BUILDING HIGH PERFORMANCE TEAMS – IDENTIFYING HIGH POTENTIALS
BACKGROUND
A mid-sized German multinational engineering company had ambitious plans for growth. Being the market leader in their product segment, they were keen to build a high performance culture in order to achieve the ambitious targets and maintain their market leadership in the product segment. One approach adopted by the company was to identify the high potentials and draw up fast track development plans for the group.
CHALLENGE
The organisation had ambitious growth plans as part of its strategic intent. In order to achieve these ambitious plans, there was a need to identify the top performers and provide them development opportunities to build their capabilities to deliver.
Though the organisation had a competency framework and performance management system in place, the appraisal process was subjective. In order to bring in a certain level of objectivity, it was decided to conduct a 360 Degree Feedback Survey by an external consultant.
The organisation also wanted to use this opportunity to communicate to the employees that high performance would be recognised.
The high potentials had to be identified across all the levels of the organisation.
PROJECT APPROACH
Cornucopia met the HR Head and the Managing Director to understand the need of the organisation and provide a suitable solution. Cornucopia team met the Heads of the various functions to understand their expectations and challenges faced by them with regard to performance. A presentation on the 360 Degree Feedback, process and its benefits was made to the Leadership Team for their understanding of the process and also to get their buy in for the process.
Two 360 Degree Feedback surveys were conducted simultaneously to identify the high potentials across the different levels of the organisation. The surveys were customized based on the organisation’s competency framework and covered 91 employees.
Orientation presentations were held for both participants and raters.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INITIATIVE
On completion of the surveys, Cornucopia’s experts met each of the participants over a one-on-one conversation and briefed them of their strengths and areas of development. While most of the employees were happy to receive the report, a few employees were surprised by the feedback. The team spent dedicated time with these employees to understand their concerns and help them relate to the feedback.
Individual development plans were drawn up for each participant.
WIN-WIN
It was a win-win for the organisation and the employees. The high potentials went through structured development plans which were monitored for progress. This enabled them build skills at an individual level. The managers were also coached to conduct objective performance appraisals. As a result of this intervention, one of the outcomes was a more objective and mature approach to promotions and rewarding merit and performance. This initiative set the ball rolling for building a high performance culture in the organisation.
Successful strategy & execution of the Employee Satisfaction Survey (ESS) for a large retail giant in India.
BACKGROUND
An Indian retail giant, with significant operations across the country, engaged us for conducting an online survey to measure their employee satisfaction levels (covering various parameters like policies, supervisor interaction, welfare, unmet needs etc.)
The company had seen a dramatic growth in the recent years which resulted in significant addition to its headcount, both organically & inorganically. Also unique to this organization, was its high ratio of female to male employees.
The target employee group was predominantly its workforce / shop floor members, who came with very minimal education but high craftsmanship.
Their previous surveys were conducted inhouse and on paper. Language of execution (English) was difficult to comprehend for the grade of employees and the process was laborious. In addition, since it was done in house, it carried the risk of bias, as the fear of repercussion could prevent many employees from giving an honest feedback.
METHODOLOGY
Our consultants conducted several meetings with the HR leadership team to discuss the strategy forward. It was clear to Cornucopia, that the company not only wanted to increase its response rate, but also provide an easy to comprehend and online platform to its employees. Exemplary employee experience was paramount to the success of this project.
The survey was modified to allow –
- Simultaneous multiple execution
- Provide real-time data-collection in multiple Indian languages
- Provide audio-visual execution mode
- The response options were kept simple, with ‘Emoticon’ used to give the feedback (from Very Unhappy to Extremely Happy). This was a 5-point rating scale.
- All surveys will be conducted online via the CORNUCOPIA – ESS App (for android)
EXECUTION
- Cornucopia partnered with reputed language experts to translate the survey questionnaire document in to multiple for Indian languages.
- Once the scripts were ready, they were converted into Audio files in the corresponding languages.
- Cornucopia also proposed to the organization to hire basic android tablets to execute the survey across their centres (instead of individual mobile phones for better control, since it was anonymous)
- Cornucopia took on the complete responsibility of tablet hire and the technology platform. The hired tablets were loaded with the app, tested and then distributed across the centres, ready to be used.
