Due to the complex business environment full of uncertainty and ambiguity, corporate leaders are facing economic, social, and environmental challenges. During such turbulent times, it is quite difficult to look after social responsibilities because most of them are struggling to overcome their own challenges. On the bright side, some entrepreneurs are balancing their struggles with social responsibilities on local, national, or even global level.
To make a positive impact, staff members of Altruista Health are on the mission to support education. They have recently raised money for the Ekal Abhiyan, which educates children across India at one-teacher schools in remote villages and tribal hamlets. The Ekal organization paraphrases the words of Swami Vivekananda about bringing schools and teachers directly to the children who can’t come to them. After joining this model and gaining experience as volunteers, several Altruists are also planning to visit schools in their areas so that they can engage with the children personally and understand their needs.
Lekha Sishta, the Vice President of Human Resource at Altruista Health is one of those members who strive to make a social impact for the betterment of humanity. She believes social work is her mission to help people emerge from their cocoons into the sunlight of their personal success. Lekha shares, “I also teach at colleges where the average student is not from the upper crust, neither well-heeled nor powered. It is immensely fulfilling to see the caterpillar emerge into a butterfly and soar into corporate success.” Watching them succeed with reputed jobs in their hands makes her feel the equivalent of winning a medal of honor.
Witnessing the Evolution of Human Resource
Walking down memory lane, Lekha’s journey has been long and insightful. Lekha began her career at a time when women in India were unaware of career, growth, jobs, etc. and living in the shadows of household work. It was almost four decades ago when Lekha began her career in the field of management with a specialization in HR & Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management. Back then, the management field was highly male-dominated. Later during her tenure at NTPC as the Executive Personnel Officer, Lekha worked in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management but soon realized that it was not her cup of tea. Thus, she moved to the private sector and transitioned to different backgrounds such as commercial, marketing, and strategy. Taking her extensive experience of working in various industries, Lekha later moved to the pedagogy arena to teach MBA level students and there, dedicatedly guided students, making them successful entrepreneurs and most importantly, the brand ambassadors of her work.
Further, when Lekha moved to corporate training and consulting, she became the Head of Customer Service Quality for Idea Cellular. By 2004-05, HR had begun to evolve from the largely administrative and punitive disciplinary function into the creative world of Talent Management, where the focus was on development, productivity, engagement, and retention of employees. Quickly understanding this change, Lekha switched back to HR, now known popularly as Talent Management. Sharing her experience of witnessing the change in Human Resource, Lekha says, “HR has become an arena with a focus on People Success. It has evolved into a facilitative one, helping to uncover employee potential and accelerate performance, and aiming to build a lasting bond of employer branding. I refer to HR as a very exciting, agile, never-ending series of easels, where one could paint in any hue of colors to make it all work in each situation.”
“Empowerment is to ensure that a woman makes her own informed choices,” says Lekha
According to Lekha, women seek to gravitate more to HR in India, but in actual reality, there is a scarcity of women leading in the boardroom at strategic HR levels. In fact, more men are moving towards HR while women are becoming leaders in the finance industry which is a refreshing change, flipping the prototypical gender perspective. If one looks at the past couple of years, the HR trend began to shift from Personnel and IR to Talent Management slowly and steadily. Today, from policies, hiring, documentation, and administrative functions, HR has changed gears and moved towards care and engagement, development, and productivity, marketing, and creativity, focused on uncovering potential and retaining the Hi-Potential performers while increasing the ROI of each employee to the company in the shortest possible time.
It is compelling that women are naturally fit for this new age of HR where their empathetic attitudes can be used to its fullest. However, Lekha describes, “Nearly every Asian woman is still caught in the cultural traditions that weigh her down, instead of boosting her upward. The fabric of our family systems still demands that women should pull their complete weight to manage their hearth and home, even if she spends eight hours at work and a few more in travel time.” Thus, the cascade of old traditions is not only restricting her rise to the top but also discouraging her to follow her passion. It’s not about the lack of willingness to do something; it is about fighting these cultural barriers which consume a considerable part of her life.
For Lekha, women empowerment is to lay alternatives in front of women and ensure she is free to make her own informed choices and that she then moves ahead without any regrets. She adds, “Her freedom is everything and I endeavor to help women think their priorities through.” Perhaps the efforts from leading women like Lekha will help others to win these hard-ship filled battles. Contrastingly, speaking about the other side which is generating a positive environment for women, Lekha points out, “I must state though, that in urban and metropolitan areas, times are changing and there is a much more positive mindset in young men, who are sharing the family load and pulling the cart of progress ahead. This is very heartening!”
Leading the Wheel of HR at Altruista Health
Presently, Lekha leads human resources in Altruista’s Hyderabad office and brings her extensive years of global corporate experience to the company. Altruista Health provides industry-leading technology that American health plans and systems used to drive cost savings and improve care for health plan members. Under the leadership umbrella of the Co-founders—Ashish Kachru and Ashish Abraham, Altruista Health has grown to serve millions of members on its GuidingCare platform, with considerably higher growth in the last two years. Working in the healthcare sector for over 11 years, Altruista Health has introduced many industry-first solutions like the integration of a social service platform into GuidingCare in 2017 and the medication management solution in 2018. Recently, the company has upgraded its Mobile Clinician app with Google Maps which greatly increased the safety and efficiency of clinicians conducting fieldwork.
The highly experienced management team of Altruista Health has set its goal to double its 2017’s revenue by the end of 2019. But this is not just about personal monetary growth. With numerous technical achievements, the company also fulfills its role of social responsibility and donates funds and executive time to charities with a medical focus. It recruits top talent and nurtures an enlightened culture of innovation. It is expected that the global employee number of the company will reach 450 in 2019 with new additions to its dedicated workforce.
“Try to be self-reliant emotionally,” asserts Lekha
When asked about the hardest part of leadership, Lekha said, “There is no dearth of sycophancy and a leader requires diligence and perspective to differentiate and sift through the constructs of people.” She also encourages her students to be self-reliant emotionally, which is way better than looking for outside motivation.
Moving forward with her contributions in the HR industry and supporting the women she meets, Lekha has received numerous awards and recognitions for her dedicated work. Her very first award and the most memorable one was the HMA HR Manager of the Year 2008. Lekha shares, “The reason this touches me so deeply is the unexpected and wonderful five-page long citation that my mentor and the then CEO at SumTotal Systems—Sudheer Koneru, wrote about my contribution.” Further, the Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Award in 2010 marks as one of the most respected awards that Lekha received for her contributions across academia and corporate environments in India and overseas. One of the examples of Lekha’s social activities abroad was her work in Dubai with programs focused on women empowerment.
While balancing her social and academic mission, Lekha is driving the Human Resource department of Altruista Health. Her work makes her feel proud when she finds the smile of joy or success on another’s face.
