“For the things we have to learn before we do them, we learn by doing them.”
– Aristotle
In the VUCAD (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous, and Digital) world, the business environment has changed entirely. With this change, our working environment has changed forever. The genie is out of the bottle when it comes to agile, flexible, responsive, and collaborative ways of working.
With this change in the business environment, learning has also taken a new form. In an era of pervasive uncertainty, we need to transform our traditional thinking about employee capability. While we can build a strategy to overcome business challenges, it requires the right talent which can transform the strategy from a vision into reality.
Masterful Management
The launch of the Flagship Leadership Development Program – Masterful Management gave us an opportunity to rethink the way we have been approaching learning, breaking free from the limits imposed by outdated traditional systems, management thinking and organization culture. This program was a way to enhance the capability of our future leaders to face challenges with commitment, conviction, curiosity and clarity of thought.
This extensive learning journey was designed with a focus on learning via Connect-Reflect-Apply-Develop model ( Image 1). Such an experiential learning model helped participants to connect with and learn from each other’s experiences during the sessions, reflect on their learning and apply them on post-workshop assignments, and develop themselves on the learned skills by managing business projects as a part of the program.
Program Design
Designed in-house with an experiential learning model, the program comprises 7 modules, each designed with 70:20:10 learning approach (Image 2). The seven modules of the program are focused on behavioral and functional skills required to manage future roles. The key levers of this way of nurturing and grooming are the commitment and steadiness of the managers to own up their learning, along with an equal contribution of their reporting managers to guide and coach them in their robust journey of growth.
Impact Assessment
Though the learning journey was planned in an intensive manner, the key question that arises here is about the impact made by the program on individual development and on the business as a whole. To ensure that the metrics of success for this program are achieved, a precise measure of Kirkpatrick Learning Evaluation Model (Image 3) was followed to monitor the program results. At the Level 1 – Reaction, for 8320 learning hours, an overall feedback of above 4 and an average engagement score of 76% was recorded throughout the program. At Level 2 – Learning, the effectiveness was evaluated by the retention factor, measured by facilitator assessments of the post-workshop assignment submissions.
The simple, effective, and engaging design of the modules helped the participants acquire knowledge easily. This led to an average retention factor of 65.92% throughout the program.
To monitor the Level 3 – Behavior, mid and end program reviews helped evaluate the change in behavior of the participants as a result of the program. Calculated at participant’s and reporting manager’s (RM) levels, an average of 83.3% RMs confirmed observing a change in their team members as a result of the program (Image 4).
At behavioral level, a considerable improvement was observed in Communication Skills and Time Management. An average improvement score of 39% was observed in Communication Skills of participants. Besides this, the program also helped them eliminate their time wasters and save 1.5 hours per day on an average.
The program yielded impeccable results when it comes to Level 4 – Business Impact.
With 71 projects undertaken for Process Management and Quality, the participants were able to impact the business in multiple areas (mentioned in Image 5) and were able to generate cost savings of INR 24.29 Crores.
As the market develops, new business models evolve, problems change, and technology transforms, we, at Jindal stainless, will stay committed to continuously creating value for our customers and stakeholders.
SK Jain, CHRO, Jindal Stainless, has a rich experience of over 35 years of experience in the manufacturing sector. He joined Jindal Stainless in 1991 after working with BHEL for over seven years. During his stint with the group, he has been Head, Corporate HR in the O P Jindal Group, Jindal Stainless, and was also Director and Unit Head of the Company's Hisar plant. He also briefly worked with Rubicon Learning Systems Private Limited as the Principal Consultant.
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