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Episode 6: Transforming HR and Leadership
60 Plays2 months ago
Unravelling the story of a transformative HR professional in India
Delve into the mindset of the resilient and fiery, Anuradha Mishra, who is a seasoned HR practitioner with the superpowers of being able to “zoom out” and resolve talent issues.
Host Marcus Wylie unleashes some thought-provoking moments with Anuradha providing insight into the growing Global Capability Centre (GCC) market in India."
Anuradha also reflects on her vibrant and fascinating 20-year professional journey, highlighting the importance of learning from her failures, being resilient and embracing change. She shares her work as an advocate for diversity and inclusion and how it has transformed her perspective on equal opportunities.
Join us and embark on the ups and downs of this learning journey…
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Voices with Insights'
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello to our Insights community who continue to change lives around the world. My name is Marcus Wiley and welcome to the Voices with Insights podcast. I hope you're feeling colorful to your core today as you join us on a ride of discovery. We will chat with practitioners from across the globe to discover their fascinating untold stories.
00:00:21
Speaker
Whatever you are doing listening to our podcast, let's see if we can uncover an idea or two that will help you to create high performing teams through awareness of self and others in a powerful and simple way.
Guest Introduction: Anuradha Mishra
00:00:35
Speaker
OK, I am joined today by the wonderful Anuradha Mishra. Hello, Anu. How are you today? Very well, Marcus. Thank you for having me here. Oh, it's fantastic to be talking with you. And are you already having a productive and fun day? absolutely Fantastic. Well, it's great to have you with us on the podcast and today. And before you tell us a bit about yourself and tell our listeners ah about that, maybe we'll start with insights discovery, which is something that a symbolic uniter of our community.
Anuradha's Personality and Leadership Tools
00:01:08
Speaker
How would the person who knows you best describe you through the lens of the four insights discovery color energies? um Very clearly, the first impressions have almost always been fiery red.
00:01:22
Speaker
I've led with Fiery Red in my professional roles and most roles in the realm of transformational HR have required that Fiery Red energy. However, I think over the years, ah people who have known me well ah would also take a second take to say I lead with School Blue Energy, especially considering the deep interest that I have in research and content leading to insights and new ideas.
00:01:51
Speaker
So yeah, those are definitely my um leading energies. But having said that, Marcus, um interestingly, you know, I'm reminded of a time when almost a decade ago I got a chance to take another leadership tool ah which defined my leadership success areas and derailers. And my coach then explained the tool to me saying that you can succeed in business by doing well in delivering outcomes.
00:02:20
Speaker
having financial acumen and being strategically sharp, but you will not be a true leader unless ah you have made yourself redundant by developing and nurturing leaders under you ah so that you get the opportunity to expand your leadership but scope. And um yeah that was the time I really understood the meaning of developing people.
00:02:43
Speaker
and having that genuine interest in ah my team's aspirations and growth and ah trying to really support them through ah their leadership journey. It was really an eye-opening moment. And years later, ah when I took insights and understood its language, my only regret was why I wasn't aware of this earlier. you know I could have saved decades of trying to uncover leadership development only if I'd known what earth green means.
00:03:13
Speaker
And so I'd say, ah you know, over the past few years, if you go back to my team, which knows me much better than others would, they would definitely call me out as an earth green person, though that's not the language that we use in insights. But I hear that quite often now ah from my recent interactions with others as well.
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, and that's love that fantastic. So we will hear you through the lens of fire, red and cool blue, but know that the earth green will be part of your story. And I'm sure we shall have a little bit of sunshine, yellow injections every now and again. So we'll dance around the wheel as we get to know you today. And so let's, let's get to know you then.
Career at Marsh McLennan and HR Specialization
00:03:55
Speaker
Can you describe the role that you have in this world of ours and maybe, maybe business in your part in the world. will Tell us a little bit about that. Sure.
00:04:04
Speaker
So on a day-to-day basis, you may see me having breakfast as a diversity leader, lunch in a leadership learning role and dinner in a talent management leader role of the India region. But as diverse as my role is, I support the global capability center for Marsh McLaren in India. Now this is the fastest growing industry right now in India.
