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LIMITED AVAILABLE TALENT POOL

While the demand is high, the supply of talent is limited. According to Ramani, since the digital space itself is new, there is a need for experts who can adapt and learn about the new developments in the space and at the same time are thorough with the existing platforms. “Hence the available pool of

people to select from is also small as compared to other professions,” he explains.

Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMoron states simi-lar concerns over limited talent pool and also the higher propensity for individuals to switch agen-cies. “Keeping a healthy work environment plays an important role in the retention of valuable re-sources. A strong team builds a strong agency and hence it is important to build, train and retain the right team,” he adds.

OPPORTUNITIES GALORE IN 2014

Employers across sectors and recruitment consul-tants have predicted 2014 to be the year of oppor-tunities for social media specialists. “We predict

that 2014 will witness a whole new social media analyst profile, whose core function will be to un-derstand the social media data at hand, interpret it using latest analytic tools and techniques and bring the insights thus derived to the decision makers in creative ways,” states Vohra.

Ramani suggested that aspiring social media candi-dates should focus on brushing up their creative and strategising skills to suit the job profile. “Skilled and experienced candidates can earn upto Rs 25,000 per month,” he adds.

RISE IN DEMAND FOR SOCIAL MEDIA EX-PERTS IN FMCG, BFSI, PHARMA COMPANIES

With the advent of new technologies, Internet, and Big Data, young professionals now have a lot more interesting career options than ever before. One such interesting profile is for a social media analyst. According to Gaurav Vohra, CEO, Jigsaw Academy, “We see many companies hiring social media ana-lysts today. They believe their image on social plat-forms is critical to getting that competitive edge in the marketplace.”

GROWING FOCUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

With the rising cost on social media marketing through Facebook or Twitter, there is also a rise in the demand for social media experts. Madhur Ra-mani, co-founder and managing partner, Stratum Consulting, states, “Since companies are spending major share of their revenue on digital marketing and advertising, they require experts who under-stand and know the digital space thoroughly. The total spend on marketing on social media by organi-sations and brands is upwards 500 crores.”

He pointed out that social media services are uti-lised maximum by B2C companies since they need to regularly engage with their consumers and tar-get audience, believe experts. “FMCG brands, BFSI, pharmaceuticals, automobile companies and of course digital media agencies are the top employers of social media experts,” he specified.

January 28, 2014

ECONOMIC TIMESLink: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-01-28/news/46735067_1_media-tal-ent-pool-foxymoron

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BIZ RUNS IN THEIR BLOODDecember 21, 2013

TIMES OF INDIA

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TIMES OF INDIALink: http://content.timesjobs.com/best-ways-to-assess-soft skills/?fromsite=toi&utm_source=toi&utm_medium=referral&utm_cam-paign=toi-tj-whitelabel

BEST WAYS TO ASSESS SOFT SKILLSSeptember 20, 2013 While it is duly recognised that it is indeed complex to measure soft skills of an employee to assess per-formance, organisations are finding ways to meet this challenge. Here are two industry experts who share their experience

DEEPIKA PILLAI, HUMAN RESOURCE DIRECTOR, XAVIENT INDIABenchmarking: Defining skills benchmark for each position is imperative for an organisation. This in-cludes the hard skills and the soft skills to adeptly determine the right fit and identify the skill gap. As a result, this sets the expectations right and employ-ees have a clear understanding of essential compe-tencies for their role. For instance, for a leadership role, certain soft skills such as leadership, communi-cation, collaboration, team handling skills may have higher significance.

HR analytics tools: There are various talent manage-ment and employee assessment tools which help in an on-going skill evaluation process. There are built-in metrics which can gather data, identify changes and trends in workforce. These tools provide data to measure and track competency development in the organisation and have an impact on learning development, and improve execution by measuring organisational alignment. Such tools provide a com-parative data of the skill levels of the current work-force in comparison with the industry.

MADHUR RAMANI, MANAGING PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, STRATUM CONSULTINGAccountability and Responsibility: One needs to be a team player when working in an organization. The performance of the employee is also evaluated by the amount of responsibility he/she takes for his own work as well accountability of the work done by his or her team members. One needs to take onus for the performance of his team keeping in mind cli-ent satisfaction as well.

Attitude and Cooperation: Soft skills include the atti-tude of the employee towards his peers and his work environment. One should be flexible and prepared to perform or work on tasks outside his/her stan-dard job profile and keep an open mind to learning.

He/she should have a positive approach towards the work and overall functioning of the company.

360 DEGREE: THE COMMON FACTORAccording to Ramani, 360 degree feedback is an in-tegral part of any performance review. Pillai agrees, “Soft skills are pre-defined and real time assessment is done for employees to ascertain whether and to what extend employees possess these skills and at-tributes which are crucial for their work. The 360 de-gree model promotes a fair assessment.” She added that this also creates awareness that such skills are equally important and directly has an impact on the performance appraisal process

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TIMES OF INDIA - TIMES ASCENTLink: http://cms.itsmyascent.com/web/itsmyascent/hr-zone/-/asset_publisher/zM4i/content/intrapre-neurs-with-an-edge

INTRAPRENEURS, WITH AN EDGESeptember 18, 2013

While it is duly recognised that it is indeed complex to measure soft skills of an employee to assess per-formance, organisations are finding ways to meet this challenge. Here are two industry experts who share their experience




Attitude and Cooperation: Soft skills include the atti-tude of the employee towards his peers and his work environment. One should be flexible and prepared to perform or work on tasks outside his/her stan-dard job profile and keep an open mind to learning. He/she should have a positive approach towards

the work and overall functioning of the company.


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PUT THE SUCCESS IN SUCCESSIONJUNE, 2014

ASIAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW MAGAZINE

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IN ALL FAIRNESS

Diversity and inclusivity at workplace are the buzz words of the corporate world. Prachi Rege speaks to HR heads of companies about practicing and sus-taining these new mantras“Creating and managing a diverse workforce is a process, not a destination.”–R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.

Over the years, there has been a paradigm shift in the demographics of the workforce within emerging markets across all levels – local, regional and glob-al. Workplace diversity and inclusivity is now inte-gral for any business to thrive. A diverse workforce consists of people from all economic backgrounds and gender with a variety of innovative and creative skill sets. “Fostering an en-vironment of inclusiveness gives an organisation an upper hand in a competi-tive market as it helps in-crease positive interper-sonal relations amongst the employees which can lead to higher output of ideas, and a sense of mutual respect amongst hier-archy levels,” says Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMo-ron, a digital agency. As an employer, it is essential to leverage the talent that diverse employees bring to the table to help your organisation’s bottom line.

However, experts believe that though Indian work-places are open to diversity and inclusivity across cast, culture, region and race, inequality towards the fairer sex is still a practice. “Not all companies respect gender diversity. A lot needs to be done to nudge women positively in the direction of educa-tion, growth and learning,” says Manjit Lakhmana, Head HR, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company. Madhur Ramani, co-found-er and managing partner, Stratum Consulting – A business HR advisory firm, sites the example of In-dian Air Force which in a way is one of the nation’s biggest corporates.Referring to a recent comment—”Women are not physically suited for flying fighter planes”, made by the Indian Air Force Chief Marshal, Arup Raha, Ra-mani says,”While on one hand women have excelled in all walks of life and are at the helm of top leader-ship positions, the air force industry deem them to

April 23,2014

be physically unfit to fly fighter planes. This shows that not all sectors in our country have a unified in-clusion policy; especially towards women.”

Telecommunication giant Vodafone India Ltd (VIL), represents the positive side of gender diversity in action in India Inc. They hired 50 per cent wom-en trainees from educational institutes across the country under their Discover Campus Programme. It is an aspirational ‘management trainee’ programme that provides fast-track career growth, exciting and challenging opportunities and a platform to connect with fellow alumni. “32 per cent of mobile owners in urban India are women. However, this propor-tion of customer base did not reflect in the women personnel at VIL. Hence, having a diverse workforce became a strategic business imperative for us,” ex-plains Ashok Ramchandran, director, Human Re-sources, VIL.At FoxyMoron, teams represent inclusivity across

verticals and cities. “We con-sciously employ people from var-ied talent pools with different em-ployment histories to equip each employee with opportunities for professional growth and encour-age innovation,” says Bajaj. They foster diversity and inclusivity through quarterly activities like

FoxyConf’— a platform for every team to showcase their work, learn from another colleague’s mistakes and network with other teams and a weekly session called ‘A Fox Wants To Know’—where every single employee poses any business/ organisational re-lated queries to the directors and co-founders of the agency. “This open-dialogue helps results in in-formed and aware employers and highly involved employees. Thus resulting in positive business deci-sions,” explains Bajaj.“We are currently in the process of formalising cer-tain practices of growth, learning and mentoring for all our colleagues across diverse backgrounds, eth-nicity, career patterns and specialisation, across all career levels. We are excited to leverage our natu-ral opportunities within the system, and anticipate many more positive side-effects of these new hab-its,” says Lakhmana.

Experts suggest that no matter how large the work-force of your organisation is, it is important to foster an environment where people have the opportu-nities to voice their opinions, share their learning, express their concerns without feeling like they are being judged or personally attacked.

“Creating and managing a diverse workforce is a pro-cess, not a destination.”–R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.

