Exploring People-Centric Design: In Conversation with Anita Ramachandran

Our storyteller, Komal Srivastava, sits down with Anita Ramachandran, Associate Director of People Success at Radix, to talk about people-centric design approach and its role in organization development.

This meeting should have started half an hour ago. I have encountered a technical glitch in sharing the meeting details with Anita. As I sit there dissolving in my guilt of not having been extra cautious, through my screen, I hear the consideration and empathy in Anita’s voice first and then her words: Here’s what we can do – how about we divide the conversation prompts into segments? We can try to cover one segment in the time we have left, and I’m always happy to catch-up later to discuss the rest. Sounds good?

It sounded brilliant actually. I brushed off my “should-haves” and we covered everything we had planned and more, on time. What stayed with me long after was – I’ve never seen someone be the spitting image of how people have described them to me.

Anita Ramachandran is a passionate People Success partner who is and has been an integral part of Radix (one of the world’s largest registries of new domain extensions) and its people function for over eight illustrious years. Currently the Associate Director of People Success at Radix, she is at the forefront of crafting a people-centric design approach for her function that aligns with the organization’s purpose.

In all our interactions with Anita, her fervor for people-centric design has been palpable — it’s not just a role for her, but an intrinsic part of who she is. In our collaborative efforts, Anita has always shown up with a deep understanding of the needs of the people at Radix and a passion for the organization’s purpose and leadership. Her approach is both holistic and keenly relevant, ensuring that every design decision reflects the unique dynamics and aspirations of the Radix team.

Read on to explore Anita’s perspective on a people-centric design approach, her strategies for keeping Radicals (the people of Radix) informed about growth opportunities, her vision for the future of Radix, and the most fulfilling aspects of her role:

What does a people-centric design approach mean to you, and how does it influence the way you design and implement programs and policies for people at Radix?

People are at the heart of everything I do. In my personal life, I’ve learned the value of developing unique connections with individuals, despite differences in lifestyles. This approach, which some might label as people-pleasing, is, for me, about finding common ground and establishing genuine connections. I do this because I have seen people come through for me, through thick and thin.

In my role as an HR business partner at Radix, I’m the bridge between the best-of-the-best people who join us and the management. While maintaining a balance between friendliness and professionalism is crucial, especially when delivering challenging news; over my eight years at Radix, cultivating relationships has been key to my success.

Be it a big win or a mistake I’m discussing, I am offered a sound understanding, because at the core of it they know intent and they know where I’m coming from – and that’s because of the relationships we have cultivated.

Walking alone is a very lonely and difficult journey. If you have people who support you, cheer and care for you, you will be able to navigate the good, bad and ugly in life.

That’s why, in a world often marked by transactional interactions, my effort and investment in a relationship is not contingent upon me getting anything back.

At the core of my being, this is who I am.

Can you share an example of how adopting a people-centric design approach has positively impacted employee engagement, productivity or retention within your organization?

At Radix, what’s unique about us is that we look at everything from a lens of neutrality. Take, for instance, our response to the evolving work landscape post-pandemic.

As we transitioned into a hybrid work model, the industry trend leaned towards offering commute benefits. Rather than blindly following suit, we questioned the need for this benefit. Our consideration wasn’t rooted in skepticism about how people might misuse it, nor was it a matter of our P&L. Instead, we delved into whether it genuinely added value to our people and aligned with our values and culture at Radix. We asked ourselves, “Would we have done this pre-Covid?” We recognized that people have been commuting without incentives for years, and questioned the necessity of introducing such a policy now.

At Radix, we never use a copy-paste approach. We dig deep to understand what is the need, whether we are addressing it, and if it’s adding value to our people and creating impact.

When we ran the numbers, it became evident that only 5% of the company would actually benefit from such a policy. Based on this insight, we made the decision not to implement it at Radix. This approach serves as a reliable barometer for reaching conclusions, ensuring that any policy or guideline that emerges has already considered all relevant aspects and is, therefore, well-received by our people.

