them satisfied.”

The C-suite leaders need to bring in a flexible mindset and a holistic approach as board members. The c-suite leaders joining as board members should ensure continuous learning and expanding their business knowledge while selectively deleting inputs from the past.

“The chief human resource officer (CHRO) as a board member brings people related perspective and can look beyond domain-specific issues. The CHROs are able to look at a situation from a bird’s eye view as compared to other c-suite leaders who can drive processes related to their specialisation.”

Post covid, India is seeing a wave of digital disruption calling for immense adaptability, skilling and transformation. Thus, the CHROs play a significant role as board members to identify the gaps within the organisation, eventually creating a wholesome and futuristic structure.