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Shridhar Shoraff

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Shridhar Shoraff

Engineering Team Manager

Inteva Products India Automotive Pvt Ltd

Current job profile

I am currently heading an engineering team which works for development and application of window regulator motors at Inteva Products. As part of my role, I manage a team of engineers from mechanical, electronics & software background. Along with it, I am also responsible to come up with new innovative ideas to reduce product costs and propose new products which would help in enhancing the company business. Budget planning & tracking for my team is part of my responsibility.

Leadership qualities

A successful leader always keeps his ears & options open. Person who can listen what ideas others have, analyze whether it fits the organization requirements and take actions apart from his own decisions, will always succeed as a leader. A leader need not be an expert in a particular field or a skill but should have enthusiasm and affinity to learn new things when required. A leader should be able to effectively communicate his ideas & convince his team to follow the path he/she sets. He/she should mingle with everyone in the organization; still maintaining the dignity of the position.

Ensuring growth

In today’s scenario where MNCs rule the business in almost all segments, a leader should be able to take decisions which impact locations across the globe in a positive trend. To take such decisions, awareness about global economies and strategies is a must. I have joined a program from GSM Academy named AMP-GS (Advanced Masters Program in Management of Global Strategies). This program was earlier part of IIMB as AMPM. I am sure that this program would give me knowledge & experience to take decisions which involve global strategies.

My advice

A leader’s position has lot of power which can blind a person and compel taking individual decisions which team / organization has to follow with or without liking. Avoid it. Keep; not only eyes & ears but mind as well open for ideas & suggestions. Involve your team in your decisions, then it is easy to get the right results at desired time.

Doing things right

We all make mistakes and I am no exception. But I put full efforts to make sure I do not repeat such mistakes. If we don’t do mistakes then our learning will be only limited to success and never know the downside. As per me, its good to make small mistakes & learn from them which helps to take bigger decisions without too much risk. As a habit from childhood, before going for any discussion, I try to see all scenarios of the discussion (I talk to myself as if other person is addressing me); both positive & negative. So I make up my mind on positive result and as well on negative & its impact on my work / life.

Influenced by

I do not have one person influencing my life. Duringmy entire life, my parents influenced me to do the best I can and not expecting anything which I cannot do. My sister does play a big role in making me strong and independent in my thinking & decisions. My wife, who is critic of my decisions, always influences me to look at different effects of my decision.
If I have to consider one person as a role model in my professional life, then it would be Mr. Murali Srinivasan, who was my reporting manager in Continental Automotive Components India Pvt Ltd. He gave all the freedom for me to take my own decisions which helped me to grow. He always said, when you face a problem; don’t come asking for a solution but come with possible solutions and he would guide which would be the best one. This approach always gave me opportunity to take my own decisions and as well come with solutions during crisis.

Handling grievance

Emotional intelligence is the tool when need to deal with grievances of an employee. It is not an easy task. As first step, listening to employee’s entire problem without giving any solution; does help to give an impression that someone is there to listen about grievances. Identifying the root cause of the issues and providing a helping hand to sort out the issues would always fetch positive results rather than asking employee to follow some instructions or leaving him/her on their own to sort out the issues. “It always feels good to that my boss is helping me to sort out my issues”. A leader is always caught between management & its employees. He/she can’t take sides. So coming out with a solution that suits both parties is a herculean task. Its best to act as mediator between two parties until there is a hint of common understanding and then get both onboard for direct discussions. Both look for “Mr. Dependable”

Important decision

I completed my diploma from NTTF Electronics Centre and was under an impression that I have all the knowledge what an engineer would possess. I did show such kind of talent, but only when I joined Engineering, I realized that I can still be better than what I have been so far. Joining engineering was one of the decisions which affected my career in all possible positive ways. While working in Robert Bosch, decision to stay in Germany for 1.5 years really helped me understand a different culture & working environment.Other decision was to join Continental which gave me exposure to handling business in India. I had opportunity to work as engineering responsible, program manager and to some extent handle sales & marketing.

My view on India technology development

I do not agree that we do not have any technical products from our country but I surely do agree that numbers are not as high as any other developed country. I would like to attribute it to lack of R&D centresand brain drain. If a guy/girl tops in an Indian university who has the capabilities to create new product, he/she is hand-picked by a foreign company with highest possible package. Finally he/she end up in some developed country developing a new product or new concept. I work in Automotive industry and in my observation, most of the tier 1 suppliers are MNCs from different countries. They set up technical centres in India and transfer their current job which they are working on; enabling them to take up new concepts. So this leaves most of the engineers in India to work on developed products & upgrading or downsizing them to meet local market. This curbs the innovative thinking of local engineers. We work on weekly working hour based structure which has less possibility to innovate products. If each organization comes up with a local R&D team, which works on innovative products then for sure even India will launch new products matching other countries.

Family background

My parents, Mr. S.NagarajaRao &Mrs. GeetaRao; worked in banks and I have lived my childhood in different places. Me along with my elder sister Jayalakshmi travelled to different parts of Karnataka along with my parents. I got married to Nagalakshmi on 11th of March in 2007 and now we have a beautiful 3 year old daughter Shraddha.