Introduction
The Core Values of an organisation serve as the fundamental guiding principles and beliefs which form the basis of the organisation's operations and its employees' conduct. While every organisation has their own set of core values, it is only the world’s greatest companies who have leveraged the true power of core values which in turn ensured their sustained success.
RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s core values were unveiled when the Group was formed on 13th July 2011. There are seven core values which define the group – Customer First, Credibility, Execution Excellence, Agility, Risk Taking, Humaneness and Sustainability. These values are meant to align everyone in the organisation around a guiding philosophy to serve the customers, and the broader community.
To deeply integrate these values into the organsation's culture, the values are prominently exhibited on RPSG Group and its companies’ websites. They are displayed on plaques in the reception areas of the offices throughout company locations, and also printed in important documents like the employee handbooks etc.
However, living up to these values is the most challenging part for any organisation. Upholding its stated values need to be done by consistently communicating these to the employees in ways that everyone understands and can act upon. What is needed is a clear, steady cadence of information that reinforces those principles
In this whitepaper, we delve deeper into how RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group companies, Haldia Energy Limited (HEL) and Dhariwal Infrastructure Limited (DIL), have designed and implemented a comprehensive, well-planned, and continuous engagement strategy. This strategy communicates the core values to employees, ensuring that these values truly become a part of the organisation's DNA.
Beginning
While embedding Core Values across an organisation requires time and effort, it has the potential to yield significant dividends. These dividends include sustained business results and brand image at the organisation level, and personal and professional success at the individual level for employees.
With the goal of further embedding the RPSG Group's Core Values among employees and making these values a way of life, the Leadership Team of HEL and DIL decided to make 'Core Values' the central focus of their Employee Engagement and Culture Building initiative. The idea was to develop a language that everyone on the team could understand and use. And, what could be more effective than the Core Values to drive this purpose home?
The Corporate – HR Team of HEL and DIL, identified the measure of success for this initiative as the incorporation of 'Core Values in regular dialogues and in daily decision making'.
In order to achieve this, it was crucial to take a systematic approach, ensuring that employees were aware of the set of Core Values, understood their essence, and their application in daily decisions. To achieve this, an overall plan was formulated (Roll Out Plan), and the mechanisms for embedding Core Values were identified. An action plan for each of these mechanisms was then detailed out (Roll Out Calendar).
This process required regular communication through multiple channels, catering to the varied preferences of employees, to imprint these values in their subconscious minds and influencing their spontaneous decision-making.
Target Audience
The employees at the generating stations at Haldia and Chandrapur and the corporate office in Kolkata. A subsidiary of CESC, HEL operates two 300 MW coal based thermal power plants at Haldia in West Bengal. Another subsidiary, DIL, also operates two 300 MW coal based thermal power plants at Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
Objectives
- The Core Value Campaign was primarily curated to sensitise employees to the Group's Core Values and enable them to align their behavior and work patterns with these values.
- To integrate these core values into the very fibre of the organisation.
- To provide a framework for ethical behaviour, decision-making, and problem-solving.
- To instill the core values into the subconscious thinking of the target audience, ensuring that everyone is aware of, comprehends, and operates with these guiding principles at the heart of their actions.
- To promote behavioural consistency across the organisation, providing a standard against which actions and decisions can be measured.
Leadership-driven Roll-Out - The Launch
Leaders, as the role models of culture building, played a crucial role in emphasising the importance of this initiative. There was a formal roll-out of the Core Value intervention, which was termed ‘Living the RPSG Group Core Values’.
A formal launch was conducted before a large gathering of employees at the HEL and DIL plants. This significant event was graced by video messages from Rabi Chowdhury, Managing Director - CESC Generation, and MD of HEL & DIL, as well as Sudipta Mukherjee, the then Executive Director of Generation. Moreover, the plant head and senior leadership of each plant addressed the gathering at their respective units.
The focus of these addresses was to elucidate the essence of the RPSG Group's Core Values and demonstrate how employees could incorporate these values into their daily routines.
During the formal roll-out at DIL and HEL, the employees were shown a film produced by the RPSG Group Corporate HR, featuring the Group's top leaders each sharing insights on one of the seven Core Values. At DIL, this was followed by a skit performed by five employees to exemplify the embodiment of RPSG Core Values within the organisation.
