What’s in ‘Edge,’ the new L&D initiative at Crompton

Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, the electrical equipment company with more than 4000 employees, has initiated a new capability-development programme for its employees called ‘Edge.’

An organisational-level programme, Edge has been devised as part of the Company’s long-term learning and development (L&D) strategy. “Organisational development is one of the key pillars of our five-year business plan. The Edge programme at Crompton will cater to its capability-development needs,” shares Satyajit Mohanty, CHRO, Crompton.

As per Mohanty, Edge has been designed to enhance the capabilities of the people at Crompton so as to give an edge to the Company in the competitive Indian market.

The Company has been working on the Edge initiative for the last eight to nine months, and has recently rolled out the programme at an organisational level.

Preeti Dwivedi, head – L&D, diversity, employer brand & business HR, Crompton, shares that post the introduction of Edge, the L&D strategy has been made more structured and transparent for the employees. “Every employee at Crompton is aware of the basic courses they are required to go through in their respective roles,” she says.

The courses include upskilling people in functional and behavioural skills.

Mohanty mentions that the Company is following a mixed strategy of virtual, digital and face-to-face learning. Dwivedi further elaborates that some courses are first covered through digital media and are further explained through physical learning.

“Organisational development is one of the key pillars of our five-year business plan. The Edge programme at Crompton will cater to its capability-development needs”

Satyajit Mohanty, CHRO, Crompton

As per Mohanty, the new L&D strategy at Crompton emphasises on upskilling its people on analytical skills, which can further improve the Company’s capability to understand the mind and needs of their customers through analytics.

Measurement of the RoI of learning initiatives has remained a challenge for many organisations. A key highlight of Edge is that it facilitates the measurement of all learning initiatives at Crompton. Instead of tracking the number of man hours or learning hours the Company has completed, the return on investment (ROI) of learning will be linked to the business performance of the organisation.

Simply put, instead of following the traditional way of calculating the RoI, Crompton has decided to link it to performance. “It has been linked to the KPIs of employees,” shares Mohanty.

Most of the learning initiatives, which will be driven under the Edge programme, will be designed and developed internally. Not only will it save costs, but it will also help managers at Crompton develop a coaching and mentoring attitude.

Like many other companies, engaging employees to upskill themselves is another challenge Crompton is facing. To tackle this challenge, Crompton has come up with a learning-engagement plan. Dwivedi further shares how Crompton has been making efforts to use gamified solutions, certifications, recognitions and small prizes to encourage employees to take part in learning initiatives. “The goal is to link the learning of employees with their careers,” asserts Dwivedi.

“We are trying to make learning a part of the daily activities of the employees at Crompton,”adds Dwivedi.

“The goal is to link the learning of employees with their careers”

Preeti Dwivedi, head – L&D, diversity, employer brand & business HR, Crompton

The courses under Edge have been designed in a collaborative manner. Dwivedi shares that many courses have been created for the marketing function, with inputs from the R&D division as well as the field workforce.

The Company is following a 70:20:10 model to fulfil the learning needs of employees. Which mean 70 per cent of in on the job learning, 20 per cent peer learning and 10 per cent theoretical learning.