Tata Business Excellence group (TBExG) conducted a special session on the Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) for Independent Directors of various Tata companies in eastern India. The meeting – held in Kolkata – was presided by S Padmanabhan, Executive Chairman, TBExG.
Anand Sen, Executive Committee Member, TBExG and President, Steel Business & TQM, Tata Steel; Sandipan Chakravortty, Chairman, mJunction & TMILL; and AM Misra, Chairman, Tata Sponge also attended the meeting. 21 Independent Directors from various Tata Steel group companies including Tata Steel Processing & Distribution Limited, TMILL, TCIL, Tata Sponge, Indian Steel Wire Products, Jamipol, Tata Pigments, JUSCO and mJunction participated in the meeting. Notable amongst them were Dipak Kumar Banerjee, Sabyasachi Hajara, Prakash Chandra Parakh, Sunanda Lahiri and Tapas Kumar Mitra.
The meeting started off with Mr Padmanabhan’s address, during which he threw light on how TBEM is one of the major pillars of long term value creation in the Tata group. He went on to stress on the value that TBEM assessments has created over the last two decades. “This is the first TBEM appreciation session we are conducting for Independent Directors. We plan to do a few more sessions in Mumbai and Bengaluru,” he said. He then went on to explain the role of TBEM in improving the performance of various group companies and the critical role Independent Directors need to play in it.
Mr Sen spoke next, sharing his experiences on how TBEM had helped Tata Steel overcome many of its operational challenges and improve the way it worked. “Without TBEM, it would have taken us far longer to improve. Sometimes one may feel the questions asked by the assessment team are out of context, but actually they are preparing us for the future,” he said. Mr Sen also stressed on how the Independent Directors can play a key role in using TBEM to help companies improve.
Up next was an experience sharing session by Mr Chakravortty. He spoke about his journey with TBEM as an applicant CEO, Mentor and Chairman of the Board. Mr Chakravortty narrated various anecdotes regarding the early days of TBEM Assessments and how it metamorphosed into becoming the glue of the Tata group. He shared his experiences as a Mentor from various assessments and how he learned from each assessment.
This was followed by a very enriching and engaging conversation with the Independent Directors on how TBEM can help in improving the performance of various Tata companies. The Independent Directors shared their experience with TBEM so far and gave suggestions on how TBEM can be further leveraged. The general consensus among them was that they are extremely happy to have such sessions and would look forward for another immersion session on TBEM. Around 10 Managing Directors of the Tata Steel subsidiary companies were also present during this interaction.
The discussions were anchored by NK Sharan, Vice President, TBExG, and ended with a vote of thanks.