VIGOUR The Monthly Newsletter exclusively published for Pune | March 2021 | Year 4 | Edition 2-32
Tell Me More
Hi, By the time this edition reaches you, we will have stepped into the new FY 2021-22 and started our new year batches. I will take a while to talk about the year that is gone. We have had a challenging year with COVID19 lockdown restrictions and despite these odds we were able to complete 34 Batches, certifying 488 learners across 9 domains. It was a tough journey which started in June'20 with Virtual Mobilization conducted by the entire team carrying out counselling and Interest Inventory over Google Meet followed by the Facilitators conducting the Virtual Batches every day without any gap. The Parent engagement, Alumni engagement, Guest lectures too were on the roll with a lot of support from the employees of Tata Communications, TCS, L&T and new partners like Fireeye. The year also saw 2 Alumni Meets which received a huge response. The Job opportunities were lesser due to the pandemic situation but we hope to see it pick up the moment the lockdown is taken off and its Business as usual. With new members joining the team, new courses brewing, the new name to our newsletter and above all the renewed ENERGY of the team - we certainly look up to achieve greater heights in 2122. This edition of VIGOUR is dedicated to the amazing Women at the Tata who are doing a fabulous job either a front facing or behind the curtain handling various roles and the cover page says it all. Read more from the women writers and also the all Women Alumni event and Women Volunteering Webinar on 8th March!
All this & more in the March edition. Happy reading!
Sameet Joshi Center Manager TSSDC Pune
By: Apurva Fursule
International Women’s day After COVID, the process of imparting education has changed drastically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning, whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. During this pandemic, Tata STRIVE also started online batches. Every quarter, Tata Communication team celebrated Volunteering week along with Tata STRIVE learners, they conducted different activities, seminars for learners. Under this series, “Power to empower” was organized on 8th March 21. On the occasion of International women’s day, all the women beneficiaries took part. In this activity, Tata communication leadership team connected with Tata STRIVE learners personally and interacted with them about career growth, future opportunity and many more. Feedback received from learners was excellent. All these activities were very useful for Tata STRIVE learners. All webinar topics were selected carefully for learner’s growth. This was one of the biggest volunteering activity of the year, scheduled from 4th to 8th March 21. 200+ learners and facilitators from TSSDC Pune, TSSDC Delhi, TSSDC Ambattur and TSSDC Mumbai took part in this activity. The CEO of Tata Communications, Lakshmi Amur also spoke to Tata STRIVE learners and conducted a webinar as well, that was a persuasive webinar.
Tata communication team also conducted “Mentoring marathon” scheduled on 4th March 21.
Learner Sheetal Shinde (BDE_0118) Learner Sanghpal Bhagat (BDE_0118)
8th March 2021 – TSSDC Pune team organizes its 2nd Virtual and 1st ever Only Women Alumni Meet to celebrate the International Women’s day and also interact with the Alumni all across Maharashtra. Alumni Meets are organised with a purpose of interacting with the Alumni, understand their placement status, help them address challenges, if any, celebrate their achievements and thereby discuss the importance of this interaction. It also gives an opportunity to all to see and meet each other. 18 Alumni & 6 Tata STRIVE Team members were present on this meet. Sushma Gaikwad welcomed the Alumni and briefed the entire event sequence. Learner Mariam Pathan from ABT Batch hosted the event and shared the Ground rules. Tony Jacob, Specialist Facilitator development team and Sameet Joshi, CM TSSDC Pune spoke and conveyed their best wishes in their future.
Alumni shared their thoughts on the event and reminisced their time at Tata STRIVE.
Having spent 4+ years in my domain (Assistant Beauty Therapist) with Tata STRIVE and 10 years+ in Makeup & treatments, I was dead nervous even thinking about picking up YDM as a Facilitator! the dilemma! When I was asked to take up YDM by my Centre Manager, at first I was apprehensive about how I will be able to take in so much knowledge and deliver it through sessions to the learners. I have seen my colleagues who take YDM sessions involving many physical activities & games and this was seemingly challenging for me. Realizing the fact that we all have different career paths but moving up the career ladder comes with taking risks and owning tasks that are outside our core role. It’s important to find ways to challenge ourselves as it helps us engage with our roles and responsibilities and provides us the momentum of keeping things interesting and updated. I accepted this opportunity.
