Archives: Employee Stories

My simple approach to talent mobility has been to “Make yourself redundant in the existing role so as to explore different opportunities available in the organisation”. Organisations benefit the most from talent if they are flexible and have a fearless attitude to accept role changes, perform, and excel in new business areas.

I started my career in detail engineering (Oil & Gas) of the Heating division (erstwhile Process Heat division (PHD)) and was blessed to work on interesting projects right from the first day of my career in Thermax. We won the first-of-a-kind order for a 22 TPH twin furnace oil fired Shellmax boiler from a very reputed client, Hitachi Zosen Japan. Soon after, my manager, who was the brain behind these boilers, left the organisation and I was made the Lead Engineer of this project. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise and a crucial responsibility for a young engineer. During detailing, I answered more than 150 fax messages on technical queries and in the process, learnt the importance of on-job learning, which included discussions with experienced colleagues before making the replies. We completed the commissioning of the project successfully and my learning curve went on an exponential trajectory. This experience was appreciated by the senior management of Thermax. I was nominated to work with Saacke UK for a week in England to redesign and optimise the Shellmax boiler (packaged oil & gas fired boilers) sizes supplied to South East Asia. This exciting assignment in the early stage of my career gave me a different outlook to challenge the current status quo, learn from competition, look at one design in multiple ways, and strengthened my techno commercial abilities.

My experience in Heating engineering offered me many exciting opportunities to hone my techno commercial capabilities and this helped me move and take up the role of Proposals Engineer. Working on proposals gave me an exposure to collaborate and interact with experienced marketing and sales teams. I remember an incident when there was an order finalisation meeting with an esteemed client in Dubai and our International Sales Head was to travel to Dubai for the same. He decided to pass on this opportunity to travel for this very important meeting to me and informed our Middle East Head about the same. The confidence and respect shown in my abilities by these inspiring leaders taught me how to respect, empower and motivate young engineers. I implemented these important learnings as I trained and eventually handed over my proposal job to a young engineer from the marketing department, post my transfer to the UK office!

I was transferred to UK for anchoring Heating’s entry in the European market. In this role, I had the opportunity to work with the senior respected British managers who were experienced across the boiler industry of England. While I worked with them, I learnt the British way of thinking and approach towards the markets by standardisation, reliability of product and components, aesthetics, automation, keeping things simple with first-time right approach and last but not the least, the importance of a right go to market strategy.

After returning home to India after more than three years, my learning curve in the Heating division started tapering down, and I moved out for a short stint outside Thermax. I quickly realised that I had picked the wrong job. Without any egos or negotiations on either side, I returned to Thermax and pursued an opportunity with the Power division. I was leading the Oil & Gas EPC sales function and worked extensively with gas turbine OEMs. My PhD engineering foundation helped me to configure cogen plants and combined cycle plants independently. This knowledge was instrumental in earning respect from reputed oil and gas clients across the country.

In EPC Sales, I had an opportunity to win an order for a Rs. 300 crore project of bottoming cycle power plant for a public sector company in north-east. Then came the day when I transitioned from Sales to becoming an EPC Head for this project. I took over the project when there were serious civil design (piles) issues, and we had lost 11 of the 25 monthscontractual schedule. Every minute of this execution experience was challenging yet exciting, pleasant and action packed. I learnt the basics of civil design, site management, operational challenges of contracting clauses, the importance of planning, risk mitigation, subcontractor management, labour laws, contractor billings, Account Receivables management, and so on. In short, this project gave me an experience of executing a project from concept to commissioning and made me a complete engineering professional. Even today, this important and enriching operations experience helps me in making critical business decisions as an SBU Head.

After a six year stint in Power, I was moved to lead the western region in the capacity of Corporate Regional Manager (CRM). I implemented a simple practice to meet one customer a day, even if there were no order transactions and finalisations. The discussions and information sharing that happened in those meetings were important for our next opportunities with them. I met clients irrespective of the size of their business with us, sometimes to say a big “thanks” for their trust in the Thermax brand. I always have been a true believer in the philosophy of operating as ‘One Thermax’ while approaching the clients which was truly appreciated by the clients and my regional colleagues. Even today, I practice the same while working in business. I truly believed regions are not just meant to be “near” to the customer but to “be” with the customer. I loved the fact that in the CRM role, I got to learn how to bring in business alignment for the ever-changing markets, lead a matrix organisation, operations and success factors of channel management and importance of branding through services.

