In a rapidly changing world, businesses need more than just stability to maintain leadership. Hindalco, a major player in India’s aluminium and copper industry, recognized this in 2017 when the company initiated a transformation to become a High Performing Contemporary Organisation.
This journey, which began with a pivotal leadership summit at Shillim, has since evolved into a long-term movement focused on resilience, adaptability, and sustainable high performance.
The Birth of “Shillim”: A Call for Change
The 2017 leadership summit at Shillim was more than a corporate meeting; it was a defining moment for Hindalco’s future. Company leaders gathered to rethink Hindalco’s approach to business and its ability to navigate global changes.
Their focus was clear—Hindalco needed to be agile, meritocratic, and resilient. This strategic shift set the foundation for cultural and operational transformation, positioning ‘Shillim’ as a symbol of forward-thinking and adaptation at Hindalco.
From that point on, Hindalco’s leadership knew they needed to move from being good to great. Resilience was at the core of this transformation—not just the ability to survive but to thrive amidst volatility. The company sought to define resilience through a mix of behaviors, KPIs, and key metrics that could drive adaptability and ensure sustained success.
Building Resilience: The ALERT Behaviors
Resilience at Hindalco was not left to chance. It was built through deliberate culture change, focusing on key behaviors now embedded in the organization’s DNA. These ALERT Behaviors became the cornerstone of how Hindalco operated:
- Being Accountable (A): Hindalco emphasized ownership at every level, ensuring that actions were followed through, leading to continuous improvement.
- Learning Fast from Failures (L): Hindalco embraced failures as opportunities for growth, creating a culture of innovation and continuous learning.
- Empowering and Trusting (E): Leadership trusted teams with the autonomy to make decisions and act swiftly.
- Responding Quickly (R): Speed was essential in both seizing opportunities and mitigating risks, driving quick responses across the organization
- Winning with Teams (T): Success was seen as a collective effort. Teams were empowered to take ownership, collaborate, and deliver results.
These behaviors were designed to achieve Hindalco’s key business objectives, including improving RoCE (Cash & Profit), leading in ESG (Safety & Sustainability), and ensuring Customer Centricity. But how could Organisations measure if they were on the right path? This is where key metrics came into play.
The Metrics that Drive Resilience
Response Time to Crises
The speed at which an organization responds to an unexpected event—such as a supply chain disruption, cyberattack, or public relations crisis—is a fundamental marker of its resilience. Quick response times indicate that an organization has effective communication and decision-making protocols in place.
Key Metrics to Track:
- Time taken to assemble a crisis management team
- Time to develop and deploy a response plan
- Time to restore normal operations
- Mean Time to Recover (MTTR) in IT-related incidents
Workforce Flexibility and Engagement
Employees are central to any resilient organization. The ability of a workforce to adapt to changing roles, responsibilities, and conditions is key. In addition, employee engagement is a reflection of how well the organization communicates and supports its people during times of uncertainty.
Key Metrics to Track:
- Cross-Training Ratios: The percentage of employees trained in multiple roles/functions.
- Employee Turnover Rates: High turnover during crises may indicate low engagement or burnout.
- Employee Engagement Scores: Surveys measuring morale, trust in leadership, and satisfaction levels.
Innovation and Continuous Learning: The Hidden Strength
Organizations that foster a culture of innovation are better equipped to stay competitive and respond to emerging challenges. Continuous improvement processes and a willingness to embrace new technologies or methods make a business more adaptable.
Eg. Hindalco Strengthens EV Presence with Direct Auto Supply Strategy – Hindalco Industries aims to expand its aluminium downstream business by becoming a direct supplier to automakers, focusing on electric vehicles and creating dedicated business units for personal mobility and related components.
Hindalco has set up a facility in Chakan, Pune for producing aluminium battery enclosures.
Key Metrics to Track:
- Number of New Products/Services Launched: A high rate of innovation reflects resilience through adaptability.
- R&D Spend as a Percentage of Revenue: This shows how much is being invested in future-proofing the business.
- Employee Ideas Implemented: The number of employee suggestions that are turned into tangible improvements is a sign of a dynamic, flexible organization.
- Time to Market for New Products: Speed to innovation indicates how quickly an organization can respond to market shifts or customer needs.
By fostering innovation, organizations can stay resilient by staying ahead of potential disruptions rather than reacting to them.
Mitigating Risks: Staying Ahead of Disruption
Resilience also meant being proactive about the risks that could disrupt Hindalco’s business. The company identified 10 key risks (refer to the Integrated Annual Report 2023-24) early on and developed strategies to address them.
By addressing these risks head-on, Hindalco was able to maintain resilience and lead change in an unpredictable environment, ensuring long-term stability and growth.
Eg. Hindalco Industries has been recognized as the world’s most sustainable aluminium company in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) for four consecutive years, from 2020 to 2023.
This achievement highlights Hindalco’s leadership in sustainability within the global aluminium industry, particularly in areas such as climate action, waste recycling, biodiversity conservation, and water management.
Hindalco’s recognition in the DJSI reinforces its commitment to aluminium as a ‘green’ metal, focusing on decarbonization, waste management, zero liquid discharge, biodiversity, and life cycle impact.
Leading the Change: The Road Ahead
Today, Hindalco’s journey from good to great is far from over. The company’s focus on Customer Centricity, Sustaining Peak Performance, and building a home for Exceptional Talent has set it up for long-term success. The resilience strategy, which began as a leadership initiative at Shillim, has become a way of life, deeply embedded in the company’s culture.
Organizational resilience is not a fixed trait but a dynamic capability that must be continuously measured and nurtured. By tracking critical KPIs and metrics—ranging from crisis response times to employee engagement, financial stability, and innovation—organizations can build and sustain resilience. Hindalco’s journey underscores the importance of fostering a resilient culture that values agility, innovation, and collaboration.
In today’s volatile business environment, resilience is about more than survival. It’s about thriving in adversity, being future-ready, and turning challenges into opportunities for growth. Measuring resilience through targeted metrics ensures that organizations not only withstand disruptions but emerge stronger and more capable of achieving long-term success.
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