This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services
You would not be surprised if I tell you that organizations have not only embraced the war for talent as a part of life but also go ‘All-in’ to wield clout in the current Talent marketplace.
While organizations roll out best of offers and try to lure the available talent outside the organization, they also understand that it is pivotal to offer a purpose, fulfilling role, multiple benefits and opportunities of growth to the talent within the organization.
One such endeavour to facilitate this is the Internal Mobility program, where employees are granted flexibility and opportunities to switch roles within the organization. If internal mobility is executed effectively, it reaps great results and is a win-win for both the employee and the organization.
In many organizations, it is just a policy on the books which exists just for the namesake. However, here at Schneider Electric, I have enjoyed this flexibility several times in my career of 11 years and fortunately it has proved propitious for my growth and learning.
Here, I recommend some of the key attributes which according to me would assist you in leveraging Internal Mobility Policy at Schneider Electric.
Be Mobile
When you move to a different location in a different role, you usually venture out of your comfort zone and it helps you gain a broader & deeper experience which provides an opportunity to learn and grow. While you explore new avenues, you face new challenges and get acclimatized to a different culture. Concomitant is the added learning and growth.
I was called to Gurgaon to explore a new role, and at that point of time, I didn’t even know the designation on offer. However, I still chose to immediately move to Delhi. Me and my family encountered several challenges as my South Indian Family was moving to northern part of the country for the first time. There were lot of things at stake. My kids had to join a new school, it also meant leaving their friends behind and developing new friendships, change of the job for my wife. There were many more ambiguities which were lurking, however, we tackled them all.
Fail Forward and Believe in Yourself
While I was appointed as VP of Customer Excellence (Customer Care, Quality, Sales Excellence, Transformation and Digital Customer Experience), I was supposed to police the experts and my role was to suggest them how they can improvise and perform well at their work. In no way, it was a bonhomie. To make it worse for me, on 62nd Day in the role my supervisor called me to address the gathering of all the VPs and Directors of the sales teams. This was to educate them the new Sales Philosophy. I was stressed out and unprepared thus I was nervous and I could not deliver. It was extremely embarrassing for me and my boss; I learnt my lessons the hard way, we let the experts speak and we fetch excellence by practicing. It is about learning from your failures and growing from there. It’s about believing in yourself, counting your wins and moving forward.
Be cognizant of the fact that everything that you have learnt in your previous roles would be useful
It is difficult to be certain of the ways in which your experiences would prove favorable in several situations in life, it is better to pursue your interests even when you don’t have visibility of how things would shape up and what value would these experiences yield. Keeping in mind several acquisitions and the complexities they brought in the last 7-8 years, I was assigned a challenging role of mutualizing and transforming customer centricity.
Earlier, it was very confusing for the customers with several Customer Care lines, our objective was to merge the help-desk and position ourselves as ‘One Schneider’. Since this proved to be a successful assignment, organization also entrusted me to transform the HR Systems in India by transforming the employee experience. The rich learnings I garnered, skills I equipped, the challenges I faced while bringing customer centricity were all put to good use.
Stay Invested in your work and Play to Win
I just alluded to my life and cited that all your experiences would come to good use in your new role, however, the new waters would require you to start afresh. There would be fresh set of challenges, your team would have expectations from you would have to go ‘all in’ once again to prove your mettle, not just to others but to yourself too. The jist is to stay committed to your work and be ready for travelling the extra mile again and again.
In my two decades of experience I had never worked in Human Resources and When I decided to embrace the role of Vice President – India HRSS, being a quality guy, I always believed that customer voices are pivotal rather than sitting between four walls and designing a strategy. I did my due diligence by meeting 400+ Employees, leaders, HR Partners, Factory Employees and more. The inputs we received after these discussions helped me and my leaders to create a strong strategy to drive Employee Experience in India.
Have fun at Work
It’s an age-old apothegm, ‘All work and no Play makes you dull’
Having a fun working environment builds trusts, opens, encourages and increases communication and enhances creativity. It obviates the monotony and helps build a great friend circle which in-turn results in having a stronger fall-back system. This further buttress collaboration. If you start enjoying and cherishing your time at work, you aren’t working at all.
To sum it all, I have cherished all my roles at Schneider Electric and the organization has supported me always and in all ways to become successful in all my endeavours. My supervisors gave me my time to learn and pick up things in the new role, gave me space and flexibility to maintain a balance while the transition was under process. Even when I did not match their expectations, they guided me and directed me to the right path. I strongly advocate that you pursue your professional interests and pursue your dreams by trying out different roles within the organization.
I earnestly request you to leverage the Internal mobility program.
Know more about the career prospects with Schneider Electric here.
