Talent – Now and the Way Forward

Talent is the binding word between the aspiring participants of an Executive MBA programme and the industry, for while the participants aspire to be perceived as talent, the industry too is keen to interact with such aspiring talent towards fulfilling their talent requirements. On such a backdrop, the participants of MDI’s Executive MBA were pleased to host Anjali Singh, VP-HR & Training, Genpact on May 15, 2013.

Anjali Singh’s career transition left the participants spellbound to an extent as here was a industry veteran before us who after successfully manning critical roles across the financial domain, was now a Global Leader in Genpact spearheading key responsibilities spanning the HR vertical.  In spite of the fact that all participants had more than 5 years of experience, the knowledge of various HR initiatives dedicated towards employees of an organization was translucent to us.

Anjali Singh started with a brief introduction of Genpact as an organization and the various functional domains Genpact works on. She mentioned that Genpact was planning on horizontal expansion of line of services and subsequent addition of clientele in coming years. In order to perform well consistently in the IT/ITeS space, she emphasized the importance of skilled workforce of the company and the initiatives incorporated within Genpact Human Resources practice to cater to the same. She explained unlike other industries, performance of IT/ITeS companies depends directly on commitment of employees towards organizational objectives, and the financial targets are achieved with the help of hard work and performance of employees. Genpact has a transparent policy of allocation of employees into different functional domains, she said, which has a twofold benefit : creation of an opportunity for an employee to work on a specific domain of interest and automatic value-addition to the company in terms of creating employees with diverse functional knowledge.

Some of the HR initiatives taken by Genpact in order to promote competition, satisfaction within employees are redemption of credit points awarded for performance, goal-setting and tracking methodology for each employee, imparting periodic training to create a knowledge capital, opportunity to pursue higher education etc. "Talent Management" might not be the most catchy word when it comes to an industry as such, but it is the sole function that encircles the entire workforce and keeps them updated through learning plans. Talent Management involves tracking of achievements, birthday, date of joining of each employee, emphasizing on work-life balance, rewards and recognitions etc. These initiatives work cumulatively towards motivation of employees and later turn out to be an important instrument for employee retention. The idea of Talent Management is to develop a congenial workplace for all employees with an amount of motivation attached to each and every piece of work. Anjali Singh said that Genpact has been following an employee-first approach in order to be customer-first.

The lecture was followed by a Q&A session where questions were asked mainly on how HR functions adapt to resource allocations due to constant technological innovations and the future of IT/ITeS industry in India. Anjali Singh was then felicitated by MDI through a vote of thanks.

It was an enriching experience for all participants, specially for those who didn't have a prior work experience in an IT/ITeS MNC, where "Talent Management" is practised extensively in all levels of hierarchy. It was a perfect start to the Guest Lecture series in MDI's Executive Program 2013-14.

The First Look & The Lasting Impression

I always had the passion to pen my experiences, but incidentally and ironically, this is the first blog I am posting

officially.

Currently I am at MDI, Gurgaon, pursuing MBA under the National Management Programme (NMP) which happens to be the oldest Executive Management Programme in India. Before joining MDI this year, I had beem working for Cognizant, at Kolkata, for the past 5.5 years. I had always had the ambition to pursue Management Education from a leading B-School, but somehow my priorities had kept me away from it for the past 5 years. But it was time I realized my dream and made it happen. Honestly, a lot of hard work was put in 2012 for CAT, more so because I had to manage a Team Lead's role & entrance preparations in parallel. When I eventually got selected and my admission was confirmed, it was a difficult transition for me. Leaving an established position in an MNC and starting off as a student all over again after almost 6 yrs was a double whammy. I decided to join MDI over IIM Shillong for quite a few reasons, firstly, for the strategic location, secondly, for having better reputation as a B-School, thirdly, for NMP being the oldest Executive Programme in India & fourthly, for the pedagogy & faculty. Some say this institution is the intellectual capital of India in Management Education.

I landed in Gurgaon on 5th April, 2013 & our course was scheduled to start from 8th April. I made it a point to get a first look at MDI on my first day here itself. The Campus was big & gorgeous, and it had an immediate effect on me, it made me happy inside.The entire campus was punctuated by buildings, blocks & playgrounds, and the most noticeable aspect was the use of Red Bricks over all the structures signifying sanctity..I call the whole thing as "The Holy Grail of Education". The feeling of being able to spend a full year in this well facilitated campus, was incredible. I considered myself lucky to have had a second chance to revisit my student life after a span of more than five years.

Hostel boarding was scheduled on 7th April and it was on that day that all of us batch-mates met each other. Each of us were engrossed in similar thoughts and emotions - how would it feel to become a student once again, after spending so many years in a corporate setup. We were asked to board rooms at Takshashila after paying the first instalment at the Nalanda building. Inauguration of NMP Course for the 26th Batch was done by Chief Guest of Honour - Shri S.P. Singh, Director-HR, NTPC, by delivering an inspiring speech on ethics and integrity. Finally,we were set to embark on a year long journey, a journey which would not only upgrade us professionally but also enhance us personally.

The foundation classes were scheduled from 8:30 AM TO 5:30 PM for the entire week of 8th-12th April at Lakshya building, and in the process we were introduced to the course outline and gamut of subjects on offer. This was the week where we were formally introduced to the faculty. The best thing is that an MDI faculty, specialized in a certain field, caters to all programs round the year i.e. 2 year courses, NMP, PPM, Part time courses, as academics is always priority at MDI.

One has the liberty of indulging in a whole bunch of sports, we also have a well maintained gym at our disposal & a host of extracurricular activities to be involved in. Life at MDI is not only about studies, it is about inculcating the habits to emerge as a complete human being.

NMP 26 Batch is unique in terms of diversity in age groups, years of work experience, former industry expertise. One can count almost all the sectors if one goes by the profiles i.e. Real Estate, Retail, Hospitality, Healthcare, Energy, Power, IT, Banking & Finance, Manufacturing, Engineering, Aviation etc. I was thrilled to meet participants with work experiences of over 15 years..just imagine the amount of latent knowledge and experience this batch has and the huge effect constructive peer-learning will have.

The aspirations have been high since I have landed at MDI, and I am sure my desire to succeed and give back to the society will gain direction and substance in this span of a year. 

Watch this space for more updates.

Aranya Deb
NMP 26 (Class of 2014)
MDI Gurgaon