Then came the most exciting moment in my career, and I took over as the SBU Head for Power SPP business and even today, I pinch myself to believe that it is true. To sum it up, I have never worked for any positions or roles. My competition is always my yesterday, and I try to better my performance with each coming day. I have been blessed to work with many inspiring leaders in Thermax throughout my career who gave me new opportunities and responsibilities and have constantly motivated me to perform and excel in every new role. I am genuinely engaged and passionate about my work at Thermax which is a respected brand acknowledged across the globe.

I have enjoyed working in different roles and functions across BUs and geographies which shaped my career in the right direction. I urge each Thermaxian to traverse your own path and grab the opportunity to work in a new function/ SBU across the organisation. Every role change should be viewed as an opportunity to unlock your potential and to shape your career.

– Deodatta Deshpande
SBU Head – SPP in Power division.

It was August 2000. Eight months earlier the computers had not crashed, planes had not fallen from the sky and banks had definitely not collapsed. Y2K demon had been exorcized. Things were looking up and amidst all this I stepped into Thermax as a GET, full of hope and confidence.

“You will have to report to Hyderabad office for service module of your training”, said my training manager. Hope gone, confidence draining out, I looked at him perplexed. It had been less than a month since I had joined Pune office in PHD (now Heating Division) and here I was – being asked to move to a different city! My tryst with mobility, albeit in terms of physical movement, had begun almost immediately upon joining Thermax. Little did I know that I will have to prefix ‘begun’ with ‘just’ -considering six location and as many role changes that I have had.

As destiny would have it, I continued to be in Hyderabad for the next three years in services function. I was lucky to have some excellent mentors during this time – people who transformed me from a carefree young graduate into a professional. It is this period that I regard as the most enriching phase of my career. The product knowledge which I gained during this tenure help me later in my sales stint to correctly position products, gain customer’s confidence and crack many deals. It taught me the importance of sound technical knowledge as I moved on to handle products of other divisions. My experiences during this period defined me and even today continue to influence the way I think. Even now, be it review of a new product or a customer complaint, the service engineer between my ears exercises its control.

It was in the summer of 2003 when I got a call to join the then-infant channel group at Chennai as a Channel Manager. I was beginning to get settled but the prospect of being in sales plus the thought of having the word “Manager” in my designation forced me to unsettle myself. And unsettled I was. It was a time when the ground level strategy of the channel was still being deployed, channel partner territory realignment was still being worked out, product wise sales initiatives were still being chalked out, loads of data was being crunched, excel sheets and word forms being filled on daily basis, all of us were undergoing a mindset change from selling products of one division to those of multiple divisions and somewhere amidst all that was a sales budget that had to be delivered. I went into another learning curve. While I learnt a lot by observing my managers during sales calls, the real learning came in post call debriefs, follow-ups and weekly reviews which we had religiously. What I learnt on sales and sales call planning is something I would reserve for a different blog but what I would like to lay emphasis upon is the insight I got on the use of data, to simplify information, to get meaningful insights, to conclude on actionable points and to have stringent review on those actions. It was something I had never done before and something I would do frequently in future. Years later when I would be in Hyderabad and would have a tough year in sales, it was data and stringent reviews that I would draw into for a course correction.

In 2007 I moved to Bangalore as Zonal Manager – Channel. I became a “Manager” for real as I had two Territory Managers reporting into me. My strategy was a cut copy paste of what I had experienced in my previous role, demonstrate sales to TMs, use data and have stringent reviews. It worked for my entire duration of stay in Bangalore. By 2009 I was asked to take additional responsibility of Area Manager. While it meant a dotted line reporting with entire office, in front of customer, the dots disappear and you are, to put it simply – responsible. Cross divisional nuances had to be addressed locally. I quickly realised that neither requests nor commands were going to help. The only way I can handle the additional responsibility was by making the team shake away their divisional skin which I theorized, could be achieved only if they had a strong interpersonal bonding. With the help of some senior colleagues, we did end up building a great bond. From power division colleague supporting a water treatment sale, to a service engineer going for sale of spare, to a steam engineering person selling a boiler the examples of success are galore.

Settled again the next move to Hyderabad was a painful one for two reasons, one I did not want a change and two because of what happened when I did move. I was once again happily settled – this time in Bangalore – when I was asked to move to Hyderabad. My wife had a steady job, daughter going to arguably one of the best schools and an extended family which had just moved to Bangalore. There was no incentive on personal front for a change. To add to it, my role was to remain the same, dual responsibility of ZM Channel and Area Manager. Only addition was that the business volume both in terms of value and number of transactions was double to that of Bangalore. Realizing the fact, that for my growth I needed to handle higher transaction volumes, I decided to move, and I must admit the support of my family here because a simple no from them could have meant that this blog would not have existed.

