Archroma March 2020

Employee development in a sustainable purposeful way

Developing success WRITTEN BY

HARRY MENEAR 02

PRODUCED BY

KRISTOPHER PALMER

03

w w w.a rc hro m a . com

ARCHROMA

Ravi Bhogaraju of Archroma discusses the role of the company’s Academy and culture initiatives in aligning employees’ purpose and developing skills and growth mindsets to enable sustainable development.

04

D

igital transformation is having a profound effect upon every industry and market across the business landscape.

Processes are becoming increasingly automated, decisioning is becoming more intelligent and informed by data analytics, and customers are becoming increasingly expectant of an on-demand, fully customised experience that feels brand new.

The digital revolution has even left its mark on industries that have been defined by unceasing change for centuries, further accelerating the pace and need for agility. “You used to have four fashion cycles. Now there are 52,” says Ravi Bhogaraju, Global Head Talent and Organisation Development at Archroma. “High street brands are turning out a new generation of fashion every single week, which puts a great deal of pressure on upstream suppliers to meet that fast-paced demand.”

05

2013

Year founded

$1.4bn Revenue in US dollars

3,000 Number of employees

w w w.a rc hro m a . com

ARCHROMA

“ We have taken an ecosystem approach to developing capability – not just sending people to training”

06

— Ravi Bhogaraju, Global Head Talent and Organisation Development, Archroma

With roots that go back over 150 years, Archroma is a global producer and manufacturer of dyes and chemicals which operates in 35 countries and delivers around $1.4bn worth of sales every year. In addition to textile manufacturing, the company also sells its products to the paper, paints and emulsions industries. Ravi joined the company in 2013 and has been instrumental in setting up and leading talent and capability initiatives. In order to survive and thrive, companies need to embrace the possibilities, not

Archroma: Corporate video CLICK TO WATCH

|

2:22

07 just of new digital solutions, but of

like HR, procurement and finance;

a dynamic and engaged workforce.

transformation skills; and leadership

“That’s my role - I help to enable the

skills development. “There are three

development of talent and capabilities

levels of talent development that

within Archroma” Ravi explains. “As

the Academy deals with,” says Ravi.

part of my Global Head of Talent and

“There’s skill development, capability

Organizational Development role, I

development and leadership.

lead the Archroma Academy, which

“We have taken an ecosystem

has a goal of developing distinct capa-

approach to developing capability –

bility sets within the organisation that

not just sending people to training. We

will make us successful in the market.”

blend skill development, capability and

These skills include commercial

leadership, enabled through mindset

capability; operational excellence

and delivered through online and

across production and manufacturing

face to face experiences. It is holistic,

plants; functional excellence in fields

focused and available on demand.” w w w.a rc hro m a . com

ARCHROMA

08

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

through which employees can round

The broadest layer of the Archroma

out their abilities in order to grow and

Academy development pyramid, the

advance within the company. “It’s

skills section is an expression of a

driven by people’s desire to fill gaps in

strategy that lets the company’s

their own portfolio of skills. One of the

employees build their own capabilities

elements of performance manage-

by giving them access to a huge selec-

ment that we’re focusing on is to get

tion of educational content. This need

our employees to talk to their manag-

for education is identified through the

ers about the skill gaps they may have,”

performance management process,

says Ravi. “If you want to be better at

while having access to this content at

time management, for example, you

any time and place is a powerful ena-

can take a short course in it, or maybe

bler of personal development. Through

something for focus techniques.”

its content providers and partners,

Archroma Academy’s courses run

the Archroma Academy has created

in a large range of languages and

an online digital library of content

allow people to progress at their own

pace – creating a flexible integration

is an expression of the fact we sell

between work and education.

value, not products.” Archroma has developed the value-based selling

CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT

course alongside external partners

“These are skills that are seen as

as a blended program that includes

valuable for the company to develop

face-to-face sessions reinforced by

on a much wider scale in order to

a highly-customised digital reinforce-

deliver on our strategy,” explains Ravi,

ment and refresher program. “We’ve

describing the middle layer of the

developed what we call knowledge

development pyramid. “For example:

nuggets, which could be five to seven

one of our commercial strategy

minutes of refresher concepts that

pillars is value-based selling, which

people can take on in the system,” 09

E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE

Ravi Bhogaraju Ravi is based in Singapore and has worked in Human Resources, Business Transformation and Information technology for 20 years by living and working in Asia Europe and US across a number of challenging and interesting industries. He is currently the Global Head HR, Talent and Organization Development for Archroma. In this role he partners with the group executives and business leaders across Asia, Europe and Americas to orchestrate the transformation of the business. His work spans Talent strategies, Capability building and Performance Coaching.