Sushma Gaikwad ABT Facilitator TSSDC Pune
What did I do? I did my best to learn as much as possible to take up YDM for physical batches. I spoke to my colleagues who are currently handling YDM batches, involved myself in several discussions, took notes, asked questions and tried to get all my queries answered and then came the Blended training model for which I had to relearn to deliver sessions effectively. It was an interesting journey. I learnt many new things each time I had a discussion. When I started taking YDM sessions, I learnt that these are so Life relevant topics and they were so important for anyone who is stepping into professional life for the 1st time. My domain has more practical sessions and YDM also involves more of “thinking”. It taught me to take theory sessions, which was difficult for me however, it was exciting. Throughout my career, I have trained/facilitated female learners and for the first time, I had both men & women learners. This was again a unique experience. The change in me... This opportunity also helped me diversify my skills and I learnt different things like Debriefing after every activity, giving real-life examples for better understanding, etc. Since there was a lot of interaction during the sessions I build a strong bond with the learners. This experience has helped me immensely when it comes to dealing with new challenges and accepting changes at the workplace.
By: Amirta Fernandes What's your favorite part about working at Tata STRIVE? Working with STRIVE is like a journey with ladders only climbing up. With every single day in STRIVE we tend to learn new things through opportunities, challenges and difficulties. We must admit that these learnings not only shape us as a professional but also helps us shape as a better human being. What metrics would you use to measure success in your role? I believe to be successful in any role one needs to be consistent and should be able to challenge the status quo. Focusing and striving for the best till you get there will set you apart from the crowd.
Chaitali More HR Executive
What are some of the challenges or roadblocks you come across against your role? HR as a role is very challenging as it deals with people. The major challenges are more towards managing expectations and change management. There are no roadblocks until you think there are! What is the biggest challenge the team has faced in the past year? The biggest challenge was Managing & engaging employees remotely and keeping the organization connected. Creating & keeping that feeling of belongingness towards organization even while working remotely was a tough task. What are some recruiting trends that you think will be critical to the future? There are changing trends w.r.t the sources of hiring, the way interviews are being connected and how the people are being on-boarded. Everything has changed over the past one year. Going Digital is the key to survive in the long term. Social Media! There is no choice but to make use of it to get connected to the larger networks. Social Media is one the source which will be always helpful to look out for options along with the traditional hiring sources. As a female, what were some of the biggest challenges and lessons learned so far? Being female is not easy! You are always on the edge of maintaining work-life balance and always strive to achieve that. You do not have a choice but to take care of both. While you are managing expectations of your colleagues at office you also have to serve your responsibilities towards your family. Giving your 100% wholeheartedly & genuinely towards every work you do is something that only women can do.
What do you think are the biggest challenges ahead for the next generation of female employees? With the changing business scenarios women are getting opportunities to work in various sectors but the challenges will be inevitable. These challenges will not be different than what we are facing today. More common challenges will include a stereotype attitude towards female professionals which makes women feel like they are weak, emotional & less decisive than men. If you go beyond this stereotype and achieve something greater you will have to compromise on your personal life. But women are more likely to be remembered as they stand out of the crowd with the ideas they bring to the table. What initiatives has Tata STRIVE taken to build a diverse and inclusive workforce culture? As an organization Tata STRIVE has always encouraged gender diversity. Following are the initiatives that are currently undertaken: 1. As part of the hiring target of talent acquisition teams, gender diversity is the key parameter to ensure at least 40-50% female employees in the organization at all times. 2. Extended support to female employees when it comes to personal/health issues on a case to case basis. 3. Maternity Benefit as per Maternity Act 4. Encouraging environment to lead from the front by leadership and other leads. 5. Equal pay opportunities & equal growth opportunities 6. Zero tolerance towards Sexual and Mental harassment as part of TCoC. 7. Flexibility and there are upcoming initiatives thought through will be launched soon. How has the pandemic changed your approach towards the employees? Before pandemic the role was more operational and routinized with a set of deliverables to be met. Pandemic changed the view and approach towards employees in a strategic and empathetic way focusing more on employee wellbeing, health & engagement. Allowing them with a flexibility to operate and connecting with them at a personal level brought confidence within the employees that the organization is there to support them in difficult times. With the introduction of new programmes like Employee Assistance Programme, HR Chitchat sessions & HR engagement activities we ensured to keep employees motivated and protected. Going an extra mile to support employees in need creates a huge impact. What was the most exciting moment as an HR executive in Tata STRIVE? The entire journey working with Tata STRIVE had been an exciting one. This journey which started just as a consultant to work on a project has climbed to a lot of roller coasters of excitement to reach the level of an Associate lead. It's great to be part of this organisation which provides encouragement & opportunities to grow.
