101: How HR leaders are leading on purpose and inclusion: Seetha Rani KP, Head of Human Resources at Philips Innovation Campus

The Elephant in the Room

I can never say this enough - hosting my own podcast means I have had the privilege to meet so many wonderful people, some of whom have gone on to become friends and trusted advisors. My first meeting with Seetha Rani KP was last year when running a workshop for NASSCOM senior industry leaders in Bengaluru, we connected over our lived experiences (and we were both wearing green).

She shared a story about her name - her name Seetha has a religious and cultural resonance. So, people have expectations about what Seetha should look like, how she should dress, behave, speak🤔🤔🧐🧐🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🏾‍♀️ Seetha of course does not conform to any of the stereotypes, in fact she is intentional about smashing them.

So, when we caught up a couple of weeks back it was a pleasure to speak to hear about her role at Philips Innovation Campus. We also spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾

👉🏾 Traits of a good leader, her leadership style as it has evolved over the years

👉🏾 The role of HR in driving purpose and culture in an organisation and defining the employee value proposition

👉🏾 Skills for HR to be able to step up to its expanding role and managing change

👉🏾 Advise for future practitioners

👉🏾 Role models - the people around her who inspire and motivate her

👉🏾 Her immense belief and faith in people and their abilities

If you would like to know more, head to the podcast. Link in the comments👇🏾👇🏾

Episode Transcript

Sudha: Good afternoon, Seetha. It's wonderful to finally have you on the Elephant in the Room podcast today.

Seetha: Lovely to be here with you.

Sudha: Brilliant. Let's get started. Can you give a quick introduction to who you are and please share a couple of experiences that have defined who you are today.

Seetha: Thanks for that, Sudha. I am a people's person, and I believe in making a difference to people and being joyful and bring joy to people, that's the core of who I am. And what has shaped this is my foundational years. I was born and brought up in Bangalore, in a place where I had people from different parts of India. We had people from Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and even Maharashtra, Gujarat. I grew up with different sets of people, and it also had different, classes of people. And also, we had people with disability who were thriving in that environment, we had people with polio. So I got a lot of exposure being with different kinds of people and probably that has helped me have a very diverse mindset. That is number one. And number two, I think, from my family, I draw a lot of strength, particularly I want to draw attention to what my dad was like. My dad was someone who really brought a lot of joy. As a child when I was growing up along with my siblings, every single day he would come home from work no matter how his day was, whether he was going through his own hardships.

Seetha: But when he would come home, he always got something for us; it could be chocolates or it could be like poppins or biscuits, et cetera. But it used to bring a lot of joy to us, he would take time to tell us stories, make up some his own stories and entertain us, and all of them brought a lot of joy and kind of made me believe that it's the moment, we have to seize the moment and make it count. I still remember my Dads, one of the incidents that, where he was old and ailing and frail, still wrote on my birthday, he wrote a handwritten note about me, a couple of lines, and which I framed and kept it on the table.

Seetha: And it's really giving me immense joy forever. It's something that I will always cherish and even though he's not there with me, he's always there with me. So that's something that I can recollect. All of this has really made me and a lot of lovely people that I've met along the way, the human resource persons, their experiences has shaped me and I have been a part of some of their journeys, so that's who I am.

Sudha: There are some heartwarming stories in there. So at Phillips Innovation Center, what is your role? What do you do there?

Seetha: I have the honour of leading the human resource function for Phillips Innovation Campus Bangalore. We are a diverse team of engineers, clinicians, researchers, designers, software developers, other functions. It's my privilege to understand their diverse needs, help shape the policies, practices, so that they can bring their best, not only in their day-to-day work, but also build innovation that really improve lives and wellbeing of people, which is the purpose of our company.

Sudha: So you've been in leadership role for some time now Seetha, what according to you, are the traits of a good leader? In the past couple of years, especially post covid, the definition of leadership has evolved and it is evolving constantly. So what according to you, are the traits of a good leader? Who, according to you, is a good leader?

Seetha: I think part of the answer lies in the question that you asked, it's about evolving, right? I think I definitely attribute the leadership style to be totally evolving because a lot of different things are happening at this point, and today we need more responsible leaders to have, set up very sustainable platform for socioeconomic benefit. So that being the case, I think I'd start with basics. Maybe, the need of the hour is to exemplify some of the basic traits, and number one for me is always the emotional part, right? Tapping the commitment of people and creativity of the people can happen, if you can really be be caring, compassionate, empathetic, that helps to connect with people. Especially people who are dealing with a lot of things post covid, losses, and different other emotions.

