change

LPS Quarterly, 3rd Edition, May 2016
culture
change
Culture Change
through Genuine Listening
Paul Ballman, Head of Leadership
Development, Vodafone
On the
Couch with
Saurabh
Govil
President & CHRO, Wipro
Culture joins Strategy
for Breakfast
Gianpaolo Barozzi, Sr. Director HR at Cisco
Building a Sustainable Culture
at Azim Premji Foundation
Sudheesh Venkatesh, Chief People Officer, APF
The Power of Culture in
Partnerships and
Strategic Alliances
Andi Albanese, Global Business Manager
Leading Culture
Change at SAP Labs
V. R. Ferose, Senior Vice President and
Head of Globalization Services at SAP

Editorial - Welcome to LPSQ
Mellissa Ferrier
Senior Manager, LPS
@mellolissa
Leading Organization Change
Many believe that a strong culture – a set of specific values, beliefs and shared behaviors – is critical for organizational
success. This has led many organizations in the search of ‘success culture’ as well as spend millions of dollars in consulting
fees for competitive advantage. However, the process is hard work, resource intensive and takes a long time. Despite the
perils of attempting culture change and rigidness of having a strong culture, most agree it is necessary to achieve a new
strategic vision and help organizations respond adequately to the changes in the external environment. Kodak is a great
example of who recognized the need for culture change too late. Their dominant culture of delivering perfect products
combined with complacent monopolist attitude made it impossible for them to adopt a required hi-tech mindset and
respond with required speed and agility.
In this edition, we hope to dig deep into organization culture, demystify what is seen as an intangible and unconscious
force which drives behavior and sum up the way things are done in an organization. Our objective is to provide fresh
insights, practical tips as well as share real life examples of successful organization change to help you do the same in
your organization.
This edition is packed with thought-provoking articles from Wipro’s LPS Team and the broader HR team on Culture Due
Diligence from an M&A perspective – Using Psychology to Overcome Culture Differences; Harnessing the Power of Culture
in Partnerships and Strategic Alliances; and the Role of Divergent Characteristics in the Change Process. In addition, we
have Ferose V.R., SVP and Head of Globalization Services at SAP narrate how he successfully orchestrated a culture change
at SAP Labs, India at only 33. Paul Ballman, Head of Leadership Development at Vodafone and author of Red Pill: The Truth
About Leadership also has shared his insights about organization culture and the power of listening to mobilize real change.
We have also put Saurabh Govil, our Chief Human Resources Officer on the couch to learn what role culture is playing at
Wipro to remain successful and competitive in an increasing digital and fluid external business environment. We have also
sought insights from Gianpaolo Barozzi, Senior Director of HR at Cisco about how his organization created a new People
Deal and renewed focus on team leadership to make the culture shift happen.
The Leadership and People Sciences Team hopes this issue will unlock your understanding of organization culture as well as
provide useful tools to help you lead culture change initiatives successfully now and in the future.
Enjoy Reading!

05
Culture Change through
Genuine Listening
Paul Ballman, Head of Leadership Development, Vodafone
07
Culture Due Diligence -
Looking Beyond Compatibility
Sachi Krishana, Head - Global Workforce
Transitions and M&A Practice, Wipro
Con
tents
10
13
Culture joins Strategy for
Breakfast
Gianpaolo Barozzi, Sr. Director HR at Cisco
Overcoming
Culture Differences
Lakshmi Acharya, Consulting Partner, LPS, Wipro
15
Culture Change in the Digital World:
Leveraging Divergent Individual
Characteristics
Pradeep Singh, Consulting Partner, LPS, Wipro
17
Sudheesh
Building a Sustainable Culture at
Azim Premji Foundation
Venkatesh, Chief People Officer, APF
Utkal Mohanty, Communication Consultant, APF

19
On the Couch with
Saurabh Govil
Saurabh Govil, President & Chief Human Resources Officer, Wipro
21
How people learn new norms of
behavior as a part of culture
Bijal Chhaya, Principle Consultant, LPS, Wipro
Con
tents
23
25
The Power of Culture
in Partnerships and
Strategic Alliances
Andi Albanese, Global Business Manager, Global 100, Wipro
Should culture
change be attempted?
Smithal Shah, Senior Manager, LPS, Wipro
27
Leading Culture Change
at SAP Labs
V. R. Ferose, Senior Vice President and Head of Globalization Services at SAP
31
Abhijit
How should leaders drive change
in the organization’s culture?
Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer, Wipro

Culture Change through
Genuine Listening
Paul Ballman
Head of Leadership
Development, Vodafone
If the CEO and HRD had invited me in to help them change the
culture, I am sure they would have said that they needed a culture
which empowered people to be customer-centric, yet cost efficient.
Not exactly an unusual desire, but one that was particularly salient
for this business. I say “If” because that wasn’t the task that they
gave me, instead I was brought in to help them build “Britain’s Best
Workplace”. My new boss thought that I would bring my experience
of other amazing workplaces, set a vision for the business, and
then develop a programme to get us there. Instead of doing that,
I decided that my first task was to understand how people saw
the workplace as it was now, so I set upon a path of listening; a lot
of listening. Over a three month period we listened to a thousand
people; a few individually, twice with over 100 people and the
rest of the time in groups of ten. We asked them what would
help make their company Britain’s Best Workplace and what the
roadblocks were.
5 | LPS Quarterly

To begin with, there was a high degree of caution. People needed
reassurance that what they said was confidential, but at the same
time they really wanted to know that some action would be taken
as a result of what they said. I answered them honestly; yes, the
feedback was confidential, but no I couldn’t guarantee that any
action would be taken. However, I did believe that if they spoke
from the heart, people would listen. And speak from the heart they
did. I found that I was fortunate enough to connect with a thousand
people who cared passionately about their business; they wanted it
to succeed, to be proud of it and go home every day knowing that
they helped to contribute to that success. And guess what, they
knew what was needed was a culture change. They knew that they
needed to be empowered to be more customer-centric, but unlike
those at the head office, they actually knew some of the practical
changes that could make that culture change happen. Their analysis
was far superior to any culture briefing that I have ever been given
in the C-Suite. It became clear to me that:
1. Culture change was needed
2. Culture change was wanted
3. It didn’t need to be “done to” people
4. It still wasn’t happening, so something was blocking it
The next task was to help other people hear what I had heard, so
I prepared a “wall walk” for the CEO and laid out the unfiltered
truth. The impact was immediate and large. Even though an ExCo
meeting was due a week later and I had intended to present my
findings there, I was told that this wasn’t quick enough and so
diaries were crashed and every single ExCo member was taken
through the same wall walk over the next couple days. The top
50, and then top 100 leaders soon followed. Important decisions
were made, investments were approved, task forces were initiated,
but interestingly, none of them was given the task of changing the
culture. Instead they were all set up to address the practical barriers
to culture progression.
I am sure that you are wondering whether this approach has worked,
and in truth it is much too soon to say. Progress is definitely being
made, but only time will tell by how much and for how long. In Red
Pill: The Truth about Leadership, I explore some of the false beliefs
that we may have about leadership. All too often we think that
great leaders use their intellects to figure out what the business
needs and then lead the way towards it. We hero worship those
at the top and attribute organizational success or failure to those
few, while ignoring the many. As an alternative, I would heartily
advocate giving listening a go. Listen with genuine openness and
humility, listen to more people than you ever have before, listen for
longer than you ever have before and like me you may find that it
becomes the biggest cultural intervention that you will ever make.
I found that I was
fortunate enough
to connect with a
thousand people who
cared passionately
about their business;
they wanted it to
succeed, to be proud
of it and go home
every day knowing
that they helped to
contribute to that
success.
6 | LPS Quarterly

