Welcome to L&D Dialogues Series, the interview series with Hardik Mehta, Business Head, ELS, TeamLease EdTech. We have been conducting this knowledge-sharing initiative since 2019, where we invite industry leaders from the L&D fraternity to come together to discuss and debate a topic of interest. For our recent session, we had Pankaj Gursahani, Head Sales Excellence, GSK Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Pankaj N Gursahani has three decades of experience in L&D, strategic planning, business consulting, sales and marketing, project & change management w.r.t., and human resource development. He is adept at building and implementing HR processes encompassing the entire employee life cycle, performance management system, learning management & operations, leadership development, and talent management.

Here’s a summary of his conversation with us. Read on.

Essentials of building a leadership culture

When Mr. Gursahani started his journey of leadership culture in his career, it used to be driven by a top-bottom-down approach. But today, with the new generation coming all the way, the lights have changed for good. It's no more a one formula variable to drive everything on the top bottom-down. Many organizations are pushing the agenda of inclusion and diversity. And it makes more sense to not confine leadership to only top roles, it is as good as any job role. Watch the video here.

How to cultivate good leadership within your organization?

Pandemic made everyone experience a new way of life even at a leadership and learning level. Things changed for good on the L&D front during these last years. Speaking on the learning part, organizations are approaching the blended way of learning. Before the pandemic, the trust element between the line and subordinate was not so good. But due to the uncertain times, everybody was going through the same route and emotion. This emotion developed a sense of empathy in everyone, and relatability made it stronger.

Building a good culture in an organization depends on the amount of relevant coaching. And it comes with both technical and behavioral parts. Because the two years have been a little hard on mental peace, people now want to listen more, and speak more, even if they have nothing to offer as a solution they will definitely lend an ear. And for that, a lot of patience, and empathy are required. Coaching and mentoring at this point become even more relevant, where providing development intervention, and projects help network more within the organization. That’s why organizations are investing a great amount of time in collaboration between people and teams.

Managing the learning experience seamlessly within the organization

Digitization has impacted our lives in a huge way. We sit at home and get our everyday work done in just a few clicks through our phones. Moreover, the pandemic really has given the push to an extent that now people are kind of tired of zoom calls, virtual meetings, etc. Nonetheless, what we gather from this situation is that we really have to have a healthy balance of both. If we think digital will replace humans or humans will replace digital, then the answer is big No. There has to be a blend of both worlds. And as L&D professionals, we have to distinguish between the areas that require training digitally, and areas that are more optimum for physical use. Watch the video here.

Talking about immersive learning in the healthcare sector, Mr. Pankaj Gursahani definitely looks forward to trying something new. He will experiment as much as possible but continue only because of one factor which is the ROI.

Hardik Mehta concluded the discussion with a question on maintaining the emotional well-being of employees. Many companies have taken care of their employee's mental well-being through Mental Health Awareness programs, Yoga, and Zumba classes. When an employee is well taken care of, it encourages productivity and engagement in an organization.

If you found this conversation interesting, you can watch all the videos here.