Link: http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report-in-all-fairness-1981124

DNA

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Ramchandran strongly believes that corporates must undertake simple but engaging initiatives like celebrating national festivals for employees. “With these in-house initiatives, the entire organisation will imbibe the cultural hues of national festivals, leading to the creation of a family celebration en-vironment, building a closer connect amongst the work force,” he signs off.

Foster diversity and inclusivity through...1) A policy that ensures zero tolerance for negative behavior which demeans a person and their values or beliefs2) Promote the use of technology and various com-munication platforms to convey policies and other company information across all verticals and teams3) Reward employees who foster and encourage team spirit across the organisation. Encourage these employees to become advocates of a diverse and inclusive workplace environment.

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POWER OF NETWORKING: MAPPING HOW NETWORKING HAS EVOLVED

If Facebook were a country, it would be one of the most populous countries in the world. This is what networking has evolved into in the modern times. Patricia Mascarenhas explores the power of net-working. Think back to an office party you recent-ly attended. You will recall that there were guests who seemed to know almost everyone in the room, moving from group to group with great ease, leaving no hand unshaken. The ability to re-late well with others is a sign of a person’s art of networking. “Net-working is the art and science of building business relationships with strangers by developing an engaging and outgoing personal-ity,” says Ganesh Natarajan, vice chairman and CEO, ZenSar tech-nologies.

Pratik Gupta, co-founder, director- New Business and Innovation, FoxyMoron also agrees, “It’s about creating an impression or absorbing from them things that will/could benefit your business or even your way of thinking,” he adds.

Today networking has become one of the most pro-ductive and enduring means to build relationships for both individuals and organisations. “It is the use of contacts to acquire information, advice, and re-ferrals to boost your career,” says Osbert Dsouza, assistant manager, Deloitte Haskins & Sells. In a connected world like ours, it is extremely important to build new contacts and develop existing relation-ships for business benefit. “Most successful corpo-rate professionals use networking as an important element of developing business,” says Natarajan.

In India the concept of networking is understood differently as compared to the west. “Individuals in the west want to expand their networks in order to grasp knowledge of various industries and connect with like-minded people. In India, on the other hand, networking is still constricted to build relationships for business benefits/profit,” says Madhur Ramani, co-founder and managing partner, Stratum Consult-

March 05, 2014

ing.

However, this approach is now beginning to change where startups and entrepreneurs are coming to-gether to help budding businesses. “This is called “pay it forward” where mentoring and assisting is done without expectations of obtaining something in return,” informs Ramani. While it is great to meet new people, it is not about the number of contacts you have but, the quality of the relationships you build. “The whole purpose of networking should be to establish more fruitful relationships with people in the long run,” he adds.

Apart from face to face activities like participating in forums, con-ferences, cocktail parties, golf etc; being part of virtual platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Social Samosa, The Indian Network, etc can also be productive. “There are indus-try associations like CII, NASSCOM and more closed user groups like the HBS Club of India and IIT and IIM alumni groups where one can hear some ideas and discov-er new trends within the field,” informs Natarajan. Dsouza also agrees, “Today Twitter is becom-

ing a popular means to engage and learn about new job opening where conversations with the peers help in finding the right organisation to work with,” he adds.

Social networking plays a key role in the job hunt today. “Social platforms allow employers to get to know who you are outside the confines of a résumé and interview, while they offer job seekers the op-portunity to learn about companies they want to join, connect with current and former employees,” says Gupta.

But is networking enough? In the end, it’s not about quantity, but about quality. “A smaller group of qual-ity relationships is going to be that much more ef-fective than a very large group of contacts that you hardly know,” says Ramani. “Networking is only the icing on the cake,” laughs Natarajan. Gupta agrees, “Networking is just half the battle. Connecting and creating relevant conversations to move forward is another.”

DNA

Link: http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report-power-of-networking-mapping-how-networking-has-evolved-1966854

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WHY B SCHOOL GRADS ARE HEADING TO START-UPS

Saturdays can bring mixed emotions. Those who spend them working end up grumpy while those who manage to keep themselves out of the office remain chirpy mostly. It is one of those Saturdays at Shopclues, an e-commerce company, and a team of seven engineers is about to lock itself in the office, on a weekend, for 48 hours.

And, believe it or not, they are not just chirpy, they are positively excited. They have managed to push out fancy office furniture from the conference room and stuff it with portable mattresses, Coke, pizzas and their favourite foods. The conference room is now a boot camp for software geeks — someone is a pro in html, another knows php and Java and someone else is an expert in search engine optimisation. Ob-jective: To come up with a mobility proof of concept for their compa-ny’s portal.

More of a college dorm than an office, the confer-ence room at Shopclues becomes a cauldron of innovation and peer learning, where people come together to make and discover new things.

“The attrition at Shopclues is zero at the middle and senior level and it is because of the conviction everyone shares for his or her work,” says Radhika Ghai Aggarwal, Chief Marketing Officer and founder of ShopClues.com. She is certain they (employees) will not shift easily if an opportunity comes to them. “People believe in what they are doing here, there is so much room to grow and learn,” she adds.

The rapidly growing start-up seems to be getting it right when it comes to managing employees. As part of the organisational building strategy, the company has introduced an employee engagement module called 4Ts – in which, ‘T’ stands for team, technique, time and task. Employees are free to choose their projects and even teams.

“Post 2008 many companies have started taking

May 13, 2014

employee engagement seriously, some offer work-shops and trainings, and some have even rede-signed employee compensation, and floated eSops,” says Jyorden T Misra, founder member and Manag-ing Director of Spearhead InterSearch, an HR con-sulting firm. “Around that time compensation was most important but over time a deeper component has come into play which makes young employees think about what will make me stick to a company for a while.”

EMPLOYEES EMPOWERED

Start-ups are leveraging the situation and changing the rules of the game when it comes to employee management.

They are making sure the best talent sticks with them and don’t turn to MNCs in lure of compen-sation and facilities. These newly-born companies are able to retain talent by offering solutions to job seekers’ key pain points – lack of autonomy, dele-gation of work, fixed and stringent working hours,

little room for knowledge and skill enhancement and company’s lack of involvement with employees at a personal level.

Tanya Seth, who has an MBA from a top business school, opted to

work for a start-up in place of an MNC. “I have al-ways looked for a great role and believe that learn-ing has to be prioritised over money, especially at an early stage of the career,” says Seth, who has been working with FrogIdeas for a few months now. “It’s been a huge learning curve since day one, we get to create and execute solutions for clients across industries. There’s never a dearth of ideas here.” According to Jatin Modi, CEO and Co-Founder of FrogIdeas, a digital strategy and marketing compa-ny, the firm encourages employees to take owner-ship, which means the company has to simply get out of the way of smart people and allow them to flourish. “There are no cabins or cubicles in the of-fice, teams sit on long tables, which reduce bound-aries and enable a flat structure when it comes to decision-making,” he says. The founders have given the team complete autonomy to pick and execute projects and tasks in a manner as they (team mem-bers) see fit. “This is regardless of experience and is dependent on passion, willingness and ability to execute only,” says Modi. “Regular training through industry experts, flexible work hours, complete au-tonomy, delegated decision-making, the opportuni-

Fun@work, autonomy keep young employees motivated

THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE

Link: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/fea-tures/newmanager/why-%C2%AD‐b-%C2%AD‐school-%C2%AD‐grads-%C2%AD‐are-%C2%AD‐heading-%C2%AD‐to-%C2%AD‐startups/article6005637.ece

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ty to work on projects of choice, an informal work culture, and chance to create globally visible cam-paigns regardless of experience – all this creates a culture of excellence,” he adds. FrogIdeas has 21 full-time employees on the board currently and the number is likely to reach 65 in the coming year.

The start-up has expanded operations in three cities and two countries within one year of operations and is clocking revenue of $1 million. Its clients range from e-commerce, IT, banking, consumer durables, telecom, and real estate to hospitality. FrogIdeas describes the internet as a marsh and the compa-ny helps its clients to overtake their competitors through innovative digital strategy.

AMBITION AT PLAY

Another breed of em-ployees is taking shape at fast-growing, highly tech-nology-driven start-ups by fresh graduates who opted out of placements to pur-sue their own businesses.

These techpreneurs are cultivating a force of em-ployees who are competitive, and motivated to prove their mettle to the industry. The exposure one gets in such start-ups cannot be matched by large, established companies. For Instance, Housing.com, India’s first map-based home search portal started by 12 IITians, has grown multi-fold within two years of starting-up. The organisation has been on a hiring spree since its first round of funding worth worth $2.5 mn by Nexus Venture Partners.

The company essentially picks up young individuals who are extremely ambitious and competitive.

“The constant urge to perform the best to one’s ability creates an atmosphere of healthy competi-tion that challenges each employee on a daily ba-sis,” says Advitiya Sharma, Co-Founder & Marketing Head of Housing.com.

“This culture helps maintain the level of motivation we would like to have around the office.”

Housing.com’s workplace is designed to exude a sense of excitement that makes it a vibrant and en-ergetic space to work in.

“Surprise office parties when the lights and Wifi go

off, and the office turns into a nightclub, are pretty efficient at keeping our employees motivated,” he adds.

The company has embraced the culture where each individual creates a significant impact to the busi-ness. “Each individual would get a lot of responsibil-ity and this, we have learned, brings in the thirst for excellence,” Sharma says.

Housing.com currently has about 1,200 employees on-board which includes around 200 professionals from IITs, IIMs, ISB and other top colleges in India.

