Meet Kalpana Ganesh, Head OD and Change Management at Ashok Leyland, possessing more than 25 years of diverse experience in the industry. She started as an engineer and has worked with organizations like Eicher, Kirloskar, Arizona Public Service, CII and now heads one of the HR departments in Ashok Leyland.

You have been in the industry for more than 25 years now. You have worked as an engineer, as an HR, have worked with CII, what are the significant things you have done and what were the challenges you faced?

I started my career with Eicher, as a Trainee Engineer. During my time, an engineering degree was aspired by many. What attracted me to manufacturing that time was the complete hands on feel of machinery. I worked with engineering organizations such as Eicher and Kirloskar, initially. At Kirloskar, I got the opportunity to work in the sales function. Being in sales I loved the opportunity to be in the field, interacting with clients. Very early on I was given an assignment where I had to survey Agra’s  small generator/motor industry since it was giving stiff competition to our small rotating machines. It was like a cottage industry in Agra, people would set up workshops in their courtyards and garages. I visited several of these vendors and compiled a report that was used for our small machines strategy. I had to travel to remote locations on work and I found that a fantastic experience . You should be an enterprising person when you come to an industry which is full of opportunity.

After that I went for my MBA abroad with my husband. I got to do my internship with NCR Corporation .  There, when I was asked to stretch my work, I grabbed the opportunity. I was appreciated for this reason and I got an employee of the month  award.

When we came back to India, I  took a break for 6 years to bring up my two kids. Then I wanted to come back to industry I joined a college as a student counselor. Lot of hard work went in establishing industry institute interaction here. I got another opportunity to work with CII and after that MMA. Again at both these places my hard work, dedication and result orientation payed in getting enhanced and fantastic opportunities.

Looks like you had a very good learning experience in entirely different fields. What is your advice to the students who want to make successful engineering career?

In my perspective when you come to an engineering company you become a very wholesome person. You are challenged intellectually as well as physically all the time. So the more active, aggressive you are, the more you exert physically, more you are able to take challenges – More entrepreneurial you are, better your chances are for doing good in industry.

IT work is standardized because they started with good processes whereas manufacturing industry is  reengineering  now. If you are a mover and shaker you will be noticed and you will move fast in the organization.

One message I would like to give youngsters is that you have to network like crazy. All my subsequent jobs after campus selection in Eicher, I have got through networking. You should not be approaching someone with the intention of asking for a job. Instead, network  to check if they would know any opportunities where your skills would fit in. Networking should be a part of the day’s activity, where we are exploring opportunities.

When you are entering an industry there would be so many people to tell you that your idea / concept is not going to work . If you intuitively feel that it is a correct concept, I think it’s important that you diligently keep on acting on it without offending anyone.

The important skills that a student should have: Networking, hard work, smart thinking, taking chances. Conviction on your idea is very important and you have to have patience with your superiors.  You should not get restless ifall your ideas don’t turn into action all at once. It is also not prudent to  be a glory seeker in the beginning of your career. I have seen the ones who leave the organisations fastest are the ones that put “me, my ideas and my rewards & recognition” above all else. Striking a rapo with seniors and making your boss look good is a smart way to integrate in a new job. They have to make their boss look good first and then their boss will make them look good. That is one very important soft skill that the students should learn early on.

In manufacturing industry to succeed you should love machines, have passion for engineering, you should love every day results and outcome of your daily labor.

What is the career path for freshers in Ashok Leyland?

We take freshers as trainees in 2 streams –

Graduate engineers and MBAs – Marketing and HR.

Key functions in Ashok Leyland are Marketing, Manufacturing, Design and Support functions are Finance, HR & Project Planning. Project planning needs very strong engineers to set up new projects.

Within these functions, we take about 100-150  engineers and 200 diploma engineers every year. A graduate engineer goes through 1 year of training and diploma engineer goes through 2 years of training.

We have a very beautiful Management Development Centre for training  at Hosur. Graduate engineers spend 4 months of training at this centre. They are taught about the product, assembling, reassembling, lots of engineering recap and lot of soft skills. After these 4 months they have to do 2 projects, one in service functions, and other one on the shop floor. They have to prove that they can work on both the project areas. After that their placements are done based on their aptitude.

Same training is offered for diploma engineers, just that the duration of their training is a little longer. In the beginning you have possibility of career growth every 3 years. For first 2 levels you can grow every 3 years. MBAs grow every 2 years in the beginning. After that for everybody it is 3-5 years depending on their potential. We also have possibility of job rotation in every function.

Are there any special programs for youth in Ashok Leyland?

We have  a Future Leaders Pipeline. After 3 years of joining this company you are assessed and if you are a potential leader, you get into this pipeline. About 10% of the population would always be in this future leader’s pipeline. We have tie ups with IIM-B, Bits Pilani, IIT Mumbai , XLRI for training of these future leaders.

We also have Gen Mod (Genetic Modification) Process. There is product portfolio team which does all the market research and tells what are the products we need to focus on for development for this year. Then we take program managers for each of these products and we give a cross functional team to this manager till the product is launched at the manufacturing shop. With this process we are creating a hierarchy less structure and people getting cross exposure. We encourage more and more people to go through this program.

In Ashok Leyland, culture of innovation is very prevalent. You will get ample opportunities to come up with new ideas and implement them. You will be given all kinds of freedom to take it to the finish. Nobody would hang you for failing. Company allows you to experiment. We celebrate innovative ideas in a mega way in an annual event called “Improve” attended by 2000-3000 people where close to 100 final short listed ideas are presented for awards.

What kind of selection process you have in Ashok Leyland?

For engineer roles, we recruit from tier 2 colleges, mainly NITs and some select other. Engineers should have scored 60% throughout the academic life. Students have to go through analytical tests and engineering skill test. Selected candidates go through a panel interview.

Typically from each campus we would be selecting 5-10 people.

For laterals, candidates can apply through our website. Right now hiring takes place either through campus or laterally for specific roles where we need experience people.

What tools/resources you would recommend to students to prepare for the corporate world?

1. First thing is that they have to be up-do-date with current events. It’s important to know what is happening around the world. It is important to read technical journals, newspapers, magazines etc.
2. They should take up membership of some industry body like NHRD, SAE etc. There are student chapters in every city of automobile associations, engineering associations like IEEE student chapter. It’s very important because you get to know what is expected out of you when you join the industry.
3. Participation in college functions, social functions, in some social cause will help. Everybody is looking for leaders now, so they should participate more and more in extra curriculum activities.

Finally I would like to say that students should always be ready for challenges. They should never say no to any opportunity. If you come up successful then you are a hero otherwise nothing is lost. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose. In corporate world if you keep saying no for opportunities then you are sidelined after some time. You have to make every job look good.  If you have that winning attitude, people would spot you from a distance and would come to you.