Former Accenture HR Head Srijata on Expertise, Management and the Rise of Unbiased Work

Meet Srijata Sengupta—a transformational chief with over 25 years of expertise throughout Accenture, Mercer, and company consulting.

Srijata has over 25 years of expertise in Human Sources, expertise consulting, and management throughout industries. As HR Head at Accenture’s Expertise enterprise in India, she led purpose-driven expertise transformation, digital upskilling, and inclusive individuals practices that drove industry-best retention.

She later based Foodwise, Co-founded The Basis Academy in rural West Bengal, and teaches at Kanthari, a management institute for social change makers. At the moment, as an advisor at IndusGuru, she continues to information organizations and professionals in navigating the way forward for work.

We spoke with Srijata Sengupta about her skilled journey, the shift from company to entrepreneurial and advisory roles, and her views on the way forward for versatile consulting, management, and inclusive workplaces.

Might you describe your skilled journey — significantly what led you from a proper company management position (at Accenture) to roles partaking with entrepreneurial/social ventures and advisory capacities (e.g. with IndusGuru)?

Srijata Sengupta: I’ve had a satisfying profession in Human Sources and Expertise Consulting for over twenty 5 years, constructing and rising sturdy organisations by bringing innovation in individuals experiences and methods and specializing in growth of individuals and communities.

In these 25 years, I’ve had the chance to work throughout a number of industries, beginning with Shopper Items, Consulting and Expertise Providers. In my final position because the HR Head for the Expertise enterprise in India at Accenture, I had the chance to arrange the organisation for the following part of its development by means of purpose-led expertise transformation and upskilling.

We created {industry} main individuals experiences which might be humane, personalised and inclusive, leading to the most effective retention and engagement ranges within the {industry}.

I arrived at some extent in my life and my profession the place I used to be eager to use my expertise and my capability to causes which is able to assist enhance the way forward for the world. That’s how my entrepreneurial journey started with establishing my very own social enterprise, foodwize.

In my position as an advisor at IndusGuru, I do know that it’s an organisation which is actually altering the way forward for work, connecting organisations to deep, senior consultants on an actual time foundation and enabling consultants to navigate their careers in a versatile and personalised means.

What had been the important thing inflection factors?

Srijata Sengupta: Opposite to fashionable notion, the choice to make such a major skilled and private transition was years within the making and it was not a sudden second of epiphany.

I had been reflecting on what’s the simplest use of my time and expertise for the way forward for my profession.  What legacy would I like to depart behind and what causes would I wish to help?

Working for the good thing about the neighborhood has at all times been an aspiration and therefore, practically 10 years in the past, I based a faculty in rural West Bengal to help training of youngsters from households who do subsistence farming.

My entrepreneurship and advisory journey has been a results of this introspection and I’m very glad I made this transition from a conventional company profession.

Given your work as a senior advisor at IndusGuru, what traits are you seeing in how expert professionals are selecting gig or versatile consulting over conventional employment? What motivates them — flexibility, autonomy, objective, or one thing else?

Srijata Sengupta: We’re seeing an rising pattern of mid-career to senior skilled selecting to handle their careers in a different way, motivated by numerous features like – autonomy over their time, flexibility to tackle tasks which might be aligned to their pursuits, engaged on tasks which have better objective.

Submit COVID, there are extra individuals preferring versatile assignments over conventional employment. Folks wish to really feel empowered to determine how they apply their expertise and the kind of work they do.

Organisations are additionally pivoting to entry knowledgeable talent-on-demand and for strategic priorities of the organisation. Whereas this offers organisation entry to expertise they could not have internally, it is usually creating good high quality tasks for freelance consultants

What expertise and mindsets are important for succeeding as an unbiased advisor? How do they evaluate to these wanted in company management?

Srijata Sengupta: The core expertise  and experience for unbiased consultants in not any totally different from these wanted in company management. Nevertheless, unbiased consultants should be capable of get pleasure from working throughout totally different environments, cultures and contexts. Be capable to combine at velocity with groups, design options and construct the required relationship to ship the undertaking outcomes.

