Leaders

Geeta Goti, Senior Vice President- People Team, Proarch is an influential leader in the HR industry who believes in empowering women and encourages them to build great careers for themselves. She is an excellent mentor who engages herself with people at all levels and coaches them on innovative leadership techniques for the long run. Before Proarch, she rendered her services as Director of Entrepreneurship Development of Telangana Social Welfare Residential Degree Colleges for Women where she conducted business ideation workshops and secured placements in IT companies for students from marginalized communities. Geeta began her career as a professional social worker with a UNICEF project in a remote tribal area. Three decades forward, today she holds extensive experience working across multiple industries in various capacities. Her leadership roles include Strategic Talent Management, Compliance Management &

Legal Advisory, CSR M& E facilitation, External Legal Counsel-POSH Internal Committees, and many more.

An extraordinary People Leader, Geeta is also the founder of Sariga Initiative, which is now run by another entity; it was established to evangelize corporate compliance and influence sustainable practices in organizations. Apart from being an accomplished HR leader, she donned the role of National President of the Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs and helped in professionalizing associations of women entrepreneurs in India. Her exceptional fieldwork and interface with leading industry networks also allowed her to work with SMEs and was nominated as the first woman Independent Director of National Small Industries Corporation, a PSU under the Ministry of MSME. She was also nominated as a Board member in other Enterprises that later got listed in NSE Emerge.

Moreover, Geeta's education in Master's in Social Work, bachelor's degree in Law, and three decades of experience in HR Management have qualified her to be the External Committee Member representing the Internal Complaints Committee for Anti-Sexual Harassment at workplaces. She volunteers as Joint Secretary of the Women Forum at Hyderabad City Security Council, setting up community centers to address issues related to violence and abuse of women and children in Hyderabad. She is an inspirational role model who has great functional knowledge & expertise and believes in building positive relationships across teams. Let's hear it from her.

"Every milestone that I crossed made my learning sharper and moving out of comfort zone to experiment with myself for better outcome"

What motivated you to venture into the field of HR and later become an expert in the same?

My first four years of work after college was in the development field, HR happened while I was working in a manufacturing firm as a retainer on social change through community work with the families of workmen. I was given an opportunity to address workmen and families and run campaigns to promote women empowerment programs and career guidance for children of workmen. This acumen of addressing a large workforce in the local language and making presentations for the HR department got me a place in Industrial Relations and later in the L&D space of HR within the company. Around this time, I took membership with National HRD Network Hyderabad Chapter, and when, I received an opportunity to attend a conference for Young HR Professionals held in Delhi (1995), presented my work in the manufacturing industry. This conference was significant as after this I started learning and practicing HRM. The idea to move into the consulting space came to my mind when I as global HR Head of an IT company chose to move out of my comfort zone and join a startup, which was into recruitment, and payroll at that time; within a few months, I was able to bring HR consulting into the company as Client Experience Manager initiated a niche interface among leadership teams across SMEs that proved profitable to the company. My career journey had people and the transformation of workplaces as a common thread. My most cherished moment was within a year of HR work; I was chosen to be part of the National HRD Network as Secretary of the Hyderabad Chapter.

"Geeta is a remarkable person to have achieved so much in her journey as HR professional. We are happy that she is part of our Leadership Team at Proarch contributing with transformational people initiatives"

What are the different responsibilities you shoulder in ProArch? What are your primary focus areas in your current role?

Proarch is a 16-year-old company that looked at challenges as opportunities and kept customers first throughout. This DNA with a mission `We listen closely, understand deeply, and solve strategically for absolute value' is seen in all aspects work that we do. As a technology company with a strategy to grow inorganically puts high pressure on delivering employee experiences that are pleasant and engaging continuously. We look to embracing HR technologies as an interface for the HR outcomes that our employees find easy to maneuver. I am in process of checking out and automating most of the HR activities to create time for crucial conversations on enabling communities of learning within Proarch. ProArchians are a family, we help each other to collaborate and grow. Our Agile Evaluation Process is followed to give instant feedback on our work. There are a lot of areas in the Hire to Retire process that is unique and not the run-of-the-mill kinds. We ensure that any bias in the system is addressed to create inclusive, diverse, and equitable work life. Most of the key roles in Technology, Delivery, Finance and Enablement are driven by women leaders.Trust, Accountability, Creativity, Collaboration and Community are the values that are manifested in our work. A larger piece of creating sustainable communities engages our employees through Yashoda Foundation a not for profit, volunteer organisation, driven with an objective to empower and enable underprivileged children and create happier communities.

What are some of the most pressing challenges that you encounter as an HR leader and how do you mitigate them?

Human perception and judgment play a key role in establishing trusted relationships at work, which need the courage to question the status quo; creating spaces to clear out and work on progressive conversations are very challenging but not impossible. Taming the mind to behave for positive outcomes by shedding the egos is not easy especially when the individual is inflexible in their viewpoints and demonstrates passive aggression at work. Creating spaces to open difficult conversations, coaching on professional outlook, and dialogues on sharing viewpoints are a few evolving mechanisms to mitigate Talent loss & disengagement.

"Mothers must ensure to raise their sons to treat women as their peers and raise their daughters to be independent and fierce"

What are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What has been the driving force?

When I look back, I see multiple transitions that took place throughout my career. I had several opportunities to gain hands-on experience in consulting spaces. As Manager ­ Employee.

Relationships in a software products and services company I gained abundant insights into the role of enabling human potential into performance for growth. These learning milestones got sharper because I kept shifting into the consulting streams every time before taking up a new role in a new organization. The driving force behind my success is my tendency toward continuous learning and building networks across industries. Most of my assignments happened to interface with huge resistance to change which I had to break and bring in harmony and get people to focus on their performance. I believe, the financial acumen I developed while working for a very progressive private Bank during the early years of 2000 came as a blessing to speak the language of business in an HR context.

How do you foresee the Indian HR landscape evolving? What trends do you see developing in the industry?

Post-Pandemic HR had a tectonic shift and in India, the effect is seen with new dynamics of demand and supply, the cost arbitrage has blurred, and people management concepts are no longer relevant. We have normalized work with less managerial context and technology-enabled. India has a different talent market and a huge supply which needs a lot of finishing by making freshers engage in projects where they can develop their careers. We are in a space where none of the old approaches work and the demand to create the best experience for our employees is shadowing the erstwhile value of loyal to the employer as understood in previous decades. So, I believe, walking the talk has become crucial otherwise people tend to walk away. The new generation of employees with an entitlement mindset and search for meaning and a larger purpose in life makes me look at strategies that synchronize their aspirations with the required business outcomes.

What would your advice be to young women who aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

The mantra for a successful professional career is to seek knowledge in everything, understand the latest trends in the industry and connect with people at a higher level without any inhibitions, and challenge the status quo. If women aspire to become business leaders, they must speak the business language comfortably. With my mother a Librarian, I got hooked on reading very early in my childhood which even today keeps me motivated and gives me solace.

Geeta Goti, Senior Vice President - People Team, Proarch IT Solutions 

Geeta has 30+ years of strong cross-industry experience. She is actively associated with the NHRD Network, NASSCOM, Hyderabad Software Employers Association, FTCCI, Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs of India, and Hyderabad City Security Council.

Headquarters: US with offices in India, the UK

Awards & Recognition:  Indian Award for Best Women HR, Global Leadership Award