admin, Author at GrowthSqapes

Posted on May 6, 2025 - 5:58 am by admin

DEI Fatigue - Why Inclusion Cannot Be Allowed To Fade

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) has been pivotal to organizational strategies over the past decade, striving to counteract historical exclusion and systemic biases. It set out to ensure equal opportunities for all, regardless of gender, race, identity, or ability.

However, within corporate settings today, there’s a growing sense of “DE&I fatigue.”

Alarmingly, even men who have supported inclusivity are now expressing concerns that DE&I undermines merit. This reflects complex issues organizations face: has DE&I shifted to being a checkbox, rather than a living, breathing value?

Who Did We Champion Under DE&I?

DE&I aimed to address and close deep systemic gaps, making workplaces inclusive for all. Traditionally, companies have thrived on homogeneity.

With DE&I formalization, the focus expanded to include:

Women facing gender bias in the workplace
Diverse gender identities fighting discrimination
Various racial and marginalized communities lacking equal opportunities
Individuals with physical and mental disabilities often underestimated
Neurodivergent people needing understanding and accommodation

Then Why is Fatigue Setting In?

DE&I fostered inclusion and rebalanced opportunity access, yet in striving to meet quotas, priorities got skewed.

The Unseen Casualties — The Forgotten Loyalists

Millennial CIS men, who had previously championed diversity, started to feel overlooked. They faced uncertainty in the “new order,” where their well-intended support made them feel taken for granted. Their loyalty seemed undervalued when because of forced diversity hiring, their bosses bore down on their growth paths. When loyalty is ignored and merit is dismissed for box-checking, organizations risk losing not just people, but commitment and morale.

Forced DE&I Hiring and promotion decisions

Adding DE&I hiring mandates complicated hiring by design. Problems arose as companies struggled to find candidates meeting all criteria – while regular candidates applied for a certain job, the HR reached out to specific women candidates to fill the position and many times made compromises on certain qualifiers to ensure that they filled the seat. This lowered quality in hiring led to leaders seeing DE&I as an undue burden on operational efficiency and performance.

Reassigning Roles Without Appropriate Context

Instead of creating more opportunities, some organizations simply reshuffled existing roles, leading to reduced opportunities for their otherwise well-performing employees. For example, a senior CIS male leader saw his role diminished to nearly one-tenth to improve DE&I portfolio, thereby stirring resentment instead of fostering true inclusion.

Overall, leaders have felt forced to meet quotas in hiring, training, and appraising DE&I candidates over traditional hiring, apart from the fact that it has caused a disruption to a world obsessed with linear, bottom-line growth! Therefore, when someone important directs to cancel DE&I altogether, leaders easily follow suit.

Should We Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?

Let’s admit that cutting DE&I is the easiest way to maximize short-term profits. Inclusion, by definition, takes effort, time, and sometimes, a little bit of mess before clarity emerges.

Anything that requires deep reflection or slows down capital progress, becomes questionable and easy to discard.

The truth is, that our system was designed to exclude — this started with the education system. So even before, solving for the inclusion challenge in labour force, a bigger issue is creating an inclusive education system.

Unless DE&I remains intentional, exclusion will always be the default mode.

Axe inclusion and boardrooms will be filled with men in grey suits; culture fit would mean “someone like us” always and forever; racial minorities will be tokenised or excluded; women will go back to sacrificing careers for homecare – unseen and unheard – because possibly they didn’t “lean in enough”; Transgender individuals will be pushed back to begging for identity and dignity. In short, many people will be considered “too complicated to hire.”

The Indian Context

India, culturally inclusive yet needing reminders from structured Western systems, must refine DE&I strategies. Despite some Western countries retreating from DE&I, India can continue to leverage its diverse talent and social inclusion values for economic growth.

Successful cases, though fewer, demonstrate inclusion’s role in socio-economic progress. The TATA Harrier manufacturing unit is an all-women shop. The TATAs are one of the largest industrial houses in India, who have also exhibited a strong value of social responsibility. Their message was to invest in a successful inclusion case.

Charting a Path Forward: Beyond Fatigue

Remember that implementing inclusion needs investment, intention and sustained leadership values. To truly embody inclusion, organizations must move past mere checkbox strategies. Leadership development programs are of help here.

Focus on structural change, not just numbers — If your leadership team doesn’t reflect diversity, ask why — and then build pipelines and mentorship, not just lateral hires.
Educate, engage & repeat — Bring everyone into the conversation. Don’t make the mistake of excluding one group to include the other. Help CIS men, senior leaders, and existing employees set and achieve their goals through continued mentoring and positive engagement. Create programs that help to remove systemic biases
Foster psychological safety — Hiring a diverse team is one thing. Making sure they feel safe, valued, and heard is another – and these are the real game-changers that will encourage a culture of true inclusion.
Reward merit, allyship, and loyalty alike — This is the most important. Don’t ignore those who have stood up for inclusion all along. They are your best partners to make real change. Help them to grow
Define new and customized developmental plans – Measure & recognize the value that individuals bring to the system. Regroup
Remove Optical Disparity About DE&I

Often, DE&I was wrongly equated with increasing female hires, ignoring other crucial aspects like race and disability. This narrow perspective weakens DE&I’s effectiveness, turning efforts into a numbers game.

Yes, DE&I fatigue is real. But it’s not a sign to stop — it’s a sign to evolve. To move from compliance to compassion, from numbers to narratives, from fatigue to fulfillment.

Because when everyone has a seat at the table, we all eat better.

This article has been written by Sukanya Bhadra, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes.

Motivating The Sales Force

Posted on April 18, 2025 - 12:03 pm by admin

In any organization, the sales force is the one that is directly responsible for contributing to the revenue of the organization. Hence, the sales managers continuously look for newer and novel ways to keep them motivated. Competent managers treat their sales force like class of kids (metaphorically speaking) that demands different styles of attention and management. That’s because just like kids, some sales professionals have greater ability, competency and internal drive than others. If we categorize the sales professionals, we get 4 categories namely Drifters, Strugglers, Troublers and Stars, who are all motivated by different factors. On an average, any sales force has a clear majority of “Drifters” and “Strugglers”, a small but elite group of “Stars” and a group of “Troublers” . A judicious sales manager uses different ways to motivate each group and thereby move the performance curve of the team upwards.

Written below is the name of the category and suggested ways to motivate that category.

Stars:

People that are highly motivated and skilled and are always achieving their targets are called Stars. They are highly skilled through training and experience. They have high achievement orientation quotient. Stars are an asset for any sales organization. They need lot of contact and attention from the manager and genuine praise saying ‘good job’ which go a long way in maintaining the motivation of these valuable assets. Bringing variety into the job for them and using their skill and experience to produce special projects or benefit other members in the team, aspirational incentive plans and over achievement bonuses are some ways that will also have a positive effect on prolonging their motivation.

