Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar’s Yukti ’20-the HR Conclave, featured well-known experts from various industries across the country in perceptive discussions on various themes. The experts emphasised how workplaces need to reduce the middle management workload by resorting to a ‘We-Working’ approach, as well as automated processes and operations.
The theme for the first-panel discussion was ‘Navigating the future workplace: Competencies needed for the jobs of the future’. The conversations centred on the need to understand the skill-sets that companies will be focusing on in the future.
Industry-academia interaction
The conclave commenced with Prof Nagarajan Ramamoorthy, Director, IIM Amritsar, stating that in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the concepts of time, place and distance barely matter and with technology one can reach anywhere in the world now. He also highlighted that no business education is complete without industry interaction and this is the crux of bridging the gap between academia and practices. Concluding his address, Prof Ramamoorthy said he expects all his students to make the most out of the opportunity and learn from the first-hand experiences of industry stalwarts.
Introducing the theme for discussion, IIM Amritsar students delivered a presentation on the theme of the HR panel. Students Shefali Rani and Alisha Ramteke explained how the nature of jobs is changing at a fastpace in a rapidly changing world. Building on the theme, they stressed that competencies need to be redesigned and rethought to cope with the extreme changes in the post-pandemic world.
New definition of VUCA
The first panel had . Kishore S (Dep. Manager HR, Manali Petrochemical Ltd), Ankita Singh (VP and Global Head HR, Cignex Datamatics), Naga Siddharth (Head- People & Culture, Suprdaily), Abhinav Shrivastava (Head of HR, Ceat), Meenalochani Kumar (Global Head, Leadership Development, Sutherland).
Abhinav Shrivastava was the moderator for the first session. He highlighted how the VUCA model has changed to vulnerability, unprecedented times, contradiction and anxiety on account of the Covid-19 pandemic. Shrivastava talked about the concept of “Meta-Change” and explained how learning to learn would become a key competency for future jobs.
Meenalochani Kumar emphasised the importance of bio-empathy in today’s pandemic situation. She insisted that leaders hitthe pause button and take some time out to learn from nature. She highlighted the crucial role that will be played by “neuro-science” in the coming days. Kumar also said that not all needs have to be converted to wants. One can own only two pairs of clothes and still be fulfilled and thus there is a shift towards the minimalistic ways of living.
Kishore S deemed “challenging the status quo” one of the core competencies that would be required in the face offuture uncertainties. He also explained how commitment and technology would play a pivotal role in navigating these uncertain times. On the optimistic side, he said a broad range of opportunities would be opening up and that agile learning would help one grab the right opportunity.
Stay relevant
Naga Siddharth started with the novel idea of ‘Authentic Originality’, explaining that making use of every moment creatively is now an asset. The concept of remote empathy is crucial and he suggested that every organisation should cultivate it in order to empower its employees to gauge and sense the impact of their words on other people.
Dr Ankita Singh spoke about staying relevant by tailoring oneself to the needs of the market, investing in oneself as well as exploring more opportunities. She also said existing skill-sets might not even exist by 2030 and thus employees must accept and embrace changes with a learning and growth mindset.
The students of IIM Amritsar showed enthusiasm during the panel discussion. The discussions were highly interactive and there was a healthy Q&A session between panelists and students. BusinessLine on Campus (BLoC) is IIM-Amritsar’s Digital Media Partner for the Yukti event.