00:04:30
Speaker
with a year-on-year growth rate of almost 4% market size, which is estimated to be around 85 billion USD by 2025. And it hires close to 2 million people right now, and that's only the Indian numbers that I'm talking about.
00:04:47
Speaker
and um ah With that kind of expansion, the talent landscape is also very competitive. It's ever evolving with close to 1,900 GCCs in India today. And all of these GCCs are at various levels of maturity. In India, Marsh McLennan is looking to evolve further on its maturity model for a GCC. And we truly want to become a value partner for the group.
00:05:12
Speaker
Now this is also an exciting time ah to be in this space as ah it gives us an amazing leverage to ah build a strong leadership leadership at every level in the organization, which is agile and can rapidly pivot into expanding services, growing in value. And every time there is a new opportunity, you know, a leadership which is ready to take on those opportunities.
00:05:36
Speaker
So I'd say it's extremely vibrant space to be in right now. It comes with its challenges, but the bigger opportunity that I get in these times is the chance to explore and develop of future leadership skills that can be agile in all ways.
00:05:53
Speaker
ah and ah which has the depth as well as the breadth of knowledge and experience to deliver. So yeah, that's the space I'm really ah working in right now, extremely exciting, growing every day. Sounds great. And what a lovely part of the world that you live in. And it does sound fast and high-paced and energy. and um And I can see how your color energies play into that, which are all part of who you are. and I mean, talent development and the learning industry, the market, right? It covers such a broad area. In your experience, what what what do you like to specialize in or what's been your superpower over the years? I'd say I've been fortunate to work in organizations in my career ah where I was instrumental in bringing about HR transformation. So that's been the broad spectrum of work that I've been doing.
00:06:47
Speaker
And that's the area that I like to specialize in. ah Well, HR transformation over the years has now expanded to include organization culture and leadership transformation as well. And this work ah is impacting business readiness to deliver strategic priorities for business.
00:07:07
Speaker
In doing this work, I think my superpower is definitely the ability to work through ambiguity and advisory abilities, which allows me to zoom out and provide a very big picture perspective to large as well as small talent issues.
00:07:24
Speaker
Right, good one. That is a lovely superpower to have the ability to zoom out you know and just see that see that big picture. So I guess this probably all started somewhere. I mean, what what are some of the things you did before your current role? And and for our listeners, just to connect them into Insights Discovery, of what was one of your early experiences of Insights Discovery? So give give us a bit of your history, Anu. Sure.
00:07:51
Speaker
I have always been an ah HR practitioner. It's been 20 years that I've been working in this industry. I worked across multiple organizations, across almost 11 different industries. ah Being part of an HR consulting organization, I got that opportunity of dabbling with multiple industries, multiple challenges.
00:08:11
Speaker
I used to lead ah HR for the consulting organization before I changed roles and decided to specialize and go deep in the area of talent and organization behavior. ah With time, I added other those specializations like learning, engagement, wellness, organization design and development, and very recently diversity as well. So, um you know, if I had to really define myself, I would say that I'm a jack of many trades now.
00:08:41
Speaker
I don't know how master of one or none, but definitely a jack of many trades. Also kind of satisfied my ah needs of a cool blue and a fiery red energy having to toggle between industries and different kinds of hats that I was wearing. My year early introduction to insights really happened in Marsh MacLennan.
00:09:05
Speaker
So Marsh MacLennan had used Insights for many years and when my previous company was acquired by Marsh MacLennan, I got the opportunity to get trained on Insights as a company practitioner. ah Before that, I was using a very similar tool and having been trained on tools like 16pf, FiroB, Predictive Index,
00:09:27
Speaker
you know I always wondered how the tools can be used positively beyond the initial high that participants get on seeing their first reports. I tend to call these experiences as horoscope reading sessions, where you come to know about yourself by looking at a crystal ball and kind of forget um about it once your session ends. And as a practitioner of all these tools, I would always think that How could you take that experience of high to a larger scope? And how can our participants and clients really understand more about themselves, apply it to business, and see what outcomes they can get of it?