Young and fast-growing firms in technology, inter-net, ecommerce, and digital marketing space are

doubling in size and man-power every year.

In the second phase of growth, however, when the employee strength ex-ceeds multifold, these firms may face a situation where the initial set of people are

highly engaged, whereas the newer set of people are not engaged at all, according to Madhur Ramani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of a business HR advisory firm, Stratum Consulting.

“This is where a well thought out engagement strat-egy will become very critical in these companies,” says Ramani.

“Weekly initiatives like Google’s TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) initiative — where the company’s top man-agement engages with all employees on a weekly basis and answers their queries — go a long way in keeping the newer set of employees engaged.”

“This is where a well thought out engagement strategy will become very critical in these companies,” says Ramani.

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CHALLENGES IN SUCCESSION PLANNING FOR FMBS

One of the challenges concerning family-run organ-isiations is delinking the businesses’ identity with that of the promoter.

Family businesses have been an integral part of the Indian economy, a major source of income and em-ployment for India since long. A white paper study of April 2012 carried by the Thomas Schmidheiny, Chair of Family Business and Wealth Management, Indian School of Business (ISB), states that, “Family businesses constitute more than 85 per cent busi-nesses in India and account for the vast majority of national output and employment.” Though a stag-gering number, they also infer, “There is a paucity of knowledge about the ways of organising and man-aging business in these rapidly changing times.”

However, with a dynamic economy, these Family Managed Businesses (FMBs) are facing a number of challenges and finding it difficult to survive beyond the second or third generation. While operating un-der extreme pressures within the evolving markets, they are facing issues like mismanagement, lack of professionalism or the absence of a proper succes-sion plan in place.

In the current scenario, FMBs are also facing inter-nal challenges such as hiring and retaining non-fam-ily management talent, preparing the next genera-tion for leadership and lack of support in adapting to new growth processes according to the global economic markets.

Today’s gen next business leaders are young, am-bitious and want to implement new processes, undertake expansions and keep up with the glob-al markets to accelerate growth and yield quick re-sults. They have a different vision for growth of the business, and a discrepancy towards this outlook with the elders in the family, sometimes proves to be a hindrance in the overall progress. It becomes difficult for traditional business owners to accept or adapt to these changes.

One of the other bigger challenges concerning FMBs is delinking the businesses’ identity with that of the promoter. It is difficult for traditional FMB owners to

April 23, 2014

let go of decision-making powers and let an outsider or somebody other than a family member take deci-sions on behalf of the company.

The businesses are generally owner-centric and de-pend entirely on the owners or promoters.

Identifying these challenges, it is important for FMBs to lay down a proper succession plan in place. FMBs should look at succession planning at a more integral level and it should not only consist of find-ing a CEO as the successor of an organisation but also have a more integrated approach to achieve it. Succession planning needs to be done at two lev-els — one is a core team of high performers for the head of the organisation and the other is succession planning that needs to be done at a functional level.

The identity of the organisation need not be entirely dependent on its promoter. FMBs need to work to-wards making the organisation independent of the promoter which is possible if there is a core team of high performers involved in decision-making for the organisation. Similarly, succession planning needs to take place at a functional level as well where in-ternal team members are mentored and trained to take up larger roles and more responsibility to take decisions at the function level. This core team at both levels should believe in the vision and overall goals and objectives of the organisation and be able to function without too much involvement of the promoter or owner or the head of their respective functions.

Indian family managed businesses need to move from their traditional working mindset and adapt to a dynamic environment placing importance on pro-fessionalism, flexibility, teamwork and adaptability to the emerging economy.

The writer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Stratum Consulting, a business HR advisory firm.

FMBs need to work towards making the organisa-tion independent of the promoter which is possible if there is a core team of high performers involved in decision-making for the organisation.

THE HINDU

Link: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-opportunities/challenges-in-succes-sion-planning-for-fmbs/article5939163.ece

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IN ALL FAIRNESS

Diversity and inclusivity at workplace are the buzz words of the corporate world. Prachi Rege speaks to HR heads of companies about practicing and sus-taining these new mantras“Creating and managing a diverse workforce is a process, not a destination.”–R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.

Over the years, there has been a paradigm shift in the demographics of the workforce within emerging markets across all levels – local, regional and glob-al. Workplace diversity and inclusivity is now inte-gral for any business to thrive. A diverse workforce consists of people from all economic backgrounds and gender with a variety of innovative and creative skill sets. “Fostering an en-vironment of inclusiveness gives an organisation an upper hand in a competi-tive market as it helps in-crease positive interper-sonal relations amongst the employees which can lead to higher output of ideas, and a sense of mutual respect amongst hier-archy levels,” says Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMo-ron, a digital agency. As an employer, it is essential to leverage the talent that diverse employees bring to the table to help your organisation’s bottom line.

However, experts believe that though Indian work-places are open to diversity and inclusivity across cast, culture, region and race, inequality towards the fairer sex is still a practice. “Not all companies respect gender diversity. A lot needs to be done to nudge women positively in the direction of educa-tion, growth and learning,” says Manjit Lakhmana, Head HR, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company. Madhur Ramani, co-found-er and managing partner, Stratum Consulting – A business HR advisory firm, sites the example of In-dian Air Force which in a way is one of the nation’s biggest corporates.Referring to a recent comment—”Women are not physically suited for flying fighter planes”, made by the Indian Air Force Chief Marshal, Arup Raha, Ramani says,”While on one hand women have ex-celled in all walks of life and are at the helm of top leadership positions, the air force industry deem

April 22, 2014

a unified inclusion policy; especially towards wom-en.”

Telecommunication giant Vodafone India Ltd (VIL), represents the positive side of gender diversity in action in India Inc. They hired 50 per cent wom-en trainees from educational institutes across the country under their Discover Campus Programme. It is an aspirational ‘management trainee’ programme that provides fast-track career growth, exciting and challenging opportunities and a platform to connect with fellow alumni. “32 per cent of mobile owners in urban India are women. However, this propor-tion of customer base did not reflect in the women personnel at VIL. Hence, having a diverse workforce became a strategic business imperative for us,” ex-plains Ashok Ramchandran, director, Human Re-sources, VIL.At FoxyMoron, teams represent inclusivity across verticals and cities. “We consciously employ people

from varied talent pools with dif-ferent employment histories to equip each employee with oppor-tunities for professional growth and encourage innovation,” says Bajaj. They foster diversity and inclusivity through quarterly ac-tivities like FoxyConf’— a platform for every team to showcase their

work, learn from another colleague’s mistakes and network with other teams and a weekly session called ‘A Fox Wants To Know’—where every single employee poses any business/ organisational re-lated queries to the directors and co-founders of the agency. “This open-dialogue helps results in in-formed and aware employers and highly involved employees. Thus resulting in positive business deci-sions,” explains Bajaj.“We are currently in the process of formalising cer-tain practices of growth, learning and mentoring for all our colleagues across diverse backgrounds, eth-nicity, career patterns and specialisation, across all career levels. We are excited to leverage our natu-ral opportunities within the system, and anticipate many more positive side-effects of these new hab-its,” says Lakhmana.

Experts suggest that no matter how large the work-force of your organisation is, it is important to foster an environment where people have the opportu-nities to voice their opinions, share their learning, express their concerns without feeling like they are being judged or personally attacked.Ramchandran strongly believes that corporates

“Creating and managing a diverse workforce is a pro-cess, not a destination.”–R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.

Link: http://zeenews.india.com/news/education/in-all-fairness_926498.html

ZEE NEWS

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STRATEGIC PARTNER

Many business die an unnatural death because they fail to harness the full potential of their venture through an integrated Human Resources system, says Madhur Ramani.

“India has the highest percentage of family busi-nesses in Asia”, states the Asian Family Business Re-port of 2011 by the Credit Suisse Emerging Markets Research Institute. The study finds that India has the highest percentage (67%) of family businesses and that family businesses contribute significantly to investments and employment. Also according to an ASSOCHAM study, SMEs contribute over 22 per-cent to India`s GDP. But majority of the Family Man-aged Businesses (FMBs) do not survive beyond the third generation and SMEs do not grow due to va-riety of reasons, one of them being failure of FMBs and SMEs to harness the full business potential of their set-ups through integrated HR systems.

Currently, most organisations consider HR as only a support function and fail to recognise its impor-tance as a business function. It is also a fact that HR teams do not fully comprehend the business objec-tives or goals of an organisation and in some cases the business itself. They are unable to identify the gaps that hinder the organisation from fulfilling its business objectives. This in turn leads to hiring of talent that does not have the requisite skill set for a particular position or that not equipped to provide real solutions to the actual business challenges.

HR should see itself as the capacity builder where it helps and defines organisational capabilities. It should understand global business context and build relevant organisational capabilities around that. It is crucial for companies to train and devel-op HR systems that understand the business and its objectives first, identify problems that hinder growth and then provide solutions to eliminate the existing problem.

This step will ultimately lead to the growth of the business. The role of HR is not only limited to talent acquisition and performance management but also to integrate itself with the overall functioning of a business.

An organisation may achieve business goals by re-

December 4, 2013

Link: http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/column- ‐strategic- ‐partner- ‐1929322

ZEE NEWSplacing traditional HR processes that are holding back its potential, with modern, business-linked HR processes. There are HR consultancy firms that act as a tool in structuring and streamlining processes while making use of the existing data and insights into the organisation.

