Strategic vision and laser-focused execution go hand in hand

In this‘CEO Insights’session, as part of the ‘Great Manager Awards’, Cisco President APJ Service Provider Business, 

 discussed the evolving role of leadership with 

 What are the qualities that you look for in a leader?

I believe that every individual has more potential than what they think they have.

If you take a professional and put him on a pie chart, you will there are 3 sections – the arena, the greyscale, and the blind spot

The arena is what you know others know as well about your strengths. The grey area is the potential you have that you are unaware of. And the blind spot, which you think you’re good at, others see as the opposite of that.

So, for me, leadership is about understanding your own strengths and weaknesses, because a good leader always surrounds himself with people that complement him.

If you want to reach the moon, aim for the sun. It creates a bit of a surplus. But when you’re in that situation, innovation kicks in. You start looking to the left and the right of your responsibility, and it forces you to go beyond your arena into the grey area. And that’s where net news gets discovered. When you motivate someone to move into their grey area, you are helping them discover their unknown potential and when they put that into an execution motion, they end up doing more. And that’s the recipe for executing beyond what you think is possible.

The next most important quality is the ability of a leader to understand how people are reacting to them, whether it creates a positive or a negative impact.

To be a leader, you have to be a self-leader first

I’m a virtual leader. I have teams in Japan, New Zealand, Australia, India, ASEAN and Korea. As a leader, you should have a set of values and a moral compass. Cisco has a set of core values, and as an individual leader, I subscribe to those and they reflect in my every action.

The last one is the ability to be vulnerable. In an environment where you’re leading people digitally, your ability to say, ‘I screwed up’ or ‘I’m terrible at this’ and be comfortable with revealing something that you’re uncomfortable with, is very important. Because once you do that, you create an atmosphere of trust.

According to recent research done by Hopkins Medicine, 26% of American ages between 18 and older suffer from some sort of mental health issue

What are the things leaders need to know?

I call them 4C’s of leadership. The first one being an effective communicator, being able to translate your vision and strategy into tangible actions that make people believe Oh, I can get there’ is key to being a successful leader.

The second one is critical thinking, which is all about thoughts and innovations and coming up with new ideas, connecting the dots. You need to devote time to thinking. I put at least 2-3 hrs a week in my calendar. It’s called MWMS – ‘Meeting with Myself’, and I force myself to do it. The third one and an important one, is collaboration.

It’s not about you, it’s about bringing in the best to the party

In business, you have to be selfless as a leader in the journey of cross-collaboration, where you’re working with teams, partners, suppliers, etc.

And then the last piece is ‘creativity’. Even though Cisco is nearly a US$50 billion company, we still feel like we’re working for a start-up. One has kept inventing and solving for market transitions proactively. Cisco won Best Place to Work in the world, 2 times in a row. That tells you a little bit of our culture and how blessed I am to be leading in ca ompany that is so amazing in its people deal

How do you go about inspiring leaders to fulfil the vision of your organization?

I believe as a leader you have an accountability to set an audacious goal, and back it with a tangible execution plan. I also think leaders should use vulnerability as a leadership tool. You have to be honest and transparent with people. When I set a goal / north-star, I paint a picture for my team and ensure they buy into it and are motivated to execute it. My belief is when you aim high and go after that target with full conviction, you will find many supporters along the way to make you successful.

Vision without proper execution is a myth

In my business I set up a very aggressive goal a couple of years back. Which was backed with thought through the execution plan. Our strategy is further broken down into 6 execution programs, one being our ‘People Deal’. This program is all about telling people to do extraordinary things. We, as a company, have our own value system, but for our team, I have added another 3 values.

Be Collaborative, be Bold and be the Best

When I say we have to be the best, it means that we have to be better than the customer we’re selling to. That means you have brought value in every engagement and interaction with customers.

In our industry if you’re not learning every day, you’ll be obsolete in 6 months

Vision, goal, strategy and execution are what make people fall in line. You’ve to make sure that your teams have line of sight between what they do and the overall goals of the unit. You have to ensure teams have the ability to hone on to their strengths and lastly are empowered to make an impact. The second value of being collaborative means bringing the best together from your teams, partners and customers to create value and lastly, being bold is about creating a culture of empowerment, ability to take risks and having the gut to make the decisions when needed.