Drifters:

Drifters are people who are highly skilled but their motivation has worn out lately. Often these are your star performers who have slipped down the other side of the slope. This is a potential nightmare any sales manager can face. When the motivation of Drifters decreases, so does the application of their skills. But this is not the only damage that they do. Their de-motivation and negativity, if left unchecked, spreads to other members of the team. Drifters need to be given direction. They need to be managed positively to return them to a motivated state. The objectiveis to re-focus upon them as a person to uncover the cause or source of their de-motivation. Coaching is an essential tool in achieving this. Once uncovered, these issues have to be addressed as positively as possible

Strugglers:

Strugglers have low skill but high motivation. They might be a new recruit, from inside or outside the business. They’ve got a brand new and exciting job. They are new talent on the road all set to build a sales career and enjoy all the rewards that it brings. They are very keen; very motivated. But they struggle with the skill to make their energy reap the necessary fruits. Strugglers need to be channelled. They need to be positively challenged and driven to increase skill to maintain motivation. If the skills do not develop the motivation will eventually die. As a result, they will slip backwards and could become Troublers. Pace-setting goals, targets and bonuses have been found to motivate Strugglers by keeping them enthusiastic and fore seeking of genuine praise earned via the achievement of targets and development of skills.

Troublers:

Troublers suffer from both low motivation and low skill. A typical example of this might be a person who was moved into a sales role from an administrative position as part of an overall business restructuring and has not been trained in sales. It could also be a case of a person who is demotivated and unwilling to move up the skill and will curve. Troublers need to be given clear directions. They need to be driven to increase skill and rewarded when they show willingness to perform. Problems need clearly defined Standards of Performance/KPIs (SOPs/KPIs) within which they need to work. A carrot and stick approach also works.

This blog has been written by Meena Murugappan, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes.

Successful Leadership Development

Posted on April 2, 2025 - 4:59 am by admin

We live in times of constant change; times where long-established notions are constantly being challenged and replaced with newer ones. One such notion around leadership is – Leaders are born, not made. Innate talent is no longer the only parameter that qualifies one to eventually grow as a leader. Today, a systematic approach of talent and skill development has transformed several individuals with the willingness to learn, into excellent leaders. This system is deployed in the form of leadership development interventions.

Let’s look at some statistics published by leading leadership development organizations, suggesting the need of leadership development

More than 77 % of organizations report that leadership is lacking, and while that is a big number it should not come as a surprise given that 10,000 Baby Boomers retire every single day.
At the same time, 83% of businesses say it’s important to develop leaders at all levels. Yet less than 5% of companies have implemented leadership development across all levels.

Half of the respondents said their companies lacked sufficient leadership talent, and 47 % predicted there would be a shortage of leadership or executive-level skills in the future.

The question thus arises is: what is required for the success of such development interventions? Leadership Development programs rely on some key factors for their success, which act as the key pillars. Those are as follows:

Buy-In From Top Management – A successful leadership intervention should have its strategy and business value aligned with the organization’s strategy and business goals for it to have the acceptance of the top management. A program not aligned with the organizational vision, mission, values and business goals would fail to deliver any real measurable positive business impact.

Contextually Apt To Enable Learning Transfer & Retention – The program should be designed according to the organizational context where the learning has to be applied. An intervention would fail if its learning cannot be transferred to the workplace and applied for a successful learning transfer and retention.

Application-Based & Measurable – A successful leadership intervention should be application-based by design so that the learning comes in a practical hands-on manner rather than just a conceptual understanding. This would enable better development of the participants as future leaders. Moreover, the intervention results should be measurable in the form of concrete business impact. An intervention that’s not measurable cannot be said to be successful or unsuccessful, just on the basis of the participant reaction it generates, because then its focus would end up staying limited to generating a favorable participant experience.

Favourable Individual Attitude & Ownership Towards Learning And Change – For an intervention to be successful the participants should have a favourable attitude and ownership towards learning and change. They should not feel it to be a forced upon process; they should rather feel encouraged and supported while being proactive about their learning and development journey, and take ownership for it. A resistance or lack of desire towards learning and the accompanying change can prove a bane for the most well designed and implemented leadership development intervention.

Adaptable According To The Changing Scenario–Existing in a VUCA environment change is the only constant. Keeping this in mind, leadership development interventions need to be futuristic in nature. This means that not only should it aim to develop the leaders to meet the current business challenges but also the ones that may arise in the future. This would enhance the relevance and business impact of the leadership development intervention making it more effective.

Developmental In Nature–The aim of any leadership development program should be to develop the leaders as a whole in a gradual and continual manner. An intervention designed as a quick fix is bound to fail. Unlike a management development program, a leadership development program is not a task-oriented intervention; it is rather a continual process of building the overall capability of the individual as a business leader. Moreover, the program should be customizable to the specific individual in accordance with where s/he is in their leadership development journey.

As a successful leadership program is critical to fill the leadership gaps in any organization, an intervention designed keeping the above aspects in mind would inevitably be a success thereby delivering a positive business impact via some vectors such as low turnover; higher productivity; higher motivation, better engagement and commitment levels; greater alignment to the business goals, and high creativity& innovation to name a few.

GrowthSqapes follows a diagnostics-based leadership development approach and curates leadership development programs in India and Asia for top organizations.

This blog has been written by Namita Singh, Consultant & Project Manager with GrowthSqapes.

Fostering Solid Teams: Gen Z Employees x Millennial Bosses

Posted on March 21, 2025 - 5:32 am by admin

Ross was excited when a new group of MBA graduates joined as interns. Ross, now on the right side of 40, has been with ABC Corporation for the last 15 years. He has always worked his way up through hard work and commitment to goals. He has always taken people along, loved mentoring young professionals, helping them to transition from college to becoming thorough professionals in about 6 months. Ross could boast of having brought up many generations of new hires through training, mentoring, and handholding. Ross also felt lucky to have worked under tough but fair bosses who had pushed him to reach his highest potential, and Ross in turn has done the same for his teams. Always.

After a period of working as an individual contributor during COVID, Ross has finally been assigned a new team. He was super-excited and warmly welcomed the new hires, briefing them on how “things run here.”

But soon, something started to feel off.

These interns seemed not to respect office timings, seemed to intentionally violate deadlines while prioritizing personal time, and felt entitled to leaves – often the reason for the leaves seemed unclear beyond “I am not feeling well”.

Ross quickly realised that he had to spend more time explaining the work – and for three months he did that. Until increasingly it felt easier to just do it all by himself. The harder Ross tried to set boundaries, the more these noobs seemed to slip away.

