1.
MUKESH J. ASUDANI
Vice President - HR
February 15, 2013
PREPARE FOR THE UPTURN
An HR practitioner’s perspective/s

2.
The Context
The Starting Point
Managing Ourselves
Building Blocks
Flow

3.
DOWNTURN? WHAT GOES DOWN ALSO COMES UP
• There is perhaps too much negativity around us
• Information Overload
• Fast Changing
• Uncertainty
• Ambiguity
The Context : What are the times we live in
and how do we respond to them?
“Because in the bumpy and unknown road ahead, where we need to
make constant course corrections, our people are our only competitive
edge”
HR is even more critical “today”
The role of HR “Do what it takes – for the company first to survive and
then to thrive”.
• We also live in very exiting times
• The Downturn is an Opportunity as well

4.
Hay Group & Fortune Magazine - Most Admired Companies – @ 2007 19.6% average shareholder
returns
TOP 10 MOST ADMIRED COMPAINES WHO HAVE SPENT > 10 YEARS AT THE TOP – KEY ELEMENTS
• Excellence in talent management
• Strong Organisational Culture
• Profound Employee Engagement
• Delivering of Strategy
• Managing Innovation
• Balancing Global and Local
• Focussing on the long term
Do we need to reinvent the wheel?
WMAC’s (World’s most admired companies – some Characteristics) (Source - Hay 2011 report)
• Enduring strategies
• Aligned structures
• Robust operating models
• Equipped leaders
They are more successful at maintaining high
levels of loyalty and motivation in hard times.
All businesses strive to adopt and follow best practice. Yet for the World’s Most Admired
Companies (WMACs), there is no such thing as best practice when it comes to
organization. Instead, what makes WMAC’s special is the distinctive way that they
manage their organizations.

5.
The Starting point for HR
KNOWLEDGE
SOCIAL ROLE
Behaviour
demonstration of
expertise
Recurrent
thoughts that
drive behaviour
A general
disposition to
behave in a
certain way
SELF-IMAGE
TRAIT
MOTIVE
SKILL
The image one
projects to others
(‘outer self’)
Information that a
person has in a
particular area
SelectforTrainfor
A person’s sense
of identity and
worth (‘inner
self’)
BELIEFS
Each one of us must have a shared belief that
what we do has high business impact.

6.
Strategy
• Identify key levers of business - what brings value to the company & hold
on to them at any cost
• Hold on to the long term objectives (while ensuring current survival) (avoid
QSQT)
• Build enduring strategies for good times and bad – strong stable strategies to
serve the company in fair winds and foul
• Make strategies happen
Building Blocks
Communication
• Help the company to develop and communicate business strategy clearly to
people at all levels throughout the organisation
• Communicate that the company is preparing for the upturn
• Develop a wiring system that connects different parts of the organisation
• Broken Record
Active Listening, Crisp and Powerful Telling

7.
Talent
• Cherry pick talent at the right price and right time
• Drivers for personal growth & advancement are consistently available in hard times
• Hands on approach to developing talent – top leadership spends as much as 30 % of
their time
Building Blocks
Build an Organisation
• That is unique and fit for purpose (what’s this?)
• Align structure to strategy and business model (the way the company makes money)
• Then align everything including behaviours, jobs, culture etc.
• Have flexibility in operating models – but make it visible (how work happens)
Leadership (who is a leader. Diff betwn leader and manager)
• Identify, develop & reward leaders who are successful across the organisation
• Managers to be made aware of their impact on people, leadership styles
• Equip leaders to be successful – expose leading talent to learning opportunities
• Leadership development to address our strategy, structure and operating model.
Develop leaders to run the organization under ever changing
circumstances

8.
Why do people you don’t want to leave - leave
• No roots – people, family relationships
• Non enjoyment of work, No learning, No challenge/s
• I am not appreciated, recognised, needed
• I don’t know what to do, what I will be rewarded for
• Nobody cares, Bad relationships
Why do people which you want to stay - stay ‘on’ in organisations
• For the right reasons - Great relations, caring, stretch at work, good hygiene factors, a
good career above all a great life – the entire employee value proposition package
Retention
Have a plan to hold on to Talent - Some good practices
• Help people get roots – good relationships, friendships
• Develop a feeling - My company needs me, Belongingness
• Opportunity to participate in the building of a ‘great ‘ organisation
• Consistent demonstration that the company cares – across touch points
• Creating a great employee experience – I have had the best time of my life here
We need to develop our own ‘Fevicol’

9.
Research (Source : Hay Group Report on PM – 2011)
• 73 % companies fail in linking performance to strategy
• 76 % fail to tailor PMS to the companies culture and value
Performance Management
CEO’s / Business Leaders Perspective
• 64 % believe that individual PM is an important drive of overall business performance
• 43 % believe it contributes to the bottom line
• 40% believe that managers in their firms fail to use their PMS process effectively
• 38% believe that managers in their companies do not support the PMS process actively
• 40 % business leaders admit spending 10 % or less time in managing poor performance
• 37.5% describe their PMS process as a ‘tick box exercise’
What to do and how to do
• Link PMS, Culture & strategy - Ensure performance measures are closely aligned
• Ensure leadership spends time to drive top performance & manage poor performance
• Pick up ‘Stretch’ goals for self & facilitate everyone to be committed to the ‘stretch’
• PMS system should be fair and should be seen to be fair
Performance management sits at the heart of the business success - A good PMS
helps us to use collective power of our workforce to deliver growth ambitions
Only 13 % do both

10.
M&A - In case . . .
• There are significant challenges inherent in delivering shareholder value
• Do the due diligence well
• Take care of cultural dimensions
• Lots of options – we need to choose well
Building Blocks
Develop a strong culture (Big Ticket)
• Which fits with your business drivers and with the company’s values
• Employees can be relied upon to act on their own initiative in a way that is consistent
with the company’s objective, culture and values
• Where people are comfortable in giving and taking feedback
• Align culture to PMS
• Ensure everyone is aligned to around a common goal, vision and brand
• Treat people well – be supportive to your people
Basics - lets not forget the hygiene factors
• Money, good place to work, seating, progressive HR policies – stick to the knitting
Stick to Line and Length in Crunch times

11.
The premise- Four Needs of People
To Live
Physical/Economic
Fairness/Security
To Love
Social/Emotional
Kindness/Respect
To Leave a Legacy
Spiritual Meaning/Integrity
To Learn
Mental Development/
Use of Talents
The Fire
Within
Channelizing these to achieve Business Objectives is the fulcrum
of everything

12.
Preparing Ourselves - Insights
Believe in ourselves
Meditation Presentability
Detached Attachment – Sakshi Bhav Acceptance
Timing Taking feedback
Interpret Assert
Listening skills Awareness
Judgment Living in the present moment
Resilience Confidence
Simplify Service Leadership
Expand Ego Management
Challenge Courage
Collaborate Address Elephants
Non-violent communication Trust
Passion Impact & Influence
Balance Indulge Ourselves

13.
Thank You
If we and our organizations are
future ready, Downturn or Upturn,
life is Relaxed