5 ........................Chennai Chapter Report 6 ... - National HRD Network

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A Tree Grows in Chennai Keeping in mind the pressures that would come about towards the end of March, the Chennai Chapter hosted its monthly meeting early in the month. On the 7th of March, members of the Chapter came in early to listen to an unusual speaker; Mrs. Vandana Gopikumar of 'The Banyan'. Dr. PVR Murthy, the National Secretary of the National HRD Network, and Advisor to the Chennai Chapter, welcomed the gathering and set the context for Vandana's talk. To most Chennai-ites, 'The Banyan' is a well known name. An institution that was born out of the sheer determination of two women: Vandana and Vaishnavi Jayakumar who, even when they were still students, founded 'The Banyan' to provide help and Vandana addressing the members Questions from the audience comes from within the individual, good HR practices of open communication, clear responsibility setting and providing career paths have resulted in many of the early employees continue to work with The Banyan even 14 years later. One of the facets that surprised many was that a leadership institute - 'The Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health' - was working to provide formal training for those seeking to make a mark in this sector! Some of the members from the audience shared their personal ties to The Banyan; M.Radhakrishnan, Head - HR, Apex Laboratories, spoke about the volunteer effort that he had been offering for The Banyan. Ganesh Chella, CEO of Totus Consulting also shared how The Banyan has been successful in building a strong second line of leadership that has enabled Vandana and Vaishnavi to step back from the day-today running of the organization. The powerful impact of Vandana's presentation, brought forth a spontaneous response from the assembled Chapter members; a sum of over Rs.5,000/- was collected and presented to Vandana on behalf of the Chennai Chapter! Devika Dharmaraj, Hon'y Treasurer, hands over the contributions from the Chapter Members Anyone wishing to contribute money to The Banyan may do so by sending cheques or demand drafts favouring 'The Banyan', payable at Chennai to: The Banyan, 6th Main Road, Mogapair Eri Scheme, Mogapair West, Chennai, 600 037. For other modes of involvement, please visit their website (www.thebanyan.org). The audience in rapt attention succour to countless mentally ill and abused women. To paraphrase Vandana, it was begun as a knee-jerk response, but it continued because both believed that they could make a difference. Over the past 15 years since it was founded, The Banyan has focussed not only on rescuing and providing shelter to mentally ill women, but more importantly, to also take steps towards reintegrating them into society and re-unite as many of them with their families as possible. Members of the audience were keen to know more about the HR practices that are being adopted by The Banyan. While replying to some of the queries, Vandana threw light on how, while the initial spark to serve Ganesh Chella makes a point Radhakrishnan shares his experiences National HRD Network Hyderabad Chapter | HRD News Letter | April 2008, Vol.24, Issue:1 5
Passing the Wisdom Baton: Mentoring and Leadership Development It is said that wisdom is gathered over years of experience. With average age of leaders in today's business world falling dramatically, where is the time for waiting for many years to roll by to gather that wisdom? The answer has come in the form of renewed focus on Mentoring that promises to distill wisdom acquired over the years and enrich the young leader. This may, perhaps be, an oversimplified definition of Mentoring. But in essence it does serve a function of accelerating development of leaders. Ever since Odysseus, before leaving home for the Trojan War, asked his trusted friend, Mentor, to provide care and guidance to his son Telemachus, a trend has been set where a seasoned professional agrees to provide mentorship to a protégé. When applied appropriately, this process has produced remarkable results. Nearer home, Krishna's mentoring Arjun in the Mahabharata is an outstanding example of high value-add of the mentoring process. Quite a few organisations have introduced Mentoring as part of their leadership development plan. They take great care in identifying the right mentors, training them in line with what is expected out of them and then embark on an education process for the Mentees so that they too understand the underlying purpose of the mentorship scheme and leverage it to the maximum. Mentors, in the first instance, must be one who has acquired reasonable amount of experience and has a mindset President's Message to nurture others. The most important quality of the Mentor is not being prescriptive but helping the Mentee evolve his or her own solution. They do these by acting as a 'sounding board' to Mentees' thinking process and at the same time bringing in anecdotal experiences