The key to better work-life balance is establishing boundaries: Nishika & Twishaa Bhagat

Adgully has consistently celebrated and acknowledged the accomplishments of women entrepreneurs and leaders in various sectors. One of our notable initiatives, W-SUITE, focuses on highlighting extraordinary women achievers in the Media & Entertainment, Advertising, Marketing, PR, and Communications industry. In this updated series, we aim to explore how women leaders adeptly manage their teams and overcome challenges in the dynamic landscape of their respective industries.

In an exclusive interaction with Adgully, Nishika Bhagat and Twishaa Bhagat, Co-Founders & Owners, Ose Studios, speak about the role and scope of women leaders in today’s market ecosystem, leadership roles, maintaining a successful work-life balance, effective leadership lessons, fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion, and more.

How do you think the role and scope of women leaders has widened in the current market ecosystem?

Societal attitudes towards gender roles and women’s capabilities are gradually shifting, encouraging women to pursue their career goals and assume leadership positions, thereby challenging traditional stereotypes. The emergence of entrepreneurship and the start-up culture in India has opened doors for women to establish their own businesses and take on leadership roles. Government-backed initiatives such as start-up schemes and incubation centres, specifically tailored for women entrepreneurs, have further promoted this trend. Moreover, increased access to education and skill development opportunities has empowered women to seek leadership roles across various sectors of the economy. Additionally, the advancement of technology and the normalization of remote work have fostered more flexible work environments, allowing women to manage their professional and personal commitments more efficiently.

As a prominent female leader in the industry, how have your experiences shaped your leadership style, and what unique strengths do you believe women bring to leadership roles?

My style of leadership is more about team building. I truly believe that when we work together and not against each other in a positive environment, we’re more efficient, we enjoy work and the results are much better than there is stress at the workplace. As leaders, it is the responsibility of the one at the top to ensure that their workplace environment isn’t toxic.

I think women bring a lot of empathy to any leadership role. Their approach to dealing with situations is different and more holistic. Rather than being focused on completion of tasks only, women make sure that the work is done right too.

What is your mantra for maintaining a successful work-life balance in the new normal? According to you, what makes women the best in crisis management?

The key to better work life balance is establishing boundaries. Engage in an honest and candid dialogue with your supervisor to communicate your problems better. Most of the times, things will work out positively. If you’re the entrepreneur and don’t have a supervisor, you may have duties to supervise others. The most important step to take here is not to over work yourself. Draw your boundaries like working only till Friday, turning off when work is done, not taking work woes to your home – these can be anything for you.

To answer the second part of your question - Women are actually better leaders in crisis because they not only use logical reasoning to handle tasks and situations, they also possess more empathy than men in general. Agree or disagree, businesses are human run organisations and so to deal with humans you have to show emotions and use your emotional intelligence along with other expert skills. Due to society conditioning in most cases where men are taught not to show emotions, they lack in this aspect.

What are the five most effective leadership lessons that you have learned?

In my opinion, instead of telling female leaders to be more like men, it’s high time we focus on learning from women and their incredible ability to multi-task. Having said that, the five most effective leadership lessons I’ve learnt would be:

1. Know yourself – Be confident, don’t let anyone trick you into doubting yourself or your decisions.
2. Connect with people on a deeper level – Women excel at forming, nurturing and maintaining strong relationships. Embrace this and use this at work too since no business is complete without human resources.
3. Transform through purpose – Leaders with strong emotional intelligence inspire transformation and change.
4. Empower others – Women can empower women the best and in the truest sense. I think that is the real meaning of growth and leadership – to lead by taking everyone with you.
5. Long term vision – Decisions get easier when we see the bigger picture.

Gender sensitivity and inclusion in the new normal – how can organizations effectively encourage and groom women leaders in challenging times?

While gender sensitivity and inclusivity is the new normal, it’s important to note that sadly women need to be constantly reminded of this. The society at large can easily fall back to its old ways of how it views women and the roles they’re supposed to play. Even in 2024, many women quit jobs and put a halt on their careers when they get married or have children. By building a culture of inclusivity at the workplace, women can have the flexibility of choosing their working hours/ work from office days and by constantly mentoring them, women leaders can be educated to develop coping mechanisms to deal with judgements as per the ‘supposed role’ they’re expected to play at work and home. Organisations can have day care facilities for working moms and not expecting to work at unreasonable working hours. These are just some of the many human centred solutions that workplaces must come up with. This paradigm shift in the work culture is what we need to prepare and support women to perform at their highest potential, both at work and at home.