Tell us about you, your experience and your time in the ME

I was, and continue to be intrigued and curious about how the world would be if every organization acts as a fertile ground for nurturing and growing human potential and spirit. This possibility sparked a passion in me that kept me energized over the past four decades of work in human and organizational development areas, both as a consultant and a practitioner. I had an enriching and enjoyable tenure with Emirates NBD, spanning over 25 years. I had the opportunity to be part of the growth, transformation, and M & A initiatives of the Group. The highlight of this stint was when INSEAD Business School published two business cases on the decade-long HR transformation that I facilitated in the bank.

I set up my consulting firm on 1st March 2020 as a transformation enabling service provider to deal with the challenges of disruption. Like everyone, I had no idea at the time that the whole world would be pushed into disruption in the way we live, work, and learn in a couple of weeks. The last one-year, in that sense, has been creatively challenging not only how my firm can support clients but also how the firm itself needed to transform to be relevant and value-adding.

 What is your company’s core purpose?

We are a transformation-enabling firm, passionate about helping organizations and leaders transform to their best possible state.  Inspired by the magic of a caterpillar’s transformation into a butterfly, we endeavor to create that magic for our clients through our consulting, coaching and learning services.

 What do you feel your company can offer in these challenging times?

Our organizational transformation services include facilitating culture change, performance enablement, and high-performance teams. The leadership transformation services cover personalized and contextualized leader development, high potential future leaders development, and leadership learning programs.

What do you see as the most prominent HR challenges in the current times?

There hasn’t been a time in the history of modern organizations when the importance of people in organizations across the world has been felt more than now. HR leaders have an excellent opportunity to make an indelible mark on their organizations, people, and the community. I believe three factors are vital for HR making this impact.

Vision – We are indeed in a new normal that calls for a new vision. HR must shape their vision that straddles work and life, performance and wellbeing, and organization and community.

Culture – The hierarchical and control-oriented culture that organizations are used to for a long time must give way to an empowered and accountable culture where people take ownership for their actions and performance. The culture change involves a massive shift, and HR must lead the way with support from organizational leaders.

Infrastructure – The bureaucratic processes and outdated technology must be replaced with employee-centric practices and new-age technology to ensure straight-through operations, employee experience, and real-time people analytics. HR must make a case for resources and swiftly execute the required infrastructure transformation.     

How do you see the future unfolding for organizations?

We are indeed in the midst of VUCA times when forecasting the future becomes tough. But one thing is certainly clear: organizations and people have to learn to navigate disruptions and bounce back far stronger, wiser, and nimbler. It means organizations and people becoming agile and resilient to take on the challenges of the new age of disruptions.