Culture Due Diligence
- Looking Beyond
Compatibility
Sachi Krishana
Head - Global Workforce Transitions
and M&A Practice, Wipro
2015 has been the strongest year for deal making with worldwide
M&A market totaling almost $5trillion on record according to
the latest industry research. The deal environment has changed
significantly. Growth acceleration is the primary driver of M&As
makingleaders look for companies in different technologies,
markets and products. In such acquisitions where leaders are
buying the companies for their distinct culturea more nuanced
approach towards due diligence and integration is required. What
this means for due diligence phaseandthe outlookbuyers need to
have towards cultural differences is the focus of this article.There
are two challenges facing buyer community today
1. Culture - Performance Equation has become complex:
Integration strategies hinged on the assumption of culture fit
leadingto congruence and value creationare becoming irrelevant.
Time is ripe to move past the debate of compatibility and start
focusing on complementarity.
2. Truncated Due Diligence (DD) Timelines require clarity
and focus: Organizations are leaning towards methods which
are simple and do not require a huge arsenal of tools or culture
experts as part of the DD team. DD teams require new lens to
identify cultural risks.
Some of the changes which can be done in the DD approach to
maintain this balance of relevance and speed are:
Tip 1: Dysfunctional Context is the top most culture risk.
DD teams need to focus on organization practicesand
leadership quality to understand the context of
performance and relationship.
CCulture is a complex, multi-dimensional concept. Some constituent
elements of organization culture are more easier to observe than
others. Also not all of them impact organization’s performance
equally. Market is flooded with tools which help in assessing value
orientation and culture types of organizations however given the
aggressive time lines of DD such an assessment is first unpractical
and second it makes the teams get lost in labyrinth of data.
There is a growing realization that, dysfunctional environment is far
greater risk than the differences on values and beliefs. Employee
satisfaction and performance is impacted by the environment of
performance and support within an organization. These variables are
good indicator of strength of culture. Without such an assessment
during the DD stage, integration team run the risk of making
culture the scapegoat - having many such issues being labeled as
cross-cultural issues when these gaps can exist in homogenous
teams as well.
Understanding of context can be achieved by
1. Organizations are unique in the way they prioritize twin
forces of performance (Stretch, Discipline) and social support
(support and trust). Sumantra Ghoshal and Chris Bartlett call
these attributes collectively as performance context and social
context. Table 1 illustrates key organization practices and
processes one can use to understand the two primary contexts
of an organization.
7 | LPS Quarterly

Higher the varieties
of environments the
leaders have managed,
higher their ability to
navigate the cultural
environment of
differences.
2. Leaders are movers and shakers of culture. When
understanding the leadership capabilities of the target firm, it is
helpful to go past record of success of the leaders and understand
the contextual environment behind the record. Higher the
varieties of environments the leaders have managed, higher their
ability to navigate the cultural environment of differences. The
qualities of leaders are good indicator of emergent leadership
competencies within the organization. The extent to which these
competencies will be effective post acquisition is also one aspect
which DD team must analyze and study.
Tip 2: When shopping for uniqueness, culture differences
are given. DD team needs to have clear thinking and an ability
to make distinction between the differences which can lead to
clash and the differences which are cultural assets and need to be
preserved.
1. Early understanding and management of differences
which can lead to clash
Integration phase is primarily a series of management choices
in which contradictory and conflicting decisions on positioning
the new firm, its strategic goals and integration strategy are
discussed and reconciled. Differences in decision making styles
lead to maximum conflict and derail integration process.
Research indicates that differences in national cultures impact
decision making process in situations where perceived risk is
high. Literature on which dimension has most impact on decision
making is limited. Few national culture dimensions which lead to
maximum debate and conflict are:
»»
Individual Vs Universal Cultures: For instance, leaders in
collective cultures are likely to play more emphasis on organization
goals and overlook impact of acquisition on individual leaders
and players.
»»
Masculine and Feminine Cultures: Masculine and Feminine
cultures:For instance, a more aggressive, action oriented parent
company can interpret heightened focus on relationship and
harmony of the Target Company as cultural issue of lack of drive
and ambition.
Difference on these dimensions when combined with uncertainty
avoidance or risk appetite and high vs low context orientation
during communication can lead to significant differences in the
information used, cognitive thinking and speed of making decisions.
2. Knowing which cultural differences are assets
Cultural aspects which fit well into the deal rationale are assets
and need to be maintained. The DD team can focus on collecting
data on the how the management practices supporting the
required cultural strength are implemented and institutionalized.
For instance, if the parent company is looking for acquiring a
firm for its innovation capability then the DD team can focus
on reviewing the presence and strength of management practices
which support innovation.For instance, the learning processes and
practices, attitude towards failure, measurement of productivity.
How creativity as an attribute is assessed during the hiring? How
much standardization is being driven in goals? What defines a high
performer and extent to which creativity is part of that yardstick?
Such focused assessment gives lot of confidence on the strengths
for which the buyer is actually buying the firm and how these
strengths support the future context the buyer is trying to build or
create. Developing a customized DD questionnaire to understand
specific cultural practices can go a long way in improving the value
from due diligence phase
In summary, despite short timelines principles of reducing risk
and maximizing deal value are not going to disappear. Culture
DD should have right balance of zooming into the context and
espoused strengths of the partner and zooming out on details of
‘types’ and comparisons. At deeper level it requires an approach
of abundance, recognizing the power of ‘and’ , while in parallel
developing capabilities which are interdependent and opposing
(For instance combining ‘stability and efficiency’ of a parent
organization with the ‘agility’ of a newly acquired start up.)
Cultural aspects which
fit well into the
deal rationale are
assets and need to be
maintained.
8 | LPS Quarterly

Table 1: Illustrative aspects to look for when analyzing performance and relationship context during due diligence phase
Context
Understanding the practices at a deeper level
Performance
Strategic Planning Process »»
How the strategy is developed, communicated and cascaded? How is the balance between short
term andlong term focus managed? What is the level of risk appetite?
»»
What is the level of participation and information flow across different levels of the organization
during strategic planning process.
Assessment Management »»
Looking beyond appraisal process, timelines and scale. Focus more on the value orientation
behind performance,is the focus more on development or assessment.
»»
How is the poor performance defined? What is given more emphasis, effort or outcome? How
is failure treated?
»»
What criteria are used to define top talent?
Rewards and Incentives »»
Variability in the rewards. How is risk taking rewarded?
»»
Level and extent of differentiation
Support
Communication »»
Review few samples of past communication on major organization changes and key milestones
»»
Level of Transparency. What is considered confidential? How is access to information controlled?
Employee Care and Support »»
How do leaders manage the balance between business focus and human values?
»»
Attitude towards compliance to policies. How is non-compliance managed.
»»
Focus on celebration and wins.
»»
How people grow to the role of managers. What qualities are looked for in the managers?
Team Management Process »»
How are teams formed? What processes are used for enhancing team effectiveness?
9 | LPS Quarterly

Culture joins Strategy
for Breakfast
Gianpaolo Barozzi
Sr. Director HR at Cisco
@Gianpaolo Barozzi
The growth of e-commerce and the accelerating need for
personalization of products and services has created a disruption
in the Talent Marketplace and greater power shifting from employer
to employee. To respond to this transition, organizations need to
redefine their culture and how they engage with their employees.
Otherwise, they are at risk of losing both talent and their business.
A New People Deal
Employee Value Propositions won’t do anymore. Lifetime
employment is over. On the other hand, it will be impossible
to build a sustainable and innovative business without engaged
employees. Hoffman, Casnocha and Yeh analyzed this dilemma
in their book The Alliance and started to think of employees as
‘allies’ on a ‘tour of duty’; Cisco launched Our People Deal as the
foundation for a future-ready employee experience and the enabler
of a truly transparent and honest employee-employer relationship.
At Cisco, we introduced this new perspective – an intense focus
on engaging our people by creating the very best employee
experience – through an extensive listening campaign: reviewing
and integrating all the employee feedback data we had, directly
asking our employees through multiple focus groups. We looked at
what people said about Cisco in Glassdoor and other social media,
reviewing and integrating all the employee feedback data we had
and by directly asking our employees through multiple focus groups.
What we learned is that our employees’ experiences were not what
we wanted our people to have. We translated the experience into
‘Alex’s journey’ (Refer Figure 1): An employee’s journey at Cisco
where there were both many highs and lows.
10 | LPS Quarterly

