There has been a shift in emphasis within human resources, making it a strategic department whose goals are in line with those of the company. The focus of the position has shifted from developing people to supporting business outcomes. Human resource managers must now act as experts in marketing, R&D, quality, supply chain, and operations, to name just a few of their numerous responsibilities. An HR Manager must have strong leadership characteristics as well as broad expertise across sectors to maintain all of these duties, just like Pallavi Sarkar.

Pallavi Sarkar, the Country Head HR of NORMA Group India, is a seasoned HR expert who has worked in several roles in different HR fields. She is skilled and experienced in establishing Human Resources, Shared Services, COE, Talent, and OD functions in eminent organizations, from initial planning to successful integration & deployment. Below is an excerpt of Pallavi Sarkar’s exclusive interaction with the Women Entrepreneur magazine.

What have been some key strategic business oriented takeaways & learnings that you have gathered over the years as a Human Resources leader?

I have been diligently following the first principle— overcoming prejudices. As HR managers, addressing bias is crucial. HR is a strategic and dependable function for businesses, therefore as an HR Manager, one must serve to upskill competence, and skills to ensure the Business seamlessly delivers even during contingency.

One must know the market and take the risk. People are the most critical and vital resource for Business therefore as HR managers we must ensure their growth, empathy, and value proposition in the organization. Change is the new normal, HR Managers must cultivate resilience and agility to embrace the organizational culture. Communication, transparency, and trust make people feel connected, these are essential during postmerger integration because they facilitate cultural transformation.

HR must be conversant with all kinds of financial ratios just like Business does, what drives EBIDTA, what can change gross margins, market capital, and more. HR must bring lean management with a support function and ensure cost savings just like other CFTs. Change Management is driven based strategic growth – organic or inorganic expansion. Sentiments of people need to be pre-gauged. Focus groups, sound boards, and skip levels for constant communication will mitigate risk. One must examine the outcomes of trials with focus groups to determine the extent to which your proposed modifications might benefit the general population. Because of this, we realize that it is not enough to just decide that we wish to change; rather, we must take active steps to overcome our inherent prejudices, and biases and manage the transition.

"In my opinion, successful leaders are those who embrace change, are resilient, work with business & recognize the value of their team members & work together to achieve shared goals"

Throw some light on the most critical challenges you have had to face as an HR leader over the years. What steps do you take to overcome the roadblocks that you encounter?

Managing transitions is always interestingly challenging! People avoid facing failure, I would rather take a calculative risk and if required confront failure and experience it, take my lessons, and then never repeat the same. Embracing people to believe in themselves, be confident, be motivated, and rise back are another challenging avenue. Eliminating redundancy and bringing digitalization, and acceptability have kept me moving on progressively. I strongly believe in doing the first time right. It helps create trust, value, and dependability. When HR strategize interventions and implements them, it impacts the whole organization therefore HR must do their homework well, benchmark, count the contingency and then execute the strategies while confronting employees, competition, stakeholders, market, business, and more .ensures to do your homework well, benchmark, count the contingency and execute. As leaders, we must be approachable and stay connected to the organization and people.

Looking back at your journey, what have been some of the most significant professional milestones that you have achieved so far? What has been your success mantra?

My accomplishments so far include institutionalizing and elevating HR Operations in the plant, bringing MOVE – lean management in HR processes, building the whole corporate social responsibility vertical, and the digitization of HR operations to suit organization objectives. As someone who has been involved in mergers and acquisitions several times during my career, I can attest to the fact that the decision to go digital with HR has far-reaching implications, whether the focus is on merging, acquiring, or restructuring. Learn and practice Finance, remember you are a part of Business. Align with global teams, localization is key. These are just a few ways to get valuable experience while simultaneously contributing to the company. My mantra is to lead from the front, Think We, not Me, expectation management, be agile, upskill yourself, stay tuned to business and finance.

Drawing from your experience as an HR leader, what would your advice be to young women & girls who also aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

The line I take is one in which I believe passionately and one that I often repeat to my team. It's a reminder to focus on the group rather than on oneself. 'Think We and not Me'. As a firm believer that this should serve as a guiding principle, I make it a point to keep repeating it to myself. You can't just claim "I'm better than you at this", because that's not right. In my opinion, successful leaders are those who recognize the value of their team members and work together to achieve shared goals. I strongly believe in the 'Art of Giving'. Giving your knowledge, advice, time, patience, understanding, giving back to your community, environment, and planet, and supporting sustainability are must for all Leaders, I believe and practice these always.

Pallavi Sarkar, Country Head HR, NORMA Group India

Pallavi Sarkar has completed her PGDMB in HR and Marketing from Indira Institute, Pune. She is a Six Sigma Green Belt and has been a project management professional. In her professional journey so far, Pallavi has been a part of various prominent companies like Kirloskar Pneumatic, Suzlon, Cummins India, Terex India, and Schaeffler India.

Awards & Recognitions:

• Top Most HR Leader Pune - 2022

• Featured in Corporate Citizen Magazine as HR Guru & HR Enabler - 2022

• Awarded “HR Excellence Award” 2021

• HR Super Achievers ‘21

• Top HR Innovators ‘20

• 101 HR Super achievers’19

• Brand Ambassador

• Featured in HR magazines

• HR Excellence Awards '22, awarded by Cabinet Minister Chandrakant Patil