This brings me to the second reason of why the move was painful. I landed in Hyderabad and set out to implement exactly what I had done in Bangalore -demonstrate to TMs (read ‘try to be in every case’), review, and build a good team bonding in the Area office. A few months in and the business was a complete opposite of what I had expected, the harder I worked and the more I travelled around with the TMs the lower was the order intake. The move to Hyderabad was looking like a gamble gone awry. With my learnings from Chennai during channel’s initial days, I drew back into data for insight and found that the premise of business had changed. Sponge iron, cement, and edible oil, three of the top four industries of the zone were down. First, I cursed myself for missing a market trend at such a macro level. Then I dived deeper into data, bounced it off with number of colleagues in Hyderabad office. Using it they pointed out to several opportunities which were hiding in plain sight, most of the suggestions I must admit, coming from my own TMs. This brought me to another learning, do not just demonstrate to your subordinates on how to work, learn from them as well and give them a free hand. It is a learning I would have to use extensively when I would move on to become the PU head of Steam Engineering.

Next came a change which possibly is the aspiration of any regional employee. It was also a watershed opportunity. In 2015 I was asked to move back to Chennai as Corporate Regional Manager (CRM). It is one of the few roles where one wears a single hat – that of Thermax. No division no department. Just Thermax. My experience as an Area Manager which in a way was miniature version of a CRMs role helped me slip under this hat effortlessly. Added to that, having handled almost all the zones of South proved to be a blessing as I was not only able to establish connect with clients but also connect with the issues faced by colleagues and support them better. Multiple teams and spread-out geography meant that I could not be present everywhere. To overcome this, I banked on something which I had learnt earlier, a strong review process. It helped me stay on top of work be it commercial, sales or services. With insight that I got from reviews I was able to pre-empt issues and take corrective action in advance. A big team with multiple dotted line reporting structure meant I had my experiences with conflict management but more importantly, I understood the power of leading by influencing, thus in a way, preparing me for my next role as PU Head of Steam Engineering.

When I shifted to Steam PU, I underwent a paradigm shift. I had never experienced operations from a back-end perspective. As a front-end person, I had taken many of the back-end activities for granted, things which should happen. What any back-end person will vouch for is that things just don’t happen, people make them happen-against all odds. Leading teams from Manufacturing, Materials, Engineering, Audits, about which I had no experience and each of which was being led by domain experts was overwhelming to say the least. My experience of Hyderabad came handy. I learnt from each of the teams – not how to do their jobs but how to tie up each of their work for a smooth order to cash cycle. With a shared aspiration, teams suggested the changes and improvements we need to make to smoothen our execution and increase our business. Many of the suggestions have been implemented. The result has been a good increase in turnover with a very healthy profitability. My front-end experiences, I believe, helped make the back end more adaptable to the needs of the front end. It is a journey I am currently undertaking in which the learnings of data handling, listening to the team, customer facing approach, the salesmanship I learnt and most of all the service engineer between my ears have been my guide.

Benefit of hindsight is that it makes us wiser. In hindsight, I have made many a mistake that I would like to correct but the one thing that I would not change is the mobility I have had. Each change was a journey into a new learning ground and a steppingstone towards the next one. It is important to realise that change doesn’t come easy, but its benefits far outweigh its challenges. While we are a part of a great organization that encourages and hand holds us through such changes, we need to be aware of what stops us from taking the plunge and what support systems we need. Many times, we get into our comfort zones unwilling to chance upon opportunities that beckon us. The needs and compulsions of day-to-day lives bind us to where we are. It has happened with me before every single move, and I cannot but thank my mentors, colleagues, and my family who have supported and encouraged me to move on and to the managers who have nudged me to take on newer journeys.

– Manjul Patlia
PU Head – Steam Engineering in C&H Heating division

From a Control Room Engineer to a Global Sales Head, my professional journey has been filled with experiences that have left me with some insightful learnings and a sense of confidence to remain. As I reminisce, I often wonder what made me stay back in this company for so long, was it the constant career moves, an opportunity to learn from different assignments, the freedom to implement and test out maverick decisions or was it just the comfort? I can go on and write things about why employees love their jobs and what keeps them ticking, but I am no HR expert, and the answers are never easy.