An Employee’s Perspective: Alex’s Journey
Recruitment /
Onboarding
Positive
Manager #2
Leadership Support
Project Win &
Recognition
Team support
during personal crisis
Career
Development
Trip to India
Negative
Manager (1st 120 Days)
Not enough manager
interaction / involvement
Reorganization
Rated Strong but
thought Doing
Extremely Well
Breaking
down Silos
Figure 1: Alex’s Journey
Stimulated by this openness to listening, two Cisco employees (from the European HR and Marketing teams) wanted to do something about
improving the employee experience. They wanted to answer the question, targeting the reply to the key question ‘what does a great day at Cisco
look like?’ They had an initial proposal and – supported by their local leaders – created what is now Our People Deal at Cisco (Refer Figure 2).
Our People Deal Framework
What you can expect from us
We’ll help you connect with people, information
and opportunities that you need to succeed. And
we’ll set the direction to meet our customer’s
needs, with the speed required in today’s market
and change the world for the better.
We’ll provide an open and agile environment to
explore your best ideas, challenge the norms, and
develop your skills to help us disrupt the market
and lead the way for a better tomorrow.
We’ll welcome you to a team of the best and
brightest; where your development is supported
and we recognize the value of your contribution.
Our satisfaction comes from our collective ability
to make a meaningful difference in the world.
Connect
everything.
Shape our business
for the future
Innovate
everywhere.
Set the pace for
tomorrow
Benefit
everyone.
Bring our best and
win together
What we ask of you
You align your work to our business goals and our
customers’ needs. You connect with your peers to
deliver the best outcomes and results and you take
no excuses. You understand that by connecting the
unconnected, you can make amazing things happen.
You relentlessly pursue a better, smarter, and
faster tomorrow. You take bold risks and innovate
to help our customers reach their full potential.
You commit to living our values and believe in
winning together. You share knowledge, offer
support, respect and care for each other and
everyday you contribute to our shared success.
Figure 2: Cisco’s Our People Deal Framework
11 | LPS Quarterly

.
Cisco HR has already started this transition:
what does a great day
at Cisco look like?
Connect everything.
Innovate everywhere.
Benefit everyone.
Engagement is now a two-way-road at Cisco – between the
employee and the organization and vice-versa. Our People Deal
represents both the heart and the backbone of the relationship
between Cisco and our talent. It is rather simple. Cisco shares what
employees can expect – in an inclusive and inspiring way and what
it expects of employees. Having a mutual foundation where loyalty,
trust and goals are identified creating commitment for shared
success.
Our People Deal is the foundation for everything we do and is at
the core of a new culture of work at Cisco, as the new outspoken
bond between the organization and its employees.
The Power of Teams
Bringing Our People Deal to life led Cisco’s HR to rethink our
traditional bipolar focus on the individual (performance reviews,
development plans, etc.) and the workforce as a whole (processes,
guidelines, policies) and move to an approach centered on teams
and team excellence. Why? Because,
»»
The ups and downs of Alex’s journey are dependent on the
teams he belong to and the leaders he has
»»
Following the digital “breadcrumbs” left by teams and leaders
with their communications, decisions and activities over time –
start implementing a new approach to employee listening and
HR analytics
»»
Moving out from a world of few limited, time-bound data, with
extremely high interpretation power (For instance, yearly
performance reviews)
»»
Entering into a world of data series, measured frequently, with
great interpretation power only when aggregated (For instance,
weekly check-ins and monthly performance snapshots) enabling
agile interventions and predictive modeling
Thus, transitioning HR’s credo from assumptions and beliefs to
analytics and behaviors, from “we think” to “we know”, and finally
from legislation to excellence. Once again, a revolution for the
traditional HR mindset (which is making few of our HR professionals
uncomfortable) needs deep leadership change from the top.
The first duty of HR is to our teams, and to the people who
lead them
At Cisco, we’re focusing squarely on our little platoons, on how to
support them in their moments of formation, success, change or
crisis. If we get this right, we know we can serve our customers and
employees better. And we can create an experience of work that
is rich, challenging, authentic, individualized – leaving the soulless
world of competency, bureaucracy and one-size-fits-all-hegemony
behind, to make the world of work feel like a place where each of
us can be better together - a place where we belong.
Through Our People Deal and the power of teams, culture finally
joins strategy for breakfast to succeed in this exponentially changing
business and talent marketplace.
Let the journey begin!
»»
Teams are the ‘molecules’ all companies are composed of
»»
Company goals are much more often achieved by teams
»»
People ‘belong’ to teams – before they belong to companies
»»
Great Leaders achieve outstanding outcomes ‘through’ their
teams
By placing the focus on team and team leader excellence, we will be
able to make the cultural mind shift plus the transformation happen
and ultimately achieve outstanding business outcomes.
By placing the focus
on team and team
leader excellence,
the cultural mind shift
can happen
12 | LPS Quarterly

Overcoming
Culture Differences
Lakshmi Acharya
Consulting Partner, LPS, Wipro
@LakshmiAcharya3
Organizations, much like societies, function effectively only if the
people within them share a collective set of principles, values,
beliefs, and ideologies, all of which together form that organization’s
own distinct ‘culture’.
Culture decides the way employees interact at their workplace.
The behavior amongst the employees and interactions with people
outside the organization are greatly influenced by the culture of the
organization.
The culture of an organization is a formational part of the
organization’s overall identity. A set of values are imparted from the
top of the organizational hierarchy in such a way that they percolate
down to every level and become embedded in the collective
unconscious of the whole organization. Think of this transmission
of culture as the head architect of a building giving the same set of
blueprints to everyone involved in the construction of the project.
Construction will move along smoothly as long as everyone on the
project has the same set of instructions, with the same end goal.
But what would happen if someone new entered the project and
brought with them a whole new set of blueprints? How can an
organization function when the collective unconscious of its people
is filled with different sets of values? This is an intra-organizational
culture clash.
Often, new employees bring in a different set of values which may
or may not be in line with the pre-existing value system of the
organization. This can be incredibly beneficial because it brings in
a fresh perspective which will help in modernizing the cultural
norms of the organization. However, it may create unrest and breed
insecurity in the minds of the pre-existing employees who have
grown comfortable in the organization’s method of functioning.
In a way, this presents like a generation gap within some families,
where there is a great divide in thinking and perspective. There
is frustration, weariness and suspicion. It is as though children
and parents come from two different worlds. The children’s
independence and assertion of their ideas can be a threat to the
family’s existing value system. Unless the children and the parents
find a way to understand each other’s perspectives, the family unit
is at unrest.
13 | LPS Quarterly

Usually the main challenge is, understanding the context of
communication in a high-context culture. The beliefs of every
culture are so very well embedded in their collective unconscious
that they need not be explicitly communicated amongst the
members. But when people who are not familiar with these cultural
nuances join the organization, these very nuances, however simple
and uncomplicated, become “high-context” to them and the
communication style seems layered and sophisticated.
In this scenario, most communication is left to our own
interpretation. Very little is put in writing, and we have to literally
read between the lines. Messages are implied and not explicitly
stated. This can lead to confusion between the sender and receiver
of the message.
People may adapt their behavior but may experience value conflict
and unease at a subconscious level. Over a period of time, this
conflict combined with a constant feeling of insecurity will lead
to demotivation and indifference. The sense of belongingness and
ownership starts to wear out.
However, without change there is very little or no growth. Just
like the issue of ‘generation gap’, organizations and the new
comers have to find a way to understand each other’s perspectives
and mindsets.
Creating an environment of low-context communicating culture
would allow for clearer communication, where neither the sender
nor the receiver will misinterpret the message. This can be done
by making sure messages are understood at face value and the
communication is clear, simple and precise. Repetition and putting
messages in writing would further enable clear communication.
Here are some ways to bridge the gap
Listen. Don’t assume. Assumptions are the worst
enemies of any relationship. We can never assume
that we know someone so well that we can pass
judgements on them or box them into a “type.”
Empathize and understand the world they come
from, and their values, and make them understand
your world and your values.
People can adapt their
behavior but as a result
experience value
conflict and unease
at a subconscious
level. Over a period of
time, this conflict will
lead to demotivation
and indifference.
View newcomers as a strategic business
investment and train, develop and engage them.
It is important to explain to the newcomers why
we do what we do. Clear communication and
authentic experiences help people imbibe
the new culture.
At the same time, it is important for current
employees to also understand the newcomers’
method of working and frame of mind. Since
cultural norms are ever evolving, it is important
for the organization to be able to appreciate and
adapt to the new generation’s way of thinking.
14 | LPS Quarterly

