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15MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2013Employability & Empowerment

The hosting of amarathon 24 hourHuman ResourceConclave must be themoment of pride forNehru Group ofInstitutions, this beingthe first of its kind inthe southern region.Coimbatore, which isemerging fast as agreat seat of learning

had the privilege to witness a host of HR pro-fessionals, Entrepreneurs, Professors, Directorsand Motivational Speakers coming from differ-ent parts of the country. The conclave focusedon the theme- “Lessons Learnt from EconomicSlowdown” commenced on 23rd at 15:00hours and concluded at 16:30 hours on 24thJanuary 2013. The Event was inspired by fac-tors such as understanding of global scenario ofthe HR practices, ever growing need for talentretention and hunt for skilled workforce anddeepening gap between the qualified manage-ment students and their suitable employment.The Nehru College of Management took theinitiative to pool the HR Practitioners and sea-soned professionals from different sectors andthe corporate to benefit the students from vari-ous institutions in and around Coimbatore. Iwas witness to the unfolding of the entire eventwhich reminded me of the beautiful words ofSir Wilfred Grenfell:

“Real joy comes not from ease or riches orfrom the praise of men, but from doing some-thing worthwhile. ’’

The inauguration of the Event saw on thedais many dignitaries includingDr.Adv.P.Krishnadas, Managing Trustee, NGI,Dr. G. James Pitchai, Vice-Chancellor,Bharathiar University,Padmasri.Dr.KrishnaKumar ,MD, AVP,Coimbatore , Dr.P.Krishna Kumar,CEO &Secretary, Dr.S.Franklin John, Principal, NCMand Dr Winston Jacob, President, GlobalUniversity of Lifelong Learning.

Dr.Adv.P.Krishnadas, in his presidentialaddress highlighted that Human resource playsa significant role in the development of busi-ness. Hence the HR professionals ought topossess thorough knowledge of the business aswell as of Human resource functions includingthe ability to lead any change process, innova-tion, problem solving and leadership.

Dr. G. James Pitchai, Vice-Chancellor,Bharathiar University, during his inauguraladdress congratulated the organizers for theirefforts to pool the HR Experts from the lengthand breadth of the country. He mesmerizedeveryone with his insight into the immensepotential of the human resources of the Nation.He highlighted that Indians are applaudedacross the globe for their capacious memory.Besides, he observed that these days attractivecompensation package alone is not sufficient.Hence the HR Professionals have alreadystepped out of their comfort zone and are look-ing for the talented professionals and are hunt-ing for the relationship focused business skillswhich are the need of the hour for the organi-zations.

Padmasri.Dr.KrishnaKumar ,MD, AVP, dur-ing his address stressed that we are all into anew era of innovation which focuses on the useof web & cloud technology, social media,coaching, talent analytics and outsourcing ofrecruitment processes. In his speech, he men-tioned that normally record setting and recordbreaking will take place in sports arena. ButNehru Group of Institutions had set a benchmark by doing it in the academic arena. Thepresent era is witnessing a gloomy situation ofeconomic growth and organizations are facingtalent scarcity. Hence this is the right time todiscuss the workforce challenges. HR profes-sionals transformed themselves to enable theirorganizations to address today’s businessimperatives and prepare for tomorrow’sgrowth.

The first session was held between 4 and 6PM on the theme -“Expectations of HR from aFresher”. The speakers were Mr.MaheshKumar, Dean, Community Institute ofManagement Studies, Mr.Sriram ,HR, RamcoSystems, Chennai, Dr.Winston Jacob,President, Global University of LifelongLearning ,USA and Mr.N.Srinivasan, DGM P&A, Malabar Cements. The experts highlight-ed that skills and talents which the freshershould develop during their course of gradua-tion from colleges. They also emphasized thatthe students should develop positive attitudeand develop certain skills sets to face the chal-lenges in the job. Dr Winston was inspirationaland impressed everyone with his love for life-long learning concept. The session was chairedby Dr. Ganesh Babu, Principal, NIT.

The second session was focused on thetheme -“Improving Leadership”. The speakerswere Dr.Karthik Namasivayam, GM, VelanGroup of Hotels, Mr.VandematharamMadhavan, MD,Agni,Coimbatore andMr.Mohd.Azad Reach Information andCommunication Systems. The speakersstressed that there is talent hunt for positiveleaders. Today's competitive marketplacerequires human resource professionals to havean expanded role in the organization due toincreasing importance of social and relation-ship capital. The major challenge today is togain and use influence to become a betterstrategic partner, to determine where the organ-ization is headed, and to get out in front and usethe human resources function to help lead theway. Dr Karthik, in particular, touched uponmany fundamental issues concerning leader-ship challenges. The session was chaired byDr.Vigila Kennedy, Director, KCT B- School.She was quite professional in her role.

The Third session was focused on the theme-“Improving Productivity”. The speakers wereMr. Praveen, Senior HR, Elgi Pvt Ltd,Mr.Maria Antony, Mgr, L&T Elgi Pvt Ltd, Cbeand Mr.Ashwin, CEO- Wintraining, Chennai.The speakers emphasized that students shouldmake better use of their time, completing moreprojects and achieving more goals. If you wantto be more productive and help your team to bemore productive, for which you must plansome strategies. The session was chaired byDr.K.Nanthini, Principal, NIMS.