Insights Discovery and Leadership Dynamics
00:10:08
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And being introduced to insights was an aha moment for me, I'd say. ah Here was a tool that was easy to talk about, easy to explain, and
00:10:19
Speaker
Most of all, the language was so simple that as a facilitator, I had to do almost nothing to explain what a fiery red meant or ah the green means. Isn't it really intuitive? All I had to do was ask people ah what are their associations with these words and they would come up with exactly the behaviors that we would expect. The 4D training ah on insights so wasn't really enough ah for me and possibly I've been one of the most demanding ah company practitioners, always getting back for more content, more experience, more case studies and uses of insights. ah From an early perspective, I would say my best experience of using insights was so
00:11:04
Speaker
using it for supporting our leaders in setting goals for a particular year. ah The language and connections that people made with their own leadership styles and those of others was really phenomenal, seeing the room get vibrant about it, seeing seeing the connections, seeing why certain goals were being ah um and being chosen and ah also realizing ah you know that visual representation ah that we used for defining different kinds of goals. That was a great realization for the group to say, ah what is it that they would like to be in the future? And the realization of the choices that they can make in their own leadership style and how they would like to show up as leaders. And that you know that showing up as a particular leader is something that is within your choice. And how can you purposely re impact to outcomes by
00:12:02
Speaker
choosing your goals which can either make you a futuristic leader or can make you a relational leader. That, I think, was an amazing experience of having used insights so for real outcomes which were um ah we wish were visible at that very moment in the room.
00:12:19
Speaker
Love it. So it sounds like you're very well versed in many personality assessments out there, 16pf, 50b, et cetera. I mean, these are these are phenomenal and tools and I've loved my my own experiences with them. I guess what I'm hearing about Insights Discovery for you as somebody who is into talent development and organizational development is where the people are taking the story and carrying it forward from the self. You can then play more of a supportive coaching mentoring role. Would that be would that be accurate?
00:12:49
Speaker
Absolutely. And, um, you know, when we talking about 16 PF or five Ruby, or even a predictive index, uh, one would need, um, a reference book to understand what an ABCD on predictive index means, or what are those 16 personality types that we're working with. But with insights, that was not the case. It was so intuitive that, uh, people would remember those colors. They would recall those, um, behaviors very easily.
00:13:16
Speaker
And hence using it for coaching, using it for goal setting, using it for team dynamics, using it for any of the team issues that would would come up. It was really easy to use insights and get that language going in a inner session.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. i've Over the years, I've heard feedback from practitioners like yourself or customers to say there's something about the simplicity that matches the depth and richness. And then the stickiness and the and the easy recall of the ah the language of discovery is is really supportive. So ah you were you were talking about some of your hurdles as a practitioner where you were looking to gather more information and case studies, et cetera.
00:14:01
Speaker
Were these some of the biggest hurdles that you've you' faced or what other hurdles have you you've faced being a practitioner or either just professionally in your career and and how did you go about getting over
Overcoming Networking Hurdles
00:14:12
Speaker
them? Being a practitioner I wouldn't say there have been hurdles as such but I definitely want to talk about some of the professional hurdles that I've faced and how it really uncovered itself.
00:14:25
Speaker
So I think go my biggest hurdle has for multiple years now, I think has been the need to network gainfully, right? It's just not networking, but network in an organization.
00:14:38
Speaker
with the intent that you're able to tap into resources and get things done. As a person leading with fiery red energy, I tend to prefer being accountable for my scope and delivering in my own style. And in the past, I would not really make an effort to understand the needs of others in relation to my scope of work. yeah It was easy for me to say, get done, go fast and let me do my work.
00:15:06
Speaker
And I would tend to push them away in my own way ah by holding on to my accountability with the areas. ah Very typical of a fiery red energy, right? For sure. I think I'm mature. Yeah, I'm mature since and each time I deliver an insights themed session, the conversations give me a new realization and a new idea of ah You know, where could I have been drawn? What is it that I could have done differently? So over time, I've worked quite hard on understanding the needs of others and meeting them at the point of their need, rather than pushing them out, saying, your need is not important. It's important for me as a leader and as a person who is working in a very collaborative organization to understand the needs of others and meet them at their point of need.
00:16:01
Speaker
So I happened to retake insights so two years after my first report markers. And um just the fact that I moved from being ah in the classical ah circle to the adaptive circle, ah reassured that I'm going on the right path. I'm doing something really well, trying to understand the needs of others and taking those few steps towards meeting them on the need. I was flexing my color preferences as I went ahead.