Culture Change in the
Digital World: Leveraging
Divergent Individual
Characteristics
Pradeep Singh
Consulting Partner, LPS, Wipro
@SelByNeg
In the book The Second Machine Age the authors, Erik Brynjolfsson
& Andrew McAfee, define three key developments that are driving
the increasingly digital world that we are living in today:
»»
Sustained exponential improvements computing
»»
Extraordinarily large amounts of digitized information
»»
Recombinant innovation
Out of these three developments, the ‘recombinant innovation’
is clearly most critical from a culture change perspective.
Recombinant innovation in simple terms means the recombining
of different aspects of the digital world – omnipresent digital
information, astounding power of computing and fast evolving new
technologies – into creating innovative new products and services.
The focus is not on big bang inventions, but on recombining existing
general purpose technologies that are emerging at a fast rate. For
instance, the app Waze recombines a set of existing technologies
– GPS system, location sensor, mobile data sharing and power of
social networks – to create a valuable service of providing driving
directions with an awareness of real-time traffic conditions.
Organizations looking to thrive in the digital world need to take
into account the importance of evolving a culture that enables
recombinant innovation. This is especially critical for organizations in
the dynamic industry of technology services which can impact, and
are getting impacted, by the discontinuous waves of recombinant
innovation in the digital world. This picture gets further complicated
when we include the pace at which the organizational culture needs
to evolve to keep up with the speed of technology change. But is it
possible for an organization’s culture to evolve at the same pace as
the current waves of technology change?
15 | LPS Quarterly

Martec’s law argues that ‘technology changes exponentially, while
organizations change logarithmically’ (Refer Figure 1).
Figure 1: Illustration of Martec’s law by Neil Perkin.
Source: http://www.onlydeadfish.co.uk
tension and conflict are created when this simplistic way of dividing
society produces “Divergents” who don’t conform clearly to one
of the five factions.
Drawing an analogy to the context of a large scale matrix
organization, such organizations were able to create a culture of
efficiency in the post-war 20th century by sharply defining roles
and responsibilities which allowed them to manage scale and scope
in a world that, in hindsight, appears largely deterministic compared
to the high pace of technological change we are experiencing today.
Change
Technology changes
exponentially...
...but Organizations change
logarithmically
This challenge
grows harder
with time
However, this organizational design also hampered the exercise
of independent will and creativity by individual employees who
increasingly became conditioned to bringing only the ‘desired’
characteristics to their workplace aligned to the role they were
assigned to. Essentially, this meant organizations actively or passively
discouraged role divergence and individuals in turn complied by
suppressing characteristics and behaviors perceived to be divergent.
For instance, someone performing a delivery or an operation also
having an aptitude for sales or marketing.
Time
While some of us may disagree about the feasibility and accuracy of
representing organizational change through a precise mathematical
function, it is not hard to agree with the basic argument here that
organizational change lags behind technological change. In fact, this
seems truer now than ever, given the fast evolving digital world that
organizations have to deal with today.
The question then is how organizations can reinvent the process
of affecting cultural change in the light of the new challenges
they face in the digital world. While conventional approaches to
organizational development provide intervention frameworks
and tools for undertaking culture change initiatives at the overall
organizational level, one wonders if approaching culture change
with the unit of analysis being organization-as-a-whole is something
that is already factored in the presumed rate of culture change in
Martec’s law.
With the world moving towards mass customization and
personalization, there may be some merit in considering individuals
as the unit of analysis for culture change in organizations. One can
find instances of this idea being explored in popular fictions such as
The Divergent Series books trilogy (also adapted to movie series
by the same name) authored by Veronica Roth.
The backdrop for this trilogy is a post-apocalyptic dystopian
society that divides its individual citizens into five different factions:
Abnegation (the selfless), Amity (the peaceful), Candor (the
honest), Dauntless (the brave) and Erudite (the intelligent), based
on their personality characteristics. Needless to say, that the plot
16 | LPS Quarterly
Management must
choose carefully which
changes are adopted
In today’s digital world, however, matrix-based organizational
structures are giving way to an evolving organizational model that
is based on boundary-less and networked teams that invite people
from within, and even outside the organization to come together
based on their ability to contribute to a project rather than their
role definition (e.g., platforms like GitHub, Kaggle, Innocentive).
In conclusion, there may be merit in looking at culture change
from the lens of an individual as a unit of analysis. The divergent
personality characteristics and behaviors are not just tolerated but
encouraged provided they imbibe the organizational values and
complement the team in achieving shared objectives and goals.
Matrix-based
organizational
structures are giving
way to an evolving
organizational
model that is based
on boundary-less and
networked teams that
invite people from within,
and even outside the
organization to come
together based on their
ability to contribute to
a project’

Building a Sustainable
Culture at Azim Premji
Foundation
Sudheesh Venkatesh
Chief People Officer, APF
Utkal Mohanty
Communication Consultant, APF
The Azim Premji Foundation was set up in 2001 as a not-for-profit
organization with a mission to ensure that quality education is
available to all, recognizing that this is crucial to the overall progress
of the country. The Foundation started with the realization that
for good education to be available to all, it is fundamental to have
a robust Public Education System and the only way sustainable
progress in education can be ensured is through systemic change.
It also meant that working on ‘quality’ and ‘equity’ in education
had to be done in an integrated manner with an institutionalized
framework. It was going to be a long haul as no short-term solution
was likely to have a sustainable impact.
that would evolve over time. In a sense, the organization’s culture
would be the fabric that holds its people together and would be
something each one at the Foundation would live every day.
The culture of any organization is a framework that is meant to
help the organization realize its vision, which in the case of Azim
Premji Foundation is to contribute towards building a just, equitable,
humane and sustainable society. So, what were the definite tenets of
the culture that would enable this?
Since the Foundation was a philanthropic initiative of Mr. Azim
Premji and was well-endowed from the start, the principal challenge
in building the organization was people. The organization needed
people whose heart was in social change and had the appropriate
competence to deliver on various fronts. There had to be an
organizational structure in place but it could not be as rigid as in
commercial corporate organizations. The organization also had to
grow rapidly in order to make an impact at the scale it intended
to. Though there was a central division for planning and enabling
functions, the heart of the Foundation was in the State and District
Institutes, some of them in the remotest and most backward regions
of the country. This is where the Foundation members interacted
with teachers of government schools and government education
functionaries. People joining the Foundation came from diverse
social and professional backgrounds. It was imperative therefore
to have shared values that made them all move in unison with a
single-minded purpose.
Azim Premji foundation defined its culture as this set of shared
beliefs, values and practices. While trying to convey the underlying
aspects of the Foundation’s culture it was felt that while there were
certain aspects of it that are non-negotiable, there were others
17 | LPS Quarterly

The Foundation came up with five key tenets:
Act with
integrity
and courage
At its most basic, integrity is honesty. It is being truthful, honoring commitments, and doing
what is right. It is about being ethical beyond doubt.
Intense
commitment
to quality
As a work ethic, quality is an expression of the desire to do exemplary work. It is the desire
to learn, grow and reach a higher level of understanding and ability. Further, it is also about
helping others excel, by sharing of experience and learning.
Deeply
reflective
and rational
Reflection is the act of looking at oneself, one’s work and one’s actions critically with the
particular aim of learning. Rationality means that one will be driven by reason, research and
evidence under all circumstances without being prisoners to any particular ideology or
preconception.
Catalyze
social change
with passion
This is the foundation’s driving force; it is why they exist. They exist to make a real difference; to
make society more just, equitable, humane and sustainable.
Be open and
caring
Being open means being genuinely receptive to feedback, a willingness to change one’s views, and
not being dogmatic. Empathy and respect are at the heart of caring. Caring happens when you
understand the other, when you value and trust the other.
The next task was to come out with more detailed practices
that could be observed in one’s everyday work life: Sharing is
caring, Complex out - simple in, Freedom with Responsibility,
No Compartments in Life, Believing in Teamwork rather than
superheroes, etc.
It was clear that culture had to be internalized and could not be
enforced through rules and regulations. Also, it would be an uphill
task to ensure buy-in to the culture for people whose value systems
were fundamentally not in tune with that of the organization. So, the
Foundation lays utmost importance on the kind of people it recruits.
The recruitment process is a long-drawn one, often involving five
to six rounds of personal interviews. Further, everyone joining
the Foundation goes through a formal and interactive process of
induction. This ensures that everyone is on the same page when
it comes to a clear understanding and a passionate buy-in of the
vision and values of the Foundation. Ultimately, the Azim Premji
Foundation has succeeded in sustaining its culture while also
giving its employees a latitude to evolve by treating them as the
repositiory as well as the transmitters of its culture.
18 | LPS Quarterly
Ultimately, the Azim
Premji Foundation has
succeeded in sustaining
its culture while also
giving its employees a
latitude to evolve by
treating them as the
repositiory as well as
the transmitters of
its culture.

