Teamwork more crucial than Individualism

 

 

Rajan Kalia

(EVP and Head HR, Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd.)



From his years of experience working as an HR professional along with his stint of close to ten years in Max New York Life Insurance, Rajan Kalia is of the opinion that perhaps business schools are not quite there when it comes to building leaders who are equipped to handle the real challenges of the corporate world. Most students pass out without much focus on leadership-building, and therefore, many lack the skills required to work in teams as the usual emphasis is on building individual capability. Students are exposed to project work but that does not necessarily result in adequate experience of managing a project as a team. This being a grave concern for a highly competitive industry like insurance; Max New York Life Insurance prefers lateral hiring than taking in freshers from a business school. The work experience that comes with people hired through laterals is more beneficial to its business requirement.

Moreover, Rajan adds that the insurance sector primarily requires a lot of graduates with the specific skill sets of being able to sell insurance. Therefore, he feels that institutes which train for insurance are better equipped to deliver on the specific skills required in the insurance industry. Further, most business schools run postgraduate programmes whereas at Max New York Life Insurance there is a need for more graduates than postgraduates. So although a majority of their recruitment happens through laterals who are groomed from within for senior managerial positions, the company does on certain occasions visit business school campuses for managerial positions.

Rajan affirms that although competition in the insurance sector is high, Max New York Life does not face a problem here. In fact, it is better known as ‘a great place to work’, having been ranked as one of the top seven 'Best Companies to Work For in India' in the BT-Mercer-TNS survey in 2009 and having won global recognition with the Gallup Great Work Place Award 2009, one of only two Indian companies to do so. Given their reputation as an employer, the organisation has not faced any issues in the area of hiring and acquiring talent.

The work culture and a strong performance orientation define the company’s excellent work ethics. Further, the organisation has in place various practices to ensure that it continues to maintain its reputation of being the best employer. A young and vibrant organisation, Max New York Life is one of the most ambitious and aggressive players in the life insurance sector. A key differentiator in this regard has been its ability to attract some of the most talented professionals from different industries. Perhaps the fact that it provides its employees a learning organisation that encourages personal and professional development make it an easy choice. This is accomplished by way of developing structures, systems and a workplace culture that provides challenging jobs, rewards performance and delivers opportunities continuously. It strives to get the best out of its most valuable asset - its people.

Rajan reveals that Max New York Life, as an organisation, finds it more beneficial to recruit through employee referrals rather than through consultants or business schools. Almost 35 to 40 per cent of hiring is done through employee referrals. This system works better as it brings in people with a greater commitment and those who are attuned to the culture of the organisation.

As an advice to business schools that are responsible for creating employable Indians, Rajan says that the key should be to focus on nurturing the skills required for effective teamwork. Business schools should perhaps also re-look at the initial filter of student intake to maintain quality. He also believes that the business school system needs to pay more attention to the project-reviewing mechanism to ensure that it can measure the level of learning that a student can acquire from a particular project rather than merely fulfilling a credit system. Further, business schools should consider taking inputs from the corporate world while building their curriculum in order to align them better with the skill sets that are at present preferred in the market. In fact, many business schools are already doing this by way of bringing on board experienced people from the industry.