Managerial Excellence

Client

India’s leading producers of fertilizers and industrial chemicals.

Multi-product Indian conglomerate with an annual turnover of over one billion USD with a product portfolio spanning industrial chemicals, bulk and specialty fertilisers, farming diagnostics and solutions, technical ammonium nitrate and value-added real estate, which includes India’s first & largest revolutionary concept retail destination for Home Interiors & Design.

Business Context

In a survey of ex-employees of the company, supervisors’ style and behavior was one of the key reasons behind the exit of employees from the company. Specific areas like lack of ownership, poor communication and behavioral issues from the Supervisor were highlighted. The annual engagement survey also pointed to the need for improvement in the managerial skills of the Supervisors.

Business Need

There was a need to develop people management aspects of the role of Line Managers.
The company wanted the workshop to be a learning intervention rather than a one-time training programme and required coaching on assertiveness.

Challenges faced by
the organization were as follows

Enhancing Managerial Effectiveness

The first intervention was implemented at a unit-in a district, Gujrat. This unit had a mixed group of local employees and a few from other locations, which resulted in alignment issues. Since the local employees were more experienced and accustomed to the geographical location and style of working, it gave rise to culture differences at the workplace, which created a need to intervene on the mindset issues of the workforce.

This instability gave rise to an increase in attrition. There was a lack of process setting and people management as managers were not willing to give an opportunity to accept the local culture and style of working.

Solution

Step 1

Pre-assessment

The pre-assessment survey measured group of behavioural competencies that were covered in the learning intervention.

The process was as follows:

The survey questions were filled by the participants and their managers.
The scores/ratings were measured and identified based on the scoring given to specific question by the participants and their direct reportees.
The pre-assessment also helped in identifying the individual’s areas of strength and areas of development.
These two areas were again rated or responded by the individual as well as what others thought about them.

These following areas of development were identified during the pre-assessment process:

Communication: not able to express effectively
Improvement in analytical thinking
Control on emotions
Stress management while multi-tasking

Step 2

Development Journey

After the pre-assessment, the developmental journey started with a kick-off session. During the kick-off following methodologies were proposed:

8 Virtual Classroom sessions
Peer learning meets- 1-hour group coaching was done-to understand the changes the participants went through.
Curated content through digital connects.
Facilitator Connect at regular interval.

The developmental journey was based on the themes of team building, delegation, feedback skills, employee engagement, etc.

The journey included only 8 modules for four batches.

Contents of the Modules

Module 1: Building Resilience

  • Building resilience in myself
  • Practices of a Good People Manager
  • Stress management

Module 2: Team Building

  • Aspects of Team building
  • The basic norms of working well together as a Manager and the team
  • Building Trust and co-operation in the team- EE add
  • Courtesy and Professionalism while interacting with the team
  • The role of the People Manager in ensuring that on boarding is an ongoing process
  • Creating ongoing connects and time with the newcomers
  • Identifying the importance of Employee Motivation
  • Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
  • Identifying methods of Employee Motivation-Individual and Group
  • Identifying personality types – plan for Employee Motivation.
  • Identifying specific issues and how to address these issues

Module 3: Delegation

  • Delegation as a tool to develop the team
  • Identifying who to delegate and what
  • The process of delegation-task and empowerment
  • Tracking the progress

Module 4: Manager as Coach

  • Identifying the development needs of team members using skill-will matrix
  • The role of a manager to coach and mentor the team
  • GROW Framework
  • Process of Coaching
  • Some do’s and don’ts

Module 5: Goal Setting

  • The process of setting realistic and powerful performance goals
  • Identifying performance metrics
  • Arriving at plans/strategies to achieve the desired performance standards
  • Setting up ongoing reviews and feedback process

Module 6: Feedback Skills

  • The importance of Performance Feedback
  • Developing the skills of Feedback- listening, probing, questioning, directing
  • Having the courage and skills to engage in critical conversations
  • Practice Skills

Module 7: Managing Performance

  • Ongoing reviews and monitoring of the team
  • Observing and recording critical incidents at work
  • Classification of employees –Star Performer, Solid Citizen, Poor Performer
  • Differentiated strategies for managing the different types of employees
  • Having discussions with individual team members on their career aspirations.
  • Having a clear agreement on what is possible and what is not.

Module 8: Dynamics of Employee Engagement

  • The importance of creating an engaged work environment
  • The drivers for engagement
  • Practices for building learning, sharing, conversations, ideation at work
  • Appreciation vs recognition
  • Ways in which most organizations address appreciation: Celebrating wins, creating opportunities for feedback, making it easy to review employee performance, encouraging honesty, using recognition tool.
  • The role of the People Manager in ensuring that on boarding is an ongoing process

Post-Assessment

Post assessment focusing on observing the impact of the program and the action plans of each participant was conducted. Few of the observations are as follows:

Areas of strength; positive changes observed after the intervention:

  • Improvement in listening, problem solving, and communication skills.
  • Keeping an eye on goal positive attitude.
  • Improved clarity about goal setting.
  • Improvement in manpower handling.

Key Differentiator

Home assignments were given.
The complete journey did not have a rigid approach and was kept open as per the need/ suggestions/ from the senior leadership team.
Participants could connect with the facilitator even after the intervention was concluded.

Participants Feedback

“One-on-one coaching was extremely helpful.”
“We have started accepting feedback positively.”
“Open discussion happens within the team members and solutions are provided after listening and understanding both sides.”
“Listening skills and problem solving has certainly improved.”
“Communication has enhanced significantly.”
“There is an improvement in manpower handling and clarity in goal setting.”
“Now we have a more motivated support team and improved working style.”

Participants Feedback

“I have begun knowing and believing in myself, it’s a journey worth pursuing. It is all about discovering, rediscovering and evolving myself.”
“Although I was already following most of the steps, these sessions rejuvenated the journey. I felt happy and energetic by regularly practising yoga and breathing exercises.”
“Now I know that I have to take care of myself and find joy in appreciating my team mates.”
I have realized, “If it is to be, it is up to me!!”
“Listening exercises, living in the present, not being judgemental is just so important. I wish to carry on with this practise forever.”
“Panicking fetches nothing, but a confused mind. The solution is to pause while in turmoil.”
“Loved the Empathy Map as it made us realize all the groundwork one needs to do before being empathetic.”

Client Speaks

“Our team understood the importance of well-being and the intervention helped them identify ways to de-stress themselves. Also, the new ways of training delivery with the help of pods and digital connect ensured the connect between themselves as well as facilitator in between the modules.”

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