Seetha: So, wellbeing is very important. So I believe an emotional aspect of leadership is very important today, number one. Number two is definitely inclusion. Inclusion is a place where everyone can feel safe, they can have their own voice and give their perspective. Because we need everyone's input today to resolve any kind of customer issues or customer needs, to meet customer needs. So, a workforce should reflect their customer base. So I believe that it's very important for us to be inclusive, that's the second part.

Seetha: The third part is business and technological aspect, right? Leaders with sharpened business and technological traits, because we should be able to talk business language at the same time, technology is so fast and so dynamic. It's important to keep the safety aspects in mind. To responsibly innovate with new technology is another important thing; it could be the safety and privacy of the customers, it could be safety of the patients, or it could be just protecting overall what is good globally as well. So that responsibility from that angle is important.

Seetha: Another point would be intellect and insights, and today there's so much of data that's available in the market in different forms, making sense of that and keeping a long-term view. And taking that calculated risk is very important. Getting some insights. And last but not the least, I think what I have realised as a leader over a period of time is to really nurture the intuitive ability, intuition, right? There's a lot of data that we rely on, but it's important for leaders today to believe back on their own intuition because intuition is also one kind of a data. It is a data, and it is telling you based on something that is inside of you. So I do believe that leaders should nurture the basic instincts and intuition as leaders.

Sudha: That's very interesting. That is true, we tend to disregard our instinctive abilities and that of course, the instinct is because of the experiences in our muscle memory, in our body, in our brain. That's so interesting. What is your own leadership style Seetha? And has it evolved? I think for all of us, of course, how we behave as leaders has evolved, I can definitely see that for myself. How has it evolved over the course of your career?

Seetha: Oh, that's a lovely question and I said that, I totally believe in evolving. Version 9.0, like I mentioned earlier. Definitely it has evolved, my natural style has been a very empathetic and compassion style of leadership and that can be confirmed because I just spoke to few of my people that have been a people leader for over 20 years back, 15 years back, 5 years back, and even today, some themes remain the same. And the caring part and the empathetic part still holds good.

Seetha: What has perhaps evolved is, like I just mentioned about intuition. I think I was not trusting my instincts a lot, but with lot of experiences, taking chance on people, et cetera. At the same time, I can tell you how is it evolved. It has evolved with people and my leadership style is like, I start with trust, I start with 200% trust till I have reasons not to. It's something that I believe that we should just start on that and then more than delegating, my intent is always to elevate, elevate the people around me you know, I'd like to give them a stretch, like to see how they can be elevated, how they can be showcased.

Seetha: And if I look back and speak to a lot of people, I still have people who I hired in my previous companies who really raised to, really senior positions and it makes me really proud how they have grown in their careers, how they call me for any career moves that they make. And even today in my team, I've had the opportunity to have put together a team from different, experiences and I thoroughly enjoy working with them.

Seetha: I really believe in letting them lead and just giving them opportunities, guide them or coaching style, that's what it is. And what has helped it, I can give a couple of examples, right? In the beginning when I was a people leader this is about 15 years ago, let's say. I was again friendly, approachable, kind of a leader and people would say, "oh, you're the best manager I've had."

Seetha: And gave me all good feedback. And then, when it came to an employee survey that really talks about manager, I really got a beating. I was taken aback by a kind of a score that was unbelievable, right? I fell off my chair, I couldn't believe, I thought, I'm reading the survey wrong. I reread it, looked at it and all of that, and then realised that that's the fact, that's what is in front of me. Then, that took me some time to kind of digest. So I went on a soul-searching trip for a couple of days myself, came back with a determined mind to get over this, to understand what is going on.

Seetha: Met each person personally and had a heart-to-heart talk, just to let them know that it's about me, not about them. And about, you know, letting me know where I can do better and about improving myself and not so much about them. And believe me, I got a lot of good inputs and there were some misunderstanding between different other people, which was brewing underneath, which I didn't probably pay attention to, which I thought was frivolous, et cetera, meant a lot for somebody else. And it led to so many other things in the team. So thereby it gave me a lot of blind spots about other people and what's happening with them.

