Leonardo Da Vinci’s art back in the 15th century, had a strong feminist theme to them. We all know about Mona Lisa but his 2nd best work, ‘Ladie with an Ermine’, showcases an amazing blend of a beautiful Cecilla Gallerani with an ermine which is shown as her pet. Ermines are very hostile and aggressive specie, almost demonic in some old literary works. But Da Vinci clearly depicts how a female can tame such a beast with this sensational piece of art!
As we converse with a jovial Ms. Srabani Dubey, she appears to be in line with a quintessential women of the 21st century, yet with that strong feminist appeal that dates back to the 15th century.
Ms. Dubey describes her career journey as exciting. Schooled from the small steel city of Bokaro, she exults that her life at St. Xavier’s was an eventful learning curve. “There was a cosmo atmosphere and an amazing bonding”. Calling the education that she received, very high quality education, she also enjoyed the fests and other activities at the campus. “I was looking at an opportunity to excel in management when a friend referred IIPM to me”, she tells us. According to her, that was the stepping stone of her embarking on a great journey. Ms. Dubey feels that the Ex Com classes were a very critical part of the curriculum at IIPM as it provides a student with great exposure towards addressing big crowds in the most confident manner which is imperative for any corporate person.
Her first stint at HR was with Ma Foi a HR consulting firm. She held her office there for two years. Then Ms. Dubey moved to ABC Consultants where she was a part of the senior leadership team that managed high profile clients and their conditioning. “I worked to set up an intranet and knowledge management system (KMS) for my organisation”. The HR mandate at ABC basically involved client servicing across industry and she enjoyed the challenge and complexity of dealing with different people.
She then moved to Gallup and her tenure there was the best part of her career. “Gallup is a great organisation, and I had an immense learning experience there”. According to her the best part about the organisation was that it was totally a talent driven organisation where individuals are given a lot of independence to shine and grow. “We had huge HR mandates at Gallup, and they provided a lot of room for innovation”. She worked there for 4 years during which time she rose to the position of an associate partner in consulting. There was a lot of creative work that was carried out at Gallup and she mentions ‘human sigma’ as one of their cutting edge innovations. When she joined Gallup, there were not many ladies in the company, but as mentioned above, if a Cecilla can tame an ermine, Ms. Dubey can surely outshine and deliver in HR consulting, which she obviously did her KRAs at Gallup was to head business solutions for clients. “I was looking after North and East operations. I worked with other associates and handled key accounts to bring in revenues”, she explains.
EVERY PERSON IN THE ORGANIZATION IS UNIQUE, I GIVE THEM THE TASK & WAIT FOR THEM TO DELIVER..
She was heading a 15-20 member team which brings us to her style of leading people.
It has basically been same wherever I have lead”, she affirms. There may be small changes in the style depending on the environment and team but I believe in democracy. I believe that great leaders are the ones who create more leaders rather than followers”. She provides a fine example of Mr. Prannoy Roy who founded NDTV. “All of his fellow workers now own their own TV channels”. So Mr. Roy created leaders and not merely followers by letting them free. It certainly is an incredible achievement without a glimmer of doubt. She delegates responsibility as Ms. Dubey is not in favour of micro management and thinks that every individual should get an opportunity to work independently provided that he or she is achieving the results.
Ms. Dubey has always been a very people’s person, which is why she feels she chose HR as her career. She opines that HR is the only key differentiator to business. “Every organisation has access to technology which is why we see so many products being replicated in today’s market. But people’s uniqueness can never be copied and hence it is the only differentiator”, she explains quite clearly. She adds that every organisation should take up the journey of growth through growing their people.
Ms. Dubey also spoke on how HRM is different from talent management. HRM is what defines the processes and systems. Great organisations always have great HRM policies like performance management, compensation schemes etc. that ensure a seamless journey of an employee. Talent Management on the other hand is critical because it is about managing humans who have emotions, and not just some machine or system. There is a big talent crunch in India, and, Ms. Dubey feels that so many people do not understand the true meaning of talent. “Talent management is not about hiring brilliant people with skills based on their resume”, she asserts. She goes on to provide us with a special and almost 25 year old story as an example. Dennis Lille, the coach at MRF pace academy in Bangalore, turned away a 13 year old boy who came there, aspiring to become a fast bowler. Mr. Lille still recollects that moment as the best decision he had ever made in his life. The 13 year old boy has gone on to become none other than, Sachin Tendulkar! Hence, Ms. Dubey iterates that identifying the right platform to showcase the right talent is of real importance. “One must identify the uniqueness that an individual brings to the table”, she adds. She then goes on to explain to us how talent retention is a challenge today and will stay this way in the future also. Many companies are often comfortable at losing a certain per cent of people every year. She thinks that after an individual has given his best to an organisation during 3-4 years, sometimes the organisation is pretty happy to lose them. “The way forward is to make them grow with you and also make them a part of your growth”. Ms. Dubey feels that companies today often forget people. Such organisations will perish sooner than later, she feels. There should be career growth options, recognitions, which are more important than money. “The idea is to determine what motivates your people, and then work on that. If you take care
of that, numbers will follow”.
TALENT MANAGEMENT IS ABOUT MANAGING HUMANS WHO HAVE EMOTIONS, NOT JUST MACHINES OR SYSTEMS
To today’s aspiring HR managers, her advice is to understand business first and not just be good at using HR jargons. “Whenever you join an organisation, start by understanding their business needs”, is her advice. She notes that HR networks, forums, seminars etc are of great help to interact with HR personnel and share their best practices. In line HR, one has to be a people’s person and find what works best with whom. “You cannot afford to have some dictum or formula”, she discloses. Getting candid about her personal life, Ms. Dubey says, “But, for me the term is work-life integration”. She reveals that her husband is an M. Tech. From IIT and currently is a Lt. Commander in the Navy. She also has two daughters, Sharanya who is in Std. III, and Swarnika, who is in prep school. She makes it a point that she spends at least two hours everyday with them. In closing, Ms. Dubey tells us how the gender bias has seen a change but more work has to be done to eradicate it completely from the workplace. “I am a hardcore feminist”, she exults with exuberance. Now, if Da Vinci were to be here, Cecilla and her erstwhile, demonic, yet subtle ermine may well have relived!
