The world is moving towards a more performance-centric ecosystem: Tanima Dhawan

We, at Adgully, have always saluted and honoured women managers and leaders across diverse fields. W-SUITE is a special initiative from Adgully that has been turning the spotlight on some of the most remarkable women achievers in the M&E, Advertising, Marketing, PR and Communications industry. In the refurbished series, we seek to find out how women leaders have been managing their teams and work as well as how they have been navigating through the toughest and most challenging times brought about by the global pandemic.

In conversation with Adgully, Tanima Dhawan, HR Director, Zoo Media, speaks about organisations today recognising the importance of good and effective leaders and not just focussing on gender, acing the balancing act for remote working, and more.

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

I think the world is moving towards a more performance-centric ecosystem as compared to a gender-focussed one. Organisations today recognise the importance of good and effective leaders, who bring in experience and thought process to achieve business objectives and not focus just on the gender of the leader. We, therefore, see lots of inspiring women in leadership roles across industries and markets, who are breaking the ceiling in more ways than one.

Today, women are in lead positions in every sector – media & advertising, marketing, finance, films, and even in political roles. Our President, Ms Droupadi Murmu, is a great example for being the supreme commander of the armed forces! I think the journey of these inspirational women leaders will only encourage the younger workforce to dream big!

What has been your major learning from the pandemic period?

A misconception that the pandemic forced organisations and leaders to break, was that work cannot happen from home. It led to the emergence of a new will of the world, which was totally unimaginable prior to 2020 and organisations found it difficult to adapt to the idea of its workforce working from home. But thanks to the pandemic, we all now know that quality output is just not a by-product of sitting in an office. It is purely dependent on an employee’s willingness to deliver that quality no matter where they are working from.

Another learning that came in as a result of a pandemic induced work environment is that empathy is more about actually doing than just saying. With the increasing demand of hybrid work cultures, our managers need to be trained to support their employees and have meaningful conversations with them at regular intervals. They should look into their workload, help set some boundaries and build trusting relationships with their employees. This results in the creation of a safer and positive work environment that thrives on inclusivity and trust and motivates employees to continue to do their best.

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?

When this trend of remote working started in 2020, we all found ourselves in tricky spots, trying to draw that fine line between work from home and work for home. It took months of conscious effort to realise that acceptance of change and evolving mindsets are what we all need to gear up for. While working from home was a huge boon for young mothers like myself, who actually saw their little ones growing right in front of their eyes at home and also not compromise work or feel guilty to have left them alone and go to the office, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a challenge initially to segregate the two lives.

Women are scientifically proven to have more patience and calm to deal with pressure situations and tend to not buckle under pressure than our male counterparts most of the time. However, there are no fixed rules there I’d say! I was fortunate to have a partner who supported me in this journey and eventually as time passed, I learnt to work out my schedule in a way that ensured I was able to give 100% to whichever aspect I was focussing on – work or family. It came with a lot of self discipline and conscious checks to self, but the secret to this success was – balance, just like it is for most things in life! The balancing act is what we all will have to ace for remote working to become a more justifiable policy.

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

Leadership is a journey which is unique to every individual, and different leaders learn different lessons at different points in their professional career. Some of the lessons I swear by are as follows:

1. Leaders don’t pretend to be the smartest people in the room. They listen - Good leaders encourage and promote their team members as experts by giving them trust and autonomy to perform their roles. Leaders provide direction and delegate tasks to their team members to get the best possible performance from them but are also open to listening to the opinions of others.
2. Good leaders inspire those around them - Great leaders lead by example and inspire others by creating a positive and meaningful change and taking responsibility for the team and their actions. They are highly passionate and have a vision for their work.
3. Be honest and transparent with the team - Transparency helps build strong relationships and bonds with the team, which, in turn, breeds a culture of understanding and acceptance.
4. Leaders encourage learning and continuous development - Effective leaders are always learning from others and their experiences and thus, encourage personal growth within their teams. They play a pivotal role in getting the best out of their teams.
5. Good leaders take care of their team - A good leader constantly encourages and supports their team and is available to provide help, advice and guidance. Employees in such teams feel more valued and are more likely to strive for excellence every day at work.

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

In my personal opinion, I don’t think organisations should do anything differently for women if they believe in equality at the work place as one of their ethos. On the contrary, organisations should invest in grooming their leaders agnostic of their gender to deal with challenging circumstances at work and encourage them to inspire the others around them. In a world where we feel equality is one of the underlying foundations, differentiating leaders on the basis of gender is something I personally feel is not the right approach.