One day, he assigned a critical project to Mel, outlining tasks, deadlines, and quality expectations. She quickly told Ross that she understood, though she showed little enthusiasm. Ross told her to check in if she faced any issues.

As the deadline approached, Ross discovered—too late—that the work was barely half done. Despite his check-ins, when Mel had quietly insisted she was fine, we were barely where we needed to be. The client meeting was in an hour – Ross was barely able to control his inner hysteria. Mel broke down, simply told him that she will come back after a break in an hour, because she was not feeling well.

Sounds familiar? Welcome to the modern cold corporate warzone between millennial bosses and Gen Z hires.

As the Millennials are reaching the leadership roles they have hustled for, their professional aspirations are being disrupted by a bunch of “casual” and “entitled” youngsters who seem outrageously audacious in their asking for personal space, time boundaries and feeling emotionally well. These youngsters do not seem to have loyalty or commitment, nor the resilience to withstand the tough love that the millennials grew up with.

So what does one need to do if two groups on either end of 180 degrees in their values are to be supported to work together to be able to co-create and achieve shared growth.

Adoption of new culture strategies by organizations

Here are some strategic recommendations for organizations that can be considered to resolve this conundrum.

Start developing them much before hiring – organizations must integrate well with educational institutions, and develop outside-the-textbook leadership journeys for students who are to become professionals. Design longer internship programs that start sooner than later in their curriculum. Start in middle school if possible!

Hire based on soft skills and actual impactful work done – Instead of traditional interview methods, ask candidates to present their work to test their sensitivity to some of the most important values that your company needs. Topics that excite them beyond the textbook. Assess autonomy, collaboration style, and adaptability during hiring.

Embed work ethic & professionalism training for Gen Z – Some important new training avenues can be on managing ambiguity, meeting professional expectations, and self-directed problem-solving, taking feedback, understanding constructive communication methods.

Invest in continued leadership journeys for Millennials – Offer workshops on coaching-based leadership rather than old-school authoritative models. Equip managers with skills in empathy-driven management, trust-based, psychological safety, and real-time feedback methods.

Growthqapes’ tools such as the Self Emotional Quotient Assessment Profilers (SEQAP) help leaders to unravel their emotional own styles that enable them to develop as better people leaders.

Develop a training pool comprising of Gen Zs – Imagine Gen Zs teaching us technology, communication, mental health and safety! It would be the quickest way to Gen Z inclusion as a part of your organization’s growth story.
Dispel myths, discourage silence, dissuade from stereotyping – Workplaces and social media are abuzz with the two groups stereotyping each other. It is exciting for everyone to see the impact of their work in a meaningful way. The goal is to get everyone to perform at their highest potential, not for them to simply comply. Remove unnecessary compliance complications. Create a positive performance language that dispels myths and prevents stereotyping.
Addressing feelings is important to close the ‘distance’

In this case of Ross & Mel, it is so easy for them to turn their backs on each other. What Mel perhaps was not able to mention to Ross was how terrified she was of the outcome of failing the deadline. What Ross was not able to share with Mel was how vulnerable he felt in the face of a failed deadline. Each not being able to share their feelings authentically and fearlessly pushed them into resorting to their coping mechanisms – anger for Ross, and distance for Mel.

If vulnerabilities are openly discussed, it often creates the much needed space for collaboration, long-term safety and growth for all.

In the end, to highlight that Gen Zs are here to stay, and they have had “entitlements” growing up is something that we cannot wish away. But the Gen Zs are not the dispassionate people that they are made out to be. The onus lies on the organizations and the leaders to navigate this change. Gen Zs need constant check-ins, tangible coaching, and real-time constructive feedback, not hierarchy, not criticism, not constant reporting, and not traditional bosses who infantilize. They need to be able to trust you to be able to open up. They need to see you as someone who has their back – which sometimes does mean extra work initially. Investment in leadership development programs for Millennial bosses help them overcome the challenges they face.

The need is to rethink organizational structures that have flatter hierarchies, but many times more coaches and “buddies” as leaders whom the Gen Zs can trust.

It is not a piece of cake – but if the resilient millennials cannot, who can!

This blog has been written by Sukanya Bhadra, an Associate Partner with Growthsqapes

The Benefits Of Collaboration At Workplace

Posted on February 25, 2025 - 10:37 am by admin

Collaboration in the workplace is a powerful tool that can significantly enhance productivity, innovation, and job satisfaction. In today’s dynamic and fast-paced business environment, organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of collaboration as a means to achieve collective goals and drive success.

A Deloitte study found that 73% of employees who engage in collaborative work report improved performance, while 60% say it sparks their innovation. This clearly shows that teamwork & collaboration are factors that directly contribute to individual and team success. There is also mounting evidence which points that the cost of poor collaboration is measurable, and it’s staggering. That’s the reason why more and more organizations are investing in leadership development programs.

Let’s first try and look at a viable definition of what collaboration is:

Plainly speaking, collaboration is a process when a team works together and combines their skills and expertise. They might do this to solve a problem, brainstorm new ideas, or produce something innovative.

When teams or coworkers are able to collaborate successfully, they can often develop better ideas and solutions than they might have alone. You may work with one person to collaborate or collaborate with a large team. Working with others often enables you to see new perspectives or navigate challenging projects more effectively.

What are the benefits:

1.New Ideas

One of the most common benefits of collaboration is its ability to expose individuals/ teams to new ideas. People who working on a project for a long time are often less able to see creative solutions the way someone unrelated or new to the project might. Those team members can share thoughts with one another and develop interesting new solutions and approaches, by asking for the opinions of others.

1. Enhanced Problem Solving

One of the primary advantages of collaboration is its ability to enhance problem-solving. When individuals from different backgrounds, departments, or areas of expertise come together, they bring diverse perspectives and insights to the table. This diversity leads to more creative and effective solutions to challenges.

3. Enhanced Communication Skills

Regular and effective collaboration in the workplace helps individuals hone their communication skills. Effective communication is crucial for expressing ideas clearly, resolving conflicts, and ensuring that everyone is on the same page. Working with diverse teams fosters the development of both verbal and non-verbal communication skills, as individuals learn to convey their thoughts in ways that others can understand and respond to.

4. Better Relationships and Teamwork

Collaboration helps foster strong interpersonal relationships in the workplace. When employees work closely together on projects, they build trust, respect, and a sense of camaraderie. These positive relationships are essential for creating a supportive and cohesive work environment. Teams that collaborate well are more likely to support one another, share knowledge, and offer assistance when needed.

