HR Transformation at Reliance Industries Limited

Mr. Vikram Bector, Chief Talent Officer, Reliance Industries Limited, delivered a talk to the students of SJMSoM. He started the talk by asking the audience about their transformation journey. He then asked the audience about their purpose in life. Next, he went ahead to explain why is purpose so important in our lives. He quoted Mark Twain by saying that the two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why. At this point, during his talk, he mentioned why purpose is so important in life. He said that purpose is the key to navigating the problems faced in our lives. He then talked about his own purpose in life, which was to help individuals and organizations achieve their peak leadership potential and become successful in all aspects of life. Next, he asked each and every student to sit beside the person he/she was most comfortable with, and gave the audience a small exercise, which was to discuss their purpose in life with each other.

The session became a highly interactive one, as everyone in the audience started discussing their life experiences with one another. After the exercise, Mr. Bector explained further regarding the personality traits of individuals, strengths and weaknesses. He talked about five of his major strengths, which were Command, Harmony, Input, Learner and Connectedness. He also talked about the weaknesses of individuals, mentioning that if the strengths of an individual are overused, in the long run it becomes a weakness. Explaining further, he said that Command means the ability of an individual to be comfortable in taking charge. However, if the same person is too commanding, he/she might become an outcast. Next, he talked about harmony, which means finding a common ground, which is strength, but sometimes it can become a deterrent if overused, that is, there are certain issues have to be solved by taking a firm stand and not by overlooking them.

Talking about inputs, he mentioned that collecting facts and inputs is essentially important. However, its overuse may lead to information junk. He also mentioned about the other strengths like being a learner and being connected to family and friends. At this point, he mentioned that instead of working too much on the weaknesses, one should actually try to polish one’s strengths. However, he cautioned the audience from having “Derailers” such as anger and temper.

Having talked much about the aspects of life, Mr. Bector then talked about Reliance Industries Limited. He mentioned that RIL was a company which was aggressive in its approach. He mentioned about how Reliance has contributed to several things in our day to day lives, such as the PET bottles we use, the shirts which we wear (if it’s not pure cotton), power supply etc. to name a few. He also mentioned about how Reliance became the pioneer in cheap local and STD call rates, and the other telecom companies followed suit. He mentioned about Reliance’s approach in starting 4G network. Next, he went ahead to explain how Reliance is continually trying to maintain its image as a “Community Neutral”, “Carbon Footprint Neutral” organization. He mentioned that the Jamnagar plant didn’t use a single drop of water from the earth’s reserves. Instead, the water used is water from seas, which has been desalinated. He then talked about how as a Chief Talent Officer, he plans to spend more time in developing strategies for the betterment of the organization. He talked about how Reliance was thinking of leveraging the Big Data into CSR and other activities.

He also talked about the Human Resource Transformation that took place in Reliance Industries Limited., and how that has changed their approach in talent acquisition and delivering their services more efficiently. Answering to a question, he also mentioned that the two biggest professions in the days to come would be the Legal profession and Human Resources. The legal profession, as he mentioned would gain popularity over the years, as there are several cases pending in the courts. He said that, with the advent of the era of innovation and development, there is bound to be more work for the lawyers and judges in issues regarding IPR, property rights and so on. He also said that Human Resources would be an equally big profession and generate employment, as more and more man power recruitment will be required by industries in future.

He concluded his talk by saying how his short duration in Reliance has helped him to gain insight regarding the way senior level managers spend their time on planning and developing strategies. This, as he mentioned, has been a valuable learning experience for him.  

written by,

Reeju Guha

SJMSoM'16