Being one of the oldest conglomerates in India is no mean feat. It takes a good product to make an instantaneous name for the organisation. But to thrive, not just survive, in not just one product line, not one segment, but in almost every segment from clothing to investments, mining to telecommunications, it takes a lot more than just good product knowledge and awareness. It takes vision. It takes adhering to values of the organisation when tough decisions have to be made. The commitment to stick to the values that have been in place since the establishment of the organisation, values that have been in vogue for generations. Being flexible to continuously changing demands, being adaptable to changing circumstances, both external and internal, enhancing the brand image, all the while adhering to the established values, doing this for over one and a half century is what makes Aditya Birla Group exceptional. There were a number of other organisations that started along with Aditya Birla Group but today, hardly any one of those has the multi-faceted presence in India and across the world that this one does.
The values that the drive Aditya Birla Group, viz. integrity, commitment, passion, seamlessness, speed are the values that resonate with most of the general public. There are very few organisations other than Aditya Birla Group that come to mind when one talks about integrity. In today’s scenario, where a new corporate fraud makes headlines every other week, Aditya Birla Group has not just managed to remain clean and operate with integrity, but has also remained exemplary. Aditya Birla Group has demonstrated commitment not just to its customers, employees and shareholders but to the environment as well through its sustainability initiatives and the sustainability reports. While the other values have helped Aditya Birla Group thrive on the business side, I firmly believe integrity and commitment are two values that drive most individuals and organisations in their respective fields.
Having worked as a retail banker myself, I have personally seen that integrity and commitment are the two values that are vital not just for an individual but for an organisation as a whole. To deliver the results with a “no matter what the consequences” mindset might seem to be effective in the short run but in the long run it destroys more value than it creates. Especially in businesses where human relations form a vital part, such values are the ones that define business relationships.
Developing human relations when you do not speak the local language, especially in a place where you are all alone and starting a new job in an entirely new field is quite challenging. It is not an easy task to learn a new language like Tamil, learn the work and get the work done at the same time. I faced this daunting task in my first bank posting in Chennai. It has been an enriching experience for me. As the saying goes, “there are a few things only a storm can teach you”, this experience has taught me a lot about not taking shortcuts to get the work done.
Working with integrity in a profession such as banking is of paramount importance and I have been fortunate enough to learn that through first-hand experience. No matter how big and immediate the impact might be, deviating from your core values inadvertently leads to unpleasant and avoidable situations. This has been particularly and painfully evident from the recent banking frauds that have emerged in the news and from the ones that did not make it to the news. Most of these frauds seem avoidable prima facie, but circumstances and procedures that have been in practice, ones that have yielded results earlier, are usually the ones that lead to such frauds, even when there is no mala fide intention (in most cases).
In practice, I faced multiple challenges, where I had to make a decision and I always followed something my father had taught me in my childhood, “The chickens always come home to roost”. One of the reasons Aditya Birla Group has emerged unscathed from Coal-gate scam was because of the organisational integrity. And this was perhaps the biggest impact Aditya Birla Group had on my personality and career. The fact that the organisation has been acquitted by the CBI special court in the coal scam is a testament to the level of integrity with which the organisation operates. Apart from this allegation, that subsequently proved to be false, there are not many blemishes on the group and it is this clean perception and the trust factor associated with Aditya Birla Group that inspired me to make the right choices when faced with a tough decision.
Stick to your principles and values or take the easy route out. As a banker, there is nothing to be prouder about than being honest and working with integrity at your work.
When dealing with people, gaining their trust is of utmost importance. It becomes very difficult to trust someone whom you can’t understand. Regardless of the work I got done in my initial days, I found it difficult to connect with the customers and get my ideas across to them in a language that they did not understand. I showed a lot of commitment and the results were evident. I started to converse with customers in Tamil in less than 2 weeks and began to understand what they were trying to communicate.
Putting in the extra effort and learning the language helped me connect to the customers better, because they understood and appreciated the fact that I put in the extra effort to make things better. It is this kind of commitment that differentiates profit making firms from the sustainable ones. Aditya Birla Group’s sustainable initiatives such as Idea’s Calling Tomorrow initiative, show the commitment organisation has towards the society at large and that the organisation genuinely cares about the people it serves. Going out of its way to make the society a better place is not something every organisation does and it is this kind of commitment that helps organisation last and thrive for generations.
"Our values provide us with our roots and they provide us with our wings" - Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla Chairman, Aditya Birla Group