So my birth month turns out to be lucky for me as my 1st ever interview was published in the 2nd Edition of the Corporate Digest of Vodafone India circulated on August 25th. For those of you outside of Vodafone, here is the complete version ! :) Happy Reading !
• How were the things different for you as a woman in the corporate world
I come from a family of 3 generations of working mothers - all, in their own right have been superstars and I feel a lot luckier to be part of corporate India in this day and age. The reason I say this is because now, it is more acceptable for us as a society to see our better half’s help us out equally with our household responsibilities which was not the case, a few decades ago. Also, organizations have started to get a lot more accommodative of both their male and female employees needs as long as work gets delivered at the right time and to the right mark of efficiency and quality. The focus now a days is more on retaining the talent that has been invested in, leveraging the skills of the existing workforce in different functional areas rather than finding an external new hire for each opportunity that is being created. I would like to believe that the hardships faced by the likes of Anu Aga, Virginia Rometty or a Chanda Kocchhar paved the way for a Sheryl Sandberg or a Marissa Mayer. I am nowhere close to getting there as yet, but across all grades of the corporate lattice, there are certain problems which are common to each woman and I can only feel glad that today, we find enough support both personally and professionally!
• Support given by Vodafone (or other organizations) in your journey and also the support provided by your colleagues, managers etc
I live with a family of 6 people - from my great grandmother-in-law aged 88 to my daughter aged 5, each age groups requirements - time wise, diet wise, need wise are different. On very rare occasions, if my in laws are travelling, I have as much flexibility to attend meetings virtually from home (to be able to be there for my grandma-in-law and daughter in their absence) as I have, for prepping for an important meeting while my daughter does her painting while the rest of us get served up tea by my ma-in-law on an early Sunday evening! Needless to say, I would’ve never enjoyed that flexibility without an extremely understanding family and an equally understanding boss/super boss & the extended team in the office! If the commitments are pressing, there are people who fill up for my absence at work/home which is why I am able to carry on day in and day out.
Relationships are at the heart of each one’s life and we surely need to acknowledge that & work on them be it personal / professional. Also, careers have got equally demanding and it does need investing time on your own to ensure transitions to new roles and responsibilities are flawless & productive!
• How do you balance work and your personal life
We no longer live in an era of work-life balance. With the mobiles and gadgets revolutionizing our existence, today’s life is more about “work life integration”! Being in IT-Operations, I’ve never had the luxury to demark time as family time and work time, and that in no way implies an absence of balance. Just the night before last, I was nervous about anchoring the ‘IT townhall event’ and my daughter asked me “Mumma why are you not happy today??” and no matter how much I tried to hide my nervousness, she just got my pulse right ! Since I was still getting my script ready, my husband was dear enough to put her to bed his way - lots of noise, action n masti! Last evening, on her return from the garden she usually comes complaining about the boys she had a fight with, but instead she remembered I had a big event lined up and said “Mumma!! How was your dialogue??? ” and I said it went very well and to that she cuddled me n said “I told you it will be nice – you’re the best ! I will also tell Aparna maam that I will also say a big dialogue for the class presentation and this time I will not cough!” We were having a wash together in the bathroom when she asks me “now show me how you said your dialogues” and she corrected me on my opening and told me you should say good morning more loudly & with a smile!!!” Now that is what the children of working mothers learn – why should there be any guilt about being a working mother !
• Inputs on adding a personal touch to all work related relationships
It is not every day that I get acknowledged for the appreciation that someone else receives. That’s why this morning started on a very special note - I will like to quote from an email I received this morning from one of my fellow colleagues who was awarded for his contributions. “You have always been inspiration to me ,which always helped me to do well. It was a great chance to work along with you and you have been guiding me since my joining. Many thanks for all your support and motivation.” I think all communication verbal / non-verbal serves both a practical as well as an inspirational purpose. It is very key to make sure your communication adds a touch of both. Not only acknowledging but appreciating & encouraging colleagues at the right time, goes a long way in building lasting work relationships & getting higher productivity.
• What makes you tick and work hard every day ?
My will to groom my daughter, to make my parents proud, to be an admired daughter in law, an enthusiastic wife, a supportive sister, a thorough professional… the reasons to work hard and live each day to the fullest are immense !! Although I will say that no two days are the same… each brings with it challenges of a unique kind, but if you get the basics right you are good to keep going & the basics for me are Time, Health and Relationships! And “ME” must be at the center of this triangle. A woman is at the heart of her family - she means the world to her loved ones and that’s why each one tries to spend those countless precious moments with her! No one, no matter how much they love you, will come and give you that “ME time” on a platter and allow you the luxury of doing what you love – we need to find that time to pursue our priorities for ourselves 1st – everything else comes after ME ! I haven’t watched TV since I had AVANI – that’s like 5 years now ! It’s not that there was no time for TV, it’s just that it no longer stayed a priority – I’d rather be catching up on the newspaper/a great book or accompany AVANI to the garden or share a glass of chilled wine with ABHI or listen to my mom in laws bhajan experiences or my father in laws work outing, chat up with my parents / brother or furthermost read up on LTE.. !
The importance of eating right is the most valuable thing my mother instilled in me. She keeps saying “A woman should have the stamina to work an 18 hour day non-stop” and that is so true ! You’ve got one chance to live – you’d rather make the most of your time but never by putting your health at stake – so eating right and exercising right is the key to a fulfilling personal & work life!
• What factors contributed to being selected our Global Hero (my congratulations to you !)
Sayli with Vodafone India MD & CEO - Marten Pieters
I think salary is what you get for meeting expectations and awards are what you get for exceeding them ! Like the leadership in Vodafone says “It’s not What you do, it is How you do it that matters! ” It is imperative that we get the priorities right. It is critical to know what your organization is focused on, and aligning your aspirations to the company’s. We no longer are talking of plain goal setting but more about “building careers”. I think this is the right time to be a part of the Telecom sector and the best time to be contributing to Vodafone’s growth story in India! I take a lot of pride in being associated with the best brains in the industry – there’s no growth without new learnings & that is precisely what I’ve got here !
Congratulations to the team on this fantastic initiative & wishing all my colleagues the very best in life!
Regards,
- Sayli