5.Efficiency and Productivity

Collaboration can lead to greater efficiency and productivity in the workplace. When people work together, tasks can be divided according to each individual’s strengths, allowing the team to accomplish more in less time. By sharing responsibilities, employees can leverage their skills to focus on specific aspects of a project while relying on others to handle different components. This division of labor helps streamline workflows and reduces the likelihood of duplication of efforts.

6. More Fun @Work

Working with a team of like-minded people is often more fun and invigorating than working alone. When involved in collaborating with others, team members can share ideas, demonstrate new techniques to one another and ask each other for advice. Research shows that teamwork can often foster a sense of community and make an assignment feel more rewarding.

7. Better Decision-Making

Collaborative decision-making processes tend to be more thorough and well-informed. When multiple people contribute to the decision-making process, the resulting decisions are often more robust, as different viewpoints and expertise are considered. This leads to more informed choices that take into account a wider range of factors, reducing the risk of mistakes or missed opportunities.

9. Stronger Organizational Culture

Finally, fostering collaboration within the workplace strengthens the overall organizational culture. Companies that encourage collaboration create environments where open communication, mutual respect, and shared goals are prioritized. This collaborative culture not only boosts productivity and innovation but also helps attract top talent who are eager to work in a team-oriented and supportive environment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, collaboration in the workplace is essential for creating a dynamic, innovative, and productive environment. The benefits of working together, from enhanced problem-solving and increased creativity to stronger relationships and improved efficiency, are numerous and far-reaching. Organizations that embrace collaboration tend to foster a positive work culture, boost employee satisfaction, and improve overall performance. As businesses continue to evolve, collaboration will remain a key factor in achieving success, driving growth, and adapting to the challenges of the future. Progressive organizations understand the importance of the same and invest in leadership development programs that build a collaborative mindset and related skills.

This blog has been written by Rupender Singh Khaira, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes

Critical Skills For Today’s Sales Leaders

Posted on February 5, 2025 - 11:32 am by admin

Today’s environment is marked by some major macro trends which is driving the need for sales leaders to change the way they lead their teams. These forces also mean that they need to refocus and reskill themselves to make themselves future-ready to take on the challenges ahead

Technological Disruptions
- Economic and Geo-Political Uncertainty
- Rapid changes in customer tastes and preferences
- Intensifying competition
- Changes in Work Team and Culture

Here are some of the most critical skills that will equip today’s sales leaders to be successful whether they manage teams for Consultative Selling, Key Account Management, Channel Management etc.

Strategic vision and data-driven execution

Clarity and alignment across the team and the supporting internal ecosystems with the strategy and goals. Setting SMART goals which are aligned to the organization’s goals and objectives. Setting up KPIs and efficient processes for measuring and monitoring the results with adaptive strategies for agile course corrections, as and when needed.

Being able to identify trends and patterns from the analysis of data and following a practice of data-driven decision-making is critical. Team needs to know the “why” to relate to the “what” and “how”. The team needs to be communicated clearly the strategic impact of the insights and interpretations from the data analysis. Today, people value purpose-filled environments. It is important that the sales leader creates a shared vision for the team that goes beyond the operational activities to link the goals and objectives to a larger context like improving lives, lifestyles or fulfilling a social purpose.

Hiring, team-building expertise and mentorship

Hiring the right talent is fundamental. It should be based on organisation culture fit and knowledge, skills and mindset requirements for the role to ensure retention. Having a growth mindset, intrinsic motivation to excel and resilience as well as relevant experience and track in employment history are also important.

Team-building expertise: This is the area where the sales leader needs to be adequately compassionate while remaining pragmatic and focused on results. Adopting an adaptive leadership style to manage different performance categories. Using a coaching style to identify strengths and improvement areas, get alignment between your and team member’s skills, goals and aspirations and to generate wilful commitment to achieve greater heights is important. Here again, flexibility is important to ensure your team is more inclusive and has diverse strengths that gives you the edge in the market.

Getting and giving feedback: Research shows that sales leaders are more interested in giving feedback than receiving it. Since you are not directly involved in the day-to-day operations, the best way to gauge the effectiveness of your strategies is by actively seeking feedback from your sales team particularly on a) your expertise in utilising sales tools and processes b) usefulness of your coaching and mentoring sessions and c) the realistic achievement of sales targets e.g. what would help you to achieve your targets or overcoming the roadblocks for getting more sales closures

Tech-savviness and operational efficiency

Most organisations are now equipped with some CRM software. The skill lies in how best one can leverage the data to get meaningful insights. The strategic utilization of AI tools is gaining increased significance as it allows sales leaders to identify patterns and optimize sales strategies for optimum effectiveness.

Sales leaders need to focus on efficiency by optimising processes/ reducing inefficiencies & streamlining operations. Even a minor change to a key process can lead you and your sales team from failure to success. For example, you might drop one low-value responsibility from your team member or provide him with a simple one-page dashboard of your overall strategic plan.

Customer-centric innovation-adoption

The rules of the game are ever-changing. Keeping yourself updated on the business growth drivers, market dynamics, latest product / service developments, customer trends and behaviour is critical. Leaders should be close to customers to conduct research, analyse customer data and actively seek feedback from customers. Customers need quick and effective solutions to address their problems and pain points now and strategic innovations to meet their requirements for the future. Today’s sales leaders need to be agile, adaptive, realistic and solution oriented.

Driving accountability and empowerment: Sharing your leadership responsibilities with your team members and empowering your team to take decisions is an effective method to not only reserve your precious time and efforts but also to:

● Drive mutual accountability, enhance ownership and conformity

● Build important delegation skills

● Learn more about your team and groom future leaders

“When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” — Simon Sinek

One of the best ways to empower your team is to involve them in the process. Find out what additional roles and responsibilities they feel would be helpful to take on. Some may be good at data collection & analysis, some others in coordinating meetings and group tasks while some others in strategizing and planning.

Fostering collaboration across departments like marketing, technical/ engineering, product management, supply chain and customer service has become critically important. Breaking down silos and aligning everyone toward shared objectives strengthens overall sales efforts. A team that works cohesively—with the right cross-functional support spells success in today’s scenario. Today’s sales leaders need to increasingly manage internal stakeholders and get their buy-in and support to for flawless and smooth execution of their sales strategy which is so critical for success.

GrowthSqapes offers sales training programs for the sales leaders to develop and sharpen their skills to the current demands of the market.

This article has been written by Sandip Mitra, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes.

Beyond the Conventional: Leadership Development as Organizational Evolution

Posted on January 10, 2025 - 9:51 am by admin

In a world where change is the only constant, leadership is the stabilizing force that guides organizations through uncertainty. Yet leadership is often perceived as inherent, something that cannot be nurtured or cultivated. This perception has become one of the greatest missteps in organizational development. Leadership is not just a trait; it’s a process—a process that can and should be deliberately developed.