00:16:30
Speaker
And understanding that when you're making connections, it is um within my power to change the data inputs and help change perceptions, as we learned in the first few slides of insights discovery as well. And when making ah these connections, I think it is so within my power to create better lasting relationships and get ah get to a win-win state much faster.
00:16:58
Speaker
i think ah yeah that that has been a ah very a rewarding experience for me ah from a personal low um perspective. What I love about that story, Anu, in particular is you've held your identity, right your core identity of who you are, but you've found ways to adapt and accommodate different situations and other people to to probably to maximize your own talent right and maximize your own your own development, which is which is part of what you're calling seems to be in the world, at least what what I'm hearing.
00:17:31
Speaker
one of One of the concepts I'm really fascinated with when it comes to discovery is how we integrate color energies together. So if i if you don't mind me and sharing some something of a view on your example, when the fire you red and the cool blue connect, right it gives you the drive, but probably with accuracy, right? When the fire red and the sunshine yellow, although we've not talked about that so much, the fire red energy would like to establish direction, but the sunshine yellow would invite others to join you on that journey.
00:18:00
Speaker
And then fiery red with earth green, right? We talk about having fiery red with grace. And I wonder if that is part of ah where you have nurtured some of your development by looking at that color, which would be opposite your your dominant more fiery red and integrating a little bit of that together to help you be more dynamic. What's what's your reflection on some of that? I totally agree with what you say, Marcus, because that Integration of these colors not only provides you the opportunity to understand the landscape but and the relations that you're working with, it also gives others an invitation to become part of your world. I think I like that about the insights. so The moment you and somebody else is able to understand each other better, it becomes easy for everyone to connect.
00:18:54
Speaker
And you know in ah in a professional organization, we're really looking at outcomes most of the times, but outcomes without emotion doesn't really work. And the the language of insights just brings that emotions alive for people when you know you get to a meeting and you say, give me more details. Just that word gives a realization to people that yeah that somebody is not working against you, but you're trying to work together to get to ah an outcome which is for the organization's benefit. I love it. I love it. Yeah. So certainly having outcomes can create emotion as well. thank you so Okay. So look, it sounds like you've had
00:19:38
Speaker
quite a life and quite a career and so far. You've already talked about some moments, but in your career today, what moments would you say have defined you along your journey, and would but would there be anything that we could learn from it? In a two-decade career, Marcus, while I've had many successes,
00:19:57
Speaker
I'd say the defining moments for me were the failures that I faced and nobody's career is without
Learning from Failures and Career Development
00:20:04
Speaker
failures. Let's put it like that. And in most of ah my conversations, I always refer to those failures because I remember them so clearly, right? All of these have been my defining moments. There were times I learned from them to do things differently, but overall, what I learned is resilience.
00:20:24
Speaker
and never give up and restart your journey is something that I have inculcated through these experiences. I believed and I still believe that I have designed my career the way it is today ah because of these moments that I've had. It is important that we own our choices and let failures be just a moment in our life and not our lives really.
00:20:53
Speaker
So I've learned to let go. I've learned to ah compete with my own self every day. I've learned to be content so with what I have. But one such moment, if I have to really take out from all those moments that we've spoken about, one such moment um was ah when my role was re was redefined for me. So while I say that I've defined my career, there were points when my role was redefined for me.
00:21:20
Speaker
Till then, I took pride in designing my own job descriptions by picking projects so that interested me and where I believe that the organization would find value as well. The role definition seemed to be, to me, it seemed as if it's a big setback. ah What helped was ah my conversations with ah ah the leader and realizing that the organization's goals may not always fit our design, right?
00:21:50
Speaker
And that was the time when I really had that choice to say that, do I let go or do I stay resilient with my new challenges? And I'd say as a, again, my natural fiery red approach was to stick it out and redefine and see how my role evolves. But yeah, I think that was a great experience, which kind of gave gave me a lot of confidence in my own resilience. I was really proud of overcoming that a very sensitive situation and still coming out as a leader. and you know that Those are times when leaders are really defined.
