On 20th November 2018, the Indo-German Training Centre hosted the final meet for the year 2018 for the Indo-German HR Partner Forum. The theme for the day was rightly selected as ‘Design Thinking and Community Dialogue Process’. Thus the context for the day also was appropriately set as a dialogue about Current State of Changes in Organizations & Design Thinking’s Role for HR Community. The trainer for the day was Mr. Raj Mali from Red Wisdom.
• To understand the basics of Design Thinking
• To give a taste of challenges and opportunities of a community dialogue process
The meeting was attended by HR professionals from organizations such as Baerlocher India Additives Pvt. Ltd., BASF India Ltd., Bosch Ltd., Brose India Automotive System Pvt. Ltd., Covestro India Pvt. Ltd., Evonik India Pvt. Ltd., FEV India Ltd., Häfele India Pvt. Ltd., KSB Pumps Ltd, LANXESS India Pvt. Ltd., Schaeffler India Ltd., Siemens Ltd., and Wacker Chemie AG
The day commenced with a brief introduction of each member where they had to introduce themselves stating something they are proud of in their lives. The workshop then began with the trainer clarifying the do’s and don’ts of a Design Thinking & Community Dialogue Process. Members of the group were asked to pick cards with certain guidelines on them. The guidelines that were given to the forum were:
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Be emotionally present in the group |
Speak using ‘I’ |
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Listen with attention |
Don’t Sermonize |
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Do not start to formulate an answer before anyone finishes |
Be ‘there’. Attentive and committed to the group, and stay till the end of the process |
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Be Trustworthy |
Participate with or without words |
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Take a risk |
Express your doubts within, not outside, the group |
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Acknowledge the value of stillness and silence |
Include others |
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Listen to your inner voice. Speak only when you are moved to speak |
Take Responsibility for your personal success or whatever you get or don’t get out of the dialogue session |
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Be Punctual |
Say your name before you speak |
These guidelines have to be practiced throughout the day without any intervention from others.
The next session was the role of senior HR leaders during a group dialogue process. The session commenced with a practice session for the members for facilitating a meaningful dialogue. Each person had to suggest a topic for discussion. Two topics were unanimously decided upon – ‘Change Management and Performance Management’. For the afternoon session the discussion was on Change Management. The HR partners discussed on mergers and acquisitions, cultural assimilation, how do leaders address doubts of employees during mergers and also how do companies maintain gender diversity. The topic of Performance Management will be covered in the next meeting in 2019.
After the discussion, a reflection was done to see if the guidelines were followed, if everyone was given an opportunity to speak and also on how the members felt when their topic was not picked. It helped the partners understand what to expect & to be prepared for during group dialogues.
The workshop ended with each member sharing their learnings from the day and promising to implement them in their organizations.
• Let others feel what they want to feel. Own your feelings.
• Create a safe space for people to feel. Feelings don’t always have to be positive.
• Power of structured dialogue
• Power of planned silence
• Close system v/s open system of communication
• The 16 guidelines followed during the day
• Approach of empathy to define problems.
After the workshop, a new chairperson was appointed for the Indo-German HR Partner Forum for the year 2019 – Santanu Ghoshal, Vice President – Human Resources from Schaeffler India.