 What are the qualities that you look for from senior leaders

Senior Leaders must display certain qualities in order to be effective. Firstly, leaders must have great passion for what they do. When in the presence of a truly effective senior leader, their passion exudes out of them and is infectious. Secondly leaders must have emotional intelligence, which means that they are strong communicators and are able to expertly handle interpersonal relationships with an awareness of their own emotions and the emotions of those around them.

Thirdly they have toResilient, so they are able to withstand difficulties and get right back up again when the going gets tough. But more than that, having resilience also means that they are able to take criticism onboard without letting it knock them down or result in confrontation.Fourthly senior leaders must be proactive. They plan well and make space for potential drawbacks ahead.Fifthly they must be creative, in order to succeed with an ability to come up with new ideas and initiatives. They must breed a creative atmosphere in their workplace, encouraging staff to try new things instead of getting caught up in a hidebound routine.

 What’s the most crucial question you would ask a candidate during an interview?

 Honestly, there isn’t one, it depends on how the interview went. People write great CVs. I would like evidence of personal contribution. Be it in any context, at the end of the day it’s what you did, the impact you created that matters.

What would you say is the most critical competency of a Great Manager?

I think it’s their ability to communicate. Ability to communicate a great vision into tangible actions.

The more vulnerable you are as a leader the more trust you’ll earn from your people

Ability to create a line of sight to the top goal for every individual in the organization

We have this routine called ‘TASK’. It’s a one-pager that has four quadrants. The right two are the income statements, where they mention their goals for the next 3-4 years, and how will they go about achieving them. On the left are the balance sheets that talk about strengths (Assets) and Things that need to change (Liabilities). In Cisco, we encourage leaders to give feedback on individual and team Strengths so we can leverage them for better outcomes. This inculcates positivity and creativity. We review this one-pager twice a year, to examine where we are in our execution journey. This creates a personal bond between the leader and the individual that works for him.

Creating a line of sight between vision and aspiration to the last actions that a person is doing is what you need to do as a leader

Rahul is the Country Lead of Great Manager Awards and has played a pivotal role in strengthening the Great Manager Awards program in partnership with The Economic Times over the last 6 years in India. Rahul closely works with Business &amp; HR leaders to help them identify and develop successors for their organization.

Great Manager Awards Program is an initiative by ‘People Business’ to identify, recognize and reward “Companies with Great Managers" in India.

This program enables the participant organizations to compare and benchmark themselves and their managers across the industry. It helps organizations create real competitive advantage through its managers.

In this edition of the ‘CHRO Insights’ as part of the Great Manager Awards, we have Mr. Udbhav Ganjoo, who is the Head HR - Global Operations, India, Emerging Asia and Access Markets of Viatris. In his conversation with Rahul Mahajan, Country-Lead of Great Manager Awards, he opens up about his life as an HR Leader

 You’ve been a veteran in this space, tell us about your journey as an HR professional.

 with Kelvinator (now Whirlpool) and moved towards plant IR/ HR. In my first year, we were exposed only to the top layer of the organization. After that I was placed in the plant operations, here I got exposure to all labour/ IR issues. I spent 4 years with Kelvinator, it was an interesting journey and provided exposure to different facets of people management, lockouts, union-leader interactions and so on. As I started understanding the HR function more, I adapted my personality and working style to meet the needs of the role.

After that I moved to ITDC, which was a completely different sector. I spent 6 years here and had different roles within the corporate HR function. I had the opportunity to learn and work with different businesses of the company.

My next movement was to Turner Morrison Group (part of TOI), which was a conglomerate of different businesses from textiles to engineering to financial services to infrastructure, where I was in the corporate HR role at the group level. I was here for 5 years and delivered various HR initiatives and programs here for multiple businesses.