Key Elements to Consider in Leadership Development

Self-Awareness

Leadership begins with self-awareness. Individuals must understand their strengths, weaknesses, values, and emotional triggers. Self-aware leaders can better manage their behaviours, align themselves with the organizational vision, and build authentic relationships. Tools like the Johari Window or 360-degree feedback can help promote self-awareness by offering insights from multiple perspectives.

Learning Agility

Leaders today must possess learning agility—the ability to learn from experiences and apply that learning to new situations. In a world of constant change, leaders need to adapt quickly, unlearn outdated habits, and embrace new ways of thinking. This involves developing critical thinking, curiosity, and the willingness to challenge assumptions.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is foundational to leadership. Leaders with high EQ can empathize, build strong interpersonal relationships, and manage their own emotions under pressure. Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Framework emphasizes self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills as crucial components for effective leadership.

Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Skills

Leadership often involves making difficult decisions. Leaders must develop the ability to assess complex problems, analyze potential solutions, and make decisions under uncertainty. Providing real-world scenarios and allowing emerging leaders to make decisions, even in controlled environments, helps hone these skills.

Visionary Thinking

Leaders are not just managers of the present but architects of the future. A leader’s ability to craft a compelling vision and inspire others to follow is essential for long-term success. This involves setting a clear direction and aligning team efforts with organizational goals.

Mentorship and Coaching

Leadership development isn’t a solitary journey. Access to mentors or coaches provides invaluable guidance. Mentors offer wisdom based on experience, while coaches help individuals explore their solutions and reflect on their leadership style. This dual support system is critical for ongoing development.

Ethical Leadership and Values Alignment

At the core of leadership is the responsibility to uphold ethical behavior and align personal values with organizational ethics. Leaders must lead with integrity, fairness, and accountability. They set the tone for the organizational culture, shaping the ethical environment within which others operate.

Succession Planning and Long-Term Leadership Development

Developing leaders should not be a short-term fix but part of a long-term strategy. The process must be tied to the broader organizational goals of succession planning. This ensures a continuous pipeline of leaders who are ready to step into new roles as the organization evolves.

The Process of Developing Leaders

Developing leaders within an organization isn’t just about preparing individuals for higher responsibilities. It’s about fostering a mindset that aligns personal growth with the organizational mission. Research from McKinsey’s Global Survey on Leadership shows that companies with vital leadership development programs outperform their peers by 20% in financial performance. This underscores that leadership is a strategic advantage, not merely an operational necessity.

The development of organizational leaders requires more than just training programs or coaching sessions. It involves a deliberate and well-structured process that integrates the organization’s strategic goals with individual growth. The process should be holistic, combining learning, experience, feedback, and reflection.

The leadership development process should be both strategic and flexible, designed to meet the evolving needs of both individuals and the organization. Below is a possible structured approach to guide leadership development:

Identify Leadership Needs

Every organization has unique leadership needs, depending on its size, industry, and strategic direction. The first step is to conduct an “organizational assessment” to understand the leadership capabilities required at various levels.

Leadership Competency Framework

Develop a “leadership competency model” that outlines the behaviors, skills, and attributes required for leadership success in your organization. Competency frameworks provide clarity on leadership expectations and serve as a reference for development efforts.

Assess Current Leadership Potential

Use tools such as 360-degree feedback, psychometric tests, and leadership assessments to evaluate the current potential of individuals within the organization. This will help identify those with leadership promise and areas for development.

Create Individualized Development Plans

Each leader’s journey is unique. Based on the assessments, develop personalized development plans focusing on their specific growth areas. These plans should include a combination of formal learning (courses, certifications), experiential learning (on-the-job challenges), and mentoring or coaching.

Implement Leadership Development Programs

Design and implement multi-faceted leadership programs that cover essential leadership skills. This could include:

Workshops & Seminars
Experiential Learning
Mentorship and Coaching

Real-Time Feedback and Continuous Learning

Create a feedback-rich environment where emerging leaders receive real-time feedback on their performance. Leadership development is not a one-time event; it requires continuous learning and reflection. Encourage leaders to seek feedback, reflect on their experiences, and adjust their leadership approach.

Monitor Progress and Measure Outcomes

Leadership development must be measured for effectiveness. Use leadership metrics to track progress, such as improved team performance, higher engagement scores, and increased readiness for promotion. Adjust the development programs based on the insights gained from these metrics.

Align with Succession Planning

Ensure leadership development is integrated with the organization’s succession planning strategy. The goal is to develop leaders and ensure a sustainable pipeline of future leaders who can step into key roles when needed. This step involves regularly reviewing talent pipelines, identifying high-potential individuals, and ensuring they are on track for succession.

From Leadership Development to Organizational Growth: A Holistic View

What sets exceptional organizations apart isn’t just their financial performance or market share—it’s their ability to grow organically from within. Leadership development acts as the linchpin between individual growth and organizational advancement.

Take the General Electric (GE) model under Jack Welch’s leadership, where leadership development was integral to the business strategy. Welch once said, “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” This perspective resulted in GE being one of the most consistently successful companies globally for decades.

Today’s leadership development and leadership training must focus on more than just today’s needs. It must equip leaders with the resilience to navigate future challenges. Leaders of tomorrow will require high emotional intelligence, systems thinking, and adaptability to new technologies like AI and data-driven decision-making. The rapid pace of transformation in the business landscape demands leaders who can anticipate change rather than react to it.

Leadership development isn’t about filling vacancies. It’s about creating a leadership ethos synonymous with the organization’s identity. In this way, leadership doesn’t just live at the top; it permeates every level, making the organization adaptive, innovative, and resilient.

GrowthSqapes offers top quality leadership development programs in India and Asia.

This blog has been written by Sanjay Gupta, an Associate Partner with GrowthSqapes.

Overcoming Barriers To Succession Planning

Posted on December 4, 2024 - 8:45 am by admin

The strategic process of identifying and developing internal candidates to fill key organizational roles to ensure business continuity and competent leadership in the face of role transitions, exits or unforeseen events. Succession planning is relevant to all companies, however large or small.

Barriers to Succession Planning

Defense mechanisms: The succession planning process in organizations primarily fails because it triggers unconscious psychodynamic process of fear at whatever level it is attempted. The senior leaders fear that their position will go away and that their authority will be diluted should the succession planning process become effective, and a succession really emerges. Whereas consciously all seniors support and tend to comply with the process, unconsciously they indulge in actions that hinders the process.
Bad Science: Often, even if there is spirited commitment to succession planning, the process adopted has flows. Typical flows are (a) poor alignment of competence to future business requirements (b) flawed process of assessment of potential talent (c) the development process being casual all-size-fits-all and non-scientific checklist of training programs & (d) poor development effectiveness evaluation and obvious corollary of the barriers of succession planning could also be a flawed potential assessment and leadership development process.