The combination of the addresses and the film significantly enhanced the employees' understanding of the Core Values within the RPSG group, highlighting the steadfast commitment of the top management towards these values. A quiz based on the film further reinforced this understanding, bringing the roll-out event to an insightful conclusion.
The Plan
Following the initial roll-out in September 2021, each of the seven Core Values was designated as a 'theme of the month' for the subsequent seven months, beginning with 'Agility'. This year-long intervention aimed to foster a deeper understanding of each value among the HEL and DIL employees.
1. Effective Communication of Core Values
Even the most thoroughly conceived vision and core value statements serve little purpose if they aren't consistently communicated. The values that define a company must consistently take centre stage and be illuminated under a bright spotlight. Exemplary internal communication plays a key role in keeping these values in the limelight and reminding employees what makes their organisation unique.
Subsequent sections will showcase how HEL and DIL have successfully nurtured a culture where core values are communicated and practiced on a daily basis.
2. Dividends from Core Values Integration
While integrating Core Values across an organisation is a painstaking task, it can yield significant rewards. At the individual level, it can drive personal and professional success of the employees.
At the company level, careful integration of Core Values can steer the company towards its envisaged future, support the sustainability.
3. Aiming for Organisational Cultural Transformation
With the goal of embedding the RPSG Group's Core Values and making them an integral part of employees' lives, the leadership teams at HEL and DIL placed these values at the heart of their employee engagement and culture building efforts.
To make the communication captivating and effective, innovative methods such as visually stimulating posters, doodles and collage competitions, interactive quiz competitions, and storytelling were employed. These creative approaches helped employees focus on the Core Values and understand their importance.
The Implementation Strategy
A Progressive Monthly Focus on Each Core Value for Seven Months
The Corporate HR team of HEL and DIL was the driving force behind the Core Values campaign. To ensure comprehensive communication and training surrounding each value, it was resolved that focus would be placed on one value each month, thereby covering all seven core values across seven months.
Key Pillars of the Implementation Strategy
Three crucial areas were identified:
Pillar 1: Communication and the Sharing of Best Practices
Pillar 2: Training and Mentoring
Pillar 3: Creating Engagement Through Rewards and Recognition
These components formed an integral part of each core value roll-out, ensuring a holistic and effective
communication and assimilation of the values.
Pillar 1: Communication and the Sharing of Best Practices
Prioritising communication as a foundational element, the HR team strived to disseminate the Core Values extensively. For everyone to internalise and reflect these values in their actions, it was necessary to ensure unified understanding. This process began with the creation of a dedicated email address, exclusively for circulating information related to Core Values. This enabled consistent and organised communication. In addition, the team leveraged on sharing best practices, highlighting the lessons learned and experiences gained.
Approaches Adopted for Communication and Sharing Best Practices
Best practices shared by the leaders were communicated directly to the employees. Short, inspirational reads and selected TED Talks pertinent to the topic were disseminated periodically via emails.
The communication and best practice sharing strategies encompassed
- Championing Role Models
- Cultivating 'Moments of Value'
- Storytelling
Championing Role Models
Role models within the organisation were the leaders and peers, or they were achievers from other fields, including other organisations or the world of sports. Inspirational anecdotes from role models set expectations, raised awareness, and motivate actions.
With consistent exposure, these stories can convey powerful messages that become ingrained in the subconscious minds of the recipients.
Utilising Video Messages from Role Models
Brief 'Leader Speak' videos, each lasting two minutes, were created, featuring the organisation's leaders - from the Managing Director to Deputy General Managers. These leaders spoke about their interpretation of each value. Rabi Chowdhury, MD - Generation, and Sudipta Mukherjee, the then, ED – Generation, introduced the first value, Agility. These leadership videos set the stage to align the workforce's perspective on the core value, Agility.
In a similar vein, other leaders created videos focusing on the remaining values, dedicating an entire month to each. These videos were shown prior to meetings and circulated via email to all employees. To stimulate interest, teaser emails were dispatched ahead of each video release.