Areas of active interest outside work are Mentoring / coaching students, professionals and business startups.

Ravi completed his General Management Program from the Harvard Business School and has an MBA as well as a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources. He is a Nuero Leadership trained coach, SCRUM master and has Certifications in a number of assessment tools.

w w w.a rc hro m a . com

“

When you choose the right partner, you can move quickly from vision to enabling business outcomes.

Ravi Bhogaraju, Global Head - Talent & OD | Archroma

Our creativity blended with technology helped Archroma give its associates a rich and immersive learning experience.

Rhea Gupta, Director | Zobble Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Archroma partnered with Zobble for their creative content and storytelling skills. Zobble has co-created content on Compliance, Sales and Process Training. Zobble along with VioletInfo, continues to deliver effective learning solutions to add value to Archroma Academy Programs.

Great Partnerships Forge Impactful Outcomes

www.zobble.com

www.violetinfo.com

�

“ It’s part of our sustainability program that we invest very regularly into our employees” — Ravi Bhogaraju, Global Head Talent and Organisation Development, Archroma

more effective and profitable,” Ravi emphasises. “Based on that, the site selects a set of trainers from within, designated as ambassadors, that help train the rest of the team using content they have created. At the end of the session each trainee takes a test and then, in three months time, the line management evaluates their application of that knowledge in their work on a day to day basis. This combination of classroom and practical behavior

says Ravi. “These are fully customised

change is really helping us to change

programs that we developed with con-

the capability. As a learning meth-

tent providers and digital enablement

odology it is quite powerful. It acts

partners based in India and Europe,

as a mechanism of recognising the

who take the content that was deliv-

expertise of ambassadors, fostering

ered in the program and convert it into

creativity and a stronger connec-

three or four nuggets, which we then

tion to the overall purpose of the

release to the sales teams on a regular

site. Ambassadors generate content,

basis in the lead up to a quiz.” These

which is culturally attuned, in the local

capability programmes help support

language and creatively presented,

Archroma’s commercial strategy, such

all of which helps their class to learn

as the necessity of a digital mindset

faster. It really helps the entire site to

and a focus on customer journeys and

learn from each other and ultimately

adaptable behaviour.

become stronger, together. Our

For manufacturing sites, Archroma

intention is to ultimately translate this

has taken a different approach. “For

superb, user generated content into a

each site, we identify a set of capabili-

digital format that can be used across

ties that would help to make the site

the organisation.” w w w.a rc hro m a . com

11

ARCHROMA

12

LEADERSHIP At the top of the pyramid is the leadership and mindset development program. “We have a combination of a 360 degree digital tool and a dedicated coach that is assigned to the top 100 leaders who are nominated for this program,” says Ravi. “In many companies they would create a single program and expect everyone to go through that in batches. We have taken a different approach - one that is based on personalised development specific to an individual’s need.”

JOURNEYS AND CHALLENGES The Academy has been evolving to add more programs over the last four years, and has seen strong returns from its attempts to drive engagement and investment in Archroma’s employees.

“It’s not just about the company; it’s about improving the quality and capabilities of our workforce, which is important because it’s part of our sustainability program that we invest very regularly into our employees,” Ravi explains.

Looking to the future, there is much to look forward to, as Archroma embarks on a sweeping digital transformation w w w.a rc hro m a . com

13

ARCHROMA

14

“ The Archroma Academy [...] has a goal of developing distinct capability sets within the organisation” — Ravi Bhogaraju, Global Head Talent & Organisation Development, Archroma

that will require the Academy to prepare the company’s employees for a future well attuned to all changes in the industry. “I think 2020 and 2021 are going to continue to be very exciting for us at Archroma and the Academy.

What I would really like for the Academy to be able to deliver is more market or context sensitive material at scale and pace,” says Ravi. “One of the challenges we have encountered in creating these programs is that they

15

take a fair bit of time, because you have

focus for the next two years is looking

to ensure that every piece of design

at agile development and deployment

aligns or integrates with our cultural

in order to be able to put content

context, our diversity and leadership,

out there much faster and meet the

as well as being able to deliver the

requirements of our teams.”

words that we use in our culture – and that takes investment.” Time management and continuing to find a method of application for the Academy that integrates with the day to day operations of Archroma will be an essential goal for Ravi and his team. “The big w w w.a rc hro m a . com

1 international Business Park, Singapore 609917 T +65 6866 7428 www.archroma.com