Speakers at the forum said that it was imperative for Corporate India, spanning all spectrums, to engage its talented workforce and involve them in a long-term relationship within the company to fight the high attrition rates they are faced with.

Recognising talent
Setting the tone for the day’s proceedings was the renowned HR expert, celebrated author and President of Nelson Motivation Inc, Bob Nelson, in his elobrate exposition on Creating a Culture of Recognition he pointed out that salary was no longer the main constituent of a satisfied staff or will ensure their retention. He observed that recognition and timely rewards and a conducive climate that provides motivational value for the employee to perform consistently in the singular pursuit of his career ambitions was the need of the day.

Lasting relationship
“Regardless of what you pay, money is not at the top of an employee’s motivational value unlike lasting relationship and a satisfying milieu that eggs him on and catalyses his loyalty factor,” Mr Nelson said, adding relationship is important as it is a function of the interactions. Organisations need to build on these interactions that makes people feel wanted and appreciated.

In this regard, Mr Nelson exhorted the organisations and HR practitioners not to define recognition but, on the other hand, create a culture of recognition that appreciates excellence and in turn drives performance in the organisation.

A word of caution for organisation was that they should adjust relationship to what works with their people and secret to managing performances lay in setting forth clear goals for all concerned and getting servious about recognition.

Dell Head HR-IT Ajay Tripathi, in his talk on Winnin with Innovative HR Practises, expounded that since today’s employees want to have their say in terms of roles they play within the organisation, HR practitioners should evolve systems that help manage employees career as also support them in moving up the career value chain.
Stressing the need to define individual plans and giving them due weightage, Mr Tripathi underscored the need for initiating leadership development programmes both for the employees as also the HR personnel so that they could support and perform their roles better.

Connect with staff
In a scathing indictment of the indifferent ways corporates function today in pursuit of their toplines and bottomlines growth and address the “deadly disease of attrition”, Standard Chartered Bank Vice President — HR Jyothi Menon, in her impassioned presentation on Emotional Engagement at the Workplace maintained that HR is no longer human resource but human relations.

Pointing out that corporates, in their efforts to tackle attrition have not been able to connect with their employees, Ms Menon said, it was high time corporates did a reality check and emotionally engaged and bonded with their staff. “Only through emotional engagement and human bonding can organisations energise employees and catalyse their productive energies towards human excellence.”

Sun Microsystems’ Director Systems Business Ashish Khushu speaking on Leadership in Digital Age explained how it was necessary to differentiate between manager and leader and observed that a leader was one with the innate ability to thrive on ambiquity and dabbled expertly in managing paradoxes. Leadership qualities, he averred could be acquired and one could also work on it. The post-lunch session saw PerotSystems CSO & Shared Services Head Srinivas Rao Chebella speak on Empowering People — A Leaders Perspective, Genpact Vice President (IT Services) M V Sarma on Effective Business Results with an Engaged Workforce and IndusEdge & SureWaves Managing Director Rajendra Khare delve on the subject of Seeds of Success - Our Beliefs.

Panel discusion
DH Avenues HR Leadership Forum, also conducted a panel discussion that explored the ideas of aligning human resources with changing business strategies. Speaking about the changing business climate, Anand Anand Kumar, VP & MD of Magma Design Automation India, said that HR is no more a support function of an organisation but a master business ally and an activist for change.

Sunder Rajan, GM-HR at Sasken Communication Technologies, delved into the topic of new expectations from HR personnels and the business challenges for human resource management.

The other panelists included Vasanthi Srinivasan, Associate Professor at IIM-Bangalore and Shriman Madhu Pandit Das, Chairman Akshaya Patra Foundation. M N Vidyashankar, IAS, Secretary to Government, Department of  Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, was the moderator of the session.

Award winners
Awards not only make a winner different from the ordinary but also recognise the winner’s dedication, efforts and hardwork. It also recognises the patience and perseverance of the winner. DH Avenues Leadership Forum  also recognised excellence in HR with its 3rd DH Avenues HR Excellence Awards.

N R Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor & Co-Founder, Infosys was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the human resoureces field by K N Tilak Kumar, Editor and Joint Managing Director, Deccan Herald.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Murthy said that this honour for the employees of Infy is a great affirmation of my belief that we have received lot more from the society than we have given it. “Such actions will certainly spur every one of us to work harder and to be more responsible,” he added. Mr Murthy said, “Deccan Herald and Prajavani have shaped the public opinion in a very positive way by demonstrating, enduring value of seeking truth, honesty and objectivity.”

“There is not a single morning, when I do not access or do not read Deccan Herald either in print when I am in Bangalore or when outside, access it through net.”

CEO of the Year with HR Orientation and HR Professional of the year award went to Perot Systems TSI India Ltd CEO Anurag Jain and Mindtree Consulting Ltd VP & Head-People Function Puneet Jetli. Mayur Bharath, Director- People Development, Asia Pacific and Japan Region, Hewlett-Packard received the Young HR Professional of the Year award.

Organisations with Innovative HR Practices award went to Dell International Services India and Accenture Services . Perot Systems received the award for the best, most fun place to work.

For speakers’ presentation visit hrleadershipforum.careeravenues.in.