Overcoming the Barriers to Succession

It is appreciated across boards and executive teams that succession planning is critical for growth and sustainability of organizations. Yet it faces un-seen barriers that hinders its effectiveness. The barriers to succession planning have many faces and thus a multifaceted approach is essential to overcome them.

Firstly, the board and top management must realize the truth i.e. commitment drives succession. Top level executives must exhibit visible prioritization towards succession planning and contribute towards it by integrating smaller steps to succession into their daily leadership style behavior. It is essential that the top leadership makes the communication very clear about the significance of succession planning towards the organization’s growth and sustainability and thus align the juniors towards this objective.

Secondly, the top management must cultivate an organizational climate that values succession, development, and mentorship as crucial. This is best done by them when they communicate to people and attempt to allay the unconscious fears down the line about being replaced. Leaders must indulge in an encourage open and free discussions about future career pathing and role opportunities building trust and transparency.

Thirdly, addressing the various unconscious psychodynamic resistance to any change is of utmost importance. This is best achieved by demonstrating the direct beneficial outcomes of the succession planning process and here in, sharing success stories and appreciating exemplars works the best. Furthermore, it is seen that organizations that have seen successful succession planning are those organizations which involve their employees and make them parties to the concept, design, and implementation of the succession planning process. The reasons are obvious; involvement enhances engagement and thus reduces resistance.

Finally, technology and data analytics must be leveraged to make the succession planning process objective. Competency assessment tools, assessment development centers run by experts and not amateurs, rigorous progress tracking and never taking eye of the larger business context usually provides valuable insights to ensure that right roles have the right candidates identified and developed at the right time to make the organization future ready.

To conclude, overcoming the barriers towards succession planning necessitates top leaders to be strategic, inclusive systematic and technology oriented. These orientation principles when adhered to, the top management can ensure that the organization has an effective succession planning process that gives leadership and talent continuity at critical levels for organizational sustainability.

This blog has been written by Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Managing Partner at GrowthSqapes.

Understanding Succession Planning

Posted on October 29, 2024 - 9:43 am by admin

Finding a successor for a critical role has been the focus since generations of organized governance across longitudes of time. Stories of succession have been reaching us since dynastic succession of empires until the recent public debate on who would succeed Rahul Dravid as Head Coach of Indian Cricket team. That someone needs to be brought in when the existing role holder vacates is well recognized by leaders and board of most organizations. Yet, succession planning still appears to be a struggle all around the organized world. Executive succession planning especially, is no different. Though, it has become a buzz word in almost every board, there seems to be mystery around how effective it is or how to go about it effectively.

Understanding Succession Planning

Succession planning is about risk mitigation. The risk here is something that the organization can barely afford to ignore-the talent risk. Executive succession planning may be defined as awareness, recognition and forecasting of talent separation events for critical roles of the organization and implementing preventive mitigating steps to ensure that such talent separation does not interrupt business performance. The principle that companies are ‘going concern’ philosophically sustains the business beyond a foreseeable future. However, to remain on the going continuum philosophically, companies need to be seen and run as organizations that excel operationally.

Benefits of Succession Planning

Organization switch do not have a dedicated process of succession planning seem to be governed more by adhocism than by a professionally planned approach, particularly so if it is in the domine of talent management. Succession planning is about making the organization ready with a future pipeline of successors of all critical roles to avoid any talent gap in the event of a sudden talent separation. This is an established robust process of identifying and developing talent who possess the required skills, knowledge, and attitudinal dimensions to take up the roles whenever the situation demands. Any robust succession planning process is aligned to the organizations strategic business goals. The organization thus continuously focuses upon institutional capacity building by individual capability building. The focus is not only on the headcount of who succeeds whom, but also on what competencies currently exist and what competencies would be required for a role, in future. When such a succession planning process in organizations are regularly assessed in terms of the organization’s longtime strategic goals, the succession planning becomes more effective.

The biggest benefit of succession planning is the organization itself. Succession planning prevents drainage of institutional knowledge facilitates and promotes internal leadership development, resulting in capability building and thus mitigates risks by way of sudden talent lose.

Methods of Succession Planning

Through a scientific and systematic method of assessing the current talent bank and developing potential future leaders on the competency gaps organizations can ensure that they remain on a sustainable path of talent management, making the organization immune to dynamics to ever-uncertain talent environment in business. However, worldly realities are different. At a very broad level, organizations can be categorized as Family Owned -Family Run and Family Owned-Professionally run. For most family -owned businesses key successors at critical roles are family members, typically, the son or a daughter irrespective of the competencies. In such cases, the succession plan follows the unquestionable principle of heirship and descendants’ inheritance. This is mostly seen in financial operations of family businesses. Over 28% of leaders in finance department of companies with revenues more than 10 billion says that their organization do not have formal succession planning process for CFOs (Deloitte report, 2024). Nonetheless, some family-owned businesses chose to be professionally run and they, even for top-level critical roles adopt the process of succession planning.

A comprehensive succession planning process consists of the following steps:

Identifying Key Positions: Determine which roles are crucial for organizational success and continuity.
Assessing Job Requirements: Understand the skills, experience, and attributes needed for each key role.
Identifying Potential Successors: Recognize employees with the skills, knowledge, and potential to fill these key positions. Assessment Centres are a great way to do the same.
Building Competencies: Develop the necessary skills and competencies in potential successors to prepare them for future roles. A robust leadership development program helps in building competencies.
Evaluating Progress: Regularly assess the effectiveness of the succession planning process and make adjustments as needed to ensure readiness and alignment with organizational goals.

Most organizations can mitigate risks by identifying and developing a pipeline of talented leaders and key employees. This will not only keep the business running and keep employees engaged and loyal, it will also drive long-term organizational success even if challenges exist. However, it is noteworthy that, organizations that prioritize succession planning and use professionals’ expertise are better prepared to navigate change. They are also able to adapt to market demands better and thrive in a competitive business world.

With strong frameworks and a history of successful past work, GrowthSqapes is best suited to be your partner in succession planning.

This blog has been written by Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Managing Partner in GrowthSqapes.

Developing The Hi-Po’s: Best Practices

Posted on October 9, 2024 - 8:20 am by admin

High Potential Leadership Development focuses on identifying individuals within an organization who exhibit exceptional potential for leadership roles and equipping them with the skills and experiences needed to succeed. These high-potential (HiPo) employees are often seen as the future drivers of organizational success. However, their potential needs to be honed through structured development programs to transform them into effective leaders. As part of leadership development programs in India, let us look at some of the best practices that render effectiveness to a high potential development program.