and case examples in to the discussions. A seasoned Mentor takes genuine interest in the welfare of the Mentee, without imposing his or her opinion or thought process on the Mentee. A good Mentor thus plays very critical role to help shape an employee's career by encouraging, supporting and actively listening to his Mentee. A good Mentee is one who is willing to listen, learn and commit time and effort to improve his or her own thinking process, analytical ability and considering different options willingly. Mentees have to take responsibility for their own decision and action and not become dependant on Mentor or use them as a crutch. In doing so, such young minds grow quickly and leverage the experience of their Mentors. A good leadership development programme, therefore, makes mentoring an important element in its design. Organisations that find meaningful ways for engaging their employees through continuous learning opportunities, have benefited through better productivity, purposeful innovation and improved performance. They have gradually evolved to become an employer of choice. Mentoring process provides this 'continuous' learning experience. Proper mentoring has contributed to retaining talent. Analysis of Exit Interviews has shown that one of the main reasons a top talent will choose one employer over another is the opportunity for faster professional development and a possibility to explore one's own potential in a shorter time frame. Mentoring thus provides a customised and personal platform towards fulfilling this expectation. Existence of an effective and serious Mentoring program strongly signals and organisation's commitment to helping employees succeed and advance within the organization. This message can be somewhat reassuring in retaining talent. Mentoring is more than coaching. It is a process whereby a more experienced individual seeks to assist someone less experienced whereas 'coaching' refers to forms of assistance relating more specifically to an individual's tasks, skills or capabilities. Mentor advices but does not dictate the course of action and the Mentee can choose his or her course of action. It is an open relationship in which the Mentee can freely express and discuss his or her thought process without fear of criticism or prescriptive solutions. Many organisations are now experimenting with a modified version of traditional Mentoring. Instead of appointing seasoned and experienced professionals only as Mentors, they are selecting few bright youngsters and giving them a role of 'Mentors' especially for the newly hired employees. Differently known as a 'buddy system', this has proved a very effective channel in communicating organisation's culture, value systems, tradition and ethos. It has helped new employees to assimilate quickly with the organisation and become productive much faster. Mentor and Mentee need not be in the same geographical location. Organisations with dispersed work force have realised that it can work as efficiently across borders thanks to technology, discussions over phone or video conference has done away with the notion of proximity as a requirement. In fact, it has been found that cross-cultural mentorship is often more beneficial and provides a better learning experience to the Mentee. A successful mentoring programme is one where Mentor and Mentee share a common responsibility for learning. Where there is commitment and trust from both and where there is desire to invest in the process. While the Mentee gains from the experience of the Mentor, the Mentor gains by having the satisfaction of seeing the protégé nurture and grow under his or her mentorship. This can be a source of high level of satisfaction for the Mentors who see themselves as passing the baton and having made a difference to another professional. It is a win-win situation for all - the Organisation, the Mentor and most important, the Mentee. - Aquil Busrai | HRD News Letter | April 2008, Vol.24, Issue:1 6
Page 1: ISSN-0974-1720 Vol - 24 April 2008
Page 5 and 6: | HRD News Letter | April 2008, Vol
Page 7 and 8: Jaipur - Divine Strings : Mohan Vee
Page 9 and 10: Column Beyond Work: What we do afte
Page 11 and 12: What will you say when you hear of
Page 13 and 14: predictor of performance of both HR
Page 15 and 16: Consider any sector; name any indus
Page 17 and 18: We're Doing Great! How come We're n
Page 19 and 20: Kill The Fear Before It Kills You F
Page 21 and 22: Soft Skills - The big myth Just ima
Page 23 and 24: Extending Longevity And Brand Equit
Page 25 and 26: Fear: The Killer Of Organizational
Page 27 and 28: Leadership Can Be Learned any a tim
Page 29 and 30: All around the world most companies
Page 31 and 32: Raising Ethical Issues: Responsibil
Page 33 and 34: Suggested Solutions To Case Studies
Page 35 and 36: Chapter News Krishna Gubbi, Secreta
Page 37 and 38: Managing Global Workforce NHRDN Del

5 ........................Chennai Chapter Report 6 ... - National HRD Network

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