How do you lead or mentor in much less structured environments like project-based or distant groups?

Srijata Sengupta: The pandemic necessitated a fast adjustment in direction of working and main in digital and hybrid environments.

That has gone a protracted in serving to individuals regulate and function in much less structured or digital environments.

Mentoring and management has advanced from a spot of fixed management to enablement by means of clear shared priorities, constructing the capabilities required,  offering the sources to get the job completed and well timed suggestions for course correction. The position chief or mentor is to make sure the groups are capable of maximise their influence.

What are the most important challenges professionals face when shifting into gig work? And what should organisations do in a different way to have interaction unbiased consultants successfully?

Srijata Sengupta: There are a few challenges professionals face when shifting in gig work – firstly is sustaining a community and neighborhood.

When some is inside an organisation, they mechanically turn out to be a part of totally different communities {and professional} community, which is commonly misplaced as soon as they turn out to be freelance consultants.

That is the place IndusGruru offers numerous platforms for consultants to community with one another and construct their very own neighborhood. The opposite problem is continuous to maintain their expertise up to date and related, investing in private studying.

Organizations want to incorporate independents consultants as one of many some ways during which they entry expertise and embody it as part of their manpower planning. It will guarantee they entry expertise for strategic priorities on time and the suitable value.

Operationally organisations have to design their for expertise processes to incorporate unbiased knowledgeable – like onboarding, foundational coaching for long run undertaking, procurement and recruitment processes. It will guarantee unbiased consultants are productive from day 1 onwards and organisations additionally get essentially the most out of this expertise pool.

How do you see platforms like IndusGuru evolving — past merely matching consultants to tasks?

Srijata Sengupta: Platforms like IndusGuru are creating an eco-system for organisations to entry expertise on-demand, on the proper value and proper time. Past matching consultants to tasks, they’re creating the norms and practices that make on-demand expertise an efficient technique. 

For organisations it’s an end-to-end service from scoping the undertaking, discovering the suitable knowledgeable, offering onboarding service and processing funds. Contracts could be designed in versatile codecs – time (days, weeks, months) pr deliverable based mostly. Onboarding can occur inside days. 

For consultants, it’s entry to a market that permits them to pick tasks which might be finest suited to their expertise and curiosity areas.  Consultants are supported by means of of writing their profiles, proposal submission and commercials.

Either side profit from expertise/ AI based mostly matching on the one -hand, but in addition a devoted account administration group that guarantee the suitable final result and expertise for all stakeholders.

What recommendation would you give ladies contemplating a transfer from company roles to unbiased work, particularly on constructing credibility and managing dangers?

Srijata Sengupta: There are 3 items of recommendation I wish to give anybody who transitions from company roles to unbiased work

1) Unbiased work offers flexibility nonetheless, it wants loads of self-discipline to managing workload and time. It’s good to have readability on what fashions of engagement will give you the results you want and what is not going to. Be open and talk that transparently

2) Construct your profile and discover methods to showcase and credentialize your experience – discover alternatives to put in writing case research, blogs. Discover talking alternatives and supply your time to assist others study out of your experiences.

3) In versatile work, there shall be peaks and turfs in your engagement. Plan to handle your downtime effectively. Use the time to improve your expertise, community with individuals within the {industry} and so on

Trying forward, what rising traits in versatile consulting and management excite you most?

Srijata Sengupta: I’m very excited to see that organisations are pivoting to give attention to expertise versus designations and titles on the subject of planing and managing expertise.

Additionally, organisations are pivoting to make AI an integral a part of their enterprise operations and can want very differentiated expertise sooner or later. It will open  up vital alternative for consultants to offer their companies to strategic priorities.

The opposite rising pattern that could be very thrilling is start-ups and SMEs utilizing fractional CXOs to propel their development. Conventional employment contracts usually don’t meet the necessities of smaller organisations in development part.

The flexibility to construction a contract flexibly, can turn out to be a sport changer for start-ups and SMEs. They’ll entry one of the best match expertise, tailor-made to their wants.

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