- Cornucopia also provided basic training to the plant coordinators & HR on the functionality of the ESS app.
- Out of the target group of 10,000 employees, over 8000 employees participated in the survey across the country.
- Daily reports were submitted to the HR team to track the centre-wise progress
OUTCOME
The survey on its launch, managed to create a buzz amongst the work-force due to its execution style and flexibility
Employees were visibly happy with the online platform (via tablets) that enabled them to take the survey in the language most comfortable to them. They also expressed their happiness over the audio recital of the questions.
Analysis & report generation allowed the organization to evaluate the top areas of improvement and top three untouchables (that which is working well for them). It provided the organization with a direction to take action to improve the employee satisfaction, engagement, retention and morale.
BACKGROUND
A large real state organisation was faced with a business challenge – slipping market share. It was a gradual process initially. But when the market slowed down, the impact was tremendous.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
When the real estate market was booming, the organisation had growth both in terms of location and manpower. Marketing strategies would not solve its concerns, cost effective methods would have only marginally helped. With the market slowing down and overhead costs increasing, the organisation had to take some immediate measures.
PROJECT APPROACH
Cornucopia was given the responsibility to review the situation and provide solutions. As a first step, Cornucopia consultants met the Managing Director and Functional Heads to understand the on ground realities and challenges faced by the leadership team.
Based on the discussions, it became evident that over the years, the organisation had been in an aggressive expansion mode and hired a lot of people at the middle and senior management levels. This had led to a slowing down of the decision making process and implementation of the decisions because of the many layers in the organisation.
As a first step, the organisation structure was benchmarked against similar sized organizations. The actual job activities of all the positions were captured and revised job descriptions were prepared. The duplicate job roles were eliminated and the span of control was reviewed. The redundant job roles were identified.
WIN-WIN
Options for re-skilling and re-deployment were explored which minimized the number of people to let go.
Overall, the organisation was able to reduce its flab and become agile to face the slowdown in the market.
BACKGROUND
One of Cornucopia’s clients was a mid-sized pharma contract manufacturing company. Cornucopia helped the organisation set up its HR processes such as mission, vision and values; induction; performance management system; compensation and benefits; buddy scheme etc.
BUSINESS NEED
As the organization evolved over the years, the focus shifted to developing its employees and creating a leadership pipeline.
Cornucopia stepped in at this stage to assist with identifying the high potentials and drawing up a development plan.
PROJECT APPROACH
As part of this process, high potentials were identified using the 9 Grid Box. They also went through a 360 Degree Feedback Survey. Individual development plans were created based on the feedback received from managers, peers, subordinates and customers. These plans were discussed with the managers and the progress tracked.
As part of the succession planning, some of the high potentials were identified as “second-in-line” to their managers.
Talent Reviews were held once in six months to review the progress made by these high potentials by the panel of Functional Heads. On-job shadowing, additional responsibilities, stepping in when the manager was on leave were some of the action plans implemented to develop these high potentials.
WIN-WIN
Initially, there was resistance from the managers. However, through the vision and support of the Leadership team, this process was quite successful with some of the identified high potentials taking on additional responsibilities such as managing two small units, working on projects, etc. This resulted in retention of the high potentials and motivating other employees to perform better.
BACKGROUND
One of the core areas of Cornucopia’s work has been helping organizations build their organisational culture by defining their Mission, Vision and Values
Cornucopia has worked with multinational and Indian pharmaceutical companies, Agrotech company to help build their organisational culture.
BUSINESS NEED
It is important for employees in an organisation to understand the reason for the existence of the organisation, its philosophy, its long term goals and objectives.
Defining the Vision, Mission and Values of the organisation helps the employee feel a sense of connect and belongingness to the organization. The employee understands the expectations of the organisation and can align with the organisation’s goals and objectives.
PROJECT APPROACH
Cornucopia usually meets with the leadership team, senior and middle level managers and a few employees to understand their perceptions of the organisation while maintaining confidentiality. This provides a 360 view of what the employees think about the organisation.
Cornucopia facilitates a workshop with the leadership team and the senior managers where they discuss and define a Mission, Vision and identify the Values that will determine how the organisation conducts its business. Cornucopia defines the behaviours of the values to be demonstrated by employees at the workplace. We also put a communication plan for cascading the Vision, Mission and Values across the organisation and train Culture Champions to conduct culture workshops for its employees.