It was after this that my stint with the pharmaceutical sector started and is still continuing.  For 18 years I was with Ranbaxy where I joined as a Global R&amp;D HR Head. I was in different HR leadership roles here and eventually became the Global Head of HR.

Presently, I have been with Viatris (formerly Mylan), a global pharmaceutical giant since the last 7 years. So, this is a summary of my professional journey over the last three decades, helping various organisations in supporting and building their people, culture, and leadership pipelines.

 Who were some of the early influencers in your life?

During my professional career I have had lots of mentors. My first mentor was a well-known Automobile Manufacturing expert. He was the first leader who had a big impression on me in terms of how to deal with people; while this may appear simple, it is quite nuanced and a very important aspect in HR. Observing him deal with difficult situations and taking hard, smooth, and quick decisions was a big learning for me

When I was working with Turner Morrison Group, it was the Chairman and MD of the group who was my mentor. He was a great leader who helped me develop risk taking ability and seeing things outside in.

I have been in pharma for almost 25 years now, and there have been many professionals, leaders, and CEOs within my organisation and outside who have influenced me as a professional. During this journey, I have also been a mentor to many professionals from business as well as from HR and many of my mentees are holding leadership positions across various organisations. It’s been a learning as well as a sharing experience.

“It’s about how efficiently you can delegate and adapt to difficult roles faster to move up”

What are some of the top pieces of advice that you give to the CHROs?

 The most important one is to remain connected with the people and business. To succeed, any CHRO or HR person needs to add value to the business. If there is a disconnect with the business, HR professionals will fail because HR is the only function that works in partnership with the business and people. You cannot work in silo in HR and succeed. You need to be grounded and aligned. Collaboration and getting everyone together are key for success.

HR should have the ability to guide and influence the leaders to take right decisions as far as people management is concerned. They should be able to deliver on the expectations from HR, be it building the right culture, employee engagement, development, career path, succession planning, organisational design, hiring and so on.

The important element is HOW a CHRO is able to remain connected with people at various levels of the organisation, being empathetic while keeping the business priorities in mind- this is what I call “PEOPLE TOUCH’.

HR Heads have very broad responsibilities. How do you provide focus to each of these responsibilities?

 It’s about delegation and remaining connected and having a process by which you know what’s happening in the businesses in context of people and leaders. HR needs to be connected with the business, you need to have your focus areas in alignment with future and current needs.

‘The key is to remain connected with what’s happening around the area which you’re responsible for’

We have created well-defined processes, with well-thought-out meeting and review cadence. But there’s built-in flexibility. I have not put any boundaries. If there’s an issue, they can pick up the phone and call me or walk into my cabin. Important issues will be addressed immediately, I don’t want anyone to wait for the next 2 weeks for the meeting to happen. These are the few things that I was able to create so that there is no delay in the actions/ response that HR is expected to do. You shouldn’t keep everything to yourself. There should be total delegation.

 If you could ask one question to someone and basis that decide whether to hire that person or not, what could be that question?

 Right from the very first interview I have conducted, there have been two things which I look into the most and which have proved right for me so far.

‘Personality and Attitude are the two things that I look into while hiring’

It all depends upon the situation. It depends on their attitude towards work as well as life. I try to assess their attitude as it’s important for any leadership role. We had to drop the candidature of many good candidates who have done well academically and professionally but do not appear to have a right attitude. Having a positive attitude with good work ethics is one thing that helps the organization grow. It is not there on the CV, so this is something that I consider along with other factors while hiring.

What are the X-factors that differentiate the Great Managers/ Leaders from the others?

: For a great manager, it’s not just about managing your team, but beyond that. It’s about putting the right team under him. These days, in many organizations there’s a gap between No.1 and No.2 in terms of ability of taking over the role.

‘A great manager is the one who is confident enough to have a brighter team under him than himself’

But a great manager is one who is not afraid of building a team of smart individuals – those who are better than him. This improves the overall productivity, innovation, performance from the team and is good for the organization. It also provides organization the confidence that you can have a good pool of future successors in the team. One of the 

 is to build a strong team below him or her. Unfortunately, there are only a few organisations having such structures.

