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Chandrashekar B N

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Chandrashekar B N

Founder and Chief Consulting Office

Ampligrow Consulting

Chandrashekar B N is a member of:

Leadership Programs in Place:

Leadership Development, to me, does not mean only classroom training. Every organisation has some sort of formal training programs developed internally for different layers of leadership as well as host of 'off-the-shelf' external programs. This, in my mind, should constitute only 10 - 15 % of the leaning. I believe that 'experiential learning' is the most effective way of developing leaders - such as coaching/mentoring, shadowing, secondments, mobility - internal and international, etc. These channels of learning brings together the theory behind leadership AND the business / organisational context specific to the organisation. Such approach will shorten the learning curve and strengthens the leadership pipeline leading to better succession planning.

Pain Points:

Personally to me, there are no pain points – 2 areas that need focus…both intertwined.

Business Partnering: HR is not an administrative function anymore … it is a function that is core part of the business. However, the seat at the Leadership table is not given – but to be earned. This would mean that HR has to create value to the business by influencing business strategy and facilitating execution. As a function, we can get there HR professionals needs to demonstrate business acumen coupled with effective execution.

Balancing business priorities with people aspirations: this is the most challenging part of being HR – especially given the organisation has diverse demographics – baby boomers to Gen Millennium, different cultural and economic background, etc. A successful HR professional is the one who could align and use the advantages from each component of diversity to the business priorities.

Relationship with HR and Top Management

In today’s context, HR must be capable of playing different roles at different points in time. At one end of the spectrum, HR should be ready to roll up the sleeves and execute the operational end of the strategy and on the other hand, create a position from where the CEO / business leader willingly approaches HR for coaching and mentoring.

Identifying and Promoting New Leaders:

It is my belief that people can be groomed to become great leaders. Another belief I have is that leadership is agnostic to the salary grade, designation or a role … we can all demonstrate leadership in everything we do. I also believe that not all leaders are successful in all contexts and challenges. This may mean that we are able to clearly articulate what the leadership profile would look like for a particular business scenario or context. Once we have this clarity, we can then look for the attributes that would help meeting the profile. From here on, it is all about providing right exposure and experiences, different platforms of expression and learning and progressively and consciously moving people to the next level of maturity.

Qualities that we Look For While Hiring:

Famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said ‘Hire for attitude and train for skills’ – and I am a complete believer in this approach. Of course, almost all the roles would need some level of functional competency as a prerequisite. That being given, the key attributes/skills I would focus on would be Learning Agility, Relation and Stakeholder Management and finally self-awareness.

Improving Education system

Indian education system has changed significantly – for better, in the last few years/decades. I see that change when I look at the academic environment my son has compared to what I did. Having said that, I believe we could focus more on learning from life experiences than being evaluated on reproducing answers from a text book. The education should enhance ‘employability’ of our students than preparing them for 'employment'.