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Engage
often with rank & file to be close to ground reality and boost staff
morale
At least twice a month, Chanda Kochhar, managing
director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank, the country’s largest
private lender, takes time out to engage with groups of 15-20 employees.
The groups are made up of peers — a group of 15 general managers, for
instance, or a group of 35-year-olds. Whatever feedback she receives is
carried back on a no-name basis. “A leader should not sit in an ivory tower
but be close to reality on the ground…engaging with the teams is one of the
most important ways of doing this,” says Kochhar. And when the reality on
the ground involves a crippling economic slowdown, CEOs can gain valuable
insight by tapping those in the frontline. Even in the throes of the
country’s worst slowdown ever, honchos like Harsh Goenka, chairman, RPG
Enterprises; Nitin Paranjpe, till recently Hindustan Unilever CEO; Saugata
Gupta, CEO, Marico; Rupa Kudva, MD and CEO, Crisil; and Richard Rekhy, CEO,
KPMG India, are intentionally engaging with rank and file. This may have
started off as yet another “nice” thing for a CEO to do, but it is turning
out to be a useful strategy to beat slowdown. First, CEOs get a firsthand
report from the trenches. Second, they get a decent shot at keeping
employee morale up and an opportunity to identify problems, if any, early.
Third, such interactions can also be a fountainhead of innovation. “Strong
connect between the CEO and employees is needed at all times, but when the
going gets tough, it is important for the leader to communicate and connect
even more,” says Saugata Gupta, CEO, Marico. “It is in tough times, when
markets are not doing well, that you need more ideas,” says Crisil’s Kudva.
Meetings Help
Communicate Strategy Shifts Quickly
“These initiatives become more relevant in a tough economic scenario.” In
difficult times, such meetings with rank and file also have great
signalling value, helping CEOs communicate strategy shifts or course
corrections forcefully and quickly. “It is important for the leader to have
a regular engagement with the teams on the ground to communicate the vision
and strategy down the line,” says Kochhar. “This helps the team understand
how what they are doing relates to the larger objectives of the
organisation…it builds a shared sense of purpose.” At the same time, this
interaction acts as an important reality check and feedback mechanism for
the leader, she says.
RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka loves to engage with employees in an
area in the office called Chill Zone, where people connect over indoor
games, library and a cafeteria. He also engages with youngsters through the
Young Executive Board (YEB), a shadow management board of 10 young high
potentials. “Subjects taken up by YEB are strategic in nature and related
to ‘big five’ steps which are strategic to the company’s future vision,”
says Goenka. KEC International’s entry strategy for solar and wind SBU was
chalked out by the YEB. He also conducts one-on-one meetings with top
talent, spending more than 50% of his time on people. “Higher engagement
helps at all times, especially during adverse economic climate when tough
decisions have to be taken pertaining to increments or replacement of
existing vacancies,” says Goenka. “When we reach out to people and share
our reasons, we have seen higher acceptability of decisions.”
Crisil’s Kudva, conducts training sessions for middle and senior management
employees on different functional areas. While employees get an opportunity
to hear the CEO’s perspective and raise questions, she gets people’s
feedback. “People attending the workshop are in a transition phase moving
from mid-level role to senior positions. While they are adept at handling
their teams and clients armed with sound subject knowledge, they need to
broaden their reach at this phase. I share tips from my experience,” says
Kudva. Kudva also holds one-on-one meetings with key young leader across
grades. ‘CEO projects’ bring together employees from different parts of the
organisation for 2-3 weeks to work on a business problem. Recently, Kudva
picked a team from across the organisation for a study on skill gaps in the
Indian banking industry. “The study is reaching out to 40-45 banks, their
CEOs, business heads and learning and development heads to arrive at a
conclusion,” says Kudva.
Marico’s CEO too believes that the nuggets of information received from the
younger generation can be invaluable, even more so in a challenging
business environment. Gupta meets new managers who join after one or two
months on a one-on-one basis and conducts open houses whenever he travels
to other Marico offices. Gupta also interacts with management trainees and
summer interns through Google Hangout. “The best nuggets of information I
get are from management trainees… I find this energizing,” says Gupta.
Also, engagement with lateral hires can give good ideas about best practices
at other organisations, he adds. At KPMG, Richard Rekhy spends almost every
lunch and dinner with apartner of the firm, either at a business
development meeting or to discuss new ideas, individual contributions and
expectations. “I also meet people at manager and senior manager levels as
they have a lot of ideas to share — there is a lot leadership can learn
from them. We organise impromptu meetings with the middle management over
high tea to convey the larger vision of the firm and hear their ideas,” says
Rekhy. “Employee engagement has become more important in tougher times.”
Recently, the firm evolved its entire market strategy, client focus and
account penetration through an icon programme ideated by young employees.
“Working together by design and helping each other win more has been a key
outcome of these initiatives,” says Rekhy, referring to the concept of
cross-selling introduced 3-4 months ago, in which, if a service line refers
work to another, it gets 10% of its revenue. A newly acquired, million
dollars telecom client in Africa is the result of such collaborative
effort. “Individuals will also get a cross-sell bonus of 5-7%. Now five
countries are involved in it with India leading the project,” he says.
CEO Connect
CEOs talking more to rank & file...
To get first-hand understanding
of what people want, keep tab on co’s pulse Fountainhead of ideas to
formulate company’s strategies Acts as an important reality check and
feedback mechanism for the leader Enables leader to communicate the vision
and strategy of the organisation down the line
One-on-one meetings with employees within the ranks give CEOs a first-hand
knowledge of top talent within the organisation
RICA
BHATTACHARYYA & SHREYA BISWAS
ET130830
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