They provide solutions at a deeper and integral level through data capturing, identifying gaps and problems across verticals, laying out management processes for various services and helping in best implementation of their available resources.

It is important to understand that HR services al-though inevitably linked to the operational function-ing of an organisation can also be integrated in the business outcomes of the organisation. Companies should stop perceiving HR as merely an external op-erational support function and also explore its po-tential as a strategic partner in business processes. They should position it as a value-adding function.

An organisation will be able to achieve both- opera-tional and strategic results if HR services are maxi-mised by using it as a strategic business partner that can provide strong inputs and direction to the busi-ness strategy in a more structured manner.

The author is co-founder and managing partner of Stratum Consulting, HR advisory firm.

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STRATEGIC PARTNER

Many business die an unnatural death because they fail to harness the full potential of their venture through an integrated Human Resources system, says Madhur Ramani.

“India has the highest percentage of family busi-nesses in Asia”, states the Asian Family Business Re-port of 2011 by the Credit Suisse Emerging Markets Research Institute. The study finds that India has the highest percentage (67%) of family businesses and that family businesses contribute significantly to investments and employment. Also according to an ASSOCHAM study, SMEs contribute over 22 per-cent to India`s GDP. But majority of the Family Man-aged Businesses (FMBs) do not survive beyond the third generation and SMEs do not grow due to va-riety of reasons, one of them being failure of FMBs and SMEs to harness the full business potential of their set-ups through integrated HR systems.

Currently, most organisations consider HR as only a support function and fail to recognise its impor-tance as a business function. It is also a fact that HR teams do not fully comprehend the business objec-tives or goals of an organisation and in some cases the business itself. They are unable to identify the gaps that hinder the organisation from fulfilling its business objectives. This in turn leads to hiring of talent that does not have the requisite skill set for a particular position or that not equipped to provide real solutions to the actual business challenges.

HR should see itself as the capacity builder where it helps and defines organisational capabilities. It should understand global business context and build relevant organisational capabilities around that. It is crucial for companies to train and devel-op HR systems that understand the business and its objectives first, identify problems that hinder growth and then provide solutions to eliminate the existing problem.

This step will ultimately lead to the growth of the business. The role of HR is not only limited to talent acquisition and performance management but also to integrate itself with the overall functioning of a business.

An organisation may achieve business goals by re-

December 4, 2013

Link: http://zeenews.india.com/news/education/strategic-partner_894384.html

placing traditional HR processes that are holding back its potential, with modern, business-linked HR processes. There are HR consultancy firms that act as a tool in structuring and streamlining processes while making use of the existing data and insights into the organisation.

They provide solutions at a deeper and integral level through data capturing, identifying gaps and problems across verticals, laying out management processes for various services and helping in best implementation of their available resources.

It is important to understand that HR services al-though inevitably linked to the operational function-ing of an organisation can also be integrated in the business outcomes of the organisation. Companies should stop perceiving HR as merely an external op-erational support function and also explore its po-tential as a strategic partner in business processes. They should position it as a value-adding function.

An organisation will be able to achieve both- opera-tional and strategic results if HR services are maxi-mised by using it as a strategic business partner that can provide strong inputs and direction to the busi-ness strategy in a more structured manner.

The author is co-founder and managing partner of Stratum Consulting, HR advisory firm.

ZEE NEWS

16

BUDGET 2014: PAVING THE WAY FOR START-UPS

Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech announced the setting up of a Rs 10,000 crore fund to boost capital flow to startups and small and me-dium enterprises (SMEs) in the country. He alsopro-posed allowing foreign retailers, who manufacture products in the country, to sell via e-commerce platforms, a step towards liberalising foreign invest-ment in the country’s $13 billion e-commerce sector. Sameer Parwani, Founder and CEO, CouponDunia - India’s popular coupon code website and Madhur Ramani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner - Stra-tum Consulting - A business HR advisory firm spell out the pros and cons in this year’s budgetSameer Parwani, Founder and CEO, CouponDunia, thinks,” Increased FDI in e-commerce will definitely be a boon for the economy. In my opinion, it will in-crease the competition in the market and bring effi-ciency into the system as the implementation of the best global practices will become a compulsion. This will be beneficial for the end-consumer in terms of choice as well as reduced prices.”

“Additionally, domestic start-ups will get access to capital, and with it, the expertise required in build-ing world class companies - something India desper-ately needs as an emerging superpower, he adds.

Madhur Ramani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Stratum Consulting says, “While the government has allocated 10,000 Cr for start-up companies in the budget 2014, the reality is that 80 to 90 percent of start-ups shut down within the first three years of their business. It would be crucial to see how the government is looking to build a support network for these companies in terms of mentorship, guid-ance, training and development to encourage their scalability and sustainability. This would also ensure that 10,000 Crores of the tax payers is put to good use”.

July 25, 2014

YAHOOLink: https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/budget-2014--paving-the-way-for-start-ups-074031815.html

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QUALITIES THAT WILL HELP A LEADER TIDE OVER CRISIS

For an organisation to survive a crisis with its rep-utation, operations and financial condition intact depends on the timeliness and effectiveness of the response by the top leaders of the organisation.

Crisis arise due to a number of reasons like profes-sional improprieties or economic factors, loss of key employees or loss of key customers, organisational changes or factors that the organisation has no con-trol over.

When crisis occur, they often take an organisation by surprise and call for an effective response by the leader of the organiza-tion to the situation.

Since crises are a part and parcel of running any business function, sooner or later nearly ev-ery organisation faces a crisis situation.

And when they do, there arises a need for strong and effective leadership to take care of it while protecting the interest of the organization and its employees.

Crises have a direct impact on a company’s produc-tivity, profits, image and other quantitative mea-sures of success.

It can put a company’s reputation at stake and ham-per its business growth if right measures are not taken by the management at the right time.

During a crisis situation, effective communication both internally and externally is one of the most important measures that any organisation should keep in mind.

An interesting example that can be referenced here is the Kingfisher airline crisis.

The airline was facing issues since a few years but the major crisis was brought to light only in 2010.

They were facing debts worth $1.4billion after mak-ing annual losses for five consecutive years. The airline’s bank accounts were frozen and pilots were on strike. The company was almost on the brink of collapse and the pilots also lost their flying permit.

While the company was going through all this, the world only saw the owner billionaire - Vijay Mallya and his son continue to live their flamboyant and lavish lifestyle.

With thousands of employees not being paid for months, the owner was not available most of the time for comments or seen standing and fighting it out and facing the situation head on.

The ideal situation would have been for Vijay Mallya to have remained the face of the organisation by en-gaging directly with his employees.

He could have avoided the negative publicity by man-aging the crisis better and in a controlled manner rather than exhibiting his opulent and flamboyant life in public which created a sense of insecurity amongst his employees seething un-der the situation of blocked payments for a span of four months.

Mallya was subjected to severe criticism for flaunt-ing his affluent lifestyle at a time when his company was struggling under mounting debts.

When confronted with organisational crisis, the pri-mary goal is to resolve it and get back to business as quickly as possible without prolonging the crisis. Organisations should invest in leadership develop-ment that focuses on crisis management and effec-tive communication.

Effective crisis response should aim not only at damage control but also push the company to get on with business faster and better than before.

For example, the global automobile company Ford found themselves at the receiving end for sexist ad-vertisements by their advertising agency.

The advertisements were not the final cuts but the

April 07, 2014

A leader should develop effective leadership and communication skills that will help his firm sur-vive difficult situations, writes Madhur Ramani, co-founder and managing partner at HR advisory firm, Stratum Consulting

REDIFF.COM

Link: http://www.rediff.com/business/report/qualities-that-will-help-a-leader-tide-over-cri-sis/20140407.htm

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automobile major was about to be hit by one of the worst reputation damaging crisis of all times. The ads that featured caricatures of women bound and gagged in the trunk of a Ford Figo were slammed for being sexist and offensive.

But timely and prompt response by the top man-agement of the company averted the situation.The Indian unit of Ford Motor Co. issued a statement apologising for advertisements decried as demean-ing to women.

The brand managed to protect their reputation and at the same time not hamper sales of their cars. Here, good effective leadership helped when Ford took ownership and high-lighted the actual issue to its consumers with the right communication from the right people going out at the right time.

Usually, in times of crisis the onus to take action and effectively respond to the crisis falls on the shoulders of the manage-ment leader. They hold the fate of the company in their hands.

The leader of the company not only needs to address the current problem but also ensure that organisa-tion is running smoothly even with the situation at hand.

Hence, managing becomes more difficult during a crisis. Top executives need to step forward and un-derstand the complexity and ambiguity of the crisis by bringing order to chaos.

The most important factor that leaders need to keep in mind while dealing with a crisis is to first identify the source of the crisis, then identify its organisa-tional implications and accordingly develop an ac-tion plan to resolve the crisis.

Crisis situations demand leaders to demonstrate situational awareness and grasp the ramifications and its likely impact on the company and its stake-holders.

An effective leader should be able to make the right decisions during contingencies. He/she should demonstrate ability to redirect their energy and re-sources to mobilise a quick response to protect the company’s image and interest of the stakeholders.

The key is to safeguard the value of the enterprise and develop a strategy to bounce back to regular business as soon as possible.

A suitable example to validate this approach is that of global player Johnson & Johnson when it was hit by the Tylenol crisis in 1982 resulting in seven unfor-tunate deaths.

It is one of the examples of crisis situations arising as a result of tampering of the product by an external party.

