The L.E.A.D.Project
A case study of one of the leadership development initiatives at one of the world's largest wire manufacturing organisations.
Situation
In June 2016, Praful Desai, MD and Country Manager of Amigo had a daunting task. The outcome of the strategic business review meeting with one of Amigo’s major customers GKT did not go well. Amigo strives to be the most preferred supplier to all its customers worldwide and therefore has business review meetings with their customers to get feedback related to services provided by Amigo. This helps in understanding their position in the market and also gets to know what they can do more for the customers in terms of value addition.
GKT’s feedback was disappointing; there were quality issues and delivery issues that pointed to human error rather than technical ones. On the other hand, GKT shared its Vision 2020 (five-year plans): Big Hairy and Audacious Goal (BHAG)—doubling its domestic production and gaining a market share of 65%. This rang the bells for Praful.
On his way back after the meeting from Delhi to Pune, Praful recounted the discussions that happened. The service provided by Amigo was pathetic and was nowhere even close to its vision. “How am I going to share the outcome of this meeting with my seniors in Europe”, is what kept coming to his mind again and again.
Praful pledged to revamp the strategies of Amigo (India) to regain the lost stature. This had to be done at any cost to partner with GKT in its five-year plan.
Amigo seldom fired an employee unless he or she displayed a “bad attitude”, preferring to train employees to excel. This shaped Amigo’s human resources philosophy. Amigo supported promotion from within. The average tenure of employees is 7 years and above, some of the employees had joined shortly after its founding in India.
On the very next day after arriving from Delhi, Praful had a meeting with his senior leadership team in India. The agenda was to discuss the minutes of his meeting with GKT – How are we going to get over with the issues and add more value to our services to partner with GKT for their Vision 2020 was tabled. A lot of ideas came up, like having a dedicated team called “GKT Stewards” who would focus on GKT-related products, and the strategy was formulated.
A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.
HR Vision
Although Amigo’s human resources strategy included a pay-for-performance plan, it distinguished itself by emphasizing other aspects of employee motivation and development; wide-ranging training programs, constant feedback, and frequent recognition. “Keep them learning, keep them growing!” was a major mandate in “Amigo’s Way”. HR’s commitment to developing every employee will lead to the creation of an aggressive team to support achieving this five-year goal. What HR had in mind was to align every employee by way of the Amigo leadership compass. Leading self and leading others. Lead by example and be Accountable. To further reinforce this belief HR offered extensive training programs, ranging from basic to advanced skills.
One such program planned was “LEAD”. Learn Educate And Develop - self and others.
“Given that common goal and given the specific capabilities of each one of us, together we joined forces and do whatever it takes to achieve that common goal.
To tailor and deliver this intervention Amigo had to partner with an external agency. After several meetings and discussions with different agencies, Adi Raheja & Company (ARC) was given the responsibility. While considering vendors for its endeavours, Amigo partners with those who have values that match its own.
The ARC team
ARC is known for its commitment and drive to excel in its tasks. ARC had worked hard and gone out of its way to do certain things that substantiated its allegiance to the work entrusted to them. The client saw their ability to see things objectively, imagination, flexibility, honesty, consistency, and trust. This leveraged their position to be the preferred partner to deliver the interventions planned by Amigo.
The LEAD Program
The LEAD program was a talent development program, designed for mid-level employees to align with the strategy. When Amigo expands its operations, it will need more leaders. This program was focused on facilitating the shaping up of young talents, scaling up their competencies to meet the future requirements of the organisation thereby providing development opportunities to deserving employees, and also helping in increasing the talent pool for succession planning and retention.
The program was spread over 6 months; the total program consisted of 2 days per session and a total of 6 sessions, with pre-assessment (360-degree report and DISC) and post-assessment using the Kirkpatrick Methodology. The program contents were rich with practical applications.
All topics were covered with experiential learning methodology and involved high-end games, activities, role plays, case studies and assessments to derive the learning. Groups were formed to take on projects in line with Amigo’s strategy.
Areas Covered
Leadership Excellence
Work Excellence
Interpersonal Excellence
Cross-Functional Excellence
Presenting Like a Leader
Decision-Making and Creating an Impact
The LEAD project was well planned and delivered by ARC, it was highly appreciated by the management team and participants in terms of feedback and for the ROI. The management plans to have similar initiatives in its other plants across the world.
Visible changes in the system
No snag was reported by GKT
The project on JIT (reworked) added value to GKT in terms of money and time.
Looking at the positive outcomes, management has started further expansion plans in India.
GKT was so overwhelmed with the change that Amigo had brought about in its service, that they signed an agreement with Amigo to partner in their vision 2020 as a preferred supplier.
In 2017, Praful Desai was nominated by the Amigo headquarters to receive the “GLOBALLY PREFERRED SUPPLIER” award from GKT.
In our work, there is always more than what needs the hour.