Seetha: And then how my being in the centre of it, how it helps them perceive differently. So it helped me clarify a lot of things and then we went on to being one of the best teams after that. So thats just one small example, but I can tell you I learned a whole lot by that and that helped me to continuously keep the dialogue open with team members. And it's important for me to see that they do well in their roles, plus do well in their personal lives. Even today for all my team members, I ask them to put on a personal goal as well, while they put in their professional goals for the year. Just to see where I stand with them, I kind of nudge them a little bit and help them. So it is evolving and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Sudha: Yeah, that's so interesting and also important to acknowledge because I mean, when we talk about leaders or leadership, essentially it's a cultural thing. I think we don't want to be seen to have made mistakes or to have failed. So, you know, to recognise that, okay, there is something that's wrong, take a step back, to engage and to hear from people. To actually listen to them and ask them, that's like opening yourself and being vulnerable. And that's like, I think a great trait for all leaders because we are not perfect human beings and we definitely need support at different junctures, so it's good to hear you talking about that.

Sudha: Moving on, do you believe that HR can or should drive purpose and culture in an organisation? Again, in a post covid world, purpose is suddenly taken front and center stage, and HR as a function is hugely powerful in sort of how you influence a culture within the organisation. What would you say?

Seetha: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I think HR has a really, really critical role in this. First of all, HR would be a part, an active member in defining the employee value proposition itself. What's in it for employees today? Multi-generational talent is what most companies would have, right? And it's important for them to know, why they're working, what are they working on, and how will they work, and all of that. So articulating some of those and getting those narratives right, in such a way that people understand, you know, why they're there. All of it starts with that.

Seetha: Secondly, to strategise and look at what kind of talent we need to be able to unlock that kind of potential in them and bring forth the result that we are looking towards a shared purpose. So driving that is important.

Seetha: And thirdly, 'culture'. Culture in itself is like a fertile soil, on which you can build things and HR can build and enable that ecosystem by nurturing it and also calling out ‘what’ of that culture. Culture is the ‘how’ part, right?

Seetha: Like for example, if it's a customer, the core of everything, it's customer first. It's a behaviour, And how do we drive that behaviour? The 'how' part is the part where HR can hugely influence. They can help coach people, they can demonstrate and they can have role models that continuously invest in leaders who can carry on that message, walk the talk continuously, keep nurturing and facilitating some of those aspects. And especially in a ever-changing world, at current juncture post covid for sure. So HR is also a change agent. So they really play an active role in change and even dealing with change fatigue and wellbeing of people. There's so much change, you know, you can only cope with it by being with people and helping them to take take care of themselves.

Sudha: Okay, and why do you think it is important for workplaces to be representative, inclusive and equitable? And what is the wider impact, because I think there are learned behaviours that we all have and experiences that we all have being nurtured in a particular way. So how can organisations, I mean when you have people working in an organisation, they don't come from just one place. There are different different lived experiences, different socioeconomic strata, et cetera, et cetera. So how do you build that inclusion with all these different people coming together and how do you build that cohesion and why is it important?

Seetha: I think the opportunity cost for not doing so is very high, right? If you don't have diverse set of people, because it's the people who really define your strategy of how you're going to achieve your purpose, They are the ones who really shape the thoughts, they're the ones who bring in new ideas, they provide solutions for the customer's problems. So it's important to have different thoughts, which we may not be, if everyone's looking alike, then they will not be able to cope with the complex challenges that they're trying to crack.

Seetha: And so basically we should be able to mirror the customer base that we have. It's only then we can think, like if we have people with disability and you will know how to think on their behalf, or they can represent a particular set of society, you know, because every business is here for societal value. So the only imperative that they keep representation from all kinds as possible. So that's how I think inclusion is very important, and then people want to be themselves, right?

Seetha: Like if you look, we have a campaign called "Life is Better when You are You", right? And people want to be themselves when they come to work. They can be of any generation preferences today, but there's so much of awareness that is being created from LGBTQ-related awareness, persons with disability, they have strong special abilities if you're only able to match that and have a win-win, it's a great success for each company.

Sudha: Yeah, I think this is the sort of difficult one is that traditionally, HR is there and I think it has evolved in the past couple of years.

But what are the skills that practitioners need in today's world order to be conversant with their expanding role? And of course, what the expectation is from the employees. What would your advice be to like current and future practitioners? What are the skills that they need to have and what are the ones that they need to really sort of think about?

Seetha: Yeah, it's very tricky. Like I mentioned, there's change happening everywhere. So change management has taken over HR's role, you're always trying to manage change. And like I heard in one of the talks recently that change is something that is constant, but fear and resistance of change...