All things are interlinked. It depends upon the position of the person, the philosophy of the organization and how they would like to have the people. There are organizations where there are certain areas which need intervention and corrections, and leaders need to be able to make these changes.

 What has been your playbook in leading your firm out of this crisis?

 Because we are in the pharmaceutical space, even during the crisis we had to be doing what we were doing. But our priority shifted mainly towards the wellness part. As an organization, we are big in India, we have approximately 25,000 people. Our focus was on wellness - mental as well as physical. We invested both in terms of time and rewards into this aspect. Our operations didn’t shut even for an hour during the lockdown. Also, people who stepped out of their homes because of work were given special reward incentives. We followed various defined protocols, invested a lot in the health of the employees, and in cases where they tested positive, we took care of their treatments. So, the well-being of our employees was the major focus for us during the crisis.

Rahul is the Country Lead of Great Manager Awards and has played a pivotal role in strengthening the Great Manager Awards program in partnership with The Economic Times over the last 6 years in India. Rahul consults organisations in identifying &amp; developing successors

A Great Manager is one who hires better than himself

Learnability & Curiosity: Qualities of Great Managers

In the first edition of our ‘CEO Insights’ session, as part of The Great Manager Awards, we have 

, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Sopra Steria, in his conversation with 

, he opens up about his life as an entrepreneur a business leader

 It isn’t just one person for me. As I started my career, it was my first Manager Ravi Sharma, who still happens to be one of my mentors. Being a senior at my college, I initially got groomed under him. I got to learn about trust, delegation, and how to give responsibilities even to a fresher. Once I jumped into Entrepreneurship, it’s been different people. I did learn a lot from my business partner, Pankaj (Also my senior from College). 

"I was never into sales, and as an entrepreneur, I think you are always in a selling mode to either an employee or to a customer or even to your partners.”

Pankaj was always on the sales and strategy side, and all my initial lessons came from him. In the current set-up, where I introduce myself as a professional Entrepreneur, I consider my chairman who is also the founder of our company as my mentor. Despite all the challenges, he built this organization from 0 to now a 4.5 billion European Company. 

On a personal side, it has always been my father who inspired me the most with his values, culture, and ethics. Coming from a village, he got married at the age of 14, became a commerce graduate and a CA at the age of 21, and then became a VP at 31. I have seen him dealing with people and at the end of the day, it’s how you treat your people that matters the most. These are the things that I’ve learned and continue to learn from him. Apart from them, there are different personalities from whom everyone learns, like Mahatma Gandhi.

“I picked up one habit from Steven Covey’s book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People-Trust, which even today I’m trying to sharpen myself on”

I believe that we learn from everyone. Today, I learned a lot from the housekeeping boys and the security guards in terms of commitment and ownership. Even after getting paid so little, their passion and commitment towards work is very high. 

What was your first big break that led to a larger trajectory in terms of your career?

I always wanted to do something on my own since my Engineering days. I started my career at Unitel and was there for 1.5 years and then 2 years at Wipro. Pankaj and I almost spent a year talking about entrepreneurship while working at Wipro. And on 31st March 1993, Pankaj informed me that he is resigning from the company. I was curious and when I asked him if he had a plan on what to do next, he said ‘we’ll see. The very next day I too resigned and decided to jump onto the Entrepreneurship bandwagon. My daughter was only 25 DAYS old.  So from a career perspective, I think this was my first big break as we were getting into something without actually knowing what it was going to be. 

Once we started our business, we didn’t have any money to invest in as PE/VC were non-existent in India and banks would not lend to us. But we are grateful to the Management team of Wipro as the help and support they extended were great. They gave us the dealership for Wipro notebooks by having a special dealership policy for Notebooks. They deferred our deposit, which they gave after earning from the sales. We wouldn’t have been here if it weren’t for the support of WIPRO. They have built many entrepreneurs. So from a business perspective, our second big break was this dealership that Wipro gave us when we could not afford it. 

