JARDINE MATHESON Interview Series Capturing What’S Working in Leadership Development

JARDINE MATHESON Interview series capturing what’s working in leadership development

JARDINE MATHESON HOLDINGS AT A GLANCE l Founded in Hong Kong, with a history dating back to the early half of the 19th century, Jardine Matheson Holdings (often shortened to Jardines) is one of the oldest and most successful businesses based in Hong Kong. l Jardines is one of the largest Asia-based conglomerates and a Fortune Global 500 company with 350,000 employees. l The group’s interests include Jardine Pacific, Jardine Motors, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Hongkong Land, Dairy Farm, Mandarin Oriental, Jardine Cycle & Carriage and Astra International. l These companies are leaders in the fields of engineering and construction, transport services, insurance broking, property investment and development, retailing, restaurants, luxury hotels, motor vehicles and related activities, financial services, heavy equipment, mining and agribusiness.

Executive summary As one of the largest Asia-based conglomerates, Jardines boasts some of the most effective processes for grooming talent from within. The level of rigor “Although Jardines has a and comprehensiveness of its programs enables it to attract, develop and portfolio of successful retain a deep pipeline of future leaders who are expected to be ready to lead a significant business within 15 years. talent programs, from recruitment to Setting the context succession management, Jardines takes a proactive interest in key segments of talent across its holdings. It is specifically interested in grooming the general management this case study focuses pipeline, the heads of Finance and HR, and a number of key identified executives, totaling 617 people. This strategic approach to leadership on its management development allows the group to groom and support strategic positions of trainee programs and influence while maintaining a healthy pipeline of talent for top management positions within each subsidiary: CEO, CFO and CHRO. It also provides a high leadership development level of transparency within the executive talent pool and helps the group manage succession risk and groom its highest-potential talent. programs, which affect Corporate HR plays a very strategic role in shaping and managing human the two book ends of its capital so Jardines can build leaders effectively. It conducts an in-depth leadership pipeline.” analysis quarterly, resulting in a talent playbook that includes an overview of the talent pool, a set of key readiness indicators, progress reporting on high potentials and key performers, and HR risks. The playbook is reviewed closely by the chairman and key stakeholders and is used to map and drive initiatives, next steps and critical people planning in all parts of the organization. All talent programs are first and foremost designed to facilitate change to improve the performance of the businesses. The most critical driver of improving businesses is through people – the key to why Jardines has been so successful over a sustainable period. When it comes to developing leaders, Jardines emphasizes an applied learning approach, linking business and leadership development theories to challenging business projects to create powerful learning opportunities for a diverse group of employees. Programs within Leadership Development are comprehensive, targeting junior managers all the way up to directors, with topics spanning both technical and leadership components. Programs include everything from core management training and emerging-leaders programs to senior executive programs. Managers and leaders also receive training from prominent partnership institutions, such as Harvard, INSEAD and London Business School. Although Jardines has a portfolio of successful talent programs, from recruitment to succession management, this case study focuses on its management trainee programs and leadership development programs, which affect the two book ends of its leadership pipeline.

Designing the solution Leadership Pipeline Jardines takes a long-term view of developing its pipeline of leaders. Since most are groomed from within, the group’s strategy depends on starting early and selecting carefully. To ensure a healthy intake of best-fit candidates to fill the bottom of the pipeline, Jardines selects high-potential candidates early in their careers using clearly defined success criteria. The group successfully attracts these young high potentials by offering a number of trainee schemes (The China Management Trainee Scheme, The Macau Management Trainee Scheme and The Jardine Executive Trainee Scheme) to those with strong commercial acumen, leadership potential, interest in business and compelling achievements to date. These trainee programs help participants acquire a CIMA designation, financial capability, deep industry knowledge and leadership skills. Training is supplemented by ongoing mentoring and coaching throughout the process. The ultimate goal of this investment is to develop talent over the long term so that those entering the program today have the potential to head one of Jardines’ business units 15 years out. The return on its investment in these training programs has been high: After 14 years, 64% of graduates are still with Jardines. These individuals ensure a flow of home-grown talent to the pipeline of potential successors and help Jardines maintain a strong “build” versus “buy” culture.

