Here are some prescriptions for people excellence, for entrepreneurs who want to build their organisations. These prescriptions come from Padma Gupta, a master at human resource development and HR & strategy leader at Hafele India.
Bottlenecks in an organisation usually exist at the top.
This is even truer when it comes to entrepreneur-led businesses. If growth is not happening as per expectations or the initiatives are not bearing fruit, the entrepreneur leader should first look into the mirror rather than out of the window to see who’s at fault.
Because if it’s people who drive excellence in the organisation, then the entrepreneur is person number one.
This is the crux of my recent conversation with Padma Gupta, director of HR, customer experience, and strategy at Hafele India. In this 45-minute discussion, I tried to get Padma to offer some prescriptions for people excellence to entrepreneurs who wish to drive excellence within their enterprises. What emerged were loads of insights about approaches to HR, culture building, leadership styles, and what makes organisations good places to work.
Padma admits that giving up control is easier said than done. However she prescribes a definitive path for entrepreneurs to take to build their teams, keep handing over control, and start managing through targets and goals. “Entrepreneurs should put in place a framework of control, which will enable them to monitor how well the team is doing.”
At the same time, she cautions that building teams is not enough; pull factors need to be created so that people stay on with the organisation, develop as individuals, and become flag bearers of the organisation. And when some leave, which eventually will happen, they take with them good memories and continue to be brand ambassadors of the organisation.
“This will happen when entrepreneurs stay true to their professed values, whatever they are. If you want to be good, genuinely be good. If you want to chase numbers, let everyone know that’s what you expect. Whatever you do, be predictable.”
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According to Padma, it is natural for entrepreneurs to lead with an autocratic style when starting their business. But eventually, they will have to build a team to grow faster. That’s when they will have to let go and become democratic. More particularly, entrepreneurs cannot remain dependent on the associates and family members who have been a part of their initial journey. Eventually, it is professionals and experts who will matter, not loyalists.
Staying true to the core values and being predictable about them is what builds culture in the organisation, according to Padma. It is this culture that holds the people together. “When they say that culture eats strategy for breakfast, they mean that the best strategies will fail if they are not aligned with the culture we have built within the organisation.”
And remember, culture and strategy both flow from the top.