The company faced a fall in its share value by $1 bn and its reputation was at stake. The company devel-oped an upfront approach to tackle the crisis situation at hand by immediately re-calling Tylenol from every outlet in the market.

Apart from this, the com-pany also decided not to re-establish the product on shelves until better

product protection was ensured for the future thus adopting a consumer first approach.

Appropriate action at the right time by the leaders of the organization not only helped Johnson & John-son recover from the loss but also succeeded in pre-serving the long term value of the brand.

The company within five months of the disaster managed to recover 70 per cent of its market share for the drug and safeguarded its reputation as well.

This example demonstrates that one can be a better leader in times of crisis by addressing it through a structured framework and understanding the crisis through multiple perspectives.

The leader should be proactive rather than reactive and should solve the issue through structured crisis

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management, fill up the loopholes and thereby re-build the organisation.

During a crisis, the leader should not forget about the interest of his employees and distribute the scope of work after understanding their capabilities and limitations.

In times of crisis, the focus of the organisation should be the future of the organization. Strategies should be developed keeping in mind resources that can mobilise business growth.

The leader should be able to determine the right channels of communication and comprehend the crisis barriers and accordingly craft a plan to work around these obstacles.

The overall culture of the organisation also plays an important role during a crisis situation since social-cultural trends of the company help the em-ployees and the leaders to manage and learn from the crisis and overcome the situation together as a team.

On a whole, appropriate and effective leadership is one of the saving factors for an organization during crisis.

A leader can not only succeed by developing effec-tive leadership and communication skills that will help the organisation to survive the crisis but also with a team that provides support and stands by the organisation in times of crisis.

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A strong team builds a strong agency and hence it is important to build, train and retain the right team,” he adds.


Employers across sectors and recruitment consul-tants have predicted 2014 to be the year of oppor-tunities for social media specialists. “We predict that 2014 will witness a whole new social media analyst profile, whose core function will be to understand the social media data at hand, interpret it using lat-est analytic tools and techniques and bring the in-sights thus derived to the decision makers in cre-ative ways,” states Vohra.








While the demand is high, the supply of talent is limited. According to Ramani, since the digital space itself is new, there is a need for experts who can adapt and learn about the new developments in the space and at the same time are thorough with the existing platforms. “Hence the available pool of peo-ple to select from is also small as compared to other professions,” he explains.

Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMoron states simi-lar concerns over limited talent pool and also the higher propensity for individuals to switch agencies. “Keeping a healthy work environment plays an im-portant role in the retention of valuable resources.

January 28, 2014

REDIFF.COM

Link: http://realtime.rediff.com/news/realtime/Rise-in-demand-for-social-media-experts-in-FMCG-BFSI-pharma-companies/72a47f6f3bca7b2d

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HOW SOCIAL HR HELP START-UPS SCALE UP

With the increase in competition, locally or global-ly, organisations must become more adaptable and employee friendly to succeed. Incorporating tech-nology in the HR processes will help start-ups to compete with MNCs both in terms of attracting and retaining talent. One of the emerging technologies in HR space is Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs). FMBs (Family Businesses) and Start-ups are yet to recognise the importance of ESNs whereas MNCs are already deriving benefits from them. One of the emerging trends identified in the year 2014 is that organisations should stop perceiving the growing usage of social media as a threat and learn how to use it to their advantage for collaboration, knowledge sharing and networking within as well as outside the organisation. EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

In less than a decade, social media has become an indispensable part of our society by integrating itself in our personal and professional lives. McKinsey Global Institute states that “while 72 per cent of companies use social technologies in some way, very few are anywhere near to achieving the full potential benefit.” Gradually, organisations have begun to recognise the importance of integrat-ing social technologies into their businesses to offer a better experience to their employees and custom-ers and how social media practices can be imple-mented to contribute to business goals. Companies like IBM, Nokia, PwC and many others have already started embracing Enterprise Social Networks to amplify and enhance communication within their organisations. These channels not only help in communication at different levels of the or-ganisation but also empower them to self-organise their functional operations.

September 05, 2014

ENTREPRENEUR INDIA.COMLink: http://www.entrepreneurindia.com/article/resources/columnists/How-Social-HR-Help-Start-ups-Scale-up-497/

NEW WAYS TO RETAIN TALENT

Additionally, innovation through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing can be enhanced via social net-working practices that will help in better decision making within the organisations. It is important for SMEs and FMBs to connect with their employees and bridge the gap between senior and mid-level management. Founders should be in touch with the new employees in a fast growing set-up where the strength of the organisation is continuously increas-ing. Once employees feel connected to the organisa-tion, they become more participative and respon-sive towards their work as well as what other teams are doing. Engaged employees can offer solutions across locations within the organisation.

For instance, if the Delhi team of an organisation needs some ideas/solutions for a project, employees sitting in the Mumbai office can offer them via knowledge sharing platforms. These mediums can also be used to post job openings internally and help in finding the right talent within the organisation before looking outside. These days, organisations are also employing social media tools to en-gage new recruits in the pre-join-ing phase to create excitement

about their new employment. During the induction and orientation of new employees, learning and en-gagement aspects are given equal importance along with training and monitoring. Today, financial incentives aren’t the only way to retain employees and motivate them to work hard. Employees should feel valued in the organisation with the flexibility to contribute meaningful work regardless of their role. Public recognition makes a huge difference in employee engagement as re-wards and appreciation can boost a person’s confi-dence to a great extent. This plays a significant role in the growth of the organisation since high levels of employee engagement reduces employee turnover and increases employee loyalty.

THE ROAD AHEAD

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Social media is also giving organisations an oppor-tunity to bring the employer brand to life, promot-ing the organization’s values and culture to poten-tial candidates. It is also helping an organisation to showcase its work culture and map it against com-petition and make their presence felt in the market. Employer branding becomes imperative in retaining the hired talent as well attracting new talent. Overall, HR has evolved through social media by shifting from an administrative function to an inte-gral strategic business partner that adds value to the organisation’s workforce and its ability to deliv-er against key goals of the organisation. Good or-ganisations are already leveraging social media to engage employees and using it for collaboration, learning, training and development of the employ-ees as well as accelerate business growth. It is about time that other organisations also start recognising the benefits of such practices. The author of this article is Madhur Ramani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Stratum Con-sulting. The firm provides innovative and technolog-ical Business HR solutions for FMBs and start-ups to scale up and compete in global markets.

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PUT THE SUCCESS IN SUCCESSIONJUNE 17, 2014

ENTREPRENEUR INDIA.COM

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FOR AGENCY HEADS: BUILDING CULTURE IN DIGITAL FIRMS WITH SQUADS

In today’s fast paced environment and cut throat competition, digital marketing agencies that func-tion within the digital economy need to continu-ously reinvent themselves to remain at the top of the pyramid. Many organizations are striving hard to implement innovative work practices in order to support their business objectives.

CREATING CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS

By creating cross-functional teams, digital market-ing organizations can conceptualize, create, design and innovate in a way that allows the group to meet the objective set by them, while ensuring that these objectives are aligned with the goals of the compa-ny. Cross-functional teams function as self-directed teams assigned to a specific task that call for inputs and expertise of various other teams.

This is an example of a good culture building prac-tice within an organization since it brings together

employees with different skill sets on the same ta-ble to work towards a common goal. Additionally, this process is also a great way to make the organi-zations less dependent on the heads or owners by encouraging the employees to think independently.

It enables faster growth of the organization and also the employees as it gives them an opportunity to think about the business objectives and understand its various aspects.

May 28, 2014

INNOVATIVE CONCEPT CALL ‘SQUADS’

One such innovative concept that can be imple-mented by organizations in order to bring all cre-ative heads together is that of – ‘Squads’.

‘Squads’ are cross-functional teams with a dedicated mission that is directly linked to the larger mission of the company in terms of service capabilities, busi-ness growth or customer satisfaction or innovation in a particular aspect.

Organizations can look towards to setting up of two or three teams together from different de-partments that meet twice every week to discuss and work on their particular squad mission. It is a known fact that ‘people make a company’ and they are the engines behind the growth of an organiza-tion. Through these Squads, experts from different teams come together to brainstorm for a specific task or a project. When multi-disciplinary individuals think together, there are greater chances of more creativity, out of the box ideas and better innovative approaches towards the task. The outcome of such a process is better decisions and better results.This paves a path for alternate perspective and new po-tential solutions to tasks or projects, thus aiding the

growth and progress of the organization.

Spotify – a music software company, started this concept a few years ago, however it can be imple-mented by several organizations sectors including the digital industry.

SOCIAL SAMOSALink: http://www.socialsamosa.com/2014/05/build-ing-culture-digital-firms-squads/

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them to be physically unfit to fly fighter planes. This shows that not all sectors in our country have must undertake simple but engaging initiatives like cele-brating national festivals for employees. “With these in-house initiatives, the entire organisation will im-bibe the cultural hues of national festivals, leading to the creation of a family celebration environment, building a closer connect amongst the work force,” he signs off.

Foster diversity and inclusivity through...1) A policy that ensures zero tolerance for negative behavior which demeans a person and their values or beliefs2) Promote the use of technology and various com-munication platforms to convey policies and other company information across all verticals and teams3) Reward employees who foster and encourage team spirit across the organisation. Encourage these employees to become advocates of a diverse and inclusive workplace environment.

