What Makes an Amazing CHRO? Lessons from Top HR Leader

Welcome to the Vantage HR Influencers Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Vantage Circle, the simple and AI-powered rewards and recognition platform for employee engagement.

What makes a CHRO truly exceptional? Is it their ability to manage people and policies, or is it something more, like shaping company culture, driving business strategy, and ensuring employees feel heard and valued? HR has come a long way from being just a support function. Today's top HR leaders aren't just enforcing policies, they're shaping the future of work. They're the bridge between business goals and people's needs, and ensuring that organizations don't just grow but thrive.

And let's be real, being a great CHRO isn't that simple. It takes vision, it takes resilience, and the ability to lead through constant change. That's exactly why this conversation is so exciting. Our guest, Vinod Bidwaik, is someone who knows this world inside and out. As CHRO and Group Director of Human Resources, People and Culture at AP Globale and Sakal Media Group, he has been at the forefront of HR transformations, helping organizations build strong people structures while keeping business goals in focus. So whether you are a professional looking to grow, a business leader trying to understand the evolving role of HR, or just someone curious about the future of work, you're in the right place.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Folks, welcome back to another episode of the Vantage HR Influencers podcast. I'm your host, Sanjeevani Saikia, and now let's dive straight into the conversation. Hi, Vinod.

Vinod Bidwaik: Hi, good afternoon.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm really excited about our conversation because today we're diving into an interesting topic, what makes an amazing CHRO, lessons from a top HR leader. I can't wait to hear your insights and experiences on this, but before we jump into the discussion, I'd love for our listeners to get to know you a bit better. So could you start by sharing a little about your professional journey? How did you get to where you are today?

Vinod Bidwaik: Thank you, Sanjeevani, for this opportunity to share my experiences on the topic of how to be a great CHRO. I don't think I'm still done learning, so I wouldn't call myself a great CHRO, but there are many things we learn over a period of time. I started my career in 1997 in HR, but typically in a manufacturing industry, where I started as industrial relations. That was a heavy engineering industry. Over a period of time I learned many things in HR and IR, but I'd like to mention one important thing about how my professional journey started and how I actually built on that.

This started in an Indian company, a heavy industry. I joined there as a management trainee, and it was a manufacturing setup in Nashik. You must be knowing Nashik, right? It's a great city, known for its ancient temples and heritage. It was a good industrial area with many industries, but when I joined, industry relations was a big issue there, and it was a bigger issue all over India at the time, because unions were very dominant, specifically leftist, ideological unions.

I joined the company, and within two or three months, the agitation by the union started there. I was hired for recruitment and training and development, but my boss called me and said, in this situation, we don't have any other options, it's not possible to hire people because the union is aggressive, they're pushing their charter of demands, they want more wages, salaries, and everything else. So, can you help me handle this? I thought, what a mess, because dealing with people agitating, going in front of them, is a bigger challenge.

But then I took the opportunity, and I said yes, there's no other option. My boss assigned me my first real job, which was, with the consultation of our labor lawyer, to draft the notice, a suspension-pending-inquiry notice, and hand it over to the union office bearers who were leading the agitation in front of the gate of the manufacturing unit.

And you can imagine, Sanjeevani, going there while the agitation was happening, and handing that notice over to them, was a bigger task at that time. I thought, I can handle many crisis situations, this isn't a challenge for me, because somehow I managed it. I communicated that this wasn't my personal decision, it was the organization's decision to maintain discipline, and I actually read those letters out to them, in the presence of our security agency. That's how I handed over the letter. They didn't acknowledge it.

But this was an important milestone, I'd say, because in front of almost five hundred people, I went there, I explained the situation, and I handed it to the office bearers. They were very angry. But finally, I realized I could lead, I could manage a crisis situation. It was a small moment, but nobody else dared to go there, not even my boss. So I stayed on, and I became the personnel officer there.