Alignment with organizational goals

Ensure that the High Potential Leadership Development program is closely aligned to the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. This alignment ensures that the development efforts directly contribute to the company’s long-term success. For example, if an organization aims to expand internationally, the HPLD program should focus on developing global leadership skills.

Foster a culture of continuous learning

Encourage a culture where continuous learning and development are valued. This can be achieved through:

a) Learning Management System Platforms: Providing access to online courses, webinars, and other learning resources. These platforms enable employees to learn at their own pace and convenience.

b) Peer Learning Communities: Creating forums for employees to share knowledge and best practices. Peer learning can be a powerful tool for reinforcing new skills and concepts.

Engage Senior Leadership

Senior leaders should actively participate in the High Potential Leadership Development program. Their involvement demonstrates the importance of leadership development and provides HiPo employees with valuable role models. Senior leaders can:

a) Lead Training Sessions: Share their experiences and insights through workshops and seminars.

b) Mentor HiPo Employees: Offer guidance and support based on their leadership journey.

c) Advocate for Development: Promote the HPLD program and its benefits across the organization.

Deploy diverse development opportunities

Offer a variety of development opportunities to cater to different learning styles and preferences. This can include:

a) In-Class Training: Traditional instructor-led sessions that provide in-depth knowledge on specific topics.

b) Hybrid Learning: Online coaching followed by in-class workshops that offer flexibility and convenience.

c) Experiential Learning: Real-world projects and assignments that allow HiPo employees to apply their skills in practical settings.

Measure and calibrate

Regularly measure the effectiveness of the High Potential Leadership Development program and make adjustments as needed. This involves:

a) Monitoring the development and career progression of HiPo employees. Tracking tools can include performance dashboards and progress reports.

b) Gathering feedback from participants to identify areas for improvement. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups can provide valuable insights.

c) Assessing the overall impact of the program on organizational performance. Evaluation metrics can include leadership readiness, employee engagement, and business outcomes.

High Potential Leadership Development is a strategic imperative for organizations aiming to secure their future success. By identifying, nurturing, and retaining high-potential employees, businesses can build a robust pipeline of leaders ready to navigate the complexities of the modern business world. An effective High Potential Leadership Development program, aligned with organizational goals and focused on continuous learning and development, ensures that these future leaders are well-equipped to drive growth and innovation. Investing in High Potential Leadership Development not only prepares the organization for future challenges but also creates a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. Under the umbrella of leadership programs in India, GrowthSqapes offers bespoke solutions towards high potential development.

This blog has been written by Satyakki Bhattacharjee, Managing Partner at GrowthSqapes

The Middle Matters

Posted on September 20, 2024 - 7:21 am by admin

In cricket, middle order batters are considered to be the core and core is strength.
The world of management is also not far different from the world of cricket. In management also, middle is the core – that stabilizes and controls any system of management order. Apart from being the core, middle managers are also the layer which balances the fundamentals of management – Control and Confrontation. Management is all about planning, organizing, implementation and control. Where there is control, there is confrontation – overt or covert. Middle managers are shock absorbers who absorb the tremors from top and bottom layers in their cushion of resilience, competence, and sense of role.

As we stand on the cusp of a new era of business dynamics, where the pace of change is relentless, and the demands for innovation are ever-increasing, the role of middle management becomes even more central. It is incumbent upon top executives to harness the rich reservoir of insights, experience, and capabilities that middle management brings to the table, fostering strategies that are not only robust but also deeply rooted in the operational realities of the business. How does engaging the middle layer help? Let’s look at 4 outcomes, particularly in the context of organizational strategy and it’s execution.

Succession Planning

By engaging middle management in strategy formulation an organization serves a dual purpose: enhancing strategy efficacy and acting as a crucible for enterprise-level succession planning. The middle layer is essentially the leadership incubator for future top management roles. By actively involving them in strategy formulation, they acquire a nuanced understanding of organizational dynamics and develop strategic thinking capabilities which is essential in nurturing competent and adept leaders for the future. It is noteworthy that many leadership development programs in India and Asia actually help in developing and nurturing competencies at the middle level.

Execution Excellence

The top management, despite their expertise, cannot match the execution prowess of middle management. Positioned closer to the operational epicenter, middle managers harbor a nuanced understanding of the challenges and opportunities present at the ground level. Their ability to tailor execution strategies to suit the specific needs of their units enhances the effectiveness of strategy implementation, fostering a culture of adaptability and responsiveness.

Flaws manifestation

An active involvement of top management in strategy execution, although necessary, should be approached with caution. Overemphasis on their role in the execution phase might signal underlying organizational flaws. It could indicate a lack of trust in middle management’s capabilities or a failure to delegate responsibilities efficiently. Such scenarios can lead to operational bottlenecks and inefficiencies, impeding the smooth transition from strategy formulation to execution.

Derailment prevention

To foster a resilient organizational structure, it is imperative to identify and mitigate potential enterprise derailment factors early on. These factors might encompass strategy-culture misalignment, inadequate communication and collaboration channels, resistance to change within the workforce, insufficient resources allocated for strategy implementation, and an inability to adapt to changing market dynamics and customer preferences. Recognizing these factors early allows organizations to initiate corrective actions to avert potential derailments, ensuring a smooth and successful strategy implementation.

In fostering a culture of collaboration and inclusivity, top executives can facilitate a seamless flow of knowledge and insights across organizational levels, nurturing a dynamic and adaptive strategy formulation process.

Through the adoption of a collaborative approach that bridges the hierarchical divide, organizations can navigate the complexities of the modern business landscape with greater agility and foresight. In doing so, they carve a path of sustained growth and success, positioning themselves as resilient, adaptable entities in a fiercely competitive business arena. By championing the active involvement of middle management in strategy formulation, organizations not only enhance the richness and applicability of their strategies but also foster a nurturing ground for the development of future leaders, ensuring continuity in vision and leadership. Several leadership development programs in India and Asia features key competencies that middle managers need to develop. Additionally, many times, top leaders undergo leadership coaching to develop the skill of facilitating the above mentioned seamless flow. Finally, Growthsqapes, through it’s world-class leadership development training programs in India and Asia, is ably positioned to develop the middle managers.

This blog has been written by Satyakki Bhattacharjee, the Managing Partner at Growthsqapes.

Channel Management: Challenges & Solutions

Posted on September 4, 2024 - 6:16 am by admin

Management, broadly speaking, involves how we organise and supervise business and employees to meet organisation goals. In the world of sales, management of channels becomes complicated primarily because unlike traditional management where managers deal directly with subordinates or team members, the relationship between a company’s manager and its partner or reseller is quite different.

