PEOPLE’S PERSON ALL THE WAY

“Speak in such a way that others love to listen to you; listen in such a way that others love to speak to you.” Given that this is one of his favourite quotes, you’d think that the affable Sanjeev Sharan, Director, HR, ZTE Telecom, is a people’s person all the way through.

That assumption is partially correct he will have you know that he is more of a data-driven, business-oriented man who believes in a realistic assessment of people vis-à-vis the challenges and opportunities intrinsic to the people. “Contrary to popular belief, HR is not just about emotion but also impact,” he says. “If you understand the business you will have an edge that will serve you well.”

Sharan would know after all, the years spent as a strategic HR professional with global experience and a repertoire that includes a strong exposure on organisational culture building, performance management and business HR, would definitely tell their own story. Besides this, he has led the Globalization Project based in China with a focus on setting up HR led process and policy aligned to Global Best Practices.

Also a prolific writer and eloquent orator, Sharan actively engages audiences on emerging trends, challenges and opportunities before the industry. Author of the book “The Flipside of Management: 7 funny tales” he is also an NLP practitioner.

And in case anyone thought HR was mainly about recruitment, rewards and recognition, this interview will serve as an eye-opener

Corporate Citizen: First things first. You have enjoyed a long and illustrious career. Please tell us something about your childhood and growing up years. How did you come to be an HR person?

Sanjeev Sharan: It was a regular, happy upbringing in a middle-class family growing up along with cousins. I was born in Orissa but brought up and studied in Patna. While most of my maternal relatives were in the private sector, my paternal relatives were in the government and education sector. As a departure from the norm, I was amongst the first person in the family to opt for the humanities post Std. X. We, being, a joint family, the effect of such a decision, was bound to reverberate. For a couple of months, a couple of family elders were not happy as they felt I had broken the tradition. But from the outset, I was clear that I never wanted to be in a government job as I felt I was not cut out for it. My family thought I would then opt for civil services a combination of the humanities and civil services was the trend. But I did not do that either-unlike several of my friends who opted for the civil services. That was another disaster as my family saw it. (smiles) I completed my further studies in Delhi. Surprisingly, I was meant to start my career in sales and then gradually moved to HR and admin. I went on to work in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Patna and finally China.

CC: How would you describe yourself both as an HR person and an individual?

Well, that is a difficult question but I would try to address it-I am first and foremost, a hardcore businessperson with a bent on looking at things from the psychological perspective. That is who I am in essence. I feel since I was in the sales and was close to numbers, I definitely had an edge later on. It is important for an HR professional to understand the business to be able to add value to the profile, whether it is recruitment or performance evaluation. Merely having good people skills or an ability to communicate isn’t enough. The more knowledge you have of the business you are working for, the more you are likely to succeed in your role. A deeper insight into the nature of the industry and the business itself is critical. It isn’t just enough to recruit or source people, it is imperative to recruit the right people who are suited to the organisational culture and business. So yes, definitely, the business involvement of any HR person is important. It is important to understand and accept that if you behave only like the “support system”, you will be treated as just that. In order to be more equal, you have to bring more to the table. Secondly, I prefer following data-centricity in my approach. Data is a plain fact, unbiased and straightforward, and makes decision making simpler and uncluttered. The fact is HR is not just about emotion but also impact.

I believe that HR is also beyond about making policies to make people happy. In fact, policies are meant to drive business at the end of the day and must strike a fine balance between keeping people happy and ensuring that the business continues to grow.

Interestingly, another foremost responsibility of HR is dealing with the managers, including the first-time ones to whom employees report. In a way, first-time managers are growing from being simply solitary individuals to family people. This vital shift in their role and their mindset needs to be understood, gauged and guided by HR so that they get into the groove of things.

"Team building, at the end of the day, is all about loyalty resultant to trust. And loyalty and trust are an outcome of engagement. It is of utmost importance to engage them well so that they enjoy working"

CC: What qualities, according to you, help an HR person succeed?

