NHRDN’s endeavor to spread the message of, ‘Energizing for Excellence’, resounded in every professional’s mind at the 3-day national event in Hyderabad this year

With over 1,250 professionals, 14 international speakers and 28 national speakers in attendance, National HRD Network was successful in achieving its endeavor to energize the HR community for excellence through its 16th National Conference 2012 at Hyderabad. As T.V. Rao, Founder and Past President of NHRDN, Chairman, TVRLS, professed on the day of the inaugural, the event focused on knowledge dissemination for the HR fraternity on the theme: ‘Energizing for Excellence’ on the five levels outlined below:

The nation: With stalwarts like former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, addressing the need for excellence at the national level, the HR fraternity was enlightened on how the economy needs to build a progressive outlook. The message was clear - there is a widespread need in India to convert confusion into coordination, contention into collaboration, and intention into implementation.

The society: In order to answer the question of how can the society be involved in this task of achieving excellence, Deepak Jolly, VP, Hindustan Coca-Cola and Vasuki Sunkavalli, Miss India Universe 2011, brainstormed on the pros and cons of taking the CSR route to sustain excellence at the societal level. Dilip Chenoy, MD & CEO, NSDC said, “Creative capitalism is what will really help build sustainable partnerships in the society.”

The organization: NHRDN orchestrated multiple sessions that aimed at showcasing inventive HR practices being adopted by organizations today. Robin Speculand, Founder & CEO, Bridges Business Consultancy, advised leaders to focus on converting the 20 percent of enthusiastic people, who in turn sway the 60 percent employees sitting on the fence, to further create a critical mass overall, that helps overcome the resistance from the 20 percent saboteurs.

The team: Multiple speakers and sessions focused on how it is crucial to propel effort through teamwork. In one such session on how leaders are the true team derailers, conducted by Gary Martin, CEO, AIM WA, Perth and Anand Pillai, SVP & Chief Learning Officer, Reliance Industries, the audience and the facilitators brainstormed on how a leader plays the critical role in channelizing the energy of individuals and teams at the workplace. In the international arena, a global mindset and virtual leadership shall pave the way to fuel productivity and excellence through talent management at the team level.

The individual: One of the key messages from the 3-day event was that each individual can only hope to start a true quest for excellence by imbibing transformational behaviors. Of the many transformational behaviors that plague modern day individual existence, Rajeev Dubey, President (HR, After-Market and Corporate Services) and a Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra, highlighted that the characteristic of ‘trust’ is the game changer. Trust in oneself amplifies into trust in others around the individual and eventually leads the community towards excellence through the individual’s thought leadership.

Reflecting on a plethora of views shared at the event, the HR fraternity had an exhaustive 3-day confluence, in terms of thought leadership and practice learning. While concluding, M. Gopalakrishna, Director, AP Gas Power Corp, shared his message on why HR plays a crucial role in energizing for excellence. He said, “We have to link the past to the present and then to the future, and that is the true purpose of HR. Look at the footprints of the past and see how they lead you to a brighter future.” In his concluding remarks, Dr. Anil Khandelwal, former CMD, Bank of Baroda, stressed the need for HR leaders to rebuild their credibility and take the lead to support businesses to build their intangibles as the tangibles will follow.