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In 1998, I decided to explore the potential of preventive medicine. But there was a small problem. As an allopathic doctor, I had no clue about nutrition. I thought a nutritionist would do the job till I realised that their sole focus was on calorie charts. While they had knowledge, their perspective was very different. I also realised that Ayurveda had a lot of knowledge on body and herbs that can help. So I hired an ayurvedic doctor. Together, we built a systematic process of dealing with a patient in a holistic manner.
I hired doctors, treated them like family and that worked well. In 2000, I opened my second centre. That was the beginning of my “people” problems. I was hiring people thinking I was acquiring a skill set. That was a mistake. They were human beings first, doctors later. They had problems. As a result, the work performance wasn’t as good as I had hoped. And people weren’t happy with the way things were working out, even though they had no problems working with me.
I was an entrepreneur at the helm of a growing business. My whole time was spent designing the growth of the company. My mind was occupied with matters such as organising funds, dealing with outside agencies, etc. I thought the HR problems would be sorted out by people among themselves. I am not blessed with people management skills, so it was difficult for me to understand why people couldn’t do a simple thing like coming to work on time.
There was a big disconnect between my team and me. For instance, if there was a doctor getting married, I didn’t realise that someone has to ensure a smooth transition for the entire team. I assumed it would happen automatically. Attrition was quite high. We would hire five to eight people every month, and lose around eight. We were not able to grow because of manpower issues. It really bothered me why they were leaving. I attended a few HR forums to understand where I was going wrong.
In the last year, I’ve realised that an entrepreneur should never compromise on the quality of HR head. Initially, when I hired an HR manager, I thought of him/her as a salary dispensing mechanism. That was my biggest mistake. The job’s not about creating a salary sheet. It is about handling people. In 2008, I finally decided to hire a good HR manager, despite the cost involved.
That was the smartest thing I did. A good HR manager can be a real asset to a company. Mine started making sure that people were responsible in attendance matters. He planned for hiring, managed attrition, and ensured a steady supply of resumes. He created an employee manual and distributed it to everyone. He established a clear reporting line for people and defined their deliverables. These are standard processes in a big company, but in a growing business like ours, we just didn’t have time for this. He made sure that he was available to people, so that minor issues got resolved before they became bigger issues. He dealt firmly with people when they made undesirable demands.
It makes a huge difference to have someone dedicated to people issues. For instance, I couldn’t understand what people would do or wouldn’t. I just assumed that they would do as told. But a good HR manager knows people’s strengths and weaknesses. He can predict a person’s response and plan accordingly.
I’m a socialist in some ways. I believed everyone is equal and should be treated the same. But that isn’t true. If you give freedom to some people, they fly. But others just abuse that freedom. Understanding people doesn’t happen like that, you have to spend time with them. HR is not a part-time job, but a full-time investment.
Another problem with entrepreneurs is that they blow their lid easily when it comes to customers. I once happened to walk into a clinic and saw a patient walking out complaining bitterly about the doctor not turning up. I found out that the doctor was not coming on time regularly. So I fired her on the phone. She sent me a resignation letter. After I had cooled down, I called her back and gave her a long lecture on treating customers right. But the same complaint came up again after a few months. So I spoke to her again, but I never understood why it had to happen.
What the HR manager did was to put a register. He started watching this doctor’s timings and gradually spoke to her. She actually had a problem. She was short-tempered and if she didn’t like a client, she got back to them in some way. I don’t know what magic he did, but the doctor has never kept another patient waiting.
I’ve learnt many things from him personally as well. Earlier, I would take a decision and start executing it without informing everybody. People would complain about not knowing what to do and I would complain about work not getting done. But as I observed the HR manager, I realised his way of working was so different from mine. Like him, I now mark a copy to all the people who might be connected in some way to that decision.
Before he came on board, people would always want to connect with me. Many of them would sit in my room and chat. This would make me wonder why they are telling me what’s already happened. I didn’t realise people just wanted to make sure I knew they were doing things. Having him on board has simplified that. He’s truly brought home to me how important it is to find the right people for the company.
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