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FOXYMORON LAUNCHES ITS NEW ‘PUBLIC RELATIONS’ VERTICAL

One of India’s leading independent digital market-ing, ideas and media solutions agencies, FoxyMoron has extended its service offerings by launching its own Public Relations vertical. With an objective to provide integrated Media & Marketing solutions for brands, FoxyMoron will also offer Public Relations along with other service offerings, including social media marketing, web de-sign and development, search engine optimiza-tion, media buying and planning and audio visual content creation to name a few.

With an ever evolving in-dustry scenario, there is a growing need for reaching out to the new age con-sumer that is on-the-go. There is a constant need for engagement for great-er brand recall that requires a mix of integrated marketing strategies. Identifying this growing need for a holistic approach, the new PR vertical will pro-vide a 360 degree integrated service that includes both online and offline PR. The vertical has been in the set up phase over the last few months and is now fully functional.’

The division is currently catering to clients like Stra-tum Consulting - A Business HR advisory firm and a national level entrepreneurship challenge called ‘Power to Empower 2013’ by the National Skills De-velopment Corporation and India @75 and man-aged by innovation accelerator, Ennovent to name a few.

Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder, FoxyMoron, also the Ac-count Director of the Public Relations division said, ‘Over the last 6 years, FoxyMoron has conceptual-ized some unique and award-winning communi-cation strategies. It was only a matter of time that we integrated all our service offerings to provide brands with an additional opportunity to commu-nicate through the same platform using different mediums. With traditional media and the new age digital medium often crossing paths, it is increasing-

February 24, 2014

ly becoming difficult to ignore the importance of ei-ther medium. They cannot co-exist together without walking hand in hand. The team we’ve put together to set the ball-rolling for the new vertical brings a decade’s experience across sectors - corporate, fi-nance, fashion and lifestyle.’

‘When exploring options for PR support for a recent client contract we came across FoxyMoron and their newly launched PR Services. The company’s reputa-tion as an agency that thinks outside the box is ev-ident even in this newly launched vertical and their team impressed us with their flexibility in creating

a campaign that matched our client’s requirements. During execution, Foxy-Moron’s PR team im-pressed us with their per-severance and ability to deliver tangible results for clients’, said, Perzen Patel, Manager Marketing, En-novent.

Talking about the impor-tance of integrating PR with social media, Madhur Ramani, Founder & Man-aging Partner, Stratum

Consulting said, ‘PR when integrated with digital me-dia can help brands reach out to their consumers better. As one of the leaders in the industry, they understand the significance and power of the digital and social space. We are happy to have FoxyMoron on board as our Public Relations partners and look forward to a rewarding association.’

FoxyMoron was founded by Harshil Karia, Paritosh Ajmera, Pratik Gupta and Suveer Bajaj in 2008. Cur-rently, with over 175 employees across Mumbai and Gurgaon, the agency has conceptualized and execut-ed some recognized and award-winning campaigns including Garnier Men - PowerLight A Village, May-belline New York India - Baby Lips, Femina Made By You Issue, L’Oreal Paris - Stay Rooted, The Sula Fest website among many others.

SOCIAL SAMOSA

Link: http://www.socialsamosa.com/2014/02/foxy-moron-launches-public-relations/

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higher propensity for individuals to switch agencies. “Keeping a healthy work environment plays an im-portant role in the retention of valuable resources. A strong team builds a strong agency and hence it is important to build, train and retain the right team,” he adds.











Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMoron states simi-lar concerns over limited talent pool and also the

January 13, 2014

TIMES JOBLink: http://content.timesjobs.com/rise- ‐in- ‐de-mand- ‐for- ‐social- ‐media- ‐experts- ‐in- ‐fmcg- ‐bf-si- ‐pharma- ‐companies/?fromsite=toi&utm_source=toi&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=toi- ‐tj- ‐whitela-bel

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‘TRAINING, SKILL DEVELOPMENT KEY TO-WARDS RETAINING MID-LEVEL MANAGERS’

According to a TimesJobs.com survey, over 30 per cent organisations find middle management hiring most challenging. The primary reason being, these positions call for as much authority as accountabili-ty and responsibility, reasons the respondents.

Multifarious Challenges: Attitude, Ambiguity, Remu-neration

It’s always a challenge to hire the right set of talent for a particular profile; it is even more challenging to hire candidates for mid-lev-el positions, opine indus-try experts. For mid-level managers, the link be-tween executives and top management, having ade-quate leadership qualities and domain knowledge become extremely cru-cial. However, attitude is deemed fundamental for mid-management personnel.

Attitude: “While attitude, skills and experience, are essential for mid-level managers, attitude is pivotal for corporate success,” says Sanjay Singh, CEO, hCen-tive Inc. According to Madhur Ramani, co-founder and managing partner, Stratum Consulting, attitude and skills combined, makes an individual contribute to the setup, lead to growth opportunities within the company and add value to the organisation. “It’s the attitude of an individual which determines his or her reaction or value-add in a situational behaviour. Skills entirely back the attitude which helps the indi-vidual scale in his/ her career,” he adds.

Apprehension: Individuals at this level get caught in a mid-life crisis situation and are unable to take any concrete decision. “They try to map themselves with regards to what they are doing and more often than not are unsatisfied with the position they find them-selves in. At the same time as there is no clarity in their mind on what they can and wish to do in the long term, they are unable to map the career oppor-tunities or visualise their future career path,” states

January 09, 2014

Nitinchandra Shinde, general manager-head, Talent Management, Persistent Systems. Position and compensation: Experts believe that people at mid-managerial level seek both position and pay package. According to Asit Mohapatra, di-rector-HR, Raymond Textile, “At the mid-levels sal-ary is the major driver. Designations also seem to matter a lot.” Moreover, job profile and creative freedom are also increasingly becoming crucial for professionals at this level, resonated experts across sectors.

Training Offers Solution: Foster Leadership, Mana-gerial Skills

For all the mid-level pro-files, training acts as an important tool when it comes to grooming these professionals. This often serves as a solution for all the challenges, feel ex-perts. According to Singh, “Middle managers are the cornerstone of an organi-sation. They are essential to the continued success of a company and we must ensure that they not only have the proper training in

regard to domain expertise, but also in managing teams. Training and skill development at this level delivers immense value to an organisation’s overall development.”

As stated by Ramani, “It is extremely important for training employees at the mid-management level. They are individuals who can take the organisation to the next level, hence the need to train them to hone their skills and grow along with them.” He high-lighted that training them further ensures retention and forming a core team for the organisation.

Shinde stated that the main focus of training should be on imparting relevant technical skills, bring in certain behavioural changes and developing certain softer competencies such as communication, ne-gotiation, leadership skills, etc. “At this level, more than the traditional approach, mentoring works the best,” he suggests.

TIMES JOBLink: http://content.timesjobs.com/training-skill-de-velopment-key-towards-retaining-mid-level-manag-ers/

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CAUGHT IN WRONG JOB? HOLD ON

Don’t switch companies for now, say experts, citing dynamics in market.

Looking for a shift in job? The time is not right. Given the fact that the Economy is marked with inflation—coupled with economic slowdown—job hopping is not advisable for a few extra bucks, say experts.

“It is always better to stick with an old devil than en-counter a new one. The fact remains that in today’s job market, it is difficult to find dream job. You never know what you are getting into till you start working in the new place,” says Yogesh Saigal, independent HR consultant.

Experts say reasons like low salary and minor prob-lems with boss are no longer considered big enough to switch jobs in the current scenario. “Every Office has its own problems. There is no guarantee that the existing problems in the office will not crop up at the new workplace. One has to adjust; try and find a niche,” says Girish Baliga, CEO and founder, Career Vita.

The reason, remarks Baliga, is the lack of good op-portunities in the market right now. In fact, a huge salary raise might make you unsaleable in the mar-

December 7, 2013

ket for the next three-four years. “In today’s sce-nario, it will be nothing less than being in a golden cage,” says Baliga.

In most cases, compensation philosophy works on salary range positioning of individuals most of the time. “It effectively means that at a certain level/des-ignation in that company, if you are being hired at the maximum of the salary range, it is highly likely that your subsequent increments post appraisals in the initial few years/cycles will be lower than aver-age,” says Saigal.

Companies mostly offer exorbitant salaries to peo-ple due to specific skill-set requirements or general-ly when there is a build phase of a project or some new process being transitioned in. The high initial package is to attract talent as an immediate need—it more often than not is not really aimed to retain one on a long term basis.

“Also, if you are unhappy with the job, the market is such that you will not be able to make a shift eas-ily without taking a pay cut. Hence, it is advisable to stick to a known brand even if compensation does not match your expectations,” says Prof Uday Salunkhe, group director, WeSchool.

“It is easy for an outsider to tell someone else to be bold and take a risk (even in a downturn), but people should gauge their risk profile and appetite properly before making a move,” says Madhur Ra-mani, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Stratum Consulting.

How he got Back to square OneDhruv Solanki switched from an investment bank to a global ecommerce company with a pay of Rs 22 lakh per annum. However, five months into the company, Solanki started hunting for a new job, which was not easy to come. Solanki had to take a pay cut and return to his old company at the pay scale he had left. “Though, I got a good hike, I real-ised the work Environment was not as good as my previous company. I tried at many places, and was ready to move at the same salary level. However, I did not get any good offer and had to return to my old company at a lower salary,” says Solanki.

