Shenu Agarwal, the CEO and MD of Ashok Leyland feels that the organisation needs to be more agile, customer-centric, and innovative. The company has set up an all-woman production line at the Hosur plant with 80 women employees; this entiire team is responsible for the production of the new engine line.

Highlights

• The company has trained another batch of women drivers for placement at Delhi Transport Corporation for their bus fleet.
• HR needs to identify new skills and competencies needed and to hire for the futue.
• The CEO also needs to have resilience and be able to deal with organisational setbacks as well as successes.
• The three C’s that are key focus areas when it comes to people practises are culture, capability, and capacity.

Shenu Agarwal,CEO and MD, Ashok Leyland

took charge of the company in December 2022. He believes that magic can be created when ordinary people come together. Agarwal is betting big in the northern and eastern markets of the country and feels there is a great opportunity for growth. In a conversation with ETHRWorld, he opens up about meeting the women-led Hosur plant and he was amazed by their commitment and enthusiasm.

Also, read the rapid-fire section where he shares his key expectations from the CHRO and what is the most difficult part of being a CEO.

Read the edited excerpts below:

It’s been four months since you assumed the role of MD & CEO. What are your short-term and long-term goals for the company under your leadership?

Ashok Leyland has seen a lot of positive momentum in the last few years. My first priority is to work closely with the leadership team to accelerate this further, resulting in better market penetration, a lower cost base, improved profitability, and continuous cultural shift.

In the medium term, there are ample opportunities, and we are well-positioned to harness them. We need to improve our reach in northern and eastern India. That’s close to 50% of the commercial vehicle industry, and we have headroom of at least 10% in terms of our market share. We have product segments where, with the introduction of better products with the right differentiators, we can drive significant growth. There are some white spaces in our product portfolio which when addressed with the right products can open up further avenues for growth. Exports are another area that presents a great opportunity for growth.

Culturally, Ashok Leyland has to be more agile, customer-centric, and innovative.

What is your leadership style, and how do you plan to apply it to the company's culture and values?

I have a firm belief that magic can be created when ordinary people come together, bound by a common purpose. My style is to create or clarify that common purpose, inspire people to challenge their boundaries and set stretched goals, and provide an environment where they can passionately and relentlessly pursue their goals without any fear of failure.

Ashok Leyland is highly people-oriented. I believe it is in their well-being and growth that lies the success of the company. I feel happy when I see a lot of homegrown talent at the company in senior leadership positions.

Ashok Leyland has launched an all-woman production line at the Hosur plant. Tell us more about this initiative.

Diversity and inclusion have always been a priority at our company. We have been providing equal opportunities irrespective of gender and ethnicity. Giving women these opportunities enhances not only their lives but also the lives of their families and the community. This initiative is in line with our brand philosophy of "Koi Manzil Door Nahin", as we aim to upskill and generate employment for these women and bring alive their dreams.

We have set up this line with 80 women employees at our Hosur plant; this team is responsible for the entire production of the new engine line. I met all of them last month and was truly amazed by the level of their commitment and enthusiasm. Not only this, we are continuously striving to bring more women into our entire ecosystem. Recently, we trained and placed a batch of women drivers with one of our largest customers. We also trained another batch of women drivers for placement at Delhi Transport Corporation for their bus fleet. We also sponsored one of the teams in the first edition of the Women’s Premier League, held in February and March this year.

At Ashok Leyland, we recognise the importance of establishing a better gender balance, and initiatives like these create a more inclusive ecosystem.

What plans does your company have for the future in terms of promoting gender diversity and women's empowerment, and how do you see this benefiting the organisation as a whole?

Promoting gender diversity and women's empowerment is essential for us in the organisation since we want to create a more just and equitable society. It is also crucial for promoting innovation and driving business success.

Going forward, we plan to build a more diverse workforce, and we are investing significantly to train and upskill women in core manufacturing skills.

As a CEO, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing HR leaders in the next 5–10 years, and how can they prepare for those challenges?

The world is changing fast. So the first challenge, I would say, is to identify new skills and competencies needed and to hire for the future. Senior leaders of all organisations need to take time out to dwell on this.

COVID has taught us many new things. The employee value proposition needs to be totally recalibrated. There has to be a holistic approach that moves beyond just pay scales and hierarchical growth into the emotional and physical well-being of employees. This requires a very flexible, almost personalised effort, as each employee has different needs. HR policy-led management is no longer valid; we have to shift to broad value-based guidelines and then be flexible enough in our approach. That is where technologies like AI and analytics can help in a big way.

The workforce of the future will be young, independent, much more aspiring, and willing to take risks. The culture of the organisations must quickly change to embrace the new generation and provide them with a fertile space. HR and other senior leaders need to recognise this and proactively build the new culture.

Ashok Leyland strives to broaden its customer base and boost its market share. Can we anticipate the company expanding its staff during this fiscal year? What is the current personnel count, and how many more do you intend to hire in the upcoming year?

Like I said, it is not so much the count. What’s more critical is the quality of the talent that organisations need to be future-ready. At Ashok Leyland, we recognise that our industry and our business will change in many ways. Staying innovative and flexible to adapt to this changing ecosystem and always staying ahead of the technology curve is critical for us. And for attaining this, getting the right skills and training them to prepare for the future is imperative.

We, as an organisation, also focus a lot on building our own talent pipeline and continuously preparing it for future changes. The three C’s that are key focus areas for us when it comes to our people practises are culture, capability, and capacity.

Our endeavour is to continuously create excitement and hunger in our employees. This creates newer ideas, and at the same time, it creates capabilities to implement these ideas at high speed. As far as the number of employees is concerned, it is very dynamic in nature and depends purely on the business's needs.

Companies are becoming much harder to lead, and the role of the CEO will increasingly become too big for one person at the top of a traditional hierarchy. How should the chief executives prepare themselves for the increasingly demanding corporate environment, and what skills should they master now to enable them to lead their people and companies?

It is true that the business environment today is more complex and dynamic. I believe the only way one can respond to this is to:

• Keep organisational processes simple and flexible.
• Ensure that collaboration is informal and deep.
• Use them as guiding beacons for the organisation’s purpose and values.

In effect, that is what the role of a CEO in today’s world is. CEOs must ensure the organisation continuously lives and breathes its purpose and values. They must identify critical ecosystem changes and continuously redesign organisational processes to be able to swiftly respond to them. They must grasp the collaboration barriers and continuously work to remove them. The CEO also needs to have resilience and be able to deal with organisational setbacks as well as successes.

Courtesy: ET HR