Then I moved to a combined industry, big Indian and multinational organizations, working in their plant as plant HR. Then I moved to a multinational company. My journey has really been about taking calculated risks. I came to Pune, joined a media company where I'm working right now, then I left that company for a multinational company, and spent almost fifteen years working in global companies, leading India and Asia Pacific, and certain bigger projects at a global level. Then I came back here as the group officer, where I'm leading right now, nine verticals, nine business groups, impact-driven projects, and supporting the CEOs and management team to build better employee experience and talent management strategies, aligning the people agenda with the organization's goals. So that's the brief version.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Wonderful, it has been quite a journey, so much to learn from you already, Vinod. Thank you so much for being here with us today, it's truly a pleasure to have you on the show. Now, I'd like to begin our conversation on today's topic. I feel like every great leader has that one defining moment, the kind that changes how they think, how they lead, and even how they make decisions. Especially in a role where your choices directly impact people's careers, those moments can be huge. Maybe it was a challenge that completely shifted your perspective, or maybe it was a mentor who said something that just stuck with you. Either way, Vinod, I'd love to hear, was there a particular moment in your career that really shaped how you lead others today?

Vinod Bidwaik: Yeah, I think there are many moments, because I personally feel this is a journey, and as human beings, we're not perfect. A few decisions we've taken in the past, when we look back, we think they were right at the time, but perhaps somebody else would say those decisions weren't right. But we should learn in this process.

What I can say is I've encountered many situations, organizational transformation projects, organization redesign, restructuring projects, implementing new initiatives, or right-sizing and optimizing the organization. In some organizations I led transformation projects, I led optimization projects, I wouldn't call it right-sizing, but optimization.

In one organization, we wanted to optimize a team, and it was a very difficult situation, because we wanted to go lean, to become a little slimmer in terms of the layers in the organization and the reporting span. So we started the optimization process, and we came to know, and I was leading that project, that there were many employees who had spent fifteen, twenty years in the organization. They were good at particular things, but a few of them came up on the list because they weren't required at that moment.

This is a very tricky situation, because as talent, they were good, but they weren't fitting into the box the organization had decided on at that time. When somebody's job goes, it's very difficult, because it's about the credibility of the organization, it's about their family, because asking somebody to leave is actually a financial hit to that person, especially if they haven't invested well or their financial situation isn't good.

So what I proposed was, let's work out a plan where we support them with skilling, and run a program where we do a proper assessment, rather than what normally happens, where a new leader comes in and tries to restructure the organization without thinking about the people. I agree we should think about the market, about the customer, about how we serve the customer better, but in that process, what HR can bring is a fair assessment of the people already in the organization.

So instead of taking a one-sided approach with the new structure, we went through an assessment process, and asked employees to apply for the new positions. We put in place an assessment center that included psychometric testing, interviews, business case presentations, and more, and gave people the opportunity, because a known devil is always better than an unknown one, if somebody isn't suitable, at least you know it rather than assuming it.

We ran the assessment center, interviewed a lot of people, with a third party also involved in the process, and we found that people working in the organization had never gotten the opportunity to work in other positions, because their potential had never been realized. Or they were good at particular things, but their bosses weren't willing to take a risk on them. It happens a lot in succession planning, leaders don't put internal people forward because they say the person needs more time, or that it's too much of a risk.

I'd say almost ninety-five percent of the people fit well into their new roles. For the remaining five percent, there were certain challenges, because of attitude, or because they felt entitled to those positions. But even then, we handled the separations in a very human way. We called them in, explained things, made sure they were paid a fair, civil package, and made clear the door was always open for them to come back. A few were even given opportunities as consultants, and by and large, everyone was fine with it. Of course, a few people did struggle to perform afterward.

But over time, my experience is that everybody we assessed and placed into those roles performed better than they had before. That was the moment I realized, many times we don't believe in our own people, we don't take the proper risk, especially leaders. It's always better to give talent the opportunity, to push them into deep water, to ask them to push their boundaries. If they survive that process, we can definitely take the organization forward.

