Leaders

India is a land of 1.3 billion minds. Over the years our contribution to the world as a knowledge economy has been immense and expanding. However, the current impetus is on balancing all the sectors contributing to the GDP. This necessitates the nurturing and management of human resources to realize our potential as a country. Over the past few years, we have seen emergence of new sectors in the economy and evolution of ways of working across the industries associated. We are witnessing shrinking change management cycles, rapid iteration of products to cater to changing consumer behavior is the need of the hour across businesses. As a member of the HR fraternity Ruchita believes that at the core it’s always the people who drive performance, productivity and eventually profits. In a recent interaction with Women Entrepreneur, Ruchita Chopra shares more about her journey of becoming the leading HR Transformation Leader in India. Check out these snippets from the interaction to know more.

Take us through your educational journey & prior industry Experience. Share your roles and responsibility at your current organization.

The formative years of my education were spent in a village in Jammu and Kashmir (130 kilometers from Jammu to be precise). I pursued my graduation in electronics and telecommunication and followed it up with a business degree with specialization in HR. While I learnt the theoretical frameworks in colleges the real education happened over the last 13 years while practicing HR and learning from the best leaders across industries like Telecommunication, FMCG, Reality, Manufacturing and most recently education, hospitality and retail.

As the CPO my work majorly involves thinking about and laying down the people practices required for scaling of businesses. Setting up data monitoring and audit structures for the organization and ensuring that knowledge retention framework is robust. Act as a change agent to business through process design and approaches that support change & transformation. Having an ongoing Supply & demand analysis using data driven insights, enabling business leaders in improving workforce capability, refining organization structure to meet ever evolving business needs, Driving the agenda of organizational effectiveness & strengthening the organization as a great place to work every day are some of the current focus areas of the said role.

What critical challenges you face as an HR professional? What steps do you take to overcome the roadblocks you face?

Over the years HR has evolved and gained recognition as a critical business function. It’s an amalgamation of EQ and IQ that is required to drive people and talent practices in organizations. With the new age workforce demanding more out of a role, the biggest challenge which we face today is that of engagement and talent retention. The prominence is higher in service based settings. Lean workflow designs, real time pulse checks, well defined progression plans, distributed leadership models are some of the tools we use to address talent management and engagement.

“As a member of the Hr fraternity ruchita Believes that at the Core it’s always The people who Drive performance, Productivity and Eventually profits”

what are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey? What is the driving force behind your success?

Over the years I have concentrated on the process of learning and upgrading my skills to keep abreast with the evolving trends in HR. Designations and progression have been a result of the incessant efforts towards delivering value to the organizations I have worked for. I believe that knowledge is an archway where through gleams an untraveled world whose margin fades as one moves ahead. To seek to find and not to yield is my driving force.

How do you foresee the Indian HR landscape evolving in the near future? what would you advise be to young women & girls who aspire to become business leaders & entrepreneurs in the future?

The biggest changes will be orchestrated through digitization, hybrid working models, ushering in and growth of gig economy and the need for distributed decision making.

Never stop learning and exploring. Taking small steps in the right direction everyday will get you where you need to be. It’s important to be consistent and focused. Don’t beat yourself up if you fall, just be courageous to pick yourself up and start again. Take the plunge and you will find your wings.

Ruchita Chopra, Hr Leader

Ruchita Chopra is a HR leader who believes that an amalgamation of EQ and IQ is needed to drive HR transformation. She is a firm believer in inclusion of thoughts and distribution of leadership to drive sustainability of culture in an organisation.