By: Apurva Fursule
Healing is the process of restoration of health, now a days it includes healing physical, mental and emotional pain. The dualities and pressures of modern living has seen quite a few people battling to keep their health up. In the midst of all this, what if we could actually help our bodies heal. Are there techniques and methods that work and actually show results? I would like to discuss a few methods with you. Mind you I speak from my own experiences, partly because I’m curious and partly because I really believe that we have the capacity to heal our bodies. Let’s take a look at a few that are generally on the top of the list:
Deonizia Sampai Member: Facilitator Development
Meditation: this has now become synonymous with being ‘woke’ and a part of the new age movement. When I consider meditation it takes me back to all those episodes of Mahabharata & Ramayana that I watched as a kid, where some sage would meditate and get granted some boons or if they’re lucky the Gods themselves would come down for a tete-a-tete with them. Meditation has been around a lot longer than we can imagine and it’s not just the stoic, sitting in one place kind of meditation that I’m talking about. And as simple as it sounds, it could be surprisingly simple or notoriously difficult to achieve. There are simple breathing techniques, complicated breathing techniques, apps to help you breathe deeply, guided meditations that keep you on track and so on. My recommendation is to try out the different techniques, find out what works for you and stick to it so it becomes a routine. Simple mantra here – if it’s too difficult to follow or too tedious for you to do you won’t stick to it, so find something that works for you.
Energy healing: this may sound like absolute hogwash to you, but there are many methods of energy healing and a lot of evidence that it works. One of the more common ones is Reiki, and there’s a whole range of energy healing in between, let me name a few – Pranic healing, quantum healing, Angel healing, Dragon healing, crystal healing, Lama Fera, Qigong, magnified healing and so on. Energy healing is a traditional healing system that restores the balance and flow of energy throughout the body, mind, and soul. This technique works directly with the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of well-being. It is used to treat various medical conditions, especially ailments related to mental health. It addresses the illness caused due to disturbance of the energy flow in the body.
It is believed that when the energy flow gets fixed, the person automatically gets cured. There are different types of energy healing techniques, which work differently to heal a person. Again this one you have to try and test and see what works best for you, they work on the simple principles of balancing the energy in your body so that it flows freely. I have tried them all, depends on the ailment and the situation, and of course there is this general ‘knowing’, which means when you hear about it you will know what will work best on you. What else could you try, if you’re adventurous you could get an Akashik reading done to find out why you have a particular ailment and what you could do to fix it. There are psychic surgeons who conduct non-invasive surgery on you to fix minor issues and ailments. Shamans who connect you with the spirit world and get them to connect with you and heal you, they call on spirit animals as well to guide you on these journeys, they have also given rise to a plant medicine based journeying called ‘Ayahuasca ceremonies’, these are considered to be the most extreme and the testimonials always makes one wonder, should we try it or not. I personally prefer gentler methods, one of my absolute favorite is Sound Healing. I love sound healing as it undoubtedly one of the most powerful media, to take the human spirit in different states of consciousness. Besides their traditional use for meditation, Tibetan singing bowls are used for deep relaxation and muscle regeneration, to relieve pain in the joints, muscles and shoulders, to ease pain related to sciatica, the digestive system, headaches and migraine or spine injuries, to improve circulation, release tensions or blockages, to open the energy flow, eliminate the toxins from the body. When we relax with the sounds of Tibetan bowls or the gong, our concentration improves and our emotional tensions and blockages are eased. The sound with its vibrations can ease mental or emotional pain (low self-esteem, worries, fear, anger, anxiety, depression, insomnia). Tibetan singing bowls and their unique tones are used to stabilize blood pressure, to ease asthma related issues, to renew the functioning of the adrenal gland, to open and stabilize the meridians and to improve the synaptic responses in our brain. They also help children with hyperactive disorders and they stimulate the immune system. And the best part is that you just have to lie down and relax and the bowls do all of the work for you. In case you are wondering which therapy to try or what would work best for you, It’s recommend you simply send out an intention to the Universe, the best therapy will then find you. As we continue on our journey, my wish is for all sentient beings to be open to experiencing the best that life has to offer them and that all healing happens with absolute ease, love and wisdom human
The 1st Batch of Cyber Security has ended on 18th March and at this moment, we would like to convey our sincere THANKS to all the Subject Matter experts from Tata Communications who have rendered their valuable Time & efforts to interact and take their expert sessions with the learners. Every SME engaged with the batch for 6 days in a week covering the various modules under their topic. Special thanks to Ramesh Sadasivan who not only rendered his expertise during the content adoption but also lead managed the technical round of the Interviews for selection of the Facilitator.