Since the Notebook was a new concept, it was not easy to sell. We had our initial struggles. Our third big break happened towards the end of 1993. It took us 6 months to sell 1 Laptop and 1 Printer to a big Japanese organization. But soon later, they gave us an order for 16 more sets and then a Large order to Integrate their offices across the country. The rest was history. And then we never looked back 

“Success is by Hard work, ownership, commitment – all these are like t hygiene factors so that when an opportunity comes, one is prepared”

It’s all about the right time, the right place, and the right opportunity. I’ve heard Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems, say that-when he tries 100 things, 95 fail and 5 succeed. Hence, we need to continue to try new things

  What advice do you find yourself sharing most often when you are coaching and mentoring people?

 One factor which I find myself telling everyone is ‘Curiosity’. I tell all my people not to stop learning as you need to constantly upgrade yourself in terms of professional and technical skills because that’s what your co-competency is. 

‘A surgeon doesn’t say that after 40 he will stop learning and will tell you how to do the surgery and the same applies to a lawyer as well’

This should be applicable to other industries as well, especially in the IT sector. I try not to spend more than 15-20 hours per week with my direct reportees. Because I believe in hiring the right people with ability and then support and be available whenever needed. You have to trust them with their responsibilities. They need to have their space to work, and we need to encourage them to experiment. You have to be a hand’s-on leader but it’s important to become hands-off when needed. So Curiosity, Learnability, and Trust would be my three pieces of advice. 

What are some of the qualities that you feel are important when they step into a managerial role?

 Professional skills and ability are the most important ones. You could always sharpen your skills, but not ability. So, I think the key is to have trust, professional excellence, and ability. I got quite inspired by the book, ‘5 Dysfunctions of a Team. People are bound to make mistakes, and it won’t be fair enough to question their capability based on one mistake. 

‘Being transparent, authentic and open - we all as leaders will want to leave a story around it'

Today, people hesitate to say, ‘I don’t know' or ‘let me learn’ or ‘I’m willing to learn from my junior’. They should keep themselves vulnerable. Openness and Transparency is really the key. Even if you have the best of people but as a team, you can still fail if people are hiding facts from you. We need to create an atmosphere around the team, where there are no boundaries for success.

‘I know in the professional world goals are important, but I personally believe that as leaders we shouldn’t keep boundaries to what someone else can achieve.’

As leaders, we should be open to suggestions and encourage people. The reason what made us successfully navigate this pandemic is the kind of atmosphere that we provided where people could give us any ideas knowing that there will be leaders to encourage them. For example, the idea to shift Desktops to homes came from one of our manager’s as we could not get enough laptops on rent. You can challenge your person in terms of the idea which he puts forward but don’t drop it just because you don’t believe in it. Honestly, even I didn’t think that desktops could be shifted but I didn’t shoot it down instead encouraged him with his idea. As Jack Welch, the author of the Winning once said, ‘the best of the ideas don’t come from the guys who have their offices in the corner but from people who are sitting in a desk in some corner, but you have to create the ecosystem for him to be fearless to speak and contribute.

‘But at the end of the day, the most important one is to keep your ego on the foot’

I’ve been telling my team to reduce bureaucracy, hierarchy and to accept advice, suggestions from anyone and see if it can be implemented.

If you could ask somebody one question in a job interview and decide based on their answer whether to hire them, what would that one question be?

 I’ve never made a job description for myself and neither do I hire anybody by job descriptions. In fact, if you look at our CHRO - 

, both have come from delivery and taken a lateral movement in their careers. 

‘Ability and Learnability are the two factors that I look into while hiring.’

Even if they don’t have the technical skills, it doesn’t matter. All that requires is their curiosity and willingness to learn. But it’s a tough one to consolidate all these factors into one question. Maybe I would ask them to talk about some of their success and failures or the times they felt uncomfortable in a role, which will help me to judge their ability and learnability.

  What would you say is the most critical competency of a Great Manager to lead through a crisis – we had witnessed one in 2020 and it is still ongoing?

Sunil: Crisis demands Agility and Agility is responsiveness driven by the intellect. In a crisis situation, a Great manager has to continuously sense and pick information, assess, and anticipate, and line up alternatives. It means adjusting to the developing highs and lows and correcting courses. Rethink, React and Reinvent. 

