Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18 Says Employees Will Give 100 Percent If Their Leaders Give Them Respect And Recognition

While recognizing the leaders and contributions of the human resources sector, the 4th BW Businessworld HR Excellence Awards 2018 saw dignitaries like Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18 who discussed the key learnings and qualities of leadership. 

"Throughout a leader's journey, he/she is inspired continuously by co-workers and various people along the way. Human relation is such where we get to learn a lot on a professional and personal level. More importantly, leaders instead of creating other leaders must first drive the adrenaline in his employees to generate faster and qualitative work production. If you are able to distinguish properly and communicate a genuine bond between friendship and the profession, you will find a much supportive role from your team also churning out the work-life balance."

In conversation with Noor Fathima Warsia, Group Editor - Marketing & Advertising, BW Businessworld, Mr. Nayak also discussed the challenges of gender equality. 80% of employees at Viacom18 are women and have been in most organizations. He also stated his firm belief in the criteria of the position and the skills of a person rather than the gender. 

"We create policies for employees and seldom get trapped in it. A gender or an age of a person should never be a barrier to get him/her hired. We need to stress on the practices of constantly training and developing the workforce rather than focusing on always hiring someone new," added Raj while answering a question to the challenges in gender equality and age factors of workforces. 

Integrity and conviction are the two main qualities of a leader in today's era. Trying to find opportunities to compromise in order to create more production is what should be paid more attention to. Raj Nayak also stated that existing and upcoming leaders must embrace areas in which they always get to do something new. 

While concluding his remarks during the conversation he said, "The employee of today doesn't work for a better paycheck, but the respect and recognition that is provided by his/her leader. Hence, if you want to be an honest leader, you must give recognition and respect to the workforce and they will be loyal to you and stay even though they receive an offer with a better salary somewhere else." 

The 4th BW HR Excellence Awards progressed through panel discussions and keynote addresses by eminent personalities like Dr. Velumani, CEO, Thyrocare, Richie Dave, Country Manager, HR Customer Advisory, SAP SuccessFactors and many more.