Published on May 19, 2020
Tata AIG General Insurance (TAGIC) wanted to benchmark its Leadership Development and Talent Management practices against a leading organisation in the group. Based on this request, Tata Business Excellence Group (TBExG) recommended best practices from Titan on this subject. These practices from Titan were identified during the TBEM Assessments of 2017 and 2018. Additionally, TAGIC being in the service industry with a young workforce, Titan was a good fit for benchmarking of its practices.
TBExG facilitated a session on Leadership Development and Talent Management with the help of Gurkirandeep Singh, Head - Talent Management, Learning & OD, Titan; and Dhanya K, Head - Leadership Development, Titan on April 7, 2020. The workshop was also attended by employees from The Indian Steel & Wire Products, Tata AutoComp Group and Tata Metaliks, since they had shown interest in a similar subject.
The story at Titan
Succession planning and leadership development at Titan started in 2000, when a need was felt to enable succession planning through development of a talent pool and leadership pipeline. This was enabled through the talent management process, which included coaching, mentoring, special projects and assignments, and specific job rotation.
In 2014-15, Titan embarked on its next phase of leadership development. To redefine the leadership competencies for the future, the company reflected on the past to examine its reason for success and future ambitions, and identified the leadership competencies to drive the company towards achieving those ambitions. Subsequently, the company developed a leadership framework in consultation with the board members and senior leaders.
On the culture front, Titan developed a Leadership Competency Model, which has the following four leadership dimensions:
1. Creating value: Thinks big, is business-savvy, has an entrepreneurial drive and shapes customer preferences
2. Engaging stakeholders: Nurtures relationships, influence for impact
3. Inspiring people: Leads diverse teams and trusts people to be accountable
4. The core: Believes in people, is innately curious, and passionate about products and categories
During the workshop, Mr Singh and Ms Dhanya elaborated the following leadership development programmes:
- Emerging leaders programmes: Development journey for top talent at the middle management level is identified through a structured process
- Young leaders programme: Identification of leadership potential at an early stage in the employees' career followed by accelerated development
- Top management development: Development journey for Titan’s management council
- Senior management development: Development initiative for senior management
Titan's leadership development programme consists of a few more elements, including:
1. Rendezvous with excellence: A series of conversations by speakers from the world beyond business, organised quarterly. Eminent leaders articulate stories of excellence and passion. These are tales from the non-business world and aim to develop a culture of appreciation of excellence, aesthetics, and creativity. The workshop acquaints the audience with the world beyond business through exposure to various art forms through artists and exponents.
2. Xchange: Titan is a part of an informal group organised under the umbrella term of 'The Learning Consortium'. Members from various Bengaluru-based companies, including 3M, Bosch, Café Coffee Day, Mindtree and Amazon periodically meet and discuss best practices or subjects of mutual interest
3. Titan Leadership Conclave: A biennial event that brings the entire leadership chain together. In 2020, the theme for the event was ‘Reimagine’. The event witnessed eminent speakers, including Sanjiv Mehta, CMD, Unilever; Subroto Bagchi, Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Corporation; Zoya Akhtar, Director; and many more
Participant Speak
At Tata AIG, we believe in continuous learning and benchmarking ourselves against leading organisations. We also aim to continuously raise the bar in our people practices. The session aligned with our goals and provided us with deep insights. It also helped our team get perspective on promising and innovative practices in the area of talent management and leadership development. We would take forward some practices, including industry immersions, mentoring by leaders, and academic partnerships with leading institutes.
— Subramanian Suryanarayanan, CHRO, Tata AIG General InsuranceAbout the EPIC Programme
EPIC (Excellence Practice Implementation Champion) carries forward the Tata Best Practices Programme by helping companies adopt best practices from the group through a structured collaborative process, under the guidance of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from best-practice organisations. EPIC is a platform that brings together the provider and the receiver companies together to enable successful adaptation and implementation of best practices.