‘Agility is the sustainable advantage you can have over others in a crisis’

For Agile minds even a crisis is an opportunity, with the maxim: “Never waste a crisis; catch the adversary off-guard.”

Rahul is the Country Lead of Great Manager Awards and has played a pivotal role in strengthening the Great Manager Awards program in partnership with The Economic Times over the last 6 years in India. Rahul consults organizations in identifying developing successors

At People Business, we have been helping companies improve business value by addressing employee performance and talent development issues. Our 18+ years of experience in this field have ensured that clients receive expert insights to drive strategic decisions about their people resources.

Here, we are presenting the cases of two well-known insurance companies with varied needs to highlight how Development Centers helped them in making better talent decisions- on identifying the right talent pool and diagnosing specific development needs.

The first company is a mid-sized insurance company under India’s biggest global brand and conducts a yearly Hi-Potential Talent Identification Program through Development Centers. This organization has partnered with PB for over five years and assessed 1000+ participants at the middle and junior management levels. Through Development Centers, they identify the high-potentials from their talent pool and then provide them with fast-track career opportunities, along with development interventions.

This company has a PAN-India presence and wanted to include the talent pool from across the country. PB supported this organization by bringing in a Virtual Development Center platform way back in 2016– that was ready to deploy, easily accessible, scalable and simple-to-navigate.

To actionize the Development Center, the PB Project team fine-tuned the existing competency framework to create a refined assessment criterion based on client requirements. PB also went a step ahead to suggest customized tools for varied functions (apart from the obvious requirement of different exercises for the levels) to ensure high face validity of the exercises. Similarly, PB also recommended a hybrid version of the Virtual Development Center, to provide a real-time assessment feel to the participants. All the participants were provided requisite support- webinars, process and navigation guides to familiarize them with the platform and process, as well as tech support. As an outcome of the Development Center, PB project Team supported the organization in identifying the cut-off as well as the high-potential talent pool. The ones that met the cut-off further underwent a 1:1 feedback, IDP goal setting and a milestone review with their assessors. While the rest of the participant pool were supported to interpret their individual reports to bring the assessment process to a logical conclusion. The entire experience of Development Center and the branding around it has made it aspirational for the employees to say the least; and has also created a sense of owning their development to ‘meet the cut-off’.

The second study is about a leading multinational insurance company which formed a JV and as part of the transition was focusing on realigning multiple

. Our Senior Consultants got to the core of the JV, to understand how the leaders would want the new entity to operate, and the direction / focus on human capital management. As a result of these discussions – several needs were identified – right from realigning the values of the organization, bringing about a cultural change in the way the leaders operate, creating a new employer brand, as well as a refreshed focus on assessing and developing their talent from a more professional lens.

As a part of the talent assessment and development initiative, the organization initiated assessments from the top levels. All senior leaders (N-1, N-2, and high potentials at N-3 levels) underwent a robust Development Center/ Multi-Source Feedback Survey. Before the pandemic of course- People Business organized an in-person 

 for some of the leaders. Post the pandemic – we naturally moved to PB’s in-house Virtual Development Center platform to evaluate them on the newly formed values and Competency Framework. This was done with the purpose of understanding how the leaders demonstrated the inherent traits of the desired behaviors. The results obtained from the Development Centers helped the organization gain an insight into the gaps of the current and desired state. PB’s panel of Assessors then facilitated a 1:1 feedback session to provide insights into the nuances of their behavioural strengths and gaps. Accordingly a level-specific development agenda was created for the leaders.

Assessment/Development Centers can be a crucial part of any company’s talent management strategy and at People Business we customize and design them in a way that helps the company zero-in on the exact requirements. We undertake painstaking efforts to gain an insight into the organization’s functioning and future focus by engaging in structured discussions with critical stakeholders. Along with our 50+ years of cumulative consulting experience across varied industries, these conversations help us devise the assessment tools that have high statistical combinations – for e.g. face validity, content validity, predictive validity and finally, inter-rater reliability.

