Sulbha Kaushal Rai, Chief People Officer at RenewBuy, is an engineer with an MBA with an HR and finance specialization. With over 15 years of experience, she focuses on performance management, employee relations, diversity and inclusion, and organizational development. Sulbha is also the founder of People Matrix, an HR consulting firm that leverages people assets for organizational success. With an MBA degree, she is a certified Hogan practitioner and Target Selection trainer.
In a recent conversation with Women Entrepreneurs Review Magazine, Sulbha shares insights about finance and technology. She emphasizes the importance of calculated risks, networking, and cross-functional collaboration to foster the organization's growth.
In finance, how do you lead the cultural shift toward transparency and psychological safety? What are some unconventional ways you create spaces where senior leaders feel empowered to model vulnerability and openness?
Trust and stability are crucial in all functions and sectors, and a great organization is built on a strong culture of open, transparent communication. Leaders must be genuine, authentic, and reliable in an uncertain and complex VUCA world. Vulnerability is essential for organizations to provide comfort and understanding for employees who may feel overwhelmed by a perfect leader.
At RenewBuy, the co-founders are first-generation entrepreneurs, and CXO members have been on the other side of the table as employees and now take on larger responsibilities. They have maintained resilience by letting people know that mistakes do happen, but instead of brooding over mistakes or not making great decisions, they should pick up the learning. Open and transparent communication helps employees feel comfortable and connected with the organization.
Innovative ways to create a culture of honesty and transparency are practiced, such as sharing the bad news first to avoid being caught off guard. Sharing stories and struggles helps connect with employees and creates a safe environment for learning. When employees share their vulnerability, they are heard with a high level of emotional intelligence, demonstrating the importance of building a culture in an organization.
How do you approach the challenge of cultivating a ‘risk-positive’ leadership mindset without compromising the financial industry’s emphasis on caution and compliance?
The finance function has always prioritized risk and innovation, but it is essential to cultivate a risk-positive mindset. This involves encouraging people to think creatively, make informed decisions, and experiment with new ideas. Access to information, both textual and external, can help capture unknown environmental challenges and risks. Balancing risk in innovation, caution, and compliance is crucial, as every adversity presents opportunities for both individuals and businesses. Financial decision-makers should analyze risks, mitigations, and compliance requirements, and find solutions within compliance boundaries. Creative thinking can also be encouraged, and organizations should channel their risk appetite and give autonomy to experimentation.
Taking calculated risks is essential, as they must be calculated and tested. Networking within and outside the organization can provide valuable perspectives on business operations, stakeholder needs, and responses. Collaborative cross-functional collaboration can help finance teams work with compliance legal teams to develop solutions that allow businesses to take risks and innovate. Defining safe boundaries and allowing teams to test new ideas can minimize risk. By balancing innovation, risk, trustworthiness, and collaboration, organizations can play a beneficial role in achieving success.
What unique leadership practices do you use to build alignment across cross-functional executives who may have divergent views?
RenewBuy aims to foster cross-functional alignment by creating a pod structure, which involves a cross-functional team from various departments to address business priorities. This approach ensures that any organization's competency is managed and driven by a diverse set of people, allowing for multiple solutions to problems.
In finance, the organization emphasizes the importance of people strategy, as they are the driving force behind any department or strategy. Finance departments value the value of people practices and strategies, as they positively impact overall performance and output. To encourage engagement and development, the organization demonstrates ROI-driven messaging to finance leaders. This approach ensures that finance people are skilled, engaged, and perform well, ultimately benefiting the organization as a whole.
Incorporating finance people in all initiatives and providing uniform experiences helps ensure that they understand the value of their contributions and are happy working for the organization. By providing ROI-driven messaging, RenewBuy hopes to improve employee satisfaction and performance.
As you lead DEI initiatives, how do you manage potential resistance from senior leaders? What are your methods for positioning diversity as a transformative leadership commitment?
Diversity is often seen as a lens for gender, physical capability, or sexual orientation, but it encompasses more than just these aspects. In the tech sector, there are few women leaders, but RenewBuy, an organization spread across 150 cities and towns, has a diverse workforce from diverse backgrounds, places, religions, and experiences. The company values candidates irrespective of their gender, background, sexual orientation, or physical capabilities. The CEOs and team champion diversity, ensuring a fair and transparent working environment that is conducive to everyone. The company is committed to creating a workplace where everyone can thrive, regardless of their physical capability, sexual orientation, gender, or ethnicity. The organization's leaders demonstrate this commitment and even a team below them respects the organization's commitment to diversity. The company stands out as a great place to work for all kinds of people, demonstrating a zero-tolerance approach to diversity.
How do you make the case for ‘soft skills’ as essential leadership competencies? What creative approaches do you take to measure the ROI of soft skills to finance leaders?
Soft skills are life skills that are essential for leadership and team management. They involve empathy, flexibility, adaptability, vulnerability, respectful communication, and problem-solving. Leaders build connections with their teams through empathy, flexibility, adaptability, and vulnerability. These life skills are crucial for driving people and achieving results.
RenewBuy recognizes the importance of people in business, as they are the ones who drive the teams and drive outcomes. They reward people for delivering great results and bringing them to the table. By rewarding and recognizing people who balance being great people and leaders, they can achieve their numbers and achieve their goals. In essence, soft skills are life skills that are crucial for a leader to succeed in the workplace.
How do you help leaders understand and embed a sense of purpose within the organization?
RenewBuy is a purpose-driven organization that aims to make insurance simple and accessible to all, particularly in India, where insurance penetration is only 4%. The company aims to address this under-penetration by making insurance products more accessible and affordable. By communicating its vision and purpose to its people, RenewBuy aims to channel its purpose with the organization's vision, creating a common connection. The company has generated income for people with class 10 passes and provided financial freedom to women who cannot work in a formal setting. The company also emphasizes the importance of alignment in the workplace, as it can lead to exhaustion and exhaustion. RenewBuy's mission is to solve the underpenetration of insurance, as demonstrated by the COVID-19 pandemic, where many people went into debt and lost lives due to inadequate risk coverage. By driving or linking its purpose with the organization's purpose, RenewBuy aims to positively impact the lives of many people.
Message to Readers
Passionate work in finance or any field is crucial for personal and professional growth. It involves taking risks, having a learning mindset, and being open to change. Embrace and enjoy change, as it is constant and can be leveraged for personal and professional growth. This approach leads to better output and better outcomes.