Sanjeevani Saikia: That's incredible. Now shifting gears, I find this next aspect really interesting, that HR leaders live in this constant balancing act. On one hand, you're working with leadership, driving business strategy, and making sure the company meets its goals, but at the same time, you're also the voice of your employees. And I imagine that's not always easy, sometimes what's best for the business might not feel like what's best for the employees, or at least not immediately. So how do you personally navigate this, and how do you strike the balance between being a strategic partner and staying true to the people-first side of HR?

Vinod Bidwaik: Yes, that's a very good question, because balancing is a bigger challenge, and every HR professional or HR leader experiences this, because business expectations and employee expectations are often totally different.

It really starts with alignment. First, we as HR leaders or HR professionals are representatives of the organization, of management, and we need to communicate the organization's approach or strategy to employees and align them to it. There may be situations where employees expect something different from what management is offering, and it usually starts with, what's in it for me? Everybody wants to know what benefit they'll get from an initiative.

So it really starts with balancing, but my experience says that if you communicate properly with employees, and treat every initiative like a project, deciding how you're going to communicate, how you're going to manage the change, who the stakeholders are based on their power and influence, you can create alignment.

This is a balancing act we have to do regularly. The dilemma is always there, whether you should be a full employee advocate or align employees toward the business goals. My first priority goes to the business goals, because if the business is doing well, employees will definitely benefit. The key is how you communicate that properly, so any initiative or alignment should be communicated well from management, and employees should feel there's something in it for them, because at a larger level, I see a lot of communication gaps where employees aren't aligned.

Employees may expect certain things, and a lot of research shows that if people have good career development and a good culture, they don't have huge expectations about salary, salary and benefits are fine as long as those basics are met, but their real expectations are about how they're treated in the organization, how their psychological and emotional wellbeing is taken care of, how their relationship with management and their managers is, whether they're communicated with properly, and kept informed about what's happening in the organization. These are simple, small expectations, and managing them takes some effort.

Sometimes transparency plays a big role, openness and transparency, I always believe in that. Even today, I follow an open-door policy, where employees can walk in and share things, they need a listening platform. We combine this with strategies like town halls, written communication, newsletters, and involving employees in the decision-making process. Whenever we run any project, it's important to align people around their participation, to make them feel they're an important part of the process, and that their contribution matters.

While doing this, we also need to identify troublemakers, opinion-makers, and brand ambassadors in the process, and channel communication through the right channels in the organization. Sometimes it's water-cooler discussions, sometimes coffee-table discussions, sometimes pulse surveys. There's a lot we can do from a communication point of view. My approach is always to use three C's, communicate, communicate, and communicate. Sometimes over-communicating works, if you're really open and transparent.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Sure. Since we've mentioned communication, I'd love to know more about the challenges you face while communicating management's decisions to employees. Is there anything in particular that keeps happening every time you try to communicate with your employees?

Vinod Bidwaik: Yes, what normally happens in communication processes or initiatives, one thing I always observe is half-communication, and half-point communication is actually hazardous to the organization, most of the time. The leadership team really needs to be very careful about what they're communicating, and second, how they're communicating it.

Take an example, some decisions are made in a leadership meeting, and maybe one leader isn't comfortable with that decision, but because of the pressure, he has to agree, and then he goes back and tells his team the decision isn't his, but he has to go along with it. Then the team assumes there's no unity in the leadership team.

So whatever decision is taken in a boardroom or leadership meeting, even if there were differences or disagreements, once a decision is taken, it's the team's decision, it's management's decision. Every leader, every CXO, needs to have the maturity not to go outside and comment negatively about decisions taken behind closed doors. That's one thing.

Second is about having the right communication channels, identifying the people who are your brand ambassadors, who can talk positively about the changes. Third is about getting a pulse of the organization, what's happening, what the consequences will be, how stakeholders feel about those decisions.

