MEDIA ARTICLE

Culture change or assessment of existing culture?

Apr 23, 2021
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STT GDC India
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"If efforts are put in an efficient and structured manner, leveraging the strengths of the existing culture, the overall culture change management process can provide a myriad of benefits with respect to the overall employee motivation, better productivity, company growth, less stress and better working environment," said Sanjeev Verma, Sr. Vice President, HR, CS & EHS, STT GDC India.

 

Experts say 'cultural change management' refers to leading a change management exercise using culture as a vehicle, as it is one of the most important aspects that influence the overall process.

 

And Sanjeev Verma, Sr. Vice President, HR, CS & EHS, STT GDC India, believes cultural assessment as a precursor to the change exercise is the best remedy.

 

In recent times, he said most organisations have leveraged cultural strengths for successful change management exercises. Thus, culture can enable and augment the change experience if it is leveraged correctly and aligns the practices to a successful outcome.

 

"If efforts are put in an efficient and structured manner, leveraging the strengths of the existing culture, the overall culture change management process can provide a myriad of benefits with respect to the overall employee motivation, better productivity, company growth, less stress and better working environment," Verma said.

 

He further said that in the past year, the transformation has been augmented big time both at the organisation level as well as on the employees' front. "The changes which would have taken years to come to fruition have suddenly become the norm with rapid adoption," he added.

 

Currently, at Singapore-based ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) India, remote working is the new normal, thus leading a culture change management exercise calls for better collaboration, extensive communication with gradual changes focussing mainly on the trust factor on both sides.

 

"We have also seen that organisations which have managed the digital transformation quickly and effectively have not seen better productivity than before," revealed Verma.

 

Diverse leadership is always the most sought-after fundamental

 

Talking about the culture change also brings us to the topic of increasing women workforce participation. Speaking on the same, Verma said diverse and inclusive leadership is always the most sought-after fundamental that leads to the growth of any organisation.

 

In the technology world, unfortunately, gender equality persists as a major concern as women remain underrepresented.

 

"Having women in the leadership team positively impacts female employee engagement and retention. Research galore also hints at the fact that women leaders score high on empathy and have a solution-based approach that is unconventional and creative when navigating through complex areas," Verma said.

 

He suggests the need to shift focus towards creating an ecosystem that supports diversity. Verma said the ecosystem should transcend the company's vision, mission, policies, processes and practices.

 

"To build a sustainable ecosystem, it is imperative to have a root cause analysis done for the imbalance so that the solution becomes easier. This ecosystem also needs to focus on how women employees are supported outside of the office environment," he added.

 

"Inclusivity, sharing the workload and a supportive family environment also facilitate women to feel motivated to continue their job efficiently," he said.

 

Integrating gender diversity with the recruitment process has helped over 1,000 employee strong STT GDC India achieve a 15 per cent increase in gender diversity. To further reinforce the cause, the company also pays an additional service charge to its sourcing partners for sharing female profiles.

 

"Policies and processes that enable the women at our organisation have also helped us to retain our female employees and improve on the respect and acceptance that they deserve in this male-dominated industry," Verma said.

 

Job descriptions have been redefined

 

The company recently proposed to develop a greenfield data centre campus in Noida. Additional chief secretary, (IT and industrial development) Alok Kumar said the project is expected to create 30-40 direct and around 550 indirect employment avenues.

 

Verma said tech-based companies have seen an upsurge in businesses due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic and worldwide lockdown that has compelled organisations to go digital to survive.

 

Further sharing some insights on the hiring trends, he said hiring policies are more focused on multi-disciplinary skills.

 

"The job descriptions and the role requirements have been redefined in view of digitization. Companies now invest in individuals with technical skills as they will continue to further improve their businesses," he added.

 

Verma opines remote working has also brought in more geographical diversity and enhanced the talent pool size further.

 

"We expect a more significant shift towards tier-2 cities for recruitment," he added.

 

Source : https://hr.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/hrtech/organization-development/leveraging-strengths-of-existing-culture-can-provide-myriad-of-benefits-sanjeev-verma/82138271

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