00:22:32
Speaker
Yeah, I love thank you for sharing your story. and I think creating change is one thing, but embracing change is it, it hits you as another, another thing. And I guess they say the people that never fail, never really truly live. And there's no point in sitting on the sidelines and watching other people live the life that you should be living. So it sounds like In your career, right yeah we all have the highs and lows, but it's in the the moments where we're working hardest that but stick with us. Thank you for for that. I mean, be being in your market and your role, right it's it's full of surprises. um Has it led you to any opportunities or environments that you didn't expect to be in over the years, over the last couple of decades?
Diversity and Inclusion Perspectives
00:23:16
Speaker
Actually, yes. Come to think of it, I never expected to lead DEI, diversity and inclusion.
00:23:23
Speaker
Actually, on the contrary Marcus, I was quite a naysayer in this area. I believed that everyone has equal opportunities and if one has talent, ah you can really make things happen. And in my na naivety, I kind of kept on to that belief for a very long time until I happened to read an article by a professional belonging to the LGBTQ community.
00:23:50
Speaker
and their struggle to get the basics that we very often take for granted. And um you know the associated violent experience at every stage changed my view of equal opportunities in a way. you know It is not only about professional opportunities, but it is it is also about opportunities which come to us beyond work.
00:24:16
Speaker
you know, to get education, to have a family, to belong to the society, to have friends, ah to be considered for opportunities and to live a life of respect. And the article kind of opened my eyes to the fact that the even in a very modern society, these are certain things that one has to struggle for at times and they do not come unasked. So when I picked up the role,
00:24:43
Speaker
And my work in ah talent ah provided me ah the opportunity to work on diversity and inclusion and as well. and the sort that and you know and and And when I started the work, I started with the thought that I'd like to change the perception of colleagues from these diversity groups who enter an organization with a natural expectation that the same experiences will be repeated for me. I will be treated differently.
00:25:11
Speaker
ah Maybe, you know, similar violence is what I will, have I will see. There will be, I will be discriminated. I'll be seen as unique and not similar to others. And I wanted to change that perception, not for the organization, but for these colleagues who enter the organization to say that you can have a different experience as well.
00:25:31
Speaker
you will have an experience where you're included for the talent that you bring, and you will be invited to belong to the organization. And that has been a very um different turn of career choice for me, and it's been a surprise. ah you know Every experience in diversity and inclusion has been a surprise experience for me. They're so powerful, those two words, aren't they? Diversity and inclusion. And I often think think of those words through the lens of the color energies, right? And how diverse we all are and unique. Of course, the red, yellow, green, blue gives us a simple framework, but there's so much more to it than that. And how do we include, create environments to include different preferences, different styles, different
00:26:17
Speaker
and motivations not only for ourselves but like for for for the teams and and people we we and like integrate within our our communities and I know that the field is way broader than that right you know but yeah ah just one lines that I like to look and diversity and inclusion through. Okay, it's been fantastic to have you on our call today. We have many practitioners of learning around the world that listening to these podcasts. If you had one wish for such practitioners, what would it be and why?
Creativity in Leadership and Podcast Conclusion
00:26:48
Speaker
um I would say, you know, one wish would be that have fun with insights. It's an amazing tool
00:26:55
Speaker
ah There are many users of this one report that we get and one can become extremely creative in its application in various scenarios. It should not be limited to just a debrief.
00:27:09
Speaker
but using insights to really ah change the lives of people that we interact with on a day-to-day basis by understanding them better and giving them a pathway to realize their own aspirations is something that every practitioner so should be doing every day. And yeah, my wish is the Connections website is amazing. Most of the fun really happens over there and bring that fun down to a ah session as well. Fantastic. Well, Anu, it has been a pleasure to be in the conversation with you today. and I wish you all the best. Is there any last words that you would like to share? Oh, ah thank you, Marcus. Thank you for having me here.
00:27:51
Speaker
It's been a pleasure of being here and being able to connect with so many other practitioners around the world. So great opportunity. Thank you very much. Great. Well, we have had the wonderful Anu on our call today, and um I hope you have enjoyed the conversation. Thank you for listening in. Well, that was a truly fantastic story we shared together today. I love the fact that our community of practitioners make such a huge difference across the globe.
00:28:20
Speaker
That's all for today folks. Thank you for listening to our Voices with Insights podcast. Look out for the next story in our series.