On the Couch with
Saurabh Govil
Saurabh Govil
President & Chief Human
Resources Officer, Wipro
@saurabh_govil
How important is culture today for Wipro?
I see culture as the way we behave as a collective within the
organization. The culture must enable the firm to succeed in the
marketplace. So, if the firm is not winning, maybe it is time for
everyone to do some soul searching. There are two approaches
towards changing culture.
1. Slower approach: Culture takes a long time to change
because people get used to one way of working
2. Sense of urgency approach: Culture change will happen by
the leaders acting as role models
I believe change that is driven by leaders is more effective. The
leaders have to live these behaviors every day. We have called
out the new behaviors and articulated where we want to be. For
example, it is critical for Wipro to win, even if it is not my BU, my
Function, or my account. That is the need today. Everyone needs to
demonstrate that philosophy in every day behaviors. A lot of people
need to come together. It’s been called out how that leaders drive
that agenda is what we need to see.
The way leaders at every level role model and take ownership of
changing the culture is the most critical part. I remember working
for a manager who was very particular about following time. After
he took over the business, he scheduled 8am review calls every
week with his team. On the first day of the call, at 30 seconds
past 8am he made it a rule that latecomers would not be allowed
to join the cal. That day there were only 3 people on the call. He
maintained this rigor and by the 4th week, everyone made it a point
to be punctual. Being on time became a part of our culture. They say
that if you repeat a behavior on six occasions it becomes culture.
Stories of success
sustain cultural shifts.
What role do external factors play in helping organizations
change their culture?
The macro environment shapes the firm’s culture. The macro
environment and our entire industry is going through a sea change.
Technology trends are changing, so are customer needs and their
business challenges. As the saying goes, ‘what got us here won’t
get us there’. While we should keep questioning and reinventing
ourselves to keep pace with external changes. We need to build
speed and agility in everything that we do.
Other than Leadership playing a vital role in driving
change from the top-down and the influence of Macro
factors, what are the other levers you see to make culture
change happen?
Stories of success sustain cultural shifts. If you look at one of
our signature values – “Unyielding Integrity”, there are enough
stories, artifacts and folklores within the system that will make
people believe that everyone here lives by that value of ‘Unyielding
Integrity’. There is no grey area when it comes to integrity issues.
We all know that. That is the way of life in Wipro. That’s what we
need to do to drive the new culture forward.
19 | LPS Quarterly

So you talk of three elements to drive culture – the
external shift in the market, the internal play and that
of the role of the leader and the third is disseminated
through the process of storytelling, today when you look
at the organization attempting culture change, what can
individuals do who are not necessarily in a leadership role
or have a team or set of people they can directly influence,
what can that individual contributor do to change culture?
It is important even at an individual level for those people within
their sphere of influence to attempt behavioral change because
when those individual efforts get aggregated, the change happens
in the organization.
Can culture change happen even in large organizations like
Wipro, with over 170,000 people?
It does. Especially, if it driven from the top. You must get the top
leadership group of an organization, the top 500 leaders to believe
that culture change is the right thing to do, and act as role models
and display the new behaviours. That is how culture change happens
in large organizations.
Any other lessons you have picked up from leading other
change initiatives over your career?
The need for change must be felt from within. External pushes
do not sustain change. You have to make the agenda for change
personal. At an individual level, they have to see ‘what’s in it for me’
to create urgency and momentum for change.
There will always be people resistant to change. But the group will
also have evangelists and fence sitters. Work with the evangelists to
convert the fence sitters. These are the 2 groups who will be the
real change makers. We must air out all our views and debate them.
But once a decision has been taken, everyone must implement the
decision even if it was not what you had proposed. Then there is
no looking back.
You must get the top
leadership group of
an organization, the
top 500 leaders to
believe that culture
change is the right
thing to do, and
act as role models
and display the new
behaviours. That is
how culture change
happens in large
organizations.
Any other takeaways to help others drive culture change
successfully?
»»
Culture is an outcome of the values translated into action
»»
Have leaders role model the behaviors that are needed to
succeed.
»»
Leader must ensure communication of the values
20 | LPS Quarterly

How people learn new
norms of behavior as a
part of culture
Bijal Chhaya
Principle Consultant, LPS, Wipro
@BijalRChhaya
All human interactions in society has an underlying dynamic
of jostling for power. We are always attempting to control
the other. The powerful therefore would like to keep the
dynamics that drive social interactions typically on their
terms. Therefore what happens is that most people, out of
sheer survival compulsions, align with the powerful, at least
in the short term. However, over time, with every such
interaction the power dynamic will start to shift. That is
because the less powerful people will gradually realize that
they are at a point of disadvantage and therefore in the long
run stand to lose unless they start resisting the status quo.
They also begin to intellectually understand the reasons for
their disadvantage and gradually begin to evolve responses
that help them overcome this disadvantage. This jostling for
power effectively means that the disadvantaged person, the
group or even entire societies gradually begin to relook at
the way they make meaning in their lives and see how to
swing the narrative in their favor.
This dynamic shift requires the disadvantaged group to
move onto a ground which provides them the advantage.
It requires multiple things. For instance, pushing your
opponent’s emotional buttons to force mistakes. Or it might
require even a feint giving the impression that they are still
in control thereby getting them to lower their guard. But at
the heart of this challenge is that the underprivileged group
is seeking to grab control of the dynamic that is the source
of their disadvantage.
21 | LPS Quarterly

This jostling for power
effectively means that
the disadvantaged
person, the group or
even entire societies
gradually begin to
relook at the way
they make meaning
in their lives and
see how to swing the
narrative in their favor.
1930 the salt law was broken by Mahatma Gandhi. This symbolic act
was followed by large scale making of salt across the subcontinent.
In order to curtail this defiance the British arrested over 70000
people across India. But the deed was done. The subjects had
brought the spotlight on this non-violent resistance and made
people around the world emotionally align with the disadvantage
that Indians were living with. This set the foundation for Britain
providing the Indian independence.
This short narrative brings alive how India’s independence is owed
to a small group of people initially and then the whole country
daring to challenge an existing paradigm - the British people’s right
to define the rules by which India was governed. Similarly, each of
us owe it to ourselves to stand by our beliefs and act in a manner
that serves us and the organization. In seeking and building meaning
into our actions, we are actually seeking to draw power towards
areas that we see to be valid. When over time, a critical mass
of colleagues at work connect with the essence of what you are
seeking to do and modify their own behaviors to resonate with
the choices that you are pointing towards it gradually becomes a
movement. It can be similar to Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha,
wherein the people within the organization have built a new norm
of behavior in order to remain relevant in an unfolding future.
In the early part of the twentieth century, India was ruled by the
British. All rules, laws and customs on the Indian sub-continent
were framed such that it was advantageous to the British and
disadvantageous to the people of India. This was the dynamic that
Mahatma Gandhi first observed in South Africa and then later
in India. Gradually the entire purpose of his life was subsumed
to resisting this fundamental dynamic. A minor element of this
subjugation was the taxation on salt by the British. But this is what
his genius chose to resist for the symbolism that it represented.
Salt is fundamental in the human diet. Its need is even more acute
in tropical climates. Historically given India’s vast coast line, salt was
extracted from sea-water by evaporating the water. But the British
banned the making of salt in this manner to monopolize colonially
licensed salt after paying tax to the Imperial power. In order to
resist this law, Mahatma Gandhi marched on March 12, 1930 from
Sabarmati ashram in Ahmedabad to a village called Dandi near
Navsari on the coast. This march lasted 24 days and on April 6th
The people within
the organization have
built a new norm of
behavior in order to
remain relevant in
an unfolding future.
22 | LPS Quarterly

