Hirdaramani’s leadership program continues to support development of employees

The Graduating Class of the Hirdaramani Leadership Program 2015

The Hirdaramani Group recently held a graduation ceremony to recognise employees who successfully completed the company’s 2014/2015 Leadership Development Program (LDP). At the event, special awards were presented to high performers who excelled in the program and the fourth edition of the LDP was launched for a new batch of over 200 employees. The Hirdaramani Leadership Development Program was launched in 2012 as part of the CARE (Career Awareness Resources to Excel) platform and aims to support the development and career advancement of employees throughout the group. The ALDP program was initiated thereafter in 2015, to ensure the ongoing development of LDP graduates and all graduates of the extension program were also felicitated at the event. 

The ceremony was attended by the directors and senior management of the Hirdaramani Group, along with employees from all business units. T. Buddika Rathne was awarded the ‘Overall Achiever’ and award for the ‘Best Innovation’; Mohamad Amjadh was recognised as the first Runner up and won ‘Best Original Idea’ whilst Mahesh Pushpakumara was recognised as the second Runner up. Shanaka Fernando received the ‘Best Environmental Impact’ award, whilst Indika Nawagamuwage won the award for ‘Best Customer Centric Project’. 

The Leadership Development Program provides employees from all business units across the Hirdaramani Group, with the customised training they require, to become future leaders of the company. The program has shown significant results and has impacted the career paths of the majority of its graduates. Approximately 40% of graduates from the 2012 batch have obtained promotions within the workplace and 15% of graduates from the 2013 batch have also advanced in their careers. The projects implemented by the 2014/2015 batch as part of the final stage of their training, have also already yielded a quantifiable financial impact on the company’s operations. 

The Leadership Program is a combination of self-learning, trainer driven workshops, educational forums, assessments and work related projects, all aimed at developing core leadership skills. As part of the final stage of the training, the participants have to develop and implement a project within their actual work environment. The entire training program is facilitated by High 5 Consulting and Training, to ensure that employees receive a dynamic and engaging learning experience that is effectively monitored and tracked.

Commenting on the program High 5 Consultancy Destiny Architect Vidusha Nathavitharana stated, “Most organisations associate training with a single event, the difference at Hirdaramani is that they have embraced training as an on-going process. When we started this program, we built a roadmap that laid out the journey of each employee as they grow and created a program that develops the qualities that will enable them to reach their career objectives, and Hirdaramani has remained focused and committed to seeing this through. The program is designed to measure ROI and value addition to the company, so the results for both Hirdaramani and its employees are very real and even though employees are nominated to participate based on their potential; they then have to earn their place by making it through each stage of a very rigorous program. This requires a great deal of commitment from each individual and really pushes them, bringing out their skills and capabilities. In return for the commitment shown by its employees, Hirdaramani continues to invest in this process, the introduction of the Advanced Leadership Development Program (ALDP) as an extension of the LDP is yet another example of this.”

Commenting on Hirdaramani’s commitment to training, Hirdaramani Group Head of Human Resources Chamindra Perera Dassanayake stated, “Hirdaramani believes in growing and developing the leadership talent of each and every employee in the organisation. We strive to empower our employees by giving them the opportunity to enhance their analytical thinking, decision making and leadership capabilities in their specific job roles. We believe that a title should never hold an employee back, and we encourage everyone to reach above and beyond their responsibilities to truly deliver an exceptional performance in the workplace.”  

As part of its effort to build the next generation of capable, confident and motivated leaders, the Hirdaramani Group continuously invests in the development of employees across all levels of the organisation. Each year, members of the senior management nominate employees with high potential to participate in the rigorous training programme. The training sessions are spread out over several months, and participants have to balance their ongoing workloads and pass assessment modules to remain in the program. ‘Your Company, Your Future’ is the slogan that drives Hirdaramani’s HR approach as it embodies the management’s recognition that employees are an integral part of innovation and success at Hirdaramani.