WE MUST BECOME AN
ORGANIZATION OF EXPERTS
Dear Colleague,
“If not L&T, then who else?” was how we were known not so long ago, a testimony of our collective ability to efficiently deliver the most complex of projects to quality and time. This recognition was in large measure due to the expertise we had within our ranks – employees who through diligence and hard work became experts in their chosen fields of work, some of them going on to be famously known as ‘Slipform Natarajan’ and ‘Welding Srinivasan’.
Fast forward to today, as we execute increasingly bigger, more complex and dynamic projects, and with competition hotting up, we need more such ‘experts’ both in our traditional areas of functioning like prestressing, facades, finishing, etc. and even more so in the emerging fields like managing TBMs, handling large precast structures speedily, adopting new technologies like 3D concrete printing, AI, BIM, solar, and much more. This is a sure-shot way of making our organization fundamentally and technically strong.
There is absolutely no doubt that our existing talent with the workers at site are a strong bedrock upon which on our organization is thriving. We need to keep consolidating and enriching our core to remain relevant and stay ahead of the curve.
Identify, nurture, develop experts
Several IPL teams owe their continued success to their talent scouts who regularly ‘discover’ new talent with the potential to be groomed into winners. Similarly, we will benefit immensely by institutionalizing a system through which we can ‘discover’ experts within our organization, nurture, ringfence, and develop them into stalwarts in their respective fields.
It is not in our best interest for such experts to be confined to and working at one or two sites when their knowledge and experience can be extremely useful at other project sites and for other business verticals. With several of our sites requiring technical expertise, such specialists will be invaluable, to understand the complexity of the business needs and give prompt solutions.
The L&T Engineering Academy, under the stewardship of K Veerappan, has been formed for precisely this reason: to create a platform to engage with such experts and provide them with the right opportunities, enabling environment, adequate support, and motivation to excel. It is critical for such talent to be recognized as ‘corporate resources’ and for HR to immediately ringfence them for grooming and further development. Presently, often such specialists are used as mere trouble-shooters or randomly dispatched to handle a crisis, after which they are forgotten at some site or function or department. That must not be allowed to happen. They should be protected, given the recognition and status due to them to contribute meaningfully.
At the same time, we must be aware that not anyone and everyone can be an expert. It requires a certain mental aptitude, an orientation and an attitude to fit this role, and HR must take the lead to rigorously drive this process. Digitalization is being driven across the organization by a dedicated network of Digital Ambassadors and Officers; every discipline must be driven similarly, spearheaded by a chosen team of experts.
Mentoring, nurturing, and developing our GETs and PGETs who join us in numbers every year is equally important. Often, they are left to fend for themselves in alien environments and conditions, which is why many of them leave us. Again, the onus is on HR to evolve and institutionalize a system where they feel welcome into our eco-system and motivated to give off their best. This will help us feed the pipeline of professionals and improve the quality of our inter-disciplinary engineering.
Bring all training & competency building under one roof
Over time, we have developed several very good training institutes, competency cells, and development centres. It is now time to bring these under one roof to be more effective, efficient, for better synergies and cohesiveness. This integration must happen quickly for us to reap its benefits.
There is no denying that we have an enviable repository of knowledge, but there is always headroom for improvement. It is said that we can only teach what we have learnt and know; hence we must bring in quality talent from outside to introduce new perspectives to keep our talent fresh.
This issue of ECC News celebrates several youngsters and middle-level engineers who are successfully leading technology adoption at their respective project sites across businesses. This is great news. We need more and more of such passionate engineers rising to the occasion, shouldering greater responsibilities and developing themselves into leaders of tomorrow. Having said that, let’s not lose focus of robustly embracing technology because that is the only way to enhance our efficiencies, improve productivity, and positively impact profitability.
The charge must continue and gather momentum. Let’s do it together.
All the best!
S. N. SUBRAHMANYAN
Chairman & Managing Director, Larsen & Toubro
A HISTORIC SIGNING FOR INDIA’S LARGEST EPC MANDATE TILL DATE
November 26th 2020 was a red letter day both for the Indian infrastructure sector and for us as the contract for the largest EPC order awarded in the country till date was signed between L&T and the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited. As our CEO & Managing Director, Mr S N Subrahmanyan described, “this order reflects an inflection point in the revival of India’s infrastructure sector and the first sure shot indication that our economy is up and running.” For L&T, it represents a great opportunity to make up for lost ground due to the pandemic and reaffirm our status as India’s foremost construction organization.
The mandate is for the design and construction of 237 km of viaduct between Vapi and Vadodara in Gujarat, four stations, a depot at Surat, 14 river, 6 railway & 42 road crossings and a 350 M long mountain tunnel.
“This project will give a huge thrust to economic and social development,” declared Whole Time Director & Senior Executive Vice
President (Civil Infrastructure), S V Desai, for whom and his team, the mandate is not only a huge win but an even bigger responsibility. “The project will generate employment for professionals like engineers, technicians, designers, architects and create livelihoods for skilled and semi-skilled workforce and construction workers. It will boost demand for construction material and machinery and even ancillary industries like hospitality, entertainment, health, tourism, real estate & housing and education will flourish during the construction phase,” he elaborated.