The Fourth session was focused on thetheme- “Maintaining Employee Motivation”.The speakers were Mr.DavidMadhu, SeniorHR, Deloitte, Hyderabad, Dr. Manikandan,Youth Corp Mission, Cbe, Mr.Sree Rangan,HR – Mgr, Sakthi Finance, Cbe andMr.Sanjeev, Canadian Spiritual Center. Mr.David was quite insightful with his hands-onexperience. Other speakers underlined thatevery person has different reasons for working.The reasons for working are as individual asthe person. But, we all work because we obtainsomething that we need from work. The some-thing obtained from work impacts morale,employee motivation, and the quality of life.There's no secret formula, no set calculation,no work sheet to fill out. To retain good staff

and to encourage them to give of their bestwhile at work requires attention to the financialand psychological and even physiologicalrewards offered by the organization as a con-tinuous exercise. The Fourth session waschaired by Dr. Maniiarasan, Principal, NIET.

The Fifth Session was focused on the theme-“HR Games”. It was organized by the internalTeam of faculty members with some hands ontraining on team building and psychologicalself awareness.

The Sixth Session was focused on thetheme- “Using Whole Brain LearningTechnique for Increasing OrganizationalEffectiveness” The internal Team of facultymembers organized the session on UsingWhole Brain Learning Technique forIncreasing Organizational Effectiveness.Whole Brain Technique (WBT) is a pedagogi-cal approach which is based on currentresearch into brain activity and how we learn.Traditionally education has focused on rightbrain activity - the reasoning, rational part ofthe brain. WBT techniques seek to make con-nections between this rational part of the brainand the left side of the brain which is concernedwith creative activity.

The Seventh session was focused on thetheme- “Capitalizing on Change”. The speak-ers were Mr.Rohith Kumar, Analyst, Deloitte,Hyderabad, Mr.Pravin Rambhojan, ArrowAcademy, and Mr.Narayanan, HR, Manager,MIRA Textiles, Chennai. The speakers heldthat with HR at the planning table, HR canforecast how many people would be neededand with what skills, besides HR being theagent of change. The HR staff should also trainthe company workforce to figure out how tocapitalize on a changing business environmentand train company leaders to embrace theopportunities change can bring. The Seventhsession was chaired by Dr. Moses Daniel,Principal, NIITM.

The Eight Session was an “HR Quiz” organ-ized by the internal Team of faculty members.The best participant was rewarded. This creat-ed stimulation among the students to get famil-iarized with the concepts and recent trends inthe field of HR.

The Ninth session was held on the theme-“Importance of Physical Health in IncreasingProductivity”. The internal Team of facultymembers organized the activities for theParticipants to stimulate their mind and body.

The Tenth session was focused on the theme-“Skill up-gradation for Future Managers”.Among the speakers were Mr Braj KishorGupta, a Motivation Guru, Dr.Samip Baruah,National Sales Manager, ITC andMr.M.L.Peter, Director, Gi HR Solutions, Pvt,Ltd. Mr. Gupta set the tone of the panel discus-sion by raising fundamental questions like whywas the growing need for up gradation of skillsat all, how come, skill was being viewed moreimportant than knowledge and above all whythe future manager had to play the role of adynamic leader? It was also his powerful tech-nique to include some stories that touched thehearts of many students. Other speakers held

that the increasing demand for skilled perform-ers came as a happy trend being observed in thecorporate. Companies have realized that intoday's competitive business milieu, the quali-ty of people you employ can make all the dif-ference. The Tenth session was chaired by Dr.B.Anirudhan, Principal, NASC, who capturedthe essence of the learned panelists by high-lighting the need to develop a new mindsetreceptive to change.

The Eleventh session on the theme“Emotional Intelligence for Sustainability” hadspeakers like Mr.Krishna.S, CEO, Aravind saiB-School, Dr.Bhawani, Director- Wintraining,Coimbatore , Mr.Mayank Gupta ,Regional HR,Dell, Cbe and Mr.Nandagopal Shankar, MD,Talent full Training Services, Mumbai. Thelearned speakers described emotional intelli-gence as an umbrella term that captures a broadcollection of individual skills and dispositionsusually referred to as soft skills or inter andintra-personal skills, that are outside the tradi-tional areas of specific knowledge, generalintelligence, and technical or professionalskills. The emotionally intelligent person isskilled in four areas: Identifying emotions,using emotions, understanding emotions, andregulating emotions. The emotional intelli-gence concept is useful for individuals interest-ed in learning about the role of emotions inwork and everyday life. The Eleventh sessionwas chaired by Mr.Kumaresan Duraisami,Principal, Minerva College, Salem.

The theme of the Twelfth session was “HRPractices for Next Generation”. The speakerswere Mr.Rajeev M.N, AGM-HR, HyundaiMotor India Ltd. Chennai, Mr.Nithyananth,Senior HR, VWR lab Products, CBE andMr.Anandh Krishnan, Center Head, ManyaGroup, CBE. The speakers held that HR hasbecome the key to the development of theorganization. Hence it is essential for the stu-dents to ponder over the required skill sets andtry to develop them at the earliest. The sessionwas chaired by Mr. Dr.Natarajan, Director,Brainbank.

The 24 hours marathon conclave con-cluded with the valedictory session at 16.30hours on 24th January 2013. The Mega HRConclave turned out to be a historical event asit got endorsed in the Asia Book of Recordsand India book of Records thanks also to thepatience and perseverance shown by the adju-dicators- Ms Rinki Tomar of Asia Book ofRecords and Ms Ankita Bortthakur from IndiaBook of Records who witnessed the entireevent from beginning to the end. The HRConclave was also awarded the title ‘‘LargestAudience for a Single HR Title” by Asia Bookof Records as it was attended by more than1000 students from various colleges in andaround Tamilnadu and Kerala. I, however,returned to Bangalore by evening flight think-ing about the lines of William Shakespeare:

Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in doing.

The writer is a well- known Motivationalspeaker and consulting Editor. He can be con-

tacted at motivationguru@hotmail.com

HUMAN RESOURCE CONCLAVE WITH A DIFFERENCE

BRAJ KISHOR GUPTA