Family businesses often discover that culture becomes harder to scale than operations. Stores can be replicated. Processes can be standardised. Growth, however, weakens the informal mechanisms that once held organisations together: founder proximity, tacit understanding, instinctive trust. As businesses expand, the challenge shifts from building systems to building people capable of carrying culture forward.
PNG Jewellers confronted this tension as it expanded beyond its Maharashtra base into a larger retail network. According to Priyanka Vanjari, head-HR, PNG Jewellers, the company noticed something revealing during peak festive seasons, when stores became overstretched and operational boundaries loosened.
Employees outside sales roles would step in to assist customers. Office boys would voluntarily help manage store activity. Support staff would take ownership of customer queries without instruction.
“These points become the real test of time,” Vanjari says. “Whether they’re capable of taking things forward or not.
The observation eventually led to Udaan, a leadership development programme that has reportedly moved employees from support functions into store management roles. According to the company, all but one participant in the first batch progressed into larger responsibilities. The second batch recorded a 98 per cent success rate.
Whether Udaan fundamentally expands leadership access or simply formalises progression that might have happened anyway is difficult to determine externally. But PNG’s approach is notable because it identifies leadership potential through observed behaviour during operational pressure rather than through conventional assessment frameworks alone.
When growth weakens instinct
In smaller organisations, talent identification often happens informally. Founders observe people closely. Managers know employees personally. Capability becomes visible through everyday interaction.
Scale disrupts that model.
PNG’s earlier succession processes relied largely on internal job postings and interviews. As the company expanded, management realised that strong operational employees did not automatically become effective managers.
“We realised that now we need to invest in people well in advance. Training was always a part of it, but we needed to do a little more and make them successful managers.”
Priyanka Vanjari, head-HR, PNG Jewellers
“We realised that now we need to invest in people well in advance,” Vanjari says. “Training was always a part of it, but we needed to do a little more and make them successful managers.”
That distinction – between performance and readiness – sits at the centre of most leadership development challenges.
Peak retail seasons provided a useful filter. Under pressure, employees often reveal behaviours that formal assessments struggle to capture: initiative, ownership, adaptability, and willingness to step beyond defined responsibilities.
Still, volunteering during operational pressure does not automatically predict leadership capability. Some employees step forward because they are helpful or customer-oriented rather than because they possess managerial potential.
PNG appears to treat such behaviour as an indicator rather than proof – a signal warranting further development and assessment.
Building belief before capability
Udaan’s structure reflects an interesting assumption: many employees lack confidence before they lack capability.
The programme begins openly. Employees can apply voluntarily without rigid eligibility barriers. Managers and HR teams can also nominate individuals they believe possess potential.
“The biggest challenge was making them believe that you deserve to get up in the hierarchy,” Vanjari says.
That observation matters particularly in businesses where many employees come from modest economic or educational backgrounds. Leadership may appear culturally distant even when capability exists.
The programme combines technical refreshers, policy training, behavioural development, and live business problem-solving. Participants identify operational challenges, propose solutions to management, and then implement approved ideas over a two-month period.
That implementation stage is significant. Many leadership programmes rely heavily on simulations and classroom learning. Real operational execution exposes whether participants can navigate resistance, ambiguity, and accountability.
Participants are supported through mentors and learning teams before eventually being given responsibility for stores, counters, or functions.
Interestingly, employees who do not complete the programme are redirected into separate development pathways rather than treated as failures. Whether this genuinely removes stigma or simply softens it is difficult to assess. But the framing matters because leadership programmes often create invisible hierarchies between “selected” and “rejected” employees.
When visibility changes aspiration
Development programmes frequently struggle with credibility. Employees participate enthusiastically only when they believe progression is real.
According to PNG, Udaan gained momentum because employees saw visible outcomes from earlier cohorts. Participants moved into larger roles. Career mobility became tangible rather than theoretical.
That appears to have altered perception internally. The programme became aspirational because advancement became observable.
This highlights an important organisational reality: the effectiveness of leadership programmes often depends less on curriculum quality than on whether employees believe the organisation genuinely rewards growth.
Even exits reportedly became motivational. Employees who did not progress initially returned later with stronger preparation and greater determination.
Whether Udaan is identifying hidden talent or formalising already-obvious high performers
remains an open question. But formalisation itself can matter. Many capable employees stagnate not because organisations fail to notice them, but because advancement pathways remain vague or inaccessible.
Culture through internal mobility
From PNG’s perspective, Udaan serves a broader purpose than succession planning. It is also intended to preserve consistency as the company expands geographically.
“Customers, if you give good products, good pricing, people will come to you,” Vanjari says. “But the repeat will only happen when they get that same experience.”
The logic is familiar across family businesses transitioning into larger professional organisations. Employees who grow internally are assumed to absorb culture more deeply than external hires.
That assumption is partly true. Internal leaders often understand organisational nuances instinctively. But culture preservation can also become cultural rigidity if organisations overvalue familiarity at the expense of fresh thinking.
The challenge for PNG will be ensuring that internally developed leaders inherit not just legacy practices, but also the adaptability required for a larger and more complex retail business.
Beyond jewellery retail
Udaan reflects a broader shift occurring across Indian family businesses. Leadership pipelines are increasingly being built internally because external hiring alone has become expensive, unreliable, and culturally disruptive.
PNG’s programme also highlights a larger question about talent itself. Traditional organisations often search for leadership potential through credentials, polished communication, or managerial pedigree. PNG is attempting to identify it through behaviour observed under operational pressure.
That approach may prove more inclusive in some ways. It may also risk favouring visible extroversion over quieter forms of leadership capability.
For now, PNG Jewellers demonstrates that leadership potential can emerge from unexpected corners of an organisation when businesses pay attention closely enough. The more difficult question is whether such programmes continue working once growth accelerates further and leadership demands become more complex than running a store during festive season pressure.