Hindustan Unilever: India Inc's most prolific leader churning engine
Not
even in her wildest dreams would Geeta Royyuru have imagined that she
would be presenting to Hindustan Unilever's board within six years of
joining as a management trainee. But in July 2013, Royyuru, then
rewards manager India, found herself doing exactly that when she
presented the annual rewards budget to the board of India's largest
FMCG behemoth.
"To get that kind of visibility so early in my career is overwhelming," says Royyuru, now an organisation design manager who works closely with CEO Sanjiv Mehta. Not even bravehearted directors would allow a manager with total of six years of work-ex to face the board but HUL leaders did. But then, that's one mantra of HUL's leaders churning machine— bleed the colts early on.
Year after year, HUL transforms fresh management trainees like Royyuru into confident future leaders in a short span of time—it's like the company has cracked the coda of leadership development. No wonder more than 400 CEOs in India Inc and abroad have HUL on their CVs. "Our business revolves around great brand and great people. And great brands are built by great people," says Sanjiv Mehta, CEO, HUL.
Like the famed Spartan military training, HUL believes in starting early. Every year dozens of management trainees join the Unilever Future Leadership Program (UFLP) and for 15 months they are coached and assessed.
Over half of HUL senior leadership has come from this program and it hinges on a central belief — that leaders build leaders. "It's a privilege we have inherited. It's so ingrained in our culture that senior leaders don't even have this as their KPIs," says BP Biddappa, Executive Director HR, HUL.
When Royyuru rotated through assignments, she got regular inputs from a 'buddy', who helped on an informal basis; a tutor who helped her with day-to -day work; a mentor who was the senior most in that function; a coach who gauged her progress and helped her think long term. For a management trainee, every stint is rated and feedback collated from seniors.
"HUL is the best finishing school one can get after B-school," says Pratik Pota, COO, Pepsico India who was hired by HUL from the IIM C- campus and went on to spend ten years with the company. Not one to leave anything to chance, senior managers even spend a lot of time in preparing people — Campus Champions— to go to campus, coaching them on how to recruit.
Apart from the UFLP, HUL leaders have a robust system in place to assimilate outside talent and also grow functional experts into general managers.
Every function has a committee comprising of senior leaders responsible for identifying potential leaders. These committees meet twice a year to discuss people and their development. Often they call managers directly to get more feedback on any of the candidates. "People are allowed to play at different levels, with different peer groups, so that they are exposed to a new level of performance," says Bidappa.
Based on these inputs, HUL runs a structured set of programs across functions and teams, that runs 6-9 months a year. Given the size of the company, the HUL leadership conveyor belt works at various levels, and leaders are regularly put through interventions that help them move to the next levels.
If you look at the CV of a HUL leader going up the company ladder, you will see rotation through a variety of roles.
Typically, HUL gives two strong operational experiences in the field or functional area, a corporate role, a regional role, leadership of multi-functional team and, based on feedback from seniors, the template can change to give managers more exposure in some areas. "People have a say in their roles. We also let people negotiate their careers because at different points in time people have different constraints," says Bidappa.
"To get that kind of visibility so early in my career is overwhelming," says Royyuru, now an organisation design manager who works closely with CEO Sanjiv Mehta. Not even bravehearted directors would allow a manager with total of six years of work-ex to face the board but HUL leaders did. But then, that's one mantra of HUL's leaders churning machine— bleed the colts early on.
Year after year, HUL transforms fresh management trainees like Royyuru into confident future leaders in a short span of time—it's like the company has cracked the coda of leadership development. No wonder more than 400 CEOs in India Inc and abroad have HUL on their CVs. "Our business revolves around great brand and great people. And great brands are built by great people," says Sanjiv Mehta, CEO, HUL.
Like the famed Spartan military training, HUL believes in starting early. Every year dozens of management trainees join the Unilever Future Leadership Program (UFLP) and for 15 months they are coached and assessed.
Over half of HUL senior leadership has come from this program and it hinges on a central belief — that leaders build leaders. "It's a privilege we have inherited. It's so ingrained in our culture that senior leaders don't even have this as their KPIs," says BP Biddappa, Executive Director HR, HUL.
When Royyuru rotated through assignments, she got regular inputs from a 'buddy', who helped on an informal basis; a tutor who helped her with day-to -day work; a mentor who was the senior most in that function; a coach who gauged her progress and helped her think long term. For a management trainee, every stint is rated and feedback collated from seniors.
"HUL is the best finishing school one can get after B-school," says Pratik Pota, COO, Pepsico India who was hired by HUL from the IIM C- campus and went on to spend ten years with the company. Not one to leave anything to chance, senior managers even spend a lot of time in preparing people — Campus Champions— to go to campus, coaching them on how to recruit.
Apart from the UFLP, HUL leaders have a robust system in place to assimilate outside talent and also grow functional experts into general managers.
Every function has a committee comprising of senior leaders responsible for identifying potential leaders. These committees meet twice a year to discuss people and their development. Often they call managers directly to get more feedback on any of the candidates. "People are allowed to play at different levels, with different peer groups, so that they are exposed to a new level of performance," says Bidappa.
Based on these inputs, HUL runs a structured set of programs across functions and teams, that runs 6-9 months a year. Given the size of the company, the HUL leadership conveyor belt works at various levels, and leaders are regularly put through interventions that help them move to the next levels.
If you look at the CV of a HUL leader going up the company ladder, you will see rotation through a variety of roles.
Typically, HUL gives two strong operational experiences in the field or functional area, a corporate role, a regional role, leadership of multi-functional team and, based on feedback from seniors, the template can change to give managers more exposure in some areas. "People have a say in their roles. We also let people negotiate their careers because at different points in time people have different constraints," says Bidappa.
Over
the years, HUL's development programs have evolved. The standard
cookie cutter approach of tick boxing interventions has over the
years matured into a nuanced two way process that's aims to help
potentials discover their own leadership style. And like any
transformative process that's designed to trigger introspection, the
process starts by providing them 360 degree feedback all along their
leadership journey.
Leaders may be asked to make an individual development program that involves mulling over questions like, what motivates you? what's your leadership purpose? Then it's about linking the organisations larger purpose with a leader's purpose in terms of career direction. "We want people to bring in their individual dimension into their jobs, sync people's motivations with what they are doing," says Bidappa.
Leaders may be asked to make an individual development program that involves mulling over questions like, what motivates you? what's your leadership purpose? Then it's about linking the organisations larger purpose with a leader's purpose in terms of career direction. "We want people to bring in their individual dimension into their jobs, sync people's motivations with what they are doing," says Bidappa.
By Vinod
Mahanta, ET CD 141003
No comments:
Post a Comment