Ramesh Sadasivan Tata Communications SME- Need for cyber security
Santosh Mallappa Tata Communications SME- Cyber Forensics
Balaji Ramachandran
Kannan Chari
Tata Communications SME- Introduction to Cyber Security
Tata Communications SME- System Auditing
Divya Dilli Tata Communications SME- Web Server & Application Security
Vijaya Kumar Tata Communications SME- Network Security threats and countermeasure
Domain Cyber Security Batch 1 Retail Sales Associate Batch 1 Beauty Advisor_Batch 1 Android App Developer Batch1 Auto Sales Consultant Batch 1 General Duty Assistant 1 Business Development Executive Batch 3 Cyber Security Batch 2
Syama Das Tata Communications SME- System Fundamentals
Mahesh Dalavi Tata Communications SME- Cryptography
Type Blended Blended Online+CL Blended Online+CL Blended Blended Blended
P Start date 12-May-21 17-May-21 17-May-21 24-May-21 24-May-21 24-May-21 25-May-21 31-May-21
Komal More belongs to Pune. She has completed her Post
Graduation from S.P College, Pune. There are four members in her family. Her father and brother run a small furniture business. She learned about Tata STRIVE from Light House. She selected the BFSI-BDE course as she was interested in sales and customer handling and was also keen to start a business of her own. She learned Customer Handling Skills, Team Work, Relationship Management Skills, and gained knowledge regarding the various banking products. Name: Komal More Age: 26 Years Course: Business Development Executive Batch: Blended BFSI BDE_0010 Employer: Kotak Mahindra Bank Designation: Assistan t Sales Manager
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step
Komal was a sincere learner and had 100% attendance. She scored an overall ‘B’ grade. After completion of the training, she was placed with Kotak Mahindra Bank as an Assistant Sales Manager in the CASA with package of 2.25L PA. While pursuing the training she got along with her friends and started a Café named “CREAMY NUTS” at Kothrud, Pune. She started this venture in January 2021. She required an investment of INR 12 lacs for this venture. This amount she borrowed from family and friends. The Café is at a strategic location between 3 prominent colleges. Since colleges are closed at the moment she is earning a profit of around INR 1000/- per day. However, when the colleges were open briefly she was earning INR 3000/- per day. While running the café and handling the customers, she uses the skills learned at Tata STRIVE. She is managing both her job and this café very well. She has employed one person to manage the café and has also installed CCTV cameras to keep a watch. She works during the day at Kotak and in the evenings and on the weekends she is working at the café. She misses Tata STRIVE and all staff members. In Komal’s words, “Tata STRIVE has made me independent. During training, I learnt many things, which helped me in setting up my own business. I’m confident that I can do anything in my life now.”
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#Throwback
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Tata Strive Skill Development Center Chandrakant Chambers, Opp.Madhuban Restaurant, Dhole Patil Road, Pune | Contact: 02066869100 Content & Artwork : Anish Varghese, Amrita Fernandes, Anshul Tayal, Apurva Fursul Editor: Sameet Joshi | For any feedback or suggestions write to sameet.joshi@tatasustainability.com