"Working With People Is Energy Booster"

"I do not see my job as “work” – I spend enormous amounts of time doing what I like to do best – that is people management," It is with this spirit that Raju Mistry is leading the HR function at Cipla. Rightly placed to manage people in the organisation, she says, "I thrive at every opportunity to make a difference, contribute in any meaningful way to our employees. I seldom take things as a given and seek every opportunity to move to the next level or continuously improve.

I believe that our role is not that of an enabler or support function – but a partner. Therefore I make it a point to understand the business issues and challenges and create the HR agenda that is aligned to drive business and employee engagement. I see the HR role as a custodian and

champion of both business as well as employee interest and maintaining that balance is very crucial."

Energy At Workplace

When Mistry says, "I also draw a lot of energy in working with my team – it is like creating magic with them every day, learning, sharing, debating, ideating – it helps all of us to grow and keep us rejuvenated. Being a people’s person, working with people gives me my energy booster, " such energy would also rub off on other team members and translate into high motivation level.

Such a high-on-motivation person herself, Mistry feels happy to be part of Cipla which continues to offer an amazing opportunity to make a difference to its 25,000+ employees, and to the society. "Cipla perhaps is one of the very few organisations that spelled out its purpose 'Caring for Life' more than 85 years ago and continues to hold that in a very strong and significant way," she says, adding "I am reminded of Viktor Frankl’s book Man's Search For Meaning (1946) where people who survived the holocaust were those that found greater meaning and purpose in their lives."

Solution At Source

Mistry has deep -- and philosophical -- insight into problem-solving in organisations, an approach that can lend itself to any situation, at individual or societal level. Her advice: "Listening and active listening is one of the main technique that can be deployed to solve not only employee’s problems but any problems. One of the areas that organisations need to improve upon is the will and skill to listen effectively. Organisations have to become not only learning organisations but listening organisations. On a very conservative note I believe that nearly than 70- 80 per cent of problems can be resolved if people are heard and listened to. Many solutions originate at the source of the problem itself. Fostering authenticity and trust also serves to minimise problems."

Most importantly, it is also how we perceive and view the 'problem', she believes. Just change the lens and look at every problem as an opportunity to make a difference, to solve something, to create something. Finally, there is no one best approach to solving problems – every situation is unique and different. Going into details to understand the situation will provide high probability of successful resolution, she emphasises.

Concerted Care

Speaking about the organisation functioning as one synchronised unit, she cites the example of Covid management, saying, "Organisations are run by teams and people accomplish the impossible when they come together. We did it together as a family that understood the magnitude of the crisis, we reminded ourselves of the purpose that we all stand for “Caring for Life” – and the rest was easy. Our Covid Task Force centrally comprised of nearly 20-25 members representing different functions and the geography based Covid Task force comprising of the different functional members were in constant communication – sharing practices that worked in real time.

One amazing thing was the amount of coordination, collaboration and sharing that we all witnessed, real time communication, openness to share resources, know-how and anything that was required to combat this situation. The one thing that stood out during this period is the safety and care that was experienced by all our employees who had to

show up for work across our sites, labs, depots and field. The HR and Admin teams did an outstanding job of providing and ensuring that everything pertaining to employee (and their family) safety and health was taken care of.

About the problems of next normal, she counters, "Actually I don’t see these as problems – but opportunities. While the pandemic played havoc across the world, the silver lining that it offered was the enormous amount and pace of change. The wonders of the virtual working would probably never be experienced in 'normal' times. The pandemic forced most of us to reimagine the ways we work – so many business processes got reconfigured – these have generated both efficiency and great employee/ customer experience."

(The article appeared in June issue of BW People publication)