As a part of our talent acquisition engagements, we ask our clients how they define “top talent” and how they would assess those traits in the interview process. Reflecting on the insightful comments we hear every day, we thought there would be great value in a new blog in which senior executives/thought leaders share their “Take on Talent.”
This is the seventh in a series of blogs/interviews with senior executives who are thought leaders in the areas of Talent Acquisition, Career Development and Leadership who will share their perspectives on this ever present question.
Sanjay Arora is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Global F&A with Arvato Financial Solutions – A Bertelsmann Group Company (Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. The company has 117,000 employees and generated revenues of €17.1 billion in the 2015 financial year.)
Prior to this, Sanjay Arora was the Managing Director at Accenture responsible for Pacific CMT BPO Operations.
Prior to Accenture, Sanjay held several positions in American Express for Global Reporting, Global Re-engineering & Transformation Initiatives and for setting up Global Shared Services Center in India.
Please share with us the top five characteristics (in priority order, first to fifth) of the most talented people you have encountered during your career, and your definition of each.
Vision and Execution – Two in a Box
A strong leader has to demonstrate that he/she is visionary who can also convert that vision to reality and take people along. Vision without Execution is hallucination & vice versa. This is where the two in a box ability becomes critical to inspire people and establish a connection.
Trust and Confidence
One of the most important traits that good leaders demonstrate is the ability to win the trust and confidence of the people around them. This is incredibly important when it comes to managing large teams in physical and virtual environments across the globe in which most us operate today.
Challenge for Change
In today’s environment, it is extremely important for strong leaders to stay ahead in the race and challenge the status quo. They demonstrate their ability to have a good understanding of the eco-system they operate in from the perspective of employees, customers, industry and shareholders. They are curious to learn and leverage new ideas to deliver the best. They also encourage their people to challenge the status quo and reward the ideas that help bring change
Inspire Others
Strong leaders have the ability to inspire people around them with their authentic style, passion and positive energy. They also inspire others with their approach to solving issues, facing failures and celebrating successes. Inspiration from a strong leader is contagious and organizational barriers break down when people around them are inspired to spread & adopt their ideas and opinions across the entire organization without boundaries.
Taking Accountability
It is important for leaders to take accountability. Accountability can’t be delegated. Strong leaders provide greater flexibility and ownership to their leads to operate independently while also mentoring and coaching as required in order to get the best from their teams for the larger good of organizational and team’s individual professional goals.
How do you communicate these characteristics to your HR and senior management team?
At arvato Global F&A, we wanted to make sure that our foundation is very strong when it comes to leadership behaviors and the do’s and don’ts that fit into our organization culture. This is all the more important for organizations growing across global locations, time-zones & leadership levels. This subject has a very high attention in our organization. It has been a part of our Board meetings agenda and we review with our HR & Businesses on how we are progressing and refresh our actions and communications to reflect the needs.
How do you handle challenges to the existing culture by talent you have brought in?
It starts with knowing what is required aligned to client expectations, process capability & team culture. We always hire talent who are quick learners, have the ability to work in a changing environment and have the ability to challenge the current process for further improvement. This is achieved with a very strong collaboration among business, recruitment & HR. The approach at times differ from market to market or from one offering to another but the result is one team, one way of working and one culture that makes delivering outcomes and helps in winning client trust, confidence and strengthen overall relationship. We are also launching a high performance leadership development program that will further strengthen our focus and journey.