As I said, HR is basically about understanding the business. It isn’t merely limited to recruitment or compensation or motivation. In a practical and realistic sense, motivation is the team manager’s job. HR’s job is to coach and handhold the manager. After all, employees report to their respective managers. I would humbly suggest it is always better for HR professionals to have on field or on-ground business experience for sometime because there’s a huge difference between theory and practical know-how. That will help you add the extra to the ordinary.

CC: How has the role and responsibility of HR changed post-Covid-19?

Well, certainly life has changed in a big way for everyone-including HR. Major changes can be felt in process, culture, behaviour and most importantly, mindset. Earlier on, it was easy to perform work-related tasks with people around us—assessing their body language and gauging what was on their mind was simple enough. But today, there is a “screen” between two people which brings with it the inherent challenge of how to engage, evaluate, motivate and perform in a virtual space. It’s a big task. We must remember that human senses play a major role in our professional and personal performances. Now in the new “screen age”, the screen has become a substitute for those senses. The whole ecosystem is still struggling to adapt.

One can feel the weight of simple challenges like how to design measurable Key Performance Indicators, monitor the same and carry out the necessary hand-holding. At times, it happens that someone who was a star performer before Covid-19 is struggling to live up to their past performance. Thus, it’s important for HR to maintain that continuity of connect between a manager and a team which is easy and natural to lose in the present circumstances.

Another factor is of a high probability of a “trust deficit” between the manager and team. For instance, earlier, there was a better sense of understanding by manager/leader, in case someone explained inability to attend meetings when called for. You didn’t really mind because you could see for yourself that they were indeed busy with some task. But now, in the remote culture, when you call for a meeting and they tell you that they are caught up with something else, there is a high probability of wondering whether they really are attending to their professional duties or are engaged with their personal ones. It is always a difficult proposition when people are far away from you. Nevertheless, one is learning and adapting every single day.

CC: A frequent observation made by employees in the current work from the home scenario is that the lines between personal and professional spaces have blurred—many complain of burnout, working much more than they usually do. Your take on the matter.

In any organisation, there are always a set of people who are comparatively more loaded than others at a certain point in time. It is practically very difficult for any organisation to have 100 per cent equitable distribution of work. Naturally, this was bound to continue post-Covid-19 as well. Fortunately, we as an organisation, are a little different. Thus, when it comes to a work-life balance, I would like to share two points. One, we are not ruthlessly ambitious; rather, we are rationally ambitious. Second, our leaders and managers enjoy a good and workable personal connect with their teams, a healthy one on one. We are blessed to have a good percentage of employees who have enjoyed a pretty long tenure in the organisation. To simplify, I would say that over the years, we have developed a cultural structure where chances of a burnout are very less. We have observed that lot of our managers and leaders are connected with the employees beyond their own vertical or function. This is getting us some helpful and timely leverage in the backdrop of the Covid-19 crisis. For instance, if someone sitting in Aligarh needs help, they would know of other employees in Aligarh who would be in a position to help. This is the level of support that we are able to offer our employees.

"I feel since I was in sales and was close to numbers, I definitely had an edge later on. It is important for an HR professional to understand the business to be able to add value to profile, whether it is recruitment or performance evaluation"

CC: A question that boggles the mind is this: how on earth do you build a team with people working from home? How do you achieve that sense of cohesiveness?

Team building, at the end of the day, is all about loyalty resultant to trust. And loyalty and trust are an outcome of an engagement. It is of utmost importance to engage them well so that they enjoy working. It is true that one does not get stressed doing the work one loves. Only when people feel well-utilised, valued and cherished do they engage with work and the organisation. For me, engagement is an emotion.

Our system of reward recognition, engagement and compensation are “uniquely different”. See, if people are treated fairly, half of your issues are addressed automatically. For example, if you were to have a manager who might be great at communication but is overall unfair in his treatment, it’s not going to work. People want to be dealt fairly on all counts. Thus, our manner of team-building is very personalised, data-driven and keeps the employee’s needs front and centre. As an organisation, we aren’t very vocal and visible. We are more than 20 years old in India but have consciously preferred to maintain a low profile, saying little, and continuing to focus on business. And it has worked all these years.

