It is important to invest in employees- Atul Kirloskar
Pune, April 26, 2018: Mr. Atul Kirloskar, one of India’s leading industrialist and Executive Chairman, Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltdstrongly opined that is important to invest in employees as they are the driving force behind the success of the company. He expressed these views while addressing the valedictory function of ‘Kaushal’ an Executive Development program undertaken by S L Kirloskar Centre for Executive Education (SLKCEE) at Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies Pune (KIAMS) Campus. Kaushal is a customized programme specifically designed and delivered by SLKCEE in partnership with Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
Senior Business Leaders R R Deshpande Jt. MD-Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd., GaurangDabholkar AVP- Sales, Kirloskar Chillers Pvt. Ltd, and Mr. Shanti Bhushan – Manager – T&D, Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd., Dr. Amit Karna from IIMA and Learning and Development professionals from SLKCEE AmarshekharBhonagiri, VPKIAMS, SomashekharKrishnamani, Director SLKCEE, Narayanan Nair, Associate Director SLKCEE, graced the valedictory function by their presence.
“Most companies still labelcapability building of their employees as training. The requirement of the day is to move towards Learning and Development (L&D). Organizations which have L&D in their DNA develop their human capital which become their core competency, and which is very difficult to copy. L&D strategy should be part of each organization strategy ” affirmed Kirloskar.
The first batch of ‘Kaushal’ had 25 participants representing four of the Kirloskar group companies -KOEL, KOS,KFIL& Kirloskar Chillers. All 25 participants successfully completed the programme and received a joint certificate offered by SLKCEE&IIMA. In addition, Niranjan Patil from Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd., Solapur Plant received an individual award for ‘Outstanding Individual Performance’. Ashish Gavade, Dhananjay Bhusate, Dayanand Jadhav and Jagdish Purandare from KPCL also received a team award for their ‘Excellence in Team Work’ during Kaushal.
While talking about the participants Kirloskar said, “It is good to see young executives with so much confidence and willingness to take risk. It needs a lot of courage to understand ones weakness and share with others. The desire to learn have made them see that change in themselves.” Also, Kirloskar advised the participants to consider Somashekhar’s simple mantra of ‘Fail fast’ as the learning from failure can help one become better professionally and move on to success’.
Kaushal is a twelve-day Executive Development Program delivered over eight months between Sept 2017 and April 2018across fourimmersion. The content was designed along the classical General Management Programme format with inputs provided on Strategy, Finance, Decision making, Marketing and Leadership. Program pedagogy involved judicious mix of class room learning, industry speakers,guest talk by domain experts and individual lead learning integrated over technology platform. The intervention aims to create leaders ready for higher roles and responsibilities in theirrespective functions and organizations. Participants invested close to 150 hours of learning facilitated by faculty from IIMA.
The valedictory function also had a couple of panel discussions. When Bhonagiri asked the members how different it was for them to come back to class after such a long interval of time participants were unanimous in answering that they came with apprehension before the program, faced challenges during the program but having completed the program were now confident that they could take on higher responsibilities and meatier roles thanks to the new skill sets and learning that Kaushal provided them with. The also felt that they are now better equipped even on the personal front. Case study method, in particular, was something that they really loved.