The Power of Culture
in Partnerships and
Strategic Alliances
Andi Albanese
Global Business Manager,
Global 100, Wipro
@andialb
Building a strong corporate culture poses many
challenges of its own.
Partnerships and strategic alliances are crucial to remain
competitive in today’s business landscape. But the output
of a partnership is a result of the free flow of information,
trust, and dedication to shared objectives. The availability of
information to all parties will drive better business results,
increasing creativity and strengthening the ability to build
on ideas. But to create an environment of openness and
collaboration, trust and a shared vision must be the core
of the relationship.
The latest research suggests that culture is a powerful
force in the success of long term relationships. Although
the goods and services that a company sells are the basis
to business, relationships built on a solid foundation and
common understanding of culture will drive success.
Partnerships with these crucial elements will make greater
investments in the relationship, cultivating trust and shared
values, and generating greater pay offs in the form of more
closed deals and business success.
The blending of two groups tends to not be seamless,
but an iterative process that takes time to find the right
balance. Creating the boundaries of a relationship and
joint culture can be difficult; however, below are some
recommendations for building a strong partnership
that delivers value to customers and to each of the
parties involved:
Although the goods
and services that a
company sells are
the basis to business,
relationships built
on a solid foundation
and common
understanding of
culture will drive
success.
23 | LPS Quarterly

Create a Clear Vision: Partnership leaders must have a clear
understanding of each company’s respective culture; it is important
to remain authentic to your corporate foundation. With the
individual corporate identities as a basis, a partnership team must
analyze the structure and nature of its joint relationship, assess the
priorities, and draft a joint vision statement and create a cohesive
working model. The vision of the alliance that I worked with was
to gain customer affirmation of “the partnership and the solutions
to be the most effective for solving their strategic and mission
critical priorities.” The key to this vision was to drive value for
customers by joining Wipro and the partner’s efforts to create
better results for business issues. This vision is further solidified by
the strategic intents or pillars which include marketing, competency
development, and governance among others.
Understand the Value: It is important for each partner in the
relationship to feel as an equal contributor and understand the
value that the joint effort is going to drive. For instance, one partner
may have a reputation of strong technology platforms, but without
an innovative solution and relevant use case from the other partner,
the platform will generate little value to the customer. When both
sides of the relationship understand the value of each other, only
then can they put aside individual biases and develop the best
proposal for the client, utilizing the greatest offerings the joint team
can create.
Set Process Goals: In addition to the tactical goals that work
teams set, it is also important to identify process goals. Process
goals can also be understood as group norms or shared agreements
among members about the expected behaviors and shared values.
Process goals form the basis of how a partnership team should
work together and merge two independent corporate cultures into
a cohesive group, creating synergies and value for clients. Investment
in training and defining team norms increases commitment to the
partnership. When partners feel strongly about a defined process,
normative power is created and deviations will rarely occur. Most
people want to be liked by team members and will comply with
norms. This also applies to the parties in a partnership.
Such processes to strengthen existing partnerships may include:
Communication: Through what medium and how often is the
partnership team expected to communicate? Communication
style is often a by-product of team structure. Globally dispersed
teams have difficultly engaging in in-person discussions; time zones
present conflicts for connecting at convenient times of the day.
However, there are many ways to overcome these challenges. Video
conferences can be a substitute for in-person interactions. File
sharing and online collaboration tools such as Microsoft OneDrive
or IBM Connections can create a joint working space without the
concern of document version control.
Don’t let the culture
of your partnership
be a by-product
or a side item. By
establishing a culture
and work style, the
joint forces are more
likely to be successful
and generate the most
value to the client and
the parties involved.
Decision-making: Will your team make decisions based on group
consensus or will the leader have the final say? Decision-making
styles are often deep rooted in the culture of a society. This can
pose issues when companies originate from different parts of the
world. Setting a process in advance will help avoid unnecessary
conflicts that could be damaging to relationships.
Evaluating Client Deliverables: The final hours of a client
deliverable deadline can be very stressful, especially when there
are many opinions about what a successful end product looks
like. A partnership team should set clear guidelines for evaluating
deliverables including topics such as quality standards, preferred
deliverable format, and branding. This will ensure that the submitted
client proposal meets the standards of each party and has the best
chance of success and satisfying the client.
Don’t let the culture of your partnership be a by-product or a side
item. By establishing a culture and work style, the joint forces are
more likely to be successful and generate the most value to the
client and the parties involved. Be thoughtful about relationships
and act with intent, establishing values and norms that will carry
you across the finish line in proposals and client wins. At the core
of business are partnerships and people, and the culture of these
interactions drive your ability to predict customer needs, outdeliver
competitors, and ensure the future success of your business.
24 | LPS Quarterly

Should culture
change be attempted?
Smithal Shah
Senior Manager, LPS, Wipro
@smithalshah
Culture is an organization’s operating environment. It is an implicit
form of behavior, attitude, and activity. It is a system of shared
assumptions, values, ideologies, principles and beliefs which govern
how people behave in organizations. It gets formed over years,
becomes an organization’s DNA and a critical determining factor in
an organization’s success. It is also difficult to change.
While challenges like change in current business environment,
emergence of exponential technologies and globalization are
creating new business avenues, they also are the reasons for some
organizations to go bankrupt and become extinct. Past success will
not guarantee success for the future. In today’s world, in order to
remain successful, it is imperative for organizations to adapt with
speed and agility to compete with changing business environments
that is increasingly digital and disruptive.
Organizations in the face of such challenges typically lookout for
options to adapt and succeed. The most common prescription
suggested is –“fix the culture”. However, the views of corporate
leaders who have led major transformations successfully in the past
argue that culture isn’t something you “fix”. Also, changing culture
of any organization is an uphill journey; a difficult task which may
not see light at the end of the tunnel. In many organizations, culture
change initiatives have become cliché. Senior leaders get attracted
by this new prescription for dealing with the challenges of an
organization. Most often they overestimate the potential of culture
change and underrate the difficulty in implementing it. Leaders need
to be watchful and not get swayed looking at the business case of
“culture change” put forth by lucrative consulting companies since
such assignments can fetch them high returns.
25 | LPS Quarterly

Employees feel
demotivated when
decision-making gets
centralized by leaders
excluding lower-level
employees in the
change process, even
though they are directly
affected. Naturally,
employees who are
forced to align to the
new change have the
initial reaction to resist it.
Attempting any culture change can be a difficult journey and a
path not for the light-hearted. It shouldn’t be attempted when the
following exists:
Lack of ownership: Without conviction, leaders will not be
enthused to ensure that their teams will “own” responsibility to
make change happen. At times leaders are found running multiple
changes and initiatives as a part of an overall organization plan and
vision. These change initiatives may be competing or overlapping
with each other. Without intervening and resolving such conflicts,
the enthusiasm will die and would leave employees frustrated.
Leaders can drive real change when they model the new behavior
towards the desired future state. Leaders should ‘walk-the-talk”
and exemplify new expectations. Teams look upon their leaders;
and if leaders are not committed, the progress of any change can
ultimately dampen and come to halt.
Inconsistent communication: Any change process can
create confusion and anxiety among employees. Some may feel
disoriented, especially during the transition phase where they are
discontinuing with the existing way of doing things and are yet to
adapt to the new ways. Many leaders fail to engage with the teams
and communicate consistently to share the relevant information
and address their queries. By leaders being at helm, employees feel
safe and comfortable.
Always top-down: Culture change fails when it is only driven
from the top. Typically, the leadership team works with the next
level to disseminate the “why”, “what” and “how” of the change
initiative and then asked to cascade the same throughout the rest
of the organization. If only driven from the top, it implies imposing
a change. Employees feel demotivated when decision-making gets
centralized by leaders excluding lower-level employees in the
change process, even though they are directly affected. Naturally,
employees who are forced to align to the new change have the
initial reaction to resist it. Success of such a change initiative is
short-lived, no matter how good these top-level decisions are
made, because they ignore so much of the organization and fail to
build enough ownership and accountability for driving change on
the ground. The challenge relying on a bottom-up approach is it is
time consuming and resource-intensive.
Unrealistic timelines: Setting an unrealistic timeline for change
implementation is the most common mistake leaders commit. They
do so because of their desire to bring about immediate change.
Leaders get driven by the “speed” syndrome. Two facts about any
transformational change journey to be kept in mind are:
1. Resources, effort and time needed to plan and implement any
change initiative must be added on top of – the resources,
efforts and time required to perform business-as-usual.
2. For any change initiative, thoughtful and thorough planning
is required to arrive at realistic timelines considering other
systemic variables of the organization. It will take the time it
actually requires despite any wishes to make it happen faster.
Today, leaders advocate culture change as the norm for an
organization. It may sometimes be easier and faster to set up a new
organization as a separate division or subsidiary, shielding from any
intrusion by parent, than adapting to a slower and harder process of
trying to change the culture of the existing organization.
26 | LPS Quarterly