TIMES JOBLink: http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report-bangalore-caught-in-wrong-job-hold-on-1931170

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BEST WAYS TO ASSESS SOFT SKILLS

According to a recently concluded study by Times-Jobs.com, about 60 per cent of the organisations stated to have a formal policy on workplace flexi-bility. Flexible workplace policies have been around for a long time and time and again researches have shown how beneficial they are to employees and to employers.Strengthening the connectOffering flexible work schedules builds a sense of belongingness among employees. It is said to im-prove efficiency and loyalty towards the organiza-tion, thus boosting the business output. According to Jatin Desai, CEO, The DeSai Group, USA & Innova-tion Management Expert, “Flexible workplace shows improvement in employee engagement scores. Im-proved engagement scores have shown enhanced in organisational productivity and profits.” He add-ed that in India the flexibility trend may be gain-ing momentum but in other parts of the world the trend has slowed down. “In India, there is still a huge benefit to promoting this policy in certain types of sectors and organizations,” he said.Changing market forces and influx of technology in every sphere of work are few of the major reasons behind the growth of flexible work options in India Inc.Countering challengesAccording to the TimesJobs.com survey results, while almost all major industry segments are providing flexibility options to its employees, in some way or the other, for about 40 per cent of the organizations, the trend is still evolving. Of those organisations that don’t have a formal flexibility policy, 40 per cent are unsure about adopting one or more flexible work arrangements in the near future. As per Desai, lack

September 20, 2013

Link: http://content.timesjobs.com/india-inc-em-brace-workplace-flexibility/

TIMES JOBof innovation could be on the reasons behind this. “In our research, it has been proven that innovation is a social art. Without interactions, innovations do not occur. Best ideas occur when few people work in a team face to face. Often bet ideas occur accidently and not in a formal setting. Therefore, it is very hard to generate innovative culture when many employ-ees often work in isolation,” he articulated.Sans the consMinus the associated downsides of workplace flexi-bility, industry experts believe that offering flexibil-ity is indeed beneficial for both the employee and the employer. They opined that offering flexible work schedules help curb attrition and also adds-on to the employer brand.Quoting a Regus Study Madhur Ramani, Co-Found-er and Managing Partner, Stratum Consulting said, “According to the study, a majority of senior man-agers and business owners globally report a direct link between flexible working practices and im-proved productivity (72 per cent).” He added that many businesses have come to the consensus that work flexibility keeps the employee’s motivated and results in better productivity, reducing work stress and frustration levels.Future is flexibleExperts added that being flexible creates an envi-ronment where employers and employees can look at work and personal needs in a balanced approach, which is mutually beneficial, feels industry experts. According to the TimesJobs.com study, close to 60 per cent of the organizations are likely to implement more flexibility options, in near future.Devarajan Duraibabu, COO of Disha communica-tions believes that workplace flexibility is a step in the future direction and a progressive way forward. “It is undoubtedly, a smart strategy to retain em-ployees and attract talent, and I would rate it right at the top of all EEPs (Employee engagement pro-grammes),” he said.“According to a Regus September 2013 report, by 2015, the world’s mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion, representing 37.2 per cent of the total workforce,” Ramani concluded.

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INDIA INC EMBRACES WORKPLACE FLEXIBILITYNovember, 2013

TIMES JOB NEWSLETTER- TJINSITE

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One of India’s leading independent digital market-ing, ideas and media solutions agencies, FoxyMoron has extended its service offerings by launching its own Public Relations vertical. With an objective to provide integrated Media & Marketing solutions for brands, FoxyMoron will also offer Public Relations along with other service offerings, including social media marketing, web design and development, search engine optimization, media buying and plan-ning and audio visual content creation to name a few.

With an ever evolving industry scenario, there is a growing need for reaching out to the new age con-sumer that is on-the-go. There is a constant need for engagement for greater brand recall that requires a mix of integrated marketing strategies. Identifying this growing need for a holistic approach, the new PR vertical will provide a 360 degree integrated ser-vice that includes both online and offline PR. The vertical has been in the set up phase over the last few months and is now fully functional.’


Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder, FoxyMoron, also the Ac-count Director of the Public Relations division said, ‘Over the last 6 years, FoxyMoron has conceptual-ized some unique and award-winning communi-cation strategies. It was only a matter of time that we integrated all our service offerings to provide brands with an additional opportunity to commu-nicate through the same platform using different mediums. With traditional media and the new age digital medium often crossing paths, it is increasing-ly becoming difficult to ignore the importance of ei-ther medium. They cannot co-exist together without walking hand in hand. The team we’ve put together to set the ball-rolling for the new vertical brings a decade’s experience across sectors - corporate, fi-nance, fashion and lifestyle.’‘When exploring options for PR support for a recent

February 03, 2014

client contract we came across FoxyMoron and their newly launched PR Services. The company’s reputa-tion as an agency that thinks outside the box is ev-ident even in this newly launched vertical and their team impressed us with their flexibility in creating a campaign that matched our client’s requirements. During execution, FoxyMoron’s PR team impressed us with their perseverance and ability to deliver tan-gible results for clients’, said, Perzen Patel, Manager Marketing, Ennovent.

Talking about the importance of integrating PR with social media, Madhur Ramani, Founder & Managing Partner, Stratum Consulting said, ‘PR when integrat-ed with digital media can help brands reach out to their consumers better. As one of the leaders in the industry, they understand the significance and pow-er of the digital and social space. We are happy to have FoxyMoron on board as our Public Relations partners and look forward to a rewarding associa-tion.’


EQUITY BULLSLink: http://www.equitybulls.com/admin/news2006/news_det.asp?id=134557

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‘LIFE IS A JOURNEY BUT THE DESTINATION IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT’, SAYS MADHUR RAMA-NI OF STRATUM CONSULTING

DQ Channels in a chit chat with Madhur Ramani, managing partner at Stratum Consulting

Home: Half a month in Bombay & Half a month in DelhiSchool/College: Delhi Institute of Technology (Netaji Subhash Institute Of Technology)Company: Stratum ConsultingFamily: Small and closeI would like to be reborn as: Myself, but with the time & money to travel a lot more (Have always been pas-sionate about travel experiences)Most memorable event of my life: Difficult to choose one. The holiday in Europe this year. The first invoice we raised on a client 5 yrs ago. The first pay cheque 13 yrs ago.With my first pay cheque: Bought a Nokia phone 14 yrs ago. Monochrome display. Bulky. External an-tenna. And I loved it.Idol in life: No one in particular. However, my work makes me meet many Entrepreneurs who have lost everything in business, but have had the courage to build everything back again from scratch. Find that very inspiring.Can’t live without: The Internet & my gadgets (As many of my friends tell me repeatedly)

July 10, 2014

DATAQUESTLink: http://www.dqchannels.com/dq-channels/news/217368/-life-journey-destination-equal-ly-madhur-ramani-stratum-consulting

Favourite Gadget: My Macbook, iPhone & iPad. Great design, great build quality & keeps everything syncedFavourite Book: Not one in particular. When I get time to read a book (which is on holidays), I prefer spy thrillers mostly.Work-out regime: Outdoor activities. Not a gym per-son.Hobby: Travelling/reading online (with 30-40 tabs open together)/music. I am happiest when I can do all three togetherFavourite holiday destination: Western and South-ern EuropeFavourite Food: Not a foodie, so don’t care about it. But do care a lot about the ambience/experience of where I am eating I can’t stand: Hypocrisy and PoliticsSocial media preference: Waiting for the next Face-book /Twitter. Thought Google+ had a lot of poten-tial, but unfortunately it never took off. Currently, Instagram is my favouriteBest compliment I ever received: When someone occasionally tells me I inspire them. Don’t think I have achieved anything (yet) to inspire anyoneCar I drive: Chevrolet AveoMotto in Life: Life is a journey, but the destination is equally importantAdvice to budding entrepreneurs: It’s easy to get enamored by media stories of multi-million dollar acquisitions, but there usually always is an untold story of a lot of persistence and personal sacrifice behind that successLike to watch on Television: Various genres - Spy thrillers, Sitcoms, Drama. However Spy thrillers are my favoriteThe cause I care for: I believe that if children/young-sters from lower strata of society are taught just three subjects - English, Computers & Basic Math - that can drastically transform their lives in terms of financial independenceOne thing I would like to change in myself: Become more comfortable with walking upto a stranger and starting a conversation. Would certainly help a lot professionally.5 years down the line I would be: hoping to have achieved a balance between professional success, personal relationships and health/fitness (all three things balanced)If not in the current industry, I would be: Not sure. I am where I want to be.

