A mechanical engineer from BITS Pilani and an Advanced Management graduate from Harvard Business School, Mr Joshipura is the Managing Director of SKF India and the Country Head for SKF group's subsidiaries in India. In the past, he has worked in various capacities with Thermax Limited for the first 26 years of his career prior to joining SKF in December 2009.
SKF is listed amongst India's 50 most admired companies in 2012 and 2014 by Fortune. In 2013 Businessworld and Business Today listed Mr Joshipura amongst India's most valuable CEOs and top 100 CEOs in India respectively.
He is currently the elected Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Pune chapter and serves as an independent member of the Board for SBI Funds Pvt Ltd (SBI Mutual Fund). He is President of Ball and Rolling Bearing Manufacturer's Association (BRBMA) and has served as Chairman of Process Plant and Machinery Association of India (PPMAI) from 2007 to 2009. Mr Joshipura is also a founding Director for Alliance for Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE).
ET: As a senior business leader, please share with us what made you focus on mind-set change as a starting point of transformation?
SJ: The business context has changed in significant ways over the last three years with a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous (VUCA) environment being the only certainty. It is no longer sufficient to win with your customer. The need of the hour is to make your customer win with their customers. The organisation's ability to do more is severely tested both by the environment and disruptive competition.
SKF has built its leadership position over the years by deploying the knowledge assimilated across the globe and delivering innovative solutions to enhance the rotating equipment performance. When I was speaking with our customers and suppliers, one message was loud and clear - they expected much more at a higher speed from us; employees expressed a similar feeling albeit in a defensive sort of way. The dialogue within our teams almost always pointed to an action area with "other" persons and everything seemed "perfect" within "our own world".
The VUCA world demanded a differentiated response from SKF. Our mind-set is best manifested in the way all of us behave and the answer to usher in change was obvious - it begins with "me" and not "them".
ET: How according to you did has this approach made a difference in transforming the organisation from being technology centric to customer centric?
SJ: Our leadership position is built at the base of our technology prowess and the "knowledge" we build into our engineering. In the new world economic order, much more is expected from leaders apart from technology and knowledge sharing. Customers are seeking solutions that meet their horizons. In mature technology businesses, the differentiators are created through innovation that create higher value at a higher speed. The best way to speedy innovation is by putting customers at the center of everything we do. This forces the organisation in a completely new paradigm to incorporate a new behavioural mind-set which is closer to customer innovation, ensure speedy response and a higher "buy in" from customers and above all creating and delivering differentiated values to the customer.
ET: What steps are you taking to embed learning and ensure that everyone across the organisation speaks the same language and develops the conviction to sustain this?
SJ: We were clear from the beginning that we are undertaking a transformational journey. The transformation we were seeking was dimensioned at three different levels - Individual, Team and Enterprise - interdependent yet each had a distinctive journey.
The most important element was the journey of the leadership team - alignment and commitment - "Before and After",
demonstration of new behaviour - Lead by example, encourage and support boldness. Individuals had to become aware of their thinking styles (and therefore behaviour) and transit to new desired behaviours being fully aware of their personal blind spots. Teams that work for the same goal and yet behave "inside their own boxes" had to learn to function in a truly cross functional manner, learning to honour differences amongst members and yet speaking in a collective one voice.
As a first step we asked our front line teams to define and select projects which were considered "beyond the normal business plans". They had to be "stretching" yet achievable. We set up a review mechanism at the highest level in the organisation and conducted these reviews as "learning reviews". These reviews were distinctly different in nature as the focus was on understanding the application of training inputs, making teams understand the journey they had completed and above all enabling an energized feeling with higher levels of empowerment. We also completely revamped our recognition system wherein we defined behaviours as criterion for winning - it wasn't enough just to be the highest numbers team and/or individual - the behaviour displayed had to be the one that organisations valued and desired. The best sales team was not necessarily the one with highest sales numbers but the most collaborative one! Another critical success factor was our insistence on the lead trainer being an integral part of the review process for up to a period of 9 months from the date of project start. We have now decided to extend the front line training to manufacturing teams with a goal defined to move the thinking from constraint based thinking to a solution oriented one.
ET: You have been quite vocal on the role of top leadership in developing teams. In the context of transformation, according to you, what will the top leadership really need to do to galvanise the organisation?
SJ: As I have already said, the most critical transformation involved leadership teams. We cannot expect any change to even begin if a leadership team is not leading the change through visible and involved actions. Transformation calls for a complete shift of paradigm, leaving the old and embracing the new - be it behaviour, held beliefs or practices on ground, a commitment to the cause and great alignment. The leadership team has to be an unrelenting one voice in providing support as may be desired by teams - almost akin to piloting a boat in a perfect storm which calls for a passionate involvement in the change, even as one retains the objectivity all the time.
ET: In what way do you envisage SKF of the near future to be different than the SKF of today if it has to be move ahead of the market?
SJ: We expect several positive changes. As an organisation we will be more customer centric, putting customers at the center of everything we do. Our front line teams will no longer be afraid to fail and will engage with our customers much more deeply, entangling them to create solutions that help them to win with their customers. We will not quit in the face of complex situations but be bold enough to overcome any. Above all, a leadership team embraces change and guides us through any and every perfect storm.
To read complete issue click here
|