Takeaways: The Role Models
- Offered Positive Point of Reference
- Inspired others by sharing their experiences
- Imparted a sense of purpose and action
Cultivating 'Moments of Values'
In HEL and DIL, a standard practice was established at the beginning of every morning meeting, where the initial five minutes are dedicated to a leader or a team member recounting instances where they've embodied the organisation's core values in their daily tasks. In these opening moments, employees bring to light
personal or peer stories, demonstrating the core values.
This practice, which has become an integral part of every meeting, allows individuals the opportunity to reflect on and discuss the ways they've exhibited values in their daily routines.
Takeaways: The Value Moments
- Reinforced company's core values and helped in building a stronger, unified organisational structure.
- Promoted a greater awareness of how the daily work aligns with the company's core values.
- Served as an inspiration or motivation for employees to emulate value driven behaviour.
- Enhanced open communication with team, and encouraged the sharing of personal stories and experiences.
- Led to more open communication, stronger interpersonal relationships, and increased trust among team members.
Storytelling
During the course of the 'Living RPSG Core Values' initiative, leaders engaged in 'storytelling' during their visits to the HEL and DIL generation stations or larger assemblies such as town halls. They recounted tales that were relevant to the specific core value of the month. These 'stories' consisted of sharing experiences from their personal lives or those of distinguished personalities, presented in an anecdotal format. Additionally, 'stories' were also disseminated through email communications.
Visual Storytelling and Adapting Stories from Cherish into Doodles
Utilising visual tools such as posters, graphics, infographics, and doodles proved to be potent methods for narrating stories or conveying ideas with minimal words. This approach not only helped overcome language barriers but also made the concepts more deeply ingrained in the reader's subconscious mind.
HEL and DIL transformed several stories from Cherish - a book of Core Values published by the Group HR of RPSG Group - into illustrated doodles. The visual and aesthetic appeal of doodles possesses the ability to penetrate the subconscious mind, thereby stimulating an instinctive understanding of the conveyed messages.
These illustrative stories were individually distributed via email to all employees, with one story at a time, ensuring each narrative received undivided attention.
Examples of doodles adapted from Cherish
Takeaways
- Storytelling promoted a sense of community, encouraging individuals to identify the shared oganisational culture.
- By presenting varied experiences and perspectives, it helped to cultivate empathy among listeners.
- It helped individuals to learn from experiences of others.
- It motivated individuals to emulate the inspiring behaviors in their own life.
Pillar 2: Training and Mentoring
To make Core Values an integral part of an organisation, it is important to provide effective training and mentorship. This involves a holistic approach of helping the employees know about and understand the core values, and encouraging them to take responsibility and be accountable for their actions.
Two types of learning modules were implemented by HEL and DIL:
- Gradual Learning Method
- Intensive Training Approach
Gradual Learning Method
In this approach, the intention was to facilitate understanding at all organisational levels. Gradual learning ensures the sustainment of knowledge by allowing individuals to absorb information at their own pace, leading to better retention and comprehension.
It promotes incremental proficiency, where each new concept or idea is built on the previous ones, providing a comprehensive understanding of the subject. It also enables learning in a more comfortable, less pressured environment. Short videos and written content around the Core Values were sent on emails to facilitate sustained and gradual learning.
Takeaways
- Gradual training method promoted a continuous learning culture within the organisation, as in entailed consistent delivery of new information and insights.
- It accommodated various learning styles, from visual learners who prefer videos or infographics, to readers who prefer well structured emails or articles.
- It allowed for reinforcement of concepts overtime.
Intensive Training Approach
1. In-person Training
Comprehensive training sessions were organised for the employees, focusing on the Core Values. These sessions were designed to provide a complete learning experience, incorporating both theoretical knowledge and hands-on activities like simulations, role-playing exercises, group tasks, case studies, and interactive games. This comprehensive learning environment encouraged a deeper understanding and appreciation of the core values and the various elements associated with them.
2. Digital Learning Modules for Onboarding
The HR team at HEL and DIL is working towards creating e-learning modules for the Core Values. These self-paced digital modules will aim to provide an immersive learning experience on the online platform, to create in-depth understanding of the fundamental elements of each value.
Takeaways
- By providing comprehensive training sessions, including theoretical knowledge and hands-on activities, employees gained a deeper understanding of elements of the core values.
- Hands on activities like simulations, role-playing exercises, and group tasks helped employs apply the theoretical knowledge they acquired to real-life scenarios.