When it comes to managing channel partners, there are associated challenges which stem from the complexity of the relationship, the alignment between objectives and motivations of the partners and the degree of available control or lack of it. While structured sales training programs help us to understand the same in the classroom, let us delve deeper here through this blog, into some of the main challenges and how to deal with them.

Channel conflict

Challenge: Conflicts can occur when an organisation uses different channels to reach the same customers, leading to price wars, undercutting, or brand dilution. For example, if a company sells directly to consumers online and through retail partners, the retail partners may feel threatened by the direct sales channel. Customers are increasingly looking at omnichannel experience for products and services and any conflict negatively impacts customer experience and sales.
Solution: Implement clear policies and pricing strategies that ensure all channels can coexist without undercutting each other. Develop unique value propositions for each channel to minimize overlap and maintain open communication with all channel partners to manage expectations and resolve conflicts.
Example: OnePlus which initially focused heavily on online sales through partnerships with e-commerce platforms recognized the need to expand into offline retail to reach a broader audience. Offline retailers felt that the heavy discounts and exclusive offers online were hurting their sales and stopped selling OnePlus phones.

To address this, OnePlus started working closely with retail partners by offering exclusive products, unique experiences, and ensuring price parity between online and offline channels. The brand also opened its own experience stores and partnered with large retail chains to provide a consistent experience across both channels.

Maintaining Channel Partner Relationships

Challenge: Building and maintaining strong relationships with channel partners can be difficult, especially when there are many partners or if they have different goals and priorities. The initial period of the relationship can be difficult as it takes time for trust to grow and alignment to be achieved between the organisation and partner’s goals and priorities. The relationship with the end customer is mostly maintained by the channel partners and they become the trusted advisors to the customers. Hence it becomes very important for businesses to effectively manage these relationships and collaboratively work with channel partners throughout the lifecycle.
Solution: Invest in regular communication, training, and support for channel partners. Establish clear agreements and performance metrics and recognize and reward top-performing partners. Providing marketing support, training, and co-branding opportunities can also strengthen these relationships.
Example: Honasa Consumer’s Mamaearth, one of the fastest growing brands in India, is now a D2C category leader in the personal care space. Launched in 2016, it now boasts of a turnover of over Rs 1500 Cr. During its offline expansion drive in the UAE, it faced several challenges in channel management including low product discoverability in physical stores, which can lead to inventory sitting on shelves unsold, getting closer to expiry.

This issue was compounded by the fact that offline retail is a crowded space with numerous competing brands, making it hard for new entrants like Mamaearth to stand out without a strong physical retail presence. Additionally, the brand had to navigate the complexities of supply chain management, which became even more challenging due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The relations with the distributor became so bad that Honasa had to terminate its contract with the distributor. The distributor, alleging improper contract termination, approached an UAE court directing it to pay compensation of INR 56.6 Cr, which was later set aside by the Delhi High Court.

Inconsistent Customer Experience

Challenge: Different channel partners may provide varying levels of service, posing a challenge to maintain the quality and consistency of the experience across the channels, which can lead to inconsistent customer experiences. This inconsistency can damage the brand’s reputation and lead to customer dissatisfaction.
Solution: Standardize processes, training, and brand messaging across all channels to ensure a consistent customer experience. Implement a robust monitoring system to regularly assess the customer experience across channels and address any discrepancies quickly.
Example: The CX strategy for the Mahindra XUV 700 launch was pathbreaking. Together with a digital-first marketing to connect with its customers in an engaging and immersive manner, Mahindra also invested in identifying and selecting a team of Premium Channel Sales consultants from their existing dealer sales personnel through a rigours process of
assessments followed by training to ensure consistency of customer experience.

Complexity in Channel Coordination

Challenge: Managing multiple channels can be complex, especially when dealing with different geographies, product lines, or customer segments. This complexity can lead to inefficiencies, delays, and increased costs. Complexity is due to the diverse needs of partners, who vary by market focus (SMBs, midmarket, enterprise) and revenue contribution. Companies often fail to align resources effectively, resulting in ineffective programs. Larger, high-revenue partners typically receive more attention, making it crucial to balance resources between them and smaller partners.
Solution: Use advanced channel management software that provides visibility across all channels and integrates with other business systems (like CRM and ERP). Streamline operations by consolidating similar channels and optimizing inventory and logistics across the network. Properly aligning engagement models and resources is essential, requiring thoughtful strategy to ensure impactful channel initiatives.
Example: HUL operates from 29 factories producing over 2,000 SKUs (stock-keeping units) annually, distributed through 35 Carrying and forwarding agents, 7,000 ‘redistribution stockists servicing 9 million retail outlets across the country. They have advanced ERP solution which integrates the sales and inventory systems with production and logistics in a seamless, real-time mode to manage the operations.

Brand Representation and Control:

Challenge: Maintaining control over how your brand is represented across different channels can be difficult, especially with third-party partners. It is difficult to have visibility to the procedures and practices adopted by all channel partners, specially in the remote areas where there are chances of adoption of off-brand or unethical business activities.
Solution: Develop strict brand guidelines and enforce them consistently across all channels. Provide partners with the necessary tools and resources to represent the brand correctly and monitor their adherence to these standards.
Example: In the early 2000s, Bisleri faced significant brand representation issues due to widespread counterfeiting by local bottlers, who sold fake water under the Bisleri name. This damaged Bisleri’s reputation and consumer trust. To address this, Bisleri implemented tamper-proof seals, enhanced packaging, and launched awareness campaigns to help consumers identify genuine products. The company also took legal action against counterfeiters to regain control of its brand and restore its image.

Another challenge which one needs to address is adapting to rapid changes in the market such as new technologies, evolving customer preferences, or regulatory shifts. We need to stay agile by continuously monitoring market trends and being ready to adapt channel strategies accordingly.

Some of the more regular challenges are related to data management and analytics, legal and regulatory compliance and managing costs.

From a Channel Manager’s perspective, we should remember that a channel partner is not an individual but an organisation with multiple stakeholders with different roles and interests. Also, the stakeholders do not repot to us, so the management approach needs to be consultative, using influencing skills.

The success of having a great channel partner network lies in having a structured channel management program which is easy to execute and monitor, supported by adequate measures for engaging, developing, rewarding and motivating the channel partners.

As a firm providing sales capability development solutions through its practice area – Sales Training India, GrowthSqapes has robust frameworks, models, industry experience and a pool of facilitators & coaches to develop your B2B sales force.

This blog has been written by Sandip Mitra, an Associate Partner with Growthsqapes.

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