34

‘LIFE IS A JOURNEY BUT THE DESTINATION IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT’, SAYS MADHUR RAMA-NI OF STRATUM CONSULTING

DQ Channels in a chit chat with Madhur Ramani, managing partner at Stratum Consulting

Home: Half a month in Bombay & Half a month in DelhiSchool/College: Delhi Institute of Technology (Netaji Subhash Institute Of Technology)Company: Stratum ConsultingFamily: Small and closeI would like to be reborn as: Myself, but with the time & money to travel a lot more (Have always been pas-sionate about travel experiences)Most memorable event of my life: Difficult to choose one. The holiday in Europe this year. The first invoice we raised on a client 5 yrs ago. The first pay cheque 13 yrs ago.With my first pay cheque: Bought a Nokia phone 14 yrs ago. Monochrome display. Bulky. External an-tenna. And I loved it.Idol in life: No one in particular. However, my work makes me meet many Entrepreneurs who have lost everything in business, but have had the courage to build everything back again from scratch. Find that very inspiring.Can’t live without: The Internet & my gadgets (As

July 10, 2014

HTSYNDICATION.COMLink: http://htsyndication.com/htsportal/article/-Life-is-a-journey-but-the-destination-is-equally-im-portant-,-says-Madhur-Ramani-of-Stratum-Consult-ing/4989026

many of my friends tell me repeatedly)Favourite Gadget: My Macbook, iPhone & iPad. Great design, great build quality & keeps everything syncedFavourite Book: Not one in particular. When I get time to read a book (which is on holidays), I prefer spy thrillers mostly.Work-out regime: Outdoor activities. Not a gym per-son.Hobby: Travelling/reading online (with 30-40 tabs open together)/music. I am happiest when I can do all three togetherFavourite holiday destination: Western and South-ern EuropeFavourite Food: Not a foodie, so don’t care about it. But do care a lot about the ambience/experience of where I am eating I can’t stand: Hypocrisy and PoliticsSocial media preference: Waiting for the next Face-book /Twitter. Thought Google+ had a lot of poten-tial, but unfortunately it never took off. Currently, Instagram is my favouriteBest compliment I ever received: When someone occasionally tells me I inspire them. Don’t think I have achieved anything (yet) to inspire anyoneCar I drive: Chevrolet AveoMotto in Life: Life is a journey, but the destination is equally importantAdvice to budding entrepreneurs: It’s easy to get enamored by media stories of multi-million dollar acquisitions, but there usually always is an untold story of a lot of persistence and personal sacrifice behind that successLike to watch on Television: Various genres - Spy thrillers, Sitcoms, Drama. However Spy thrillers are my favoriteThe cause I care for: I believe that if children/young-sters from lower strata of society are taught just three subjects - English, Computers & Basic Math - that can drastically transform their lives in terms of financial independenceOne thing I would like to change in myself: Become more comfortable with walking upto a stranger and starting a conversation. Would certainly help a lot professionally.5 years down the line I would be: hoping to have achieved a balance between professional success, personal relationships and health/fitness (all three things balanced)If not in the current industry, I would be: Not sure. I am where I want to be.

35


One of India’s leading independent digital market-ing, ideas and media solutions agencies, FoxyMoron has extended its service offerings by launching its own Public Relations vertical. With an objective to provide integrated Media & Marketing solutions for brands, FoxyMoron will also offer Public Relations along with other service offerings, including social media marketing, web design and development, search engine optimization, media buying and plan-ning and audio visual content creation to name a few.

With an ever evolving industry scenario, there is a growing need for reaching out to the new age con-sumer that is on-the-go. There is a constant need for engagement for greater brand recall that requires a mix of integrated marketing strategies. Identifying this growing need for a holistic approach, the new PR vertical will provide a 360 degree integrated ser-vice that includes both online and offline PR. The vertical has been in the set up phase over the last few months and is now fully functional.’


Suveer Bajaj, Co-founder, FoxyMoron, also the Ac-count Director of the Public Relations division said, ‘Over the last 6 years, FoxyMoron has conceptual-ized some unique and award-winning communi-cation strategies. It was only a matter of time that we integrated all our service offerings to provide brands with an additional opportunity to commu-nicate through the same platform using different mediums. With traditional media and the new age digital medium often crossing paths, it is increasing-ly becoming difficult to ignore the importance of ei-ther medium. They cannot co-exist together without walking hand in hand. The team we’ve put together to set the ball-rolling for the new vertical brings a decade’s experience across sectors - corporate, finance, fashion and lifestyle.’

February 25, 2014

MY NEWSLink: http://www.mynews.in/News/foxymoron_ex-pands_its_business_with_launch_of_public_rela-tions

‘When exploring options for PR support for a recent client contract we came across FoxyMoron and their newly launched PR Services. The company’s reputa-tion as an agency that thinks outside the box is ev-ident even in this newly launched vertical and their team impressed us with their flexibility in creating a campaign that matched our client’s requirements. During execution, FoxyMoron’s PR team impressed us with their perseverance and ability to deliver tan-gible results for clients’, said, Perzen Patel, Manager Marketing, Ennovent.

Talking about the importance of integrating PR with social media, Madhur Ramani, Founder & Managing Partner, Stratum Consulting said, ‘PR when integrat-ed with digital media can help brands reach out to their consumers better. As one of the leaders in the industry, they understand the significance and pow-er of the digital and social space. We are happy to have FoxyMoron on board as our Public Relations partners and look forward to a rewarding associa-tion.’


36

strategies completely. To overcome this challenge, they need an expert who can incorporate these in-tegrated solutions that links the two under a single uniform communication platform.

An integrated communication and marketing strat-egy helps an organisation/brand enhance its image, create better recall and increased target audience engagement. For example, when a prospective em-ployee or client is searching online for any keyword related to your brand or product or service, all the data related to your digital as well as public relations tactics show up in the search.

The digital medium makes for an added tool to

reach out to a brand’s target audience and supports improved engagement and ability to learn and con-verse. In the end, the common goal of all platforms like social media, content marketing, SEO, and pub-lic relations through communication is consumer engagement. When combined with a long form of traditional media, it presents the potential for more fluid, responsive campaigns that operate simultane-ously on macro and micro levels.

Madhur Ramani, Stratum Consulting, Co-Founder and Managing Partner - a business HR advisory firm

THE CASE FOR CONVERGENCE OF DIGITAL WITHIN PUBLIC RELATIONS

It not only takes creativity, passion and consisten-cy to build a brand but it also takes the right kind of communication and tone of messaging to set a brand apart. Communication has always been an integral part of all brand building exercises to es-tablish the brand and at the same time industries at large have embraced the digital medium having understood its power and strength.

Regardless of the industry you belong to, digital me-dia has become an indispensable part of our lives.

Business owners, marketers and entrepreneurs have also realised the growing importance of inte-grating traditional media with the new age digital medium. With the social media explosion, all public relations and marketing activities can now co-exist in the digital space as digital PR and social media marketing respectively.

Today, many PR agencies strive to weave together PR with digital marketing in order to tie communi-cation challenges to core business problems and outcomes. However most of them have not been completely successful in implementing these digital strategies due to a dearth of expertise or skills in the SEO or digital marketing arena.

Similarly, digital media agencies have not been able to integrate an offline communication strategy into digital marketing activities because of lack of an in-depth understanding of the traditional media.Organisations need to realise that existing talent do not have the necessary skill set needed to integrate online as well as offline communication marketing

March 26, 2014

PR MOMENTLink: http://www.prmoment.in/1482/the-case-for-convergence-of-digital-within-pub-lic-relations.aspx

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While the demand is high, the supply of talent is limited. According to Ramani, since the digital space itself is new, there is a need for experts who can adapt and learn about the new developments in the space and at the same time are thorough with

the existing platforms. “Hence the available pool of people to select from is also small as compared to other professions,” he explains.

Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMoron states simi-lar concerns over limited talent pool and also the higher propensity for individuals to switch agen-cies. “Keeping a healthy work environment plays an important role in the retention of valuable re-sources. A strong team builds a strong agency and hence it is important to build, train and retain the right team,” he adds.


Employers across sectors and recruitment consul-tants have predicted 2014 to be the year of oppor-

tunities for social media specialists. “We predict that 2014 will witness a whole new social media analyst profile, whose core function will be to understand the social media data at hand, interpret it using lat-est analytic tools and techniques and bring the in-sights thus derived to the decision makers in cre-ative ways,” states Vohra.







January 28, 2014

BIZ NEWSLink: http://www.biznews.in/news/rise-in-demand-for-social-media-experts-in-fmcg-bfsi-pharma-com-panies

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“Keeping a healthy work environment plays an im-portant role in the retention of valuable resources. A strong team builds a strong agency and hence it is important to build, train and retain the right team,” he adds.











Suveer Bajaj, co-founder, FoxyMoron states simi-lar concerns over limited talent pool and also the higher propensity for individuals to switch agencies.

January 28, 2014

CHANCES ONLINELink: http://chancesonline.com/rise- ‐in- ‐demand- ‐for- ‐social- ‐media- ‐experts- ‐in- ‐fmcg- ‐bfsi- ‐pharma- ‐companies/#sthash.M8Yf0VQL.dpbs

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YEDYA BLOGSPOT

BEST WAYS TO ASSESS SOFT SKILLSSeptember 20, 2013

Link: http://yedya.blogspot.in/2013/10/best-ways-to-assess-soft-skills.html





Attitude and Cooperation: Soft skills include the atti-tude of the employee towards his peers and his work environment. One should be flexible and prepared to perform or work on tasks outside his/her stan-dard job profile and keep an open mind to learning. He/she should have a positive approach towards the work and overall functioning of the company.


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Link: http://www.techgig.com/knowledge/Best-ways-to-assess-soft-skills-3666








TECH GIG

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BENGALI NEWSLink: http://www.bengalinews24.com/world-media-opinion-and-feature/2013/09/22/20575/print





MADHUR RAMANI, MANAGING PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, STRATUM CONSULTINGAccountability and Responsibility: One needs to be

a team player when working in an organization. The performance of the employee is also evaluated by the amount of responsibility he/she takes for his own work as well accountability of the work done by his or her team members. One needs to take onus for the performance of his team keeping in mind cli-ent satisfaction as well.