There are a lot of problems in communication where employees' understanding is also an issue, because they often hear only half the story, one side of a decision or one side of a business alignment, and they need to understand the other side too. That's HR's job, or the communication expert's job, management's job, the CEO's job, to put that full perspective in front of them, communicate it properly, listen to them, give them the opportunity to ask questions, clarify things, and keep communication channels open, letting them know it isn't final, that their suggestions are taken and they're allowed to speak. That's how I look at communication.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Interesting. Now I'd like to talk a bit about HR's business acumen, something a lot of people are talking about now. From your experience, what are the must-have business acumen skills for HR leaders today? What's really essential to stay ahead and make an impact at the leadership table?

Vinod Bidwaik: Yeah, I think first, a lot of leaders nowadays don't focus enough on their functional skills. If the business comes to me, they're expecting me to give them a solution, or at least facilitate a solution to the people issues they're facing. So one of the things I see is that going into the details of the issues and providing solutions, rather than taking a problem-focused approach, is a solution-focused approach. Most of the time we focus on the problem, discuss the problem a lot, but nobody discusses the solution, what the probable solution could be. That facilitation has to come from the HR leader, aligning with the team, facilitating discussion on how we can arrive at solutions, rather than dwelling on the problem. What's happened has happened, but how we solve it is what matters. So the business expects HR leaders to bring some kind of solution to the table on people issues, that's one.

Second, HR's job is becoming more about navigating different domains and areas of the organization, there's knowledge available in different sections of the organization. So stakeholder management and influencing skills are really important for HR professionals and leaders, being aligned with stakeholders and managers, and being able to influence them toward the right decisions.

A simple example, in one organization, business leaders were very particular about hiring candidates from a particular industry or particular colleges, and that goes against diversity and inclusion, because if you keep hiring from the same industry, people will think the same way. Even today, a lot of job postings expect very specific experience, and we say, why don't you hire for potential instead, especially for mid-to-senior-level roles? It's difficult to convince leaders on this, so we build case studies, put data in front of them showing how hiring from diverse backgrounds leads to better performance, and so on. That's where stakeholder management and influencing skills play an important role.

Nowadays data is the new oil, or data is king, as they say. HR leaders need to understand data, not just because a lot of information is available, but how you use that data to create knowledge in the organization, and to facilitate and support business leaders in making the right decisions about people, that's very important. I still feel a lot of organizations are stuck at a data-plus-information level, we talk a lot about data analytics, but data analytics itself is still just data. Data can be converted into information, but what we're doing with that, how we're turning it into knowledge and helping business leaders make decisions, the wisdom that should come from data analytics, that's a very important skill.

Third, I'll put this in another set of three C's, courage, because HR leaders need to take a stand on certain things, and sometimes that can even be career-damaging. If you're aligned with your values, courage is very important, you should be able to take a stand, you should be able to challenge business leaders, and even CEOs and management teams, if a decision doesn't seem right for the organization. Courage matters because HR is often the custodian of values and ethics in many organizations, it's about creating value in the organization.

Curiosity comes next, HR managers need to be curious about business processes, curious about people, curious about the business, and that curiosity is how we learn and understand the business. And third, of course, is how you carry yourself with confidence. Confidence comes from being knowledgeable, from knowing the organization and having the data behind you.

Of course, there are other skills too, like financial acumen, understanding business and financial terminology, because we need to speak the language the business speaks, their language should be our language, and we bridge that with people practices. And analytical skills, street smarts, and getting a pulse of the organization, and converting that into the people agenda, I think that's very important.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Indeed. Now moving on, Vinod, we always hear about the importance of company culture, how it's the foundation of a great workplace, how it drives engagement, retention, and all of that. But the truth is, building and maintaining culture isn't easy, it's pretty messy, it evolves over time, and sometimes it can be really hard to get right, especially when a company is growing fast or going through major changes. I'm sure you've faced your fair share of challenges when it comes to culture-building, so I'd love to know, what's been one of the toughest culture challenges you've had to tackle, and more importantly, how did you handle it?

