I started my own venture, Positive Vibes Consulting, in 2016, an HR & Training consulting firm based out of Gurgaon. From being a relatively unknown trainer in 2016, to being a part of the elite club of “Business World Education 40 under 40” & many more awards & accolades, I have come a long way.
1. Tell us about your background and journey.
I am an HR & Learning specialist with over 17 years of experience in various senior HR positions at reputed Indian and Multinational Companies in India & abroad. My story began when I passed out of one of the most premier B Schools of India – SCMHRD (Symbiosis Centre for Management & Human Resources Development).
Like any other young graduate, I was looking forward to starting a rocking corporate career! And rocking it was! In my corporate career of almost 14 years, I had the opportunity to work in diverse industries such as Manufacturing, Hospitality, FMCG & Consulting in India & the Middle East (Qatar & Bahrain).
After Having worked extensively in various areas of HR in companies like DCM Shriram, Yum & KPMG Middle East (Qatar & Bahrain) I started my own venture, Positive Vibes Consulting, in 2016, an HR & Training consulting firm based out of Gurgaon.
From being a relatively unknown trainer in 2016, to being a part of the elite club of “Business World Education 40 under 40” & many more awards & accolades, I have come a long way. This is my surreal journey – one that is like a fiery roller coaster with its highs and lows but one that has been truly enjoyable & exciting to say the least.
2. What is your opinion about remote working?
Remote working has become the “new normal”. And like everything else, this also has its own pros and cons.
While it does help in saving commute time specially for people in the metros and also saves up real estate cost for businesses but from a professional viewpoint its not the same.
The magic of “team synergy” is missing. The output and efficiency that is achieved when everyone works TOGETHER as ONE TEAM physically operating out of an office is very difficult to achieve in remote working.
With remote working, the working hours have become “boundary less”. Digital Fatigue & burnout are the new lifestyle challenges that we are grappling with. But above everything else, Office is not just about work.
It is about creating & fostering social bonds with colleagues as well. The feeling of belongingness, the lunch or “chai time” conversations, the unwinding during “happy hours” post work - in short the “social interaction” is definitely missing and that’s not healthy for either the organisation or its employees.
3. How do you keep your employees and team engaged? What are some of the shifts in engagement strategies?
Times are difficult. Employees are struggling with pandemic related issues – whether it is their own health (physical or mental) or of their families coupled with reduced social interaction and practically very limited opportunities to socialise.
Work from home has brought on added responsibilities of managing home, children, elderly along with the regular office work. In such times, all employees are looking for is a patient ear to “listen” and a “supportive” hand to help.
This is what employee engagement strategy should be all about. Regularly reaching out to people, giving them ample platforms to connect & speak, ensuring their wellbeing (physical & mental) and rewarding them for their hard work are excellent ways to keep employees engaged in these times.
At Positive Vibes, we make it a point to dedicate the “first 15 minutes” of our daily morning call to “non work related conversations” - Just a catch up on how everyone and their families are doing. Virtual “happy hours” once in a week or fortnight along some fun conversation is an excellent way to help the team unwind in such times.
Engagement in the current times cannot be looked upon in silos. It is all about the complete employee experience that you give to your teams.
4. How did you come up with this idea of Positive Vibes Consulting and go about executing it?
When I decided to embark on the journey of entrepreneurship, it was an extremely difficult decision. And even today in the “era” of startups when you actually express interest to start your own venture, the first question that comes your way is – WHY?
The same question came my way - Why do you want to start a company from scratch when u have a lucrative job, pay package and a status of being the HR Head for one of the biggest businesses of a well reputed company.
And it actually got me thinking. Am I taking the right decision? The lure of pay check at the end of the month and giving up a senior position with a big established corporate house was a difficult chord to break.
But I had a deep desire within me to test my ability to create something from scratch, nurture it with my hard work & watch it grow. Somewhere there was also a belief in myself & my capability to be able to do this.
So in 2016, I took the leap of faith and started Positive Vibes Consulting and its been an exciting journey since then. We started off primarily as a Corporate Training & HR Consulting firm.
But over the years, we have diversified into Professional Certification Courses (Accredited by SHRM), One on One Mentoring services, partnering with education institutions to build capability of young talent & HR Advisory services.
5. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?
No entrepreneurial journey is without challenges. And the same happened with us. When the pandemic hit the world, we being primarily a Corporate Training company were hit badly as all our clients were also facing financial crunch and hence the spend on training and HR projects was stopped.
So it got us thinking: Shall we consider this as a part of our fate and accept the calamity that has hit the business and wait for things to get back to normal? Shall we wait for our existing clients to open their doors for us? In other words: “Is this almost the end of an amazing 4 year journey for Positive Vibes”? OR Is it A “HUGE OPPORTUNITY” IN THE WAITING? We realized that the current pandemic has hit the economy very badly, where numerous young and bright people have lost their jobs or are struggling to retain their jobs.
Team Positive Vibes with an endeavor to help such professionals and mentor them with our combined experience of 30 years in the corporate world, started offering specialised skill based Certification courses at very reasonable costs, in the lockdown.
The intent of offering these courses was to extend a very practical & innovative approach towards acquiring skills related to their respective fields which helps in adding weight to their knowledge, ultimately equipping them for getting better jobs in the market.
Not only this, we also help them in finding jobs by revamping their Resume, doing Mock Interviews & providing placement assistance by circulating their CVs in our network & writing personal recommendation letters for them.
And today I’m very happy to share that many of our mentees have been able to find jobs even in this pandemic. So what we realised in the pandemic is that it is imperative to change & adapt to the changing situation.
If you continue to run your business in the same way, irrespective of the changes in the environment and situation, the business will ultimately crumble. So innovation is the key to grow any business and be ahead of competition and that’s what we did at Positive Vibes.
We revamped our corporate offerings, launched professional courses which fulfilled the “upskilling” need of the hour of the present times. So if situation throws sour lemons at you, so instead of accepting the sour lemons and complaining, you squeeze those lemons and add your own sugar into it and make a tasty lemonade!
6. What is your mantra of success?
My success statement is “Do what you truly love doing and do it with a lot of passion”. Success will follow you if you follow your passion and stay committed to it. Live it! Breathe it! Nurture it way you would nurture your child and watch it grow.
Another success Mantra is - Surround yourself with positive people who encourage you and motivate you to become the best version of yourself. Surround yourself with positive thoughts which channel your mind towards constructive ideas.
Most importantly - Practice Gratitude: Be thankful for what you have and don’t crib about what you don’t. If you look around, you will see how blessed you are than many others and feel positive about yourself and your situation.
7. Which is your favourite book and why?
“Elon Musk” by Ashlee Vance. What I love most about Elon's story is how powerfully he deals with every obstacle thrown into his path. Literally nothing could stop him. Not looming bankruptcy or massive pressures or a troubled childhood or other issues that would have stopped most of us.
His uncanny ability to set a clear vision ahead of its time is the most inspiring thing about this book. As Musk says, "If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it."
- Interviewed By Anamika Ajith
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