- It also provided an opportunity to practice and refine the understanding of how the core values translate into day-to-day work situations.
Pillar 3: Creating Engagement through Rewards and Recognition
HEL & DIL recognised the significance of creating excitement and engagement around their Core Values. To achieve this, various initiatives were implemented that not only ensured employee participation but also instilled a sense of ownership and enthusiasm for the values.
The initiatives taken were:
- Mnemonic Competition
- Quiz Competitions
- Visual Competitions
Mnemonic Competition
One of the initiatives implemented was the Mnemonic Competition. This competition encouraged employees to come up with creative acronyms and sentences that would aid in easily remembering the seven Core Values.
By engaging in this exercise, employees were prompted to think deeply about the meaning and significance of each value. The ensuing discussions and collaborations allowed individuals to gain a comprehensive understanding of the Core Values and facilitated their memorisation.
Quiz Competition
Quiz Competitions were organised to reinforce the understanding of each Core Value. These quizzes took employees through a process of reiteration, ensuring that the values were deeply ingrained in their minds.
The quizzes were based on ‘Leader Speak’ and ‘Core Value’ videos, which required individuals to pay close attention and absorb the key messages. This interactive approach not only made the learning experience enjoyable but also encouraged them to internalise the essence of the Core Values.
As an added incentive, prizes were awarded to the winners, fostering a sense of pride and accomplishment among the participants.
Here are a few sample quiz questions derived from the Core Values introduction video by the senior leaders of RPSG Group:
Q. Who said “Organisation processes are the Key to the Core Value – Execution
A. Vipul Khanna
Q. “As mentioned in the descriptors of Customer First, what is an important perspective of the Core Value – Customer First?”
A. Customer Communication
Q. Which Core Value drives the “belief system and behaviour of all the other Core Values?”
A. Credibility
Q. The term VUCA was brought out in the reference of which particular Core Value?
A. Agility
Q. “Sympathy & Empathy” are associated with exhibiting which Core Value?
A. Humaneness
Q. Mention the tagline of the Core Value – “Sustainability”
A. Be equally responsible for People, Planet, Profits
Visual Competition
Visual Competitions provided another avenue for employees to engage with the Core Values. Activities such as collage-making and poster-making allowed visual learners to express their understanding and interpretation of the values through artistic mediums.
This creative exercise prompted employees to think critically about the elements and principles associated with each Core Value, and to find innovative ways to visually represent them.
The resulting collages and posters not only served as powerful reminders of the Core Values but also sparked meaningful conversations. Leaders gain insights into employees' perspectives and concerns, facilitating a more inclusive and aligned approach to adopting the Core Values. This also provided insights into specific challenges and concerns at the grassroots level.
Takeaways - The Visual Competitions
- Fostered enthusiasm and ownership of Core Values.
- Promoted a comprehensive understanding of the values.
- Reinforced and retained knowledge of the values.
- Encouraged collaboration and dialogue among employees and leaders.
- Provided recognition and motivation through rewards and prizes.
Conclusion
Core Values are the principles of behaviour that are central and defining to an organisation’s culture and showcase what sets a company apart as an organisation. The Core Values are non-negotiable; they apply to each person in the organisation, and are vital for retaining employees and making the business succeed in a competitive environment.
A corporate culture is hard to manufacture. It is formed over time through a company’s legacies, values and interactions between people. They play a part in motivating people to do their best work. It’s important to remember that core values are about collective behaviours, as well as individual behaviours.
‘Living The RPSG Group Core Values’ initiatives helped in ensuring that the actions, decisions and behaviours of employees of HEL and DIL are aligned with RPSG Group Core Values in such a manner that it becomes a way of life. The seven-month exercise that was started in September 2021 was successful in fulfilling the objectives it started out with.
However, any such effort should be a continuous exercise in order to make it sustained and ingrained in the company’s culture. Following the seven-month roll-out of Core Values, HEL & DIL takes regular initiatives as a refresher and to increase the recall of the Core Values. Going forward, the company plans to sustain these efforts as an ongoing culture at HEL & DIL. For example, the second cycle of the initiative, "Living the RPSG Group Core Values", was launched in the financial year 2022-23, running from September 2022 to April 2023. During this period, a few more initiatives were rolled out to reinforce the purpose.
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