Leading Culture Change
at SAP Labs
V. R. Ferose
Senior Vice President and Head of
Globalization Services at SAP
@VRFerose
What was the signal that it was time to change the culture
at SAP Labs?
I had inherited a culture that needed correction in focus and
motivation. A sense of pride for working in the company was slowly
diminishing and management connect with the employees was
lessening.
How did you start the culture transformation at SAP Labs?
In April 2010, when I took charge as the Managing Director at SAP
Labs India, the second largest R&D facility in the SAP universe, my
priority was to shore up employee morale and bring down the
attrition levels to below industry standards. Besides this, there were
a few other issues that needed course correction. My agenda was
to identify the problems and fix them, and time at my disposal was
two years.
To get to the bottom of the various issues that had come to my
notice, I embarked on a ‘listening’ campaign. Listening is the key to
establishing effective working relations and I am a firm believer in
this. From my initial conversations and feedback, I gathered that the
communication channels within the organization were unfocused
and sporadic. Full potential of the employees was not being realized,
although the working facilities and benefits were attractive.
Our employees had the industry best employee policies at their
disposal, like free food, free transportation, no attendance etc. It
was like paradise but there wasn’t enough hunger, eagerness, and
passion. People were not driving themselves hard enough. I wanted
to create a sense of hunger for employees to achieve something.
I wanted to set big goals and challenge them. I think this was the
culture I wanted to create.
27 | LPS Quarterly

How has your leadership beliefs informed the way you lead
change?
Often its poor leadership that makes organizations go awry. But the
blame is directed towards reasons such as lack of quality in hires,
poor creativity etc. I have seen organizations being transformed
without the need to replace resources. Many a time leaders are
under the mistaken notion that to transform an organization, it is
necessary to fire a set of people and replace them with a new talent
pool. While you have people that need to be changed, you shouldn’t
start with the assumption that people are no good and feel that you
have to get rid of all of them. With the right vision, inspiration, tools
and strategy, change is possible with existing resources.
1. The root cause of every problem is a leadership
problem. This meant that if things failed, it was my fault not
the fault of the organization. It’s tempting to put the problem
somewhere else without looking at ourselves. I took the
ownership for the culture change. If it needs to happen, I have
to drive change across the organization.
2. Involve people in the change. While I may be the person
that needs to drive the change, I can’t do it alone. You need the
buy-in from the organization to make a transformation happen.
If you really want to change culture, it must be both top-down
and bottom-up. Change must happen from both directions.
Great leadership will push down the agenda but people in
the entire organization need to be bought in and own the
change too.
3. People at the end of the day look at real actions. I have
seen people put a lot of emphasis on strategy, which I believe
is important but the real thing is getting things done. People
will evaluate you on what you have done and not on the quality
of your presentation or how well you articulate your vision
statement. It’s about doing a few things incredibly well and
amplifying the message, so people get it and understand you are
serious about change.
4. Articulating your thoughts and putting a huge emphasis
on communication. A lot of the time people’s visions remain
in the eyes of only a few people. Every employee should
understand the vision. You should be able to stand up in front
of employees often and explain and answer every question. I
cannot underestimate the need to communicate, communicate,
and communicate! There is nothing called over communicating.
You just need to stand up and answer those difficult questions.
This needs to be built as a culture. Your leadership team has to
do it and the more you do it, the better you will become. Then
people start believing in a true transformation.
A lot of leaders believe
that they need to
communicate but don’t
because they themselves
aren’t very good
communicators. I don’t
think the two need to
go hand-in-hand. Great
leaders don’t have to
be great speakers. They
just need to stand up
and answer questions.
What people look for
in a great leader is
not skills or charisma;
they look for honesty
and authenticity.
What stops leaders from leveraging the power of
communication?
It could be underestimation. A lot of leaders believe that they
need to communicate but don’t because they themselves aren’t
very good communicators. This gets in the way. I don’t think the
two need to go hand-in-hand. Great leaders don’t have to be great
speakers. They just need to stand up and answer questions. What
people look for in a great leader is not skills or charisma; they look
for honesty and authenticity. So you can still be yourself in front of
people and answer their questions without being a great orator. It
takes a lot of courage to put yourself in front of people, especially
when there is bad news. However, it is important for a leader to
communicate both good and bad news.
28 | LPS Quarterly

How did you go about changing the culture? What role did
you take for yourself and for your team? What was your
communication strategy?
I did a series of one-on-one interviews across the organization, at
all levels, before I created my 100 day plan and made it public in
the organization. I listed 50 things we will do in the first 100 days.
People told me I was too ambitious and also insane to make it public,
since there were no guarantees that the goals could be achieved. I
however, was convinced that we should make it public. It is a leader’s
job to create a culture of openness and transparency. Employees
loved the fact that the MD shared the 100 Day Plan and allowed
others to evaluate him afterwards. It wasn’t my 100 Day Plan; I told
them I couldn’t do it alone. Everybody had to sign up and contribute
to make it happen. In my view, people always admire leaders who are
open and honestly say what can be done and what can’t.
a. Every transformation is about leadership. The leader has to
show the way. Communication is the key. I had a solid 100 Day
Plan and a clear long-term strategy, which I shared with the
entire organization and then relentlessly executed it.
b. I was transparent with the failures as much as with the success.
c. I showed up in front of the employees regularly and answered
every question directly via open houses. Responded to every
mail within 24hrs.
Do you think the same principles of Culture Change apply
for large organizations, given SAP Labs had only 4,000
employees?
Size matters. But I believe the principles are the same. The way you
execute change is different and the way you see results is different
because, sometimes if you try to make too many changes in a big
ship, you run the risk of toppling it over.
How did you build role models and change champions as
well as deal with those who didn’t want to be a part of the
new organization?
Leaders should focus on people who are on their side. Often,
people get into conflicts with those who resist change. However,
I believe that it’s important to work with people who support you
rather than debate with those who oppose. Just firing people won’t
add up to anything. I think a lot of leaders make that mistake. Focus
on the positives but find a way to make a change. If you fire people
too quickly, you aren’t giving them a chance to change. People can
change and become your biggest champions. Everyone deserves a
chance to change and get on-board. You should evaluate people on
their merit and give them sufficient time to change.
How did know you had the right team with you to
achieve your vision? How did you deal with those who
resisted change?
As to me, culture is
intangible and results in
an outcome that cannot
be measured. That was
the culture I was trying to
create: A culture where
we force some positive
‘accidents’ to happen;
Accidents of ideas at
the intersection of
different minds and
then the next big
product happens.
In every situation there was a mixed bag of champions, naysayers
and fence-sitters. We worked with champions, converted the fencesitters
and tried to bring our point of view to the naysayers. We
benchmarked our top leaders against the external market and
made them, me including, undergo a leadership evaluation by a third
party. It was important to create a culture of transparency and put
on the table, our collective strengths and weaknesses as a team.
When the results of the evaluation came in six months after,
a few leaders who were benchmarked below average than the
market volunteered to move out. They understood their weakness
and since the evaluation was done by an external vendor they
appreciated the fairness and transparency. This sent a strong and
positive signal across the organization. We had to push this exercise
which wasn’t easy, but evaluating leadership was an important step
for us to successfully change.
How did you drive a culture of innovation? Did you hire
new profiles and specialists who already possessed the
ideal behavior?
We did both – in many cases we had to hire new profiles e.g.
Designers. We also invested to put in place a system to identify
and groom managers. To do this, we focused heavily on middle
management.
My core belief is that real innovation happens when different minds
and cultures come together. Since most companies tend to source
their talent from a specific pool, with similar degrees; background
etc., they tend to breed similarities. This is why most engineers in an
IT company, for example, would be socializing with a group having
similar background, and in a very rare case would their friends be
from a completely different background like an artist; doctor etc.
29 | LPS Quarterly