Our timely response to Covid-19 is an example. From early Jan 2020 itself, we had taken safety concerns, masks and sanitisers were made compulsory, people received education on the importance of Covid safety behaviour.

CC: That’s pretty early in the day...

Well, we have always been proactive about managing Covid. As an organisation, we have ensured that it’s not only HR’s responsibility but pretty much everyone’s. To that effect, we have a cross-functional team led by the CEO and driven by HR to look after our employees’ Covid times’ need. So, from top to bottom, we review every day as to what is needed for which employee. In the first few weeks, the management worked on building infrastructural support for people at different locations. We have an ecosystem and infrastructure like concentrators, canisters, etc. in place that are put in use for those who need it. Our help desk connects to the people and finds out their requirements. Both the employees as well as their families can call up and ask for specific aid.

In the current situation, it is hard but to any extent we can reach the help and make a difference, we do so. Leaders and managers are in regular (moreover willingly) in touch with employees’ needs. Plus, we have a database of people we can reach out to. We are not ashamed of asking for help from anywhere the bottom line is to ensure the aid is reached on time. All this, too, is an important aspect of team building. Our attrition rate is comparatively low and engagement score is high and that speaks for itself.

THE FLIPSIDE OF MANAGEMENT: 7 FUNNY TALES - EBOOK BY SANJEEV SHARAN

The Flipside of Management is a collection of rib-tickling stories related to one’s professional lives. It is simple, easy to read and easy to relate in the day-to-day life of any professional who works in an MNC or a lala organisation. Each story will make the reader feel, “Yes, this happens”. The author focuses on the “reality taste” and has refrained from preaching between right or wrong.” The efforts convey the message purely through facts. The book covers areas such as a candidate’s experience during recruitment, relationship and emotion-based performance evaluation, the neglect of non-sales functions in rewards and recognition events, Corporate Social Responsibility misused for branding, shortsighted selection and perception-based management instead of data-based management. The book becomes all the more relevant as it gives the reader food for thought resulting in humane positivity towards people and business.

CC: In the days to come how do you envisage ZTE’s role in the telecom sector in both India as well as internationally?

ZTE is an old and reputed organisation, over 35 years old, and is present in multiple countries. Technology is our core strength and business and the focus is on it. Our global R&D spend on it is very high, around 15 per cent of our revenue. Thus, we are very sure about the quality of our technology and products. Our USP as an organisation is that we are very sensitive to the needs of the customers. Our employees are nurtured to be attuned to the pain of the clients. That’s the only way we can add value-to actually partner with the customers and tell them that we are with them all the way. The product quality we deliver is our strength and so are the people who are delivering this quality. Our best ambassadors are our employees and customers.

CC: How true is this perception that HR guys have to be extroverted and outgoing in order to reach out to people?

Very interesting question. Well, whether or not they are extroverted or outgoing, what is important is their ability to build that credibility of being, firstly, approachable, secondly, dependable and thirdly, unbiased. You have to build up the basic trust factor in people that they will be heard with an open ear and non-judgmental mind. It’s really critical to drop the suffocating veil that barricades communication. This will lead to more constructive and productive performance. When I use the term trust it means that the employees need to have the confidence that you will maintain their privacy and be fair. Fairness is the most important thing.

CC: I noticed that you use the word ‘fair’ several times indicating how important it is.

Yes. Because you see, an HR person may be forgiven for not being polite at times, or even get away with lots of great communication skills. But in work as in life, it is an unfair treatment that rankles in the person’s mind. Everyone wants to be treated fairly. It’s the most basic of human needs.

CC: What are the challenges before telecom as an industry in the days to come?

It is not only about challenges, it is also about a readiness to change. Globally, industries are in a state of evolution and on the cusp of change, given the times we live in. Telecommunication is no exception. It has gone from being transactional and SMS-centric to social media like WhatsApp and Facebook to digital mode. These are big changes and naturally, the role and scope of telecom is bound to change. Only organisations that are adaptable and futuristic will able to play around in space as interesting and evolving as telecom. It won’t do to merely rest on past laurels because the past, however glorious, is gone. By all means, learn from it but look to the future. Consumers will be the ones driving all the changes in the industry, they will be the king. If you continue surprising customers with innovation and deliver products and services relevant to their needs, the customers will never forget you.