Development Center Jardines established its Development Center process in 1988, and it has since been rolled out to multiple locations, including Hong Kong, Jakarta and Singapore, due to high demand. Offering a robust and impactful program, the Development Center is designed to assess participants against Jardines’ “5Ps” competencies (Purpose, People, Personal Profile, Process and Systems Thinking and Performance). Over 1.5 days, participants take part in a scenario exercise and group meeting, engage in a management interview, present a business analysis, respond to and manage critical incidents, complete aptitude tests and, finally, evaluate their own performance. The Development Center process offers five programs that are highly tailored to staff from different industries and disciplines. Additionally, the Development Center experience is virtually always followed by a 1.5-day workshop focused on future development. Typically, more than 150 mid-level executives will go through this assessment process each year. Individuals’ results are then used to develop promotability ratings, which are shared with them and with their managers. Jardines’ policy is to promote candidates with 80% readiness – a calculated risk that empowers employees to challenge themselves, with the support of management, and to grow on the job.

Director Development Initiative (DDI) DDI is another state-of-the art development program at Jardines, for those who hold the position of director or above. It is designed to provide participants first-hand, in-depth exposure to leading regional businesses outside of Jardines so that participants can learn how other businesses operate commercially and explore potential application opportunities.

This impressive program is designed to create a fully experiential, action-learning experience that can ultimately stimulate measurable change. Participants are first introduced to the target companies, key conceptual models and the necessary research frameworks. Then they visit companies in the host countries to learn first hand about the core elements in different businesses and the people that run them. Finally, participants integrate their learnings abroad by designing applications in their own businesses at Jardines and present their findings to the board. Last year, DDI participants met with 22 CEOs from the UK and Denmark, including HSBC, BA, G4S, The Economist, Lego and ISS, among others. Since the program began 12 years ago, DDI participants have visited more than 180 companies and their CEOs. While the program represents a significant investment for Jardines, it is an exemplary program from a learning perspective – one that imparts the best of leadership programs: action learning in a real business environment, international experience and exposure beyond the horizons of Jardines for tremendous potential learning from competitive organizations, all supported by a backbone of leadership theories/framework.

M aking an impact The incredibly low turnover and the accomplishments from graduates of Jardines’ trainee programs are testaments to the company’s success in grooming leaders from within. On April 1, six new managing director appointments were made – all graduates of the Jardine Executive Trainee Scheme. In terms of business change, the refocusing of the Mannings operations to “health and beauty,” which resulted in acquiring significant market share, is the result of a project from the DDI. Additionally, Jardines retains top talent by allowing high potentials to spending significant face time with all key executives and facilitating opportunities for them to meet others from top competitive companies.

Lessons learned l Trust is absolutely essential someone in the HR role. From the tea lady to the chairman, if they trust you, they will tell you more. l Getting to know people is a very individualized process. It is important to meet people informally and spend quality time one-on-one. l Ask people what they aspire to be in five to 10 years’ time. Everyone is interested in his or her career path and growth, and your role is to help facilitate the value proposition of your employees’ career path. l Ensure that HR is an embedded, robust process, from clear methodology to strong execution. It is also critical that there is buy-in at the top.

ADVICE FOR OTHERS l It is critical that a proper diagnosis is conducted to ensure that gaps are accurately identified for very specific skills, knowledge and capabilities for different talent profiles so that a good fit and match is assured for different roles. l Be aware of your personal brand. Are you the “HR director” or, first and foremost, a director (of HR) who understands business? It is the latter who sits at the table with the rest of the board. The way people see your role is paramount, and when you know people are asking to see you, versus the other way around, you will know you’ve made it.

Mercer would like to thank the following for this interview: Ritchie Bent Group Head of Human Resources Jardine Matheson Holdings