Mangaluru: The episode 5 of News Karnataka’s definitive HR talk show, People @ Work on the topic, Women On Board: Why only few women make it to the Top in Organizations was held on Sunday November 7.
Ramesh Ranjan, Editor and founder of HumanEngineers.com, a popular HR website that deals with managing the people side of the business hosted the event.
Special guest of the event was Deepa Nagarajan, Founder and Managing Director of Deepa Nagarajan LLP. Deepa Nagarajan has 27 years of experience in this field. She is a renowned speaker, and works closely with corporates, colleges, universities in various areas. She also teaches brand management, diversity management and entrepreneurial skills at leading management industries. She is a veteran OKR and OGSM implementation. Mentored by renowned personalities and expert like Dr. David Wolf, Deepa has also worked with him. She has written several books like Women Leadership, Women on Board etc. she has been awarded Phenomenal Women Achiever Award by the World Women Congress 2019 and Strategy Consultant of the Year Award by VJCA 2020.
Deepa has completed a Master’s degree in Management of IIT and IIT enabled services from State University of New York, USA , Master’s degree in Management Information Systems from Amrita School of Business.
Deepa said, pandemic highlighted the challenges, and thus more women become more strong during the time. Any transition need training. I want to grow, what I want, and what I have are the elements women really need. After March 2020, many elements have changed in the organisation due to pandemic. Critical factors for better professional success are to get ready for the future with the mindset of future. The organisation need these kind of support for women. Many women leaders have done well despite many challenges. In India the position is good for women. By using these we have done our best but the drawback is that the percentage of women is less. Based on human behaviour and psychological aspect we need to bust some of the myth like work-life balance.
There are 2 parts to our brain that is left and right. Left is practical-oriented and right is emotionally-dominated. Many of us say men are left brain people and women are right brained one. First we have to eradicate this myth. The mindset depends on our upbringing in the society and organisation. We need to worry about work –life balance, which is not only a challenge for women but also for men. Today, men also contribute towards family life, balancing of relationships etc.
Women leaders could focus on customer-centricity, increased finance literacy, enhanced contemporary leadership, bargaining and negotiation skills.
The organisation must change its structure and give more opportunity for women. The organisation must create atmosphere of gender equality, treat women and men fairly, encourage maintenance of health and security for women, skill training, measuring women development in the organisation.
Over all startergy, organisational culture guide, coach or role model for employers as representative of stakeholders, women have to understand these four ladder to climb leadership position. Many times women confines herself in a cage instead women need to be courageous, and self- confident. Art of prioritisation, decision making, adaptability, and taking of initiative, these are the areas women need to work upon for becoming a good leader in the organisation.
Women have to raise their voice, and ask help without hesitance. It is impossible to work without help. It is a collaborative exercise, and is not at all about I, Me, Myself.