CC: How do you unwind after a hard day’s work?

It isn’t very hard to do so; I think I am one of those few people who have been less stressed at work overall. Probably, I am blessed to have worked with wonderful teams and fantastic leaders all through my career. They have played a very important role in influencing my life. Secondly, I am an avid reader who absolutely dotes on books and have a collection of over 300 books. I love reading up on what makes businesses tick and grow. Truth be told, I am a purist when it comes to books… someone who has to feel and touch the hard copy of the paper to truly live and cherish the experience of reading a book, but given the paucity of space and the march of technology, I use Kindle these days. I try to finish at least two books in a month. My “me time” is reading books and playing with my pet dog Steif.

ABOUT ZTE

Founded in 1985, ZTE is a leading ICT provider of integrated communications and information solutions. A company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, with operations in over 160 countries globally, is listed in both Hongkong and Shenzhen stock exchanges. ZTE is a global supplier of carrier networks, terminals and optical transmission. Wireless access, wireline access, core network, Bearer network, transmission systems and telecom UEs are the main focus areas for ZTE.

CC: We were looking at your book ‘The Flipside of Management: 7 Funny Tales. What was your inspiration to write this?

Well, as I said I love to read and write. I am a regular contributor to a few publications. Somewhere deep down, I always wanted to write something that everyone could relate to. In the course of my career, I have met several interesting people with very interesting stories to share. Two things stand out through the stories-one, how at times, HR gets driven by other factors that aren’t obvious, and secondly, how losing focus on HR by business leaders can have a negative long-term impact on organisational culture and business. Simply put, I wanted to bring home the point that HR is not the responsibility of HR alone. The USP of this book is that it isn’t gyaan It is an effort to reinforce the fact to all people managers and leaders that even a small flip in your day to day HR practices can lead to a major derailment and demotivation. For instance, from the recruitment perspective, what impact does the practice of making someone wait for hours have on the candidate and their perception of you?

Also, when it comes to promotion, many tend to give into immediate pressures and promote someone without pondering whether the person is ready for the role or not. Are they actually meant for that organisational culture? One of the points the book has sought to bring home is that performance should not be the sole criteria for the promotion. You have to be the right fit. So, each of these topics has been taken up in a funny way the readers can relate to what is being brought home. Plus, each story can be completed in about 20 or 25 minutes-so one does not have to have massive amounts of patience or time to read it. It can be read on a flight or a metro or in the course of a drive. You can easily read a story per day. I have deliberately kept the language simple. The feedback I have received from those who have read it is that Yeh to mere office ki kahaani hai. Well, I don’t know actually kiski kahaani hai (laughs) but it’s slice of life story-telling and therefore, identifiable.

"We have always been pro-active about managing Covid. As an organisation, we have ensured that it’s not only HR’s responsibility but pretty much everyone’s. To that effect, we have a cross-functional team led by the CEO and driven by HR to look after our employees’ Covid times’ need"

CC: So was this your first book? And are you planning to write anymore?

Yes, my next book is about the funny changes in relationships brought about due to Covid-19. It will surely again be written in a humorous vein, because every situation, no matter how tragic, also has a positive and funny side to it. And that’s what I am trying to focus on.

CC: Tell us about both your professional philosophy as well as your personal philosophy.

Professionally speaking, I am a learner by heart. And I try not to be judgmental to the extent that is humanly possible. I avoid taking decisions or making recommendations based on my first reaction and try to look at the situation in its entirety or a person’s response in context to what transpired. To be driven by impulse is usually not a good idea as one wrong decision can ruin a career or affect your relationships in a long-term.

Secondly, I prefer to communicate the point through facts when assessing something or conveying a point. Facts are based on data and data, by its very nature, is objective. People may resist them at first but then facts have a way of holding their ground.

On a personal level, Covid-19 has taught me to enjoy present moment stress-free. One important thing I have learnt is not to not spoil relationships over small issues and help whatever way one can.