Discovering Inclusive Workplaces - Amrita Gangotra

Having known Amrita Gangotra for last decade as a CIO at Bharti Airtel, I could observe her evolution as a leader in Technology Sector not only In India but also in international geographies. I am very excited to take us through her inspiring journey that she covered to grow as a diversity leader in a perceived male-dominated function.

Amrita has been commercially-focused and award-winning technology leader with experience gained in India, UK and Europe of using technology to drive business performance and deliver value in the telecommunications, IT services and FMCG sectors having led key roles in many business-impacting transformation initiatives including revenue-share IT outsourcing deal with IBM, launch of new m-commerce products, creating the IT platform for global Enterprise business at Vodafone, introducing the tools and organization to support the Digital Telco strategy of Vodafone, CWW M&A integration, 4G network roll out and preparing for 5G introduction. She has also been a member of the executive management team at Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Hungary and been on advisory board member teams. 

Post the diverse industry and regional exposure as a leader, Amrita has embarked on an entrepreneurial career journey from Jan 2019 and started her own boutique consultancy and advisory company that specializes in 5G, IoT, AI /ML based digital transformation for Enterprise which provides growth strategy advice to Tech SME and start-ups.

As per Amrita,  a high growth career trajectory is not so easy and it comes with a set of challenges. She shares some of them :

-      Adapting to cultures of a new country and organization : When you move countries, it is not always easy to grasp the cultural differences and the way thing are normally done.

-      Managing  the difference of opinion with direct boss/ superiors : When one has major difference of opinion with  one’s direct boss or superiors, it is important to find ways to survive and thrive in the company either by trying to convince through talks or trying to influence through the network.

-      Dealing with “unconscious bias” : As per her she actually experienced ‘Unconscious biases’ and realized that  in reality it still happens. It is important to learn about this and be aware. Look at the facts, be inclusive and make others aware of such biases to be able to overcome them.

Despite some of the above hurdles, she was able to do fairly well in her career due to the support of her family. She also certainly recalls some of the blue- chip companies she worked that supported her through her journey. They offered continuous learning and development opportunities which helped her in keeping herself relevant by keeping pace with the ever evolving and changing technology sector. She recalls getting opportunities to get trained on leadership, media exposure, financial aspects along with technical areas and role of  her Mentors and Coaches who helped her in seeking professional advice while looking at various milestones she aspired to achieve. Also, opportunity to work in the international market helped her in understanding different cultures and therefore develop as a diverse leader.

Amrita is an inspiration for young Women leaders who are also aspiring to grow in technology domain. During a conversation with me, she truly acknowledged and discussed some organizations “Inclusive Workplace Practices” which helped her along the way :

1.    The constant support of supervisors has played an active role in developing her career journey in organizations like Nestle, Airtel, Vodafone.

2.    Flexible and supportive HR policies like maternity leave support, providing platform to help with return to work and creche in the campus to name a few. Nestle India had very good maternity leave and child care policies in the 90s when her daughter was born. They gave baby food like lactogen, Cerelac for one year from the time the baby was born. 

3.    Workplace that cares about diversity of gender, race, culture – Vodafone is very focused around Diversity & Inclusion. 

4.    Enabling the work-life balance for the employees. Airtel had developed a campus that included creche, eating joints, bill payment service, etc. to make it easier for the employees to take care of their other needs. While this may be the norm today, for Amrita it was the first experience of a campus-based office infrastructure.

5.    Enabling the workplace for differently enabled people means that the company is conscious of being “inclusive”

6.    Extending to employee’s  family members and children helps in the family owning the brand too – Nestle had great family day event, dinners with spouses, children parties and painting competitions. Vodafone organized a day where children could come into our workplace and see around , meet other colleagues 

7.    Amrita also recalls some of the unique practices globally like Vodafone Hungary had number of programs for self-well-being – meditation, yoga, running events, dietary and mental counselling. Also, Vodafone in UK and Europe endorse and practice  fair recruitment practices and assessment centers for internal job posting is important.

Having such a rich experience behind her, Amrita has been practicing some of the inclusive work-practices within her own venture  by  giving opportunity to senior experienced people irrespective of their gender, cast, status & orientation, who are interested in freelancing or working part time. Looking at the development need for women in technology industry, she takes extra effort to hire more women basis their merit. Moreover, she also works with people from different countries who bring extensive cultural diversity on the table and clearly relates inclusive workplace with the ROI as a business leader.