Trust is one of the most important factors influencing the overall success of virtual collaborations.
Arpitha BG, born and brought up in Bangalore, hold a MasterÂ’s Degree in Human Resources. In her career span, Arpitha has taken up several roles and responsibilities that have made her understand and learn more. Her major focus is on talent acquisition, onboarding & orientation of the new joiners while also contributing a significant amount in collaborating with stakeholders internally and externally.
In her current role, Arpitha is also representing the L&D Department for India location and is coordinating in the facilitation of functional and country training programs based on the business needs. At the beginning of her career, Arpitha worked on Campus Recruitment, where she was focussing on building strong university relations with Tier I & II colleges for better engagement, liaising with universities for good relationship.
When she is not working, Arpitha enjoy traveling and exploring places, trying new cuisines, experiencing a different culture, meeting new people to understand the positive vibes of another side. She prefers to make her life meaningful approaching needy people, engage in social services, which includes more interaction with children who are our future leaders.
Thank you, Arpitha, for agreeing to do this interview with us. Kindly be as candid as you can.LetÂ’s Start!!!
Post-Pandemic, in the new normal, what will be the critical expectations of CEOs from their HR Leaders particularly from Talent Acquisition Leaders?
The recruitment strategy needs to be evaluated and rebuilt in order to survive these kinds of unexpected crisis. We as Talent Acquisition Partners, firstly need to identify the gaps in terms of the skills the organization has currently and the new ones that we will need.
Secondly, we must develop advancement in recruitment by using AI tools in the interview process such as psychometric tests & other digital kinds of competency-based assessments. When we talk particularly about recruitment, we can source candidates through social media channels too which is becoming a big boom. As technology is evolving, we should have such platforms enabled in HR to bring efficiency to operations. It saves a lot of time and facilitates making the right decision in the fitment of a candidate for a job.
Last but not least delivering the best candidate experience throughout the whole process is important. It is a competitive market and there will consistently be a rivalry for top-notch ability. Hence by not giving the best experience, we miss the opportunity to attract the best candidates.
What are the primary challenges of virtual collaboration?
In todayÂ’s world, organizations are increasingly collaborating with some remote virtual teams. Virtual collaboration can provide numerous advantages. However, they can also present several challenges. It can be difficult to manage if we do not fully understand the challenges and how to solve them. According to me, some of the primary challenges include:-
- Ineffective communication further puts the team members in dark due to a lack of detail timelines, clarity in roles or responsibilities, or status updates on the current project's progress.
- Trust is one of the most important factors influencing the overall success of virtual collaborations. Lack of trust may often lead to conflicts, low work commitments which can reflect in the individualÂ’s performance.
- Lack of focus & efficiency which leads to compromise in productivity at work.
- Unstructured environment to follow work routine.
What are some of the critical ways in which HR is driving business growth and success? Please share some insights and examples from your journey of how really HR can make a direct impact on the business?
As an HR it is always important for us to invest in people & helping them to understand their role in creating an impactful, high performing culture in an organization. Some of the ways in which HR can contribute to the business growth can be by having clarity about the companyÂ’s purpose, mission, and vision, flattening the numerous teams to ensure fast decision making,creating a learning culture for reskilling, and upskilling of talent & also by building an agile HR platform.
Being in this profession for a few years now, I have learned that HR is critical for any organization because we manage employee recruiting which determines the quality of hires (skills & knowledge they carry with them), developing and maintaining positive working relationships among employees.
COVID-19 exposed leadership unpreparedness of a different kind. As an HR Leader, how will you prepare future leaders to manage crises of this magnitude? What NEW LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES will become necessary for the success of a leader?
I would agree that the Coronavirus pandemic has been an ultimate test of determination for the leaders. Neither the training nor the experiences had prepared an individual to face a crisis of this intensity.
Being in the HR industry we need to understand having both - short term fixes in hand and a comprehensible long-term view is necessary to handle similar kind of crises. We have now learnt that the future can be uncertain, hence the only way to cope up is to have the willingness and determination to face the challenges/difficulties in any situation. We need to have a focussed mindset to quickly adapt, learn new things or the technology to enable different ways of working.
According to me, the below 4 leadership competencies are of utmost importance for the success of a leader: -
- Adaptability is the key - In the rapidly changing work environment, adaptability can never be ignored. It has become more like a skill in order to improve and develop ourselves.
- Ability to embrace the unwelcomed surprises – You must be ready to face any kind of challenge at any point in time. Like I mentioned earlier we should have a long-term vision rather than having short-term solutions.
- Dynamism (Being active and positive) – I think being an HR, it is important to actively participate in the development and execution of the company’s objectives. This helps us to gain a better understanding of the company’s activities.
- Growth Mindset – To have a growth mindset, an individual should be ready to learn new things. Learning is a continuous journey hence it is important to draw lessons from our experiences.
Lastly, what is your message for those students who will be graduating during this difficult time? How should they keep their morale high and stay motivated?
Firstly, Congratulations & Bravo on all your accomplishments!
I would like to say that the batch of students (2020 & 2021) graduating during this unprecedented pandemic should not forget that your dreams, ambitions, and courage is contagious in a good way. Hence, please go forth and spread it! We need more of these young and live dreams around us now :). Learning is the key. Focus on achieving smaller tasks each day which will help you to stay on track to achieve your GOAL one day.