A classic example of this is when we redefined our leave policies by focusing on primary and secondary caregiver leaves rather than traditional maternity and paternity leaves. This shift allows any employee, regardless of gender, to identify as a primary caregiver and apply for a substantial six-month leave, while others may opt for a shorter duration. Our commitment to making processes efficient involves identifying points of friction, reducing them, and ultimately enhancing the lives of our people.

In your role, how do you ensure that employees are aware of the growth opportunities available to them and, more importantly, know how to make the most of these opportunities?

Before we launched our project ‘.Grow’, there used to be questions from our people around ‘what next?’ .Grow is change management at the core of it.

Through this project, we’ve made significant progress by delving into discussions about career levels, competencies, and skill areas.

We broke down competencies into core skill areas to provide clarity to employees. We initiated a skill proficiency identification process, allowing employees to map their proficiency levels. Managers then played a role in identifying proficiencies for their direct reports, while peers and stakeholders nominated by the individual identified proficiencies on organizational competencies. This intentional division ensures a comprehensive assessment.

Once we gather this information, we pinpoint the bottom three skills, leading to a collaborative conversation involving the manager, the individual, the learning partner, and myself. This discussion focuses on understanding the gaps between self-perception and managerial perception. Here, we encourage conversations around specific instances and projects to bridge these gaps and identify improvement opportunities.

After identifying skill gaps, we give individuals opportunities to apply their learning in order to see movement. They decide how they want to approach their development plan and learning. At the quarter’s end, performance reviews and feedback measure improvement.

Anita at the .Grow boardgame evening at Radix

A significant part of my role involves helping individuals recognize movement as growth. We actively guide them in understanding that growth isn’t solely vertical but can take various forms.

We’re also helping managers and individuals to have more growth conversations and get into the discipline of recording them in growth journal

Very often, it is assumed that small teams don’t need advanced people practices. Radix is a lean organization in a niche industry. Yet we have always seen you insist on deep thinking, highly custom design and bringing in innovative and strategic people practices. Why?

We’ve never looked at our head count as a deterrent for us to be able to do anything. In fact, it’s actually something that we feel is our strength.

We’re constantly looking at being the best. The leadership in the company has also always strived to make sure that the people who are putting the company first and ensuring we’re able to grow at the pace we want to, they also need to be taken care of – be it in the realm of benefits and/or learning and development. We prioritize quality without being recklessly extravagant, but we don’t shy away from investing where it matters. This has always been at the core of Radix, and our CEO, Sandeep Ramchandani, emulates this.

What is your vision for people practice at Radix in the long-term?

One thing I’m proud of, and that I credit the entire HR team for, is that we’ve managed to get invited to the “adult table.” It’s a rare sight to see leaders actively invite HR to be a part of crucial discussions.

It’s like Sandy (Sandeep Ramchandani) literally pulled up a chair and said, “Come, sit. I want you to be part of this.” At Radix, we have that – our leaders are our biggest champions.

In terms of people practice, the focus is on enhancing the HR tech landscape, creating a connected HR tech universe that brings efficiency to regular processes. The goal is to introduce automation, predictability, and move as close to zero errors as possible.

We’re also putting a lot of focus on making sure our efforts in HR are all about creating value and linking that value directly to business outcomes. That is the North Star we’re chasing as a team. I’m not sure how long it will take – HR as a function has a lot of moving parts and dependencies – but we’re committed to moving in that direction. Hopefully, we will get there soon enough.

Anita with the Radix team

Lastly, as you contribute to the growth and development of Radicals, what do you consider to be the most rewarding aspect of your own role at Radix?

Over the last eight years, even in my early days, I was never blocked from the leadership or treated as a “junior.” When you see someone take time, effort and patience to work with you, rather than make you feel like you’re working “for” them, that is extremely rewarding.

Like I mentioned earlier, we have a seat at the table! And that is so unheard of even in the more “progressive” organizations. I get to weigh in.

The comfort I have at Radix to be able to say, “I agree to disagree”, will always be very powerful and rewarding.

Anita, your dedication to cultivating meaningful relationships, evident in both your personal interactions and how you design for Radix, is inspiring. This conversation not only highlights the importance of placing people at the center of organizational development, but also underscores the crucial role of leadership in championing these people-centric approaches. Thank you!