Vinod Bidwaik: That's a very relevant question, because everybody nowadays talks about culture-building, all CHROs are talking about it, businesses emphasize building the right culture, but it's not only the responsibility of the CHRO, it's the combined accountability of the CEO and business leaders.

Culture-building is an exercise that starts with understanding the culture of the organization. I've worked in diverse companies, media, automobile, auto components, chemicals, big Indian companies, multinational organizations, and in every organization, we speak a lot in the management team about culture. Culture doesn't get built overnight, it takes time, and it depends on how the leadership team works, and the nature of the organization. For example, an FMCG company, or banking, or insurance, might need a very aggressive, assertive culture, while a technology company or manufacturing company might need a totally different culture. So first, the leadership team has to define what exactly their goals are, what they're looking for from employees, what journey they want to pursue at the organizational level, and then comes the work of shaping it.

I don't even like to call it building, because we can't really build a culture, I'd say it evolves over a period of time. If somebody says in their bio, or gives a lecture, claiming they built a culture, I'd say that person is exaggerating, because it's not that easy, culture evolves. The overall organization culture may be one thing, but within a group, the culture is different, one department might be totally different from another, depending entirely on the leader running that function and how they interact with the team. At a larger organizational level, there's an umbrella culture, and I've worked in bigger, global organizations where European teams are structured differently from American teams, and Indian teams are different again. The basic values and fundamentals might be universal across locations, how you do business, how you respect people, respecting the law of the land, speaking about people, planet, and ethical profit, that value structure might be unique to an organization, but the subcultures are totally different, and we need to focus on those subcultures, on how teams in different areas are evolving, because the managers working there are the ones helping the culture evolve over time.

In a dynamic environment, where strategy cycles have shrunk from five to seven years down to two or three years, organizations are changing fast, especially after COVID, and now there's a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, and the pace of change is accelerating, we have to act fast, and that's where it matters which values or behaviors we expect from people.

I worked in one European organization where we worked on creating a single, unified organizational culture agenda. There were a few specific behaviors expected, and they were communicated really well, there was a lot of budget put behind training employees, certifying them in particular behaviors, running train-the-trainer programs, and it was sensitized across the whole organization.

In another organization, it was about building a culture centered on the customer, putting the customer at the center, and aligning our strategy, our people agenda, and our digitization programs around that. That worked well too, where as a leader, I played the role of an organizational contact point, communicating and designing those culture agendas.

In my current organization, we're working on something we call balancing lives, which combines material progress, business growth, revenue, profit, with how people in the organization make decisions, how calm and clear-headed they are. We talk about mindfulness, combining it with the wisdom in Indian scripture, not in a religious sense, but as a way of working. We're running programs where we train people on how to make decisions, how to clear their minds of clutter, small initiatives, eight of them, with forty-eight activities, certain rituals built around them. It's helping, because people say their relationships at home are improving. One simple example is a mindful walk, taking a walk with your family or spouse daily, and people say they never used to give that time to their family, but now they're doing it, and their relationships have improved, they're spending more time with family. Earlier it felt like a work-life balance issue, but now they're working the same hours, spending more time with family, because they've reduced distractions like their phones, and worked on their lifestyle. That's how we communicate it, and slowly, it evolves, I wouldn't say it's a hundred percent success everywhere, there's still room for improvement, but at least the culture starts, people start talking about it, sharing their stories and successes, and others see the benefit and want it too. That's how culture evolves.

Leadership, of course, has to walk the talk, practice what they preach, but it's also about cascading that down to the ground level, taking corrective and appropriate actions if something's going wrong, to keep that culture alive across the organization. Over time, it evolves.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Well said. You know, with leadership, some of it you really learn by doing, you can read all the books and take all the courses available, but at the end of the day, some lessons only come with experience, I'm sure you'll agree. I imagine there are things you wish you'd known earlier in your career, so if you could go back and give your younger self one solid piece of advice, something that would have made the journey a little smoother, what would it be?

