Playing Role of 'Organisation Creator'

Managing ‘Succession plans’ and ‘Culture change’ in family-owned business has always been a daunting task for any HR professional. Believing in the capacity of HR to entirely transform the fate of business, Sushil Tripathi, working as ‘Head HR’ with Siyaram Silk Mills limited, for over eight years, says, current role has provided him an opportunity to change the typical image of HR function from a Personnel or Support function to Business function, by fulfilling the needs or objectives of multiple stakeholders in most traditional textile and garment business. Having more than 17 years of experience in various domains of the HR field, Sushil Tripathi, has shown excellence and has been successfully playing the role of ‘organisation creator’. In an exclusive interview with Corporate Citizen, he shares his vast experience of handling people related issues and knowledge he has gained about the responsibilities of HR in an organisation, while adding value to the entire business value chain

Education and Career

Since my childhood days, I was inspired of doing something very significant or of value, for the larger mass or community as a whole. With that aim in life, I thought to join civil services as this job only had the potential to offer diverse experiences, opportunity, influence and requisite resources to transform the lives of the people. To pursue this career, I opted History and Philosophy for my graduation subjects. These two subjects built my future foundations, helping me in understanding people, society, change and how the society we live in came to be, by invoking curiosity or probing mindset and I started relating or understanding things from intellectual and analytical mindset. A bachelors in Law was my next natural move and I did LLB with specialisation in Labour Law (1999-2000) from University of Allahabad.

A degree in Law helped me in landing a job in a garment export company named ‘Radnik Exports’in Delhi, as a ‘Personnel Officer’ in the year 2000. While working there for more than six years in Personnel function, I learnt the nitty-gritty of various aspects of human resource management e.g.,manpower planning, recruitment, selection, training, appraisal, compensation etc. Post Radnik Exports, I joined a construction company, which was into projects of rail infrastructure. After a stint of few years in construction, I realised that I am not getting satisfaction with the roles played there and somehow digressed with the core purpose of doing something big in life. These jobs were taken with the purpose to support my living in Delhi to crack the dream of becoming a Civil Servant, but probably destiny had decided something else and more enriching for me in life i.e. role of ‘HR Leader’ and I embarked on the journey to create difference and value in the life of anyone and everyone, who came into my interaction.

Aim high and dream big

Aim high and dream big has been the constant source of my inspiration and passion in life.

Destiny had thrown me into a very challenging but promising situation, since post Liberalisation, Indian Economy was flourishing under the regime of privatisation and globalisation. Lots of good opportunities were coming up in the private sector for a competent professional. Till that time, I was having approximately over nine years of corporate experience but not very significant for bright corporate success, as I was not having full-time management degree and required learning in various management streams like Marketing, Finance, Account and quantitative techniques with other conceptual business models and theories.

Realising the fact after deep reflection and self-evaluation, I left the job to make myself future ready and for the big opportunities in business. I joined IMT Ghaziabad for a full-time 15 month management course. This exposure was life-changing for me. It improved my knowledge in various areas, which we come across during all in a day’s work such as Finance, Marketing, Business Policy, Accounting to name a few. The Executive MBA classrooms are a diverse pool of students, rather professionals from vast profiles, functions and sectors. Needless to say, this offers a massive opportunity of networking, interaction and learning, which exposed me to the dynamics of various industries and offered a great platform for networking. I was now ready for the next leap in corporate life with better preparation. Till that time, continuous learning and upgradation has been my success mantra.

"I have observed and firmly believe that if you want to be successful or achieve something big in your life, you have to continuously learn and upgrade yourself. This is more than necessary in the current VUCA world to remain relevant"

On the journey of transforming lives

With all repository of knowledge, management tools, frameworks, enriched experience, better maturity and readiness from IMT Ghaziabad, I started my professional journey as a ‘Manager HR’ in GATI Infra Ltd based at Rongli town of Sikkim state. This role was very demanding but fulfilling and enriching as well, for my whole career as I had to perform in a completely different work environment, geography and culture, which I had never dreamt of. Carving big hydro projects are not less than a miracle and are a kind of victory for men over nature. Every day was complex and uncertain here nothing was predictable, neither people of the state nor progress at project site. Nature was playing a game of hide and seek, every now and then. On a daily basis, we were evaluated and taught the lessons by nature on traits, perseverance, flexibility, adaptability, never give up, never die, collaborations, resilience, teamwork etc. and finally it has become DNA of my personality.

First time in my life, I was actually living the paradigms that nothing is impossible, by defying all the odds of nature and people and by channelising the powerful positive energy of people I learnt about Leadership, Motivation, Team Building, Team Work, Project Execution and Management, CSR, Liasoning and most importantly I learnt about managing people of diverse cultural background and how alignment across the organisation can be ensured towards one common goal. Triple Bottom Line framework of performance measurement was also a valuable learning from Gati Infra Exposure. With CSR activities carried out at affected project areas in the realms of Health, Education, Skills, Livelihood, we were able to transform the lives of so many people on a sustainable basis. All that I learnt there, made me convinced that the role of ‘HR Leader’ has the true capability of creating positive changes in the lives of others and I found this to be the core of my early day’s purpose.

"If HR has to be a part of business and custodian of people function, they have to take a dip 24/7 in real time in the river of learning and have to be at the same level in learning curve of current business realities"

Moving into ‘Business HR’ role

Till GATI I had worked in factory and at project sites or at shop floor level, at a typical operation or execution level and was not very much exposed to business or strategic intent of the organisation. So, joining Moser Baer Projects Pvt Ltd as a Business HR, was a natural choice. As a Business HR of Hydro and International Solar Business, I understood the requirement and expectations of business towards people aspect, in terms of system, policies and procedures, required behaviours and competencies, to achieve organisational goals.