WIN-WIN
The Value behaviours are also incorporated in to the performance management system so that these behaviours get measured. The employees have clarity on the behaviours to be demonstrated at the workplace and everyone is aligned to the organisation’s goals and objectives.
Under the aegis of Pharma South Network, Cornucopia conducts the annual salary survey for pharma companies in South India.
Data is collected from the pharma companies, analysed and compiled into a report that is provided to the participating companies. Confidentiality of the data is maintained. The survey provides an overview of the current compensation and benefits benchmarks in the industry.
Companies like Anglo French Drugs & Industries; Allergan, Apotex, British Biologicals, Biocon, Group Pharma, Himalaya, Medreich, Kemwell Pharma, Recipharm, Micro Labs participate in the annual compensation survey.
BACKGROUND
To build organisational capability, an organisation needs to have a competency framework which identifies the key competencies – functional, technical and behavioural and defines the behaviours that have to be demonstrated and measured to be successful in the job role.
BUSINESS NEED
A mid-sized pharma organisation was keen on developing a competency framework to assess, maintain, and monitor the knowledge, skills, and attributes of people in the organization. This framework would allow measurement of the current competency levels to make sure the staff members have the expertise needed to add value to the business as well enable right hiring and promotion of the right people to take on higher responsibilities in the organisation.
PROJECT APPROACH
Cornucopia conducted a detailed study of the different roles in the organisation by meeting the employees. Based on the job activities, the competencies were identified and defined. Once the competencies were identified, the behaviours to be demonstrated across the various levels were defined with the appropriate rating scale.
These competencies and behaviours were incorporated as part of the performance management system and were measured.
WIN-WIN
The organisation was able to gradually develop a robust competency framework and performance management system. Thus, there was focused attention on developing the competencies where gaps were observed through individual development plans. This enabled the organisation to select and develop the right people and thereby build organisational capability for the future challenges.
Hiring for a strategic role within an Indian start-up in the pharmaceutical business.
BACKGROUND
A start up with a vision to provide affordable healthcare, was looking to strengthen its leadership team by hiring a CEO, who would be able to take the company forward with a planned growth strategy. The senior executive should also be capable of leading a young, diverse, growing team, align them to the company’s vision and instil faith in its operations, especially in these challenging times.
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
The major challenge for the company was to get someone on-board with a blend of technical & commercial know-how, experience of working in cultures that promote global outlook, yet local enough to understand the issues at the grassroot level and to recommend the right course of action for this growing organization.
It was also imperative that the hiring was done confidentially, owing to the seniority of the role and the stand in the market.
Cornucopia’s four-pronged approach (AIDE)
ASSESSMENT
- The account manager conducted several meetings with the founders of the company to understand the vision for the role and studied their broad business strategy to identify the critical skills required at this level.
- They also did a quick market understanding of the company’s standing and the brand value associated with the organization.
- Based on the above understanding, a plan was put into place to tap into available resources, to identify people who will fit into the role well.
IDENTIFICATION
- Cornucopia’s executive search team used a combination of market study, head-hunting and networking in this project
- We identified organizations and individuals within them, who would fit into the profile
- The identified individuals were approached discreetly, and the role was discussed with them (without revealing the company details)
- A few candidates were shortlisted based on their experience, qualification and cultural fitment.
- The profiles were sent to the technical team / founders of the organization for further evaluation
DELIVERY
- Cornucopia’s executive search team conducted all preliminary interviews (with the shortlisted candidates) to set the tone, expectation & context for further discussion
- We also coordinated with the candidates for formal interviews & informal meetings with the client’s leadership team
- We mediated with the candidate on various parameters at the client’s behest
- We also conducted discreet reference checks in the industry to ascertain their market standing
- All assistance with respect to documentation collection and submission was provided until the stage of the offer roll out
ENGAGEMENT
- Our consultants ensured continuous dialogue with the candidate through the duration of the notice period (since this was a senior hire, the time taken from offer release to joining, was over 4 months)
- While the candidate was serving his notice period, we provided the company periodic updates on the status of engagement with the candidate
- Ensured hassle free joining on the agreed date