Vinod Bidwaik: I think that's a very good question, because it resonates with me, and experience is the greatest teacher, the greatest mentor, I'd say.

One experience I'd like to share, as a professional I was very energetic and curious, and always wanted to implement new initiatives in the organization. A long time back, in one organization, I implemented a balanced scorecard, and I was so energetic about it that I wanted to implement it across the whole organization. I put together a proposal, created the concept note, presented it to management, and they were very happy with the work.

I started implementing it across the organization, with the support of my talent management team, we travelled to every location in India and presented it to people, and people were happy too, because it brought a structured approach to performance management and business processes. But over time, I realized it was actually too much, too soon, the concept was new, people weren't prepared, it all came at them suddenly, and a lot of people got overwhelmed. Many employees, many department heads and leaders, just went through it as a ritual, an exercise, without putting much thought or effort into it.

I reflected on it and thought about what would have been better. I discussed it with a senior leader, and he suggested it would have been better to run it as a pilot in one vertical of the business, or with a particular level of people, say managers and above, instead of rolling it out to every employee in the organization at once. That was a moment where I thought, if somebody had told me that at the time, or mentored me on how the project should have been implemented, it would have been a much greater success.

So that's the experience, that at certain moments, you need a guide, a mentor, or a coach, or you need to find somebody, rather than rushing to implement something on your own.

Sanjeevani Saikia: That's incredible, I think that will really come in handy for our listeners as well. Thank you. We're getting close to the end of today's episode, it's been a pleasure to have you, but before we wrap up, is there anything you'd like to share with our listeners, any final thoughts? And if anyone wants to stay connected with you after this episode, what's the best way for them to reach out to you?

Vinod Bidwaik: Yeah, if anybody wants to reach out to me, they can send me a connection request, or reach me through my profile, that's the best way to approach me, and I'll definitely be happy to support them.

I'd like to say one thing, there's a lot of noise happening around the world right now, geopolitical challenges, government changes, narratives being built by different agencies, media looks totally different today. This noise is disturbing, and sometimes as professionals we get carried away by all this and by what's happening in the industry. I agree the business environment is dynamic, there are a lot of challenges we're facing, people are talking about buzzwords now, artificial intelligence, technology, and everything else, and that's all fine, but I'd like to say two things.

First, think about the human being, whether it's an initiative, an employee, a stakeholder, or a customer, think about the impact on their life. Are we doing something just because it's trending, just because everyone else is doing it, or because it's genuinely going to benefit them, our customers? Let's put the customer at the center, whether that's internal or external, and design our strategy, our policy, our digitalization or technology initiatives around that, not just because others are doing it, and not out of the fear of missing out.

Second, we shouldn't lose the human angle. Ultimately, we know from the past that the computer revolution happened, then pagers came in and disappeared within a couple of years, then mobile technology came, and now data is everywhere. But we should reflect and ask, is the noise in the market actually relevant to me? Filtering the right data, filtering the right information, is very important. We have to reflect and not be judgmental about what's happening in the world, in the organization, with people, and instead put on the right lens, take off the narrative-driven lens sometimes, and think about what's actually relevant to me, to my stakeholders, to the business, rather than getting carried away by all the noise happening around the world.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Absolutely, I'm sure that advice will definitely benefit our listeners. Thank you so much, Vinod, for joining us in this episode, it was a pleasure to host you, thanks a lot once again.

Vinod Bidwaik: Thank you, thank you so much, Sanjeevani, for this opportunity, and looking forward.

Sanjeevani Saikia: Thank you, thank you so much. Thanks for listening to the Vantage HR Influencers podcast, please do subscribe to the Vantage HR Influencers podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and our YouTube channel for new episodes.