Here in this role, I was able to offer business and all people related solutions, by seeking support from multiple centre of expertise in HR domain operating at the corporate level. I was instrumental in aligning business and HR in real time and got letter of appreciation for more than 15 times in almost two years of my stint.

Taking a strategic and business partner role

The decline and growth in the energy sector, led my caravan to Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd.(SSML) A Textile giant driven by family values, literally helped me in understanding the ‘Why’ of any function in the business. By working directly with the owner, I learnt the complete nuances of business and hard facts that till you are in the business or perceived to be in the business, whatever is done in the organisation, has to be valuable for the business. While heading retail and garment business of SSML, I took cultural and change initiatives to cope up with the fast changing business environment and create a sustainable organisation.

Learning, Upgrading and Unlearning

I have observed and firmly believe that if you want to be successful or achieve something big in your life, you have to continuously learn and upgrade yourself. This is more than necessary in the current VUCA world to remain relevant. So, keep learning and upgrading to sail through business demands on a daily basis. Unlearning is a precursor for anything new to learn or imbibe. This has to be intrinsic to the individual or self-driven to remain in the business.

Being role model in the organisation and to hone my skills for the future, I rigorously follow the path of continues learning and have done over 13 certifications (Competency Mapping and Assessment, Personality Profiling, Talent Management, Balance Score Card etc.) in HR domains in last 7–8 years. I keep my sensory organs always open to learn something new or weird.

How has your law education helped you in your HR career?

Organisations perform in a regulated and controlled business environment in the form of various rules, regulations, laws and acts, to ensure that interest of all stakeholders are met in a justified manner, with fair treatment and work practices across the levels. This helps in creating favourable business environment. Having awareness and knowing the importance of following all the rules and regulations of the nations, have made me successful in creating an organisation which is 100% compliant, free from any industrial disputes, litigation free, worker friendly, environment friendly, and thus sustainable in nature. This all has resulted into a great brand image for the organisation in market, increased our sales globally, attracted workers at our facility and made my life very easy for doing other important works.

"Managing emotions of the employees and channelising their energy towards the broader goals of the organisation is one of the most important expectations put on HR professionals"

Does Industrial Relations (IR) has any relevance now?

Personally, as a professional I believe, till you are dealing with humans and their differing needs at times, IR is always there. But, for me, IR is to make a sound or productive relationship among all the internal (employees and investors) and external stakeholders, in terms of community, government agencies, local politicians, suppliers and contractors, from whom you are taking help to execute your industrial activities or make anything happen in your organisation.

Industrial Relations is not only restricted to labour laws, strikes, union management, contract negotiation all these are just tools to make a conducive working environment and I have always considered IR from this perspective. I am of the opinion that if you are fair in dealing with the aspirations of all the stakeholders in respectful and transparent manner, you cannot have any issues emanating from so called IR.

How is it possible to keep on learning while working and making your career?

The role of HR is very important in creating a learning culture in an organisation. Business dynamics are changing very fast. Digitisation, free flow of information, AI, Robotics, Cloud Computing, Business Intelligence, Data Science and Analytics are impacting and disrupting existing business models including nature of work. All these necessitate new skill sets, mindsets, and learnings to be imbibed among workforce to create sustainable organisation and stay relevant.

Learning and upgradation is not a choice but a mandate given by business demands. If HR has to be a part of business and custodian of people function, they have to take a dip 24/7 in real time in the river of learning and have to be at the same level in learning curve of current business realities.

Are the HR fraternity and the organisations embracing these new digital HR trends?

There is a big gap in terms of accepting the digital role of HR in organisations and varies from organisation to organisation depending on the maturity, size and nature of business. Organisations, embracing digital HR trends, are restricted to its uses in transactional purposes, primarily for HRIS, MIS, induction, joining, benefits administration etc. And very few in screening resumes and using Chat Bots in replying to employee’s queries on HR policies or in engagement, E learning like activities. But, at strategic level in business decisions related to people aspects, its uses are limited. There a big way for the HR fraternity to be covered in the digital space, with well defined business case for adopting digital solutions in day-to-day transactional activities, to make employees free for productive ventures, thus saving a lot of time and money for the organisation.

You are working in Siyaram Silk Mills for now over eight years, which is a family owned. Did you face any cultural differences when you moved in and was working there different from the conventional HR practices?

Yes, in Siyaram, organisational culture is very different as compared to professionally managed setups. Relationship oriented, family kind of value based management style is the norm. But, we have been successful in influencing our top management to realise the benefits of automation, HRIS, HRMS, SAP like tools in HR, IT, Production and Material management. Lately, even in data mining, data analytics, MIS, Consumer buying pattern identification and in business decisions, intelligence tools and programs are used.

Some of the astute lessons you have learnt over these years

Managing emotions of the employees and channelising their energy towards the broader goals of the organisation is one of the most important expectations put on HR professionals. This requires HR professionals to be more mature and emotionally intelligent. We have to be very passionate and great in resilience. And while influencing others mandate, HR professionals have to keep themselves away from self-vested interest and get satisfaction in elating or changing the lives of others.

Secondly, we have to be very good at analytics and numbers, for understanding business and finance. When I say business, it is not only about where and how we are making money or where the money goes, but also completely understand the entire value chain of the business. This includes overall business processes, production, supply chain functioning and the kind of work carried out by the organisation. Only then you can add value to the organisation and your role will be justified within the system.