At People Business, we strongly live by the value that humans in their entirety cannot be assessed by machines only – and as a practice we ensure that our clients are given the best of technology and human expertise to make strategic decisions.

Written by Suraj Jaganathan and moderated by Divya Kaikini

How Virtual Development Centers Helped Two Leading Insurance Companies

Employee Value Proposition is the foundation of a strong employer brand. Employee Value proposition is the tangible and intangible benefits of association with an employer brand. It is the promise that becomes central to the psychological contract between employees and employers. All organizations have a living employee value proposition and a brand – whether it’s articulated or not. However, sustainable employer brands articulate their value proposition, live it in their communication and employee experience, and constantly evolve them as per the need of the organization and the talent landscape.

People Business has done pioneering work in the space of 

. Having worked with employer brands that have created a space for them, we have found some interesting “balancing” acts while defining the employee value proposition.

An effective employee value proposition should be able to align the employee aspirations and what employers ask from employees. Each value proposition articulates this “Give” and the “Get”. The second aspect is on the current focus Vs future. Employee value proposition should be rooted in reality and at the same time be a stretch for enhancing the employee experience. However, too much future focus without looking at current reality can make the EVP aspirational and unable to touch the chord with employees.  The third element aligned to it would be the aspect of current vs future talent. An element of EVP should always be a stretch looking at the future talent group that the organization is planning to have to meet the business need. The fourth and the most difficult one would be balancing the homogeneity vs differences between business units, employee groups, and operations. A good EVP should be able to embrace the differences and project the organization as “one”.

The Balancing Act of an Employee Value Proposition

As organizations grow, leadership expectations rise and roles become more complex

 Strategy can be sound, markets can be favourable, and systems can be strong, yet execution falters when leadership capability does not keep pace with business complexity.

This was the inflection point for a large, fast-growing pharmaceutical organization operating across multiple locations and functions. With increasing role complexity, expansion plans, and a diverse leadership population, the organization faced a critical question: 

Do we have leaders who are truly ready for the next phase of growth and do we know who they are?

Addressing this question required more than intuition or fragmented performance data. It demanded a structured, objective, and scalable approach to leadership assessment and development. This became the foundation for a comprehensive Development Centre intervention.

The Business Objective: From Talent Management to Leadership Continuity

The objective was both immediate and future-focused to build a 

 across three levels: Managers, Mid-Managers, and Senior Leadership.

At its core, the focus was on building leadership readiness while ensuring development investments were focused, fair, and aligned with business priorities.

The Design Philosophy: Anchored in Business Reality

The Development Centre was designed to reflect the organization’s 

real operating environment, and role complexity

. Behavioural competencies were clearly defined across all three leadership bands, with distinct indicators for each level. In parallel, 

functional competencies were developed for nearly 150 unique roles

, ensuring depth, relevance, and role-specific accuracy.

This framework was built and validated in close collaboration with internal subject matter experts, ensuring that the model reflected not theory, but the realities of the business.

This established a clear and trusted view of leadership capability across the organization.

Execution at Scale: Precision, Speed, and Consistency

The Development Centre was executed across 

a scale that required strong governance and disciplined execution.

A blended assessment approach was adopted, combining 

 to balance reach and depth. Participants engaged in a series of carefully designed exercises, including:

Each exercise was mapped directly to the competency framework, enabling consistency, objectivity, and comparability across locations and leadership levels.

Participant experience was equally important. The process emphasized transparency, fairness, and psychological safety, critical to building trust and credibility in the outcomes.

Turning Insight into Strategic Talent Decisions

Assessment is valuable only when insight leads to action.

, leaders were mapped on performance and potential, providing the organization with its first 

enterprise-wide view of leadership capability

individual diagnostic reports and cohort-level analytics

, enabling targeted development planning and strategic talent reviews.