and then the next big product happens. If you create the right
culture for innovation, great products will be the outcome. I was
personally involved in all of the activities. It was important for me
to lead from the front.
How did you follow up and hold people accountable?
I made people a part of the change. You need to have your
multipliers – people who believe in the values you stand for. It is not
possible and sensible to micromanage. I started several initiatives,
but picked the top 10 to do a deep dive. Leadership is about dream
and details. The identified top 10 critical initiatives were put on
‘watch list’, whose progress I reviewed every two weeks. I picked
high potentials who had a track record of performance and put
them in charge of the 10 initiatives. While the critical initiatives
were progressing successfully, a few others that I started did not
take off as expected. But that was fine with me as they would have
been good to have initiatives but not critical.
Since I grew up in an environment where there was a huge emphasis
and importance to sports, literature and theatre, and not just
academics; all of which contributed immensely to my personality,
I believed that ideas from diverse fields would help SAP Labs
colleagues to innovate more effectively.
Like how the Medici family through whose patronage poets,
philosophers, scientists, painters and other artisans collaborated to
create the Renaissance period, my desire was to get intellectuals
from diverse fields into SAP Labs so that there could be a resurgence
in innovation.
We did this is many different ways. We started a ‘book club’ where
we invited prominent and budding authors to come and talk to us
about their books and what led to their writing it. Each month we
invited prominent leaders to our campus to speak on a diverse
range of topics. Instead of burning lots of cash to do this, we used
our network of contacts and goodwill to identify and invite our
guest speakers. We encouraged and facilitated the creation of a
‘theatre club’ and several interest groups. This helped in creating a
huge buzz within the organization. Employees loved it and it created
a deep sense of pride.
These elements brought back a lot of energy into the organization.
The innovation was the outcome of the culture we created. Of
course, I had critics and skeptics who were of the view that since
the outcome of these initiatives could not be measured, it was a
waste of time and energy.
That did not dent my focus. As to me, culture is intangible and results
in an outcome that cannot be measured. That was the culture I was
trying to create: A culture where we force some positive ‘accidents’
to happen; Accidents of ideas at the intersection of different minds
I also shared and amplified success stories. We created rewards
that were aspirational, like the Star of the Year awards, where the
winners got an opportunity to pick a course of their choice at topnotch
institutions like Stanford and INSEAD. Rather than hand out
monetary award, we invested in people’s growth through learning.
What were the critical levers you used to change culture?
»»
The leader has to ‘walk the talk’. Every action of the leader has
to reflect his belief in the culture he wants to create
»»
Bottom-up involvement is as important as top-down. For real
change to happen across the organization, everyone needs to
believe that they can contribute and are a part of the change.
»»
Build a plan, execute and communicate, communicate and
communicate
If you could go back in time, what would be the three
things that you would revisit to make the transformation
even better?
»»
I think I have a bias towards immediate action. Many times,
I made quick decisions which in retrospect were not always
correct. Sometimes, taking time to make a decision helps you
get more clarity and facts, which in turn leads to better decision.
»»
Getting more product ownership in the lab. While we were
successful in this journey, I wish we had done more
»»
Expanding the pool of next generation leaders. While
we increased the average leadership competency, we
could have done better in creating a bigger pool of next
generation leaders.
30 | LPS Quarterly

How should leaders
drive change in the
organization’s culture?
Abhijit Bhaduri
Chief Learning Officer, Wipro
@abhijitbhaduri
How should leaders drive change in the organization’s
culture?
Every time I change my password I go through a familiar routine.
When I log in next, I punch in my password only to be greeted with
the annoying message that my password is not correct. For half a
second I am puzzled. I am convinced that it is the email provider
who is wrong and not my password. I wonder who to write a
strong letter of protest to and by then another thought taps me on
the shoulder and reminds me that I now have a new password. Then
I panic for the second time. What was the new password? What
could I have changed it to? After fumbling for a bit I remember my
new password. It takes a few repetitions before the new password
is part of my memory. And I no longer have to make an effort to
remember my password. It has become my new habit. I can type it
without having to fumble – until I change it again.
How is culture formed?
Habits are like that. They take time to take root and are equally
hard to dislodge. Organizational culture is what we call the
habits of an organization. These are ways in which people behave
spontaneously especially when they are unsupervised. When
everyone starts behaving in a similar manner consistently, we say
that the organization has a strong culture. The new members of the
organization quickly fall in line. They watch everyone around them
and learn how to behave in most commonly occurring situations.
The Army and many other traditional organizations have “standard
operating procedures” for every scenario. That means the people
are simply expected to follow the common code. I have seen many
leaders lament that “if only we could have that army like discipline
…” In their mind, discipline means “the practice of training people
to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct
disobedience.”
31 | LPS Quarterly

Standard operating procedures
But there are other
aspects of culture.
These are the invisible
rules that also become
like codified standard
operating procedures.
How do organizations
deal with differences
in opinions and
approaches? Is that
tolerated, encouraged
or merely brushed
aside for the
moment, only to be
ignored later?
Is that a desirable end state? That depends on the nature of the
business environment in which the firm has to operate. It is true
that when people follow orders without questioning, the most
routine and repetitive tasks get done in the shortest possible time.
That is pretty much what traditional training systems have done.
They teach people to perform repeatable tasks in the shortest
possible time without hesitation. The more scenarios that can be
visualized ahead of time, the more easily people can be trained to
respond in the optimum manner. These then become the standard
operating procedures of the organization.
But there are other aspects of culture. These are the invisible rules
that also become like codified standard operating procedures. How
should employees with more experience behave when a trainee
questions the decision? How do organizations deal with differences
in opinions and approaches? Is that tolerated, encouraged or merely
brushed aside for the moment, only to be ignored later? We admire
companies that are innovative. Their culture supports contrarian
viewpoints and mavericks. That needs leaders who can manage the
creative tension that these cultures spawn.
Are the leaders modeling the right behaviors?
Leaders define the contours of the organization’s culture. But
every individual employee has to own it. Leaders have to build
evangelists and story tellers who simplify the different elements
of culture and make it easy to relate to. Culture change does not
happen through posters. It happens when people emotionally care
about the organization’s future and believe that the new behaviors
will make the organization succeed. They need to see their own
success as vividly as the organization’s. Finally, the new behaviors
are reinforced when leaders act as role models. If remembering a
new password is hard, trust me changing organization’s culture is
much harder.
Driving organizational culture change needs patience. While
people readily endorse the idea of punishment as a way of building
“discipline”, if that is not happening, it maybe for want of leaders
who can be role-models. People must want to be like the leader
they see. No wonder discipline and disciple both share the same
Latin roots. It means instruction or knowledge. When leaders
create disciples, organizational culture is shaped.
32 | LPS Quarterly

About Wipro Ltd.
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT) is a leading information technology, consulting and business process services company that delivers solutions to
enable its clients do business better. Wipro delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of
“Business through Technology.” By combining digital strategy, customer centric design, advanced analytics and product engineering approach,
Wipro helps its clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services,
strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, Wipro has a dedicated workforce of over 160,000, serving clients in
175+ cities across 6 continents. For more information, please visit www.wipro.com
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