For leaders, this brought clarity on strengths, development priorities, and readiness for future roles.

sharper succession planning, focused development investments, and confident talent differentiation

In practical terms, leadership discussions shifted from subjective opinions to 

Business Impact and Return on Leadership Investment

The Development Centre delivered impact well beyond assessment outcomes:

Most significantly, the organization now has a scalable, repeatable leadership assessment model one that supports faster, more confident talent decisions as the business evolves.

From a business lens, this translated into

lower succession risk, improved leadership readiness, and higher return on leadership development investments.

Looking Ahead: Leadership as a Strategic Advantage

When designed with intent and executed with rigor, a Development Centre is not an HR initiative - it is a strategic advantage.

In an environment where growth is constant and disruption is inevitable, organizations that win are those that invest early in leadership readiness, not those that react when gaps become visible.

This engagement reinforced a powerful truth:

future-ready organizations are built by leaders who are prepared before the future arrives.

At People Business, we partner with organizations to build that readiness

systematically, credibly, and at scale - so leadership becomes not a constraint to growth, but its strongest enabler.

Building Leadership Readiness at Scale: A Development Centre Story

While there are many abilities and traits that define great managers , here are five that I have seen commonly among managers who have been considered ‘great’ by all their stakeholders - By Dr. Chandrasekhar Sripada, President and Global Head of HR, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories & "Great Manager Awards" Advisory Panelist

All this is common sense.. But ‘doing’ it consistently has been rather hard for many. For knowing more about R-OPTI Model for Companies with Great Managers and participation visit : greatmanagerawards

Defining Great Managers!

People Business partnered with a TOP 4 Global IT consulting firm to create a performance coaching culture in the organization.

The intervention focused on supporting the new managers, experienced managers, and leaders in creating a culture of coaching.

The program consisted of four phases - Profile, Educate, Develop and evaluate.

A qualitative profiling was done in the first phase to understand what are the needs of managers at different levels. This was categorized into skill and will issues. We also understood some of the underlying assumptions that are not supporting managers to be effective.

This was followed up with a 360 degree assessment based on the leadership behaviors of the firm. The 360 degree assessment provided us with the strengths and areas of development of each of the individuals.

The development journey was customized for the levels.

For the senior leaders, inputs were given on 

and followed by a strengths finder workshop. The workshop also focused on how the leaders would be leveraging their strengths to coach the team members. The key action items based on the 360 degree feedback was also discussed with leaders through a feedback session from an external coach.

For the experienced managers, the focus was on building mentoring skills. A two day workshop focusing on team engagement, feedback and mentoring skills was provided to the managers. This was followed up with a six month intervention. Each of the experienced managers were asked to mentor a junior manager and was also supported with an external coach. The coach helped the experienced manager to build mentoring skills and also helped in their own behavioral transformation with the help of a reflection journal.

The new managers were provided with more basic inputs on performance management and employee engagement. They were also provided with reflection journal and monthly group coaching. This helped the new managers to have more confidence in the role.

The nine month journey helped the firm to create a pool of managers who are more aware and engaged with their team members. This also led in a 14 % increase in the engagement survey results essentially with the focus on the items related to "Me and My Manager"

Performance Coaching at a Top 4 Consulting firm

People Business in research partnership with IIM Kozhikode conducted a study on the use and effective of coaching in Indian Organizations.

India is catching up with the United States in terms of Executive Coaching. While the industry is only less than a percent of what it is in the US in terms of numbers reported, Executive Coaching is getting accepted and key stakeholders who influence usage of the same (CEOs and HR Heads) are agreeing to the fact that it is making an impact in the organizations.

Executive Coaching is making its presence felt in two critical areas : 

and the upcoming future leaders. By helping leaders to shape up their strategic thinking, leadership skills or how they are able to build effective teams, the role that executive coaches are playing is critical.

 as a profession is evolving in India, organizations are looking to engage with professional external coaches who have got business experience, built a reputation, and have expertise in the relevant area.

PB Study on Executive Coaching

 Initiative to build next generation leaders in the organization. Each ‘Game Changer’ was carefully chosen by the organization and the program has been thoroughly customized to individual and organization needs.

Provide Hi-potential employees an opportunity to exhibit potential by enabling them to pursue Business impact Team projects

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