I joined Thermax in 2005 through a walk-in interview, perhaps the third employee after the Business Head & the Operations Heads. I was posted to work at Alathiyur – a site located deep in the south of India. Unaware of the travails of 48-hour travel from my hometown in North, I arrived fatigued and exasperated and most certainly determined to return within a day and resign from the assignment! It was perhaps an instinct that pushed me to go on. I arrived at the site to witness a spectacular creation of plant and machinery which left me deeply curious about its working and performance. It was love at first sight, and from then on, I never looked back. Through the next 6 months I was drawn into the commissioning and stabilizing activities of the Power Plant and found myself embracing the opportunity to experiment and learn the nuances of operating a plant. That is when I learnt my first lesson – Never Quit Without Experiencing Difficulties. You Have Nothing to Lose!

Close on the heels of the Madras Cements project, new EPC orders started flowing which opened multiple O&M opportunities. As we added new plants the operations expanded, and I was called into to support the head office work. This was another turning point where I could have chosen to stay back at the plant, but my keenness to work with new things nudged me to take on this role. This event significantly impacted my career. That is when I learnt my second lesson – Embrace Change, Cause You Never Know What Destiny Has In Store For You!

With a frugal team of two, I was thrust into challenges of the new role – supporting Site Execution, Buying Sub-Contracts, creating and aligning to new business processes and above all the financial discipline. This was clearly a start-up environment and I count myself to be incredibly fortunate to be a part of the journey. The evolution that you witness in a start-up gives you a first-hand view of building a business brick by brick. And this is exactly what Power O&M was going through. Observing my seniors wade through tough decisions of retaining customers, acquiring new orders with challenging timelines, collection of bills from reluctant customers, handling customers with serious complaints and more. It was a deluge of events and activities that kept me busy, not to mention the constant demand of keeping our plants running round the clock.

As a part of a team that created the first Business Processes for O&M in 2006-2007 which formed the base for the current operating structure, I was able to co-relate the purpose of each process with the operations in the field and the checks and balances that it brought to the business. Along with Business Processes, I worked on EAM (Maintenance Management System for O&M Sites) with my current site execution responsibilities. This gave me a completely new perspective to view business from another dimension. After successfully crafting the processes and setting up the EAM, I was handpicked for leading the “Transcend” initiative for cost reduction and sustaining growth for SBU with Accenture. Another move across the business.

While I was moving from one cornerstone to another, I was gaining exposure to a multitude of activities including problem solving, creating new systems and for the first time I felt a bit overwhelmed and that is when I learnt my third lesson… Take A Pause, Reflect, And Decide What You Want To Do Next. Focus On Where You Want To Move And Why?

With a rich and diverse experience in the O&M operations I decided to try my hand at sales. I took on a fulltime sales role. Thanks to my seniors, who trusted me and gave me an opening to handle the domestic market albeit a challenge to get into a completely new market. We tried hard and came agonizingly close to bagging a few orders in the Large Power Plant Segment but somehow, success eluded us. Another lesson for me… Not All Moves Give You Immediate Success But Their Experiences Prepare You For The Future!

The next big change came my way in 2014 when I got the opportunity to handle International Sales. Creating a go to market strategy in the backdrop of playing in an alien territory, communicating in a foreign language, working in a new culture, coupled with complex issues of Entity formation and immigration was a unique assignment that pushed me to think hard and in different directions. Pushing through these odds I managed the first success which became a game changer for an SBU like ours. Suddenly our revenue and profits jumped multi fold and I was pleasantly reminded of lesson number 2 Embrace Change, Cause You Never Know What Destiny Has In Store For You…

My penchant for moving across and successfully adapting to new roles made me visible to key stake holders and I was offered to lead global sales in 2019. This was the next big thing that placed me in the middle of a key leadership deliverable of man management!

When you take on new roles you get opportunities to test yourself against diverse requirements which help hone talents and skills that may have otherwise remained dormant. I have come to believe that each experience sharpens you in its own unique way. Once you have accepted the new role – commit to it wholeheartedly, expect the first few months to be challenging. You may even find yourself in a wobble like you do when you learn to ride a bike for the first time. Embrace this key phase, invest in new relationships, and create a new future. Perhaps you were the expert in your last role and now you will be the beginner but don’t let that shake your confidence. You have made this move for a reason, give it your best and don’t look back.

Moving within the organization requires a unique plan, a process and above all an open mind to remain curious. Getting a guide and a mentor is a key factor. Invest some time to do it right, and you will increase your chances of landing in your best job.

I cannot thank the organization enough for helping me with opportunities to build an all-round experience and a big thank you to my superiors and mentors who stayed by my side in this interesting and intoxicating journey.

– Anurag Chincholkar
Global Sales Head, Power O&M division

What makes us move?
The first species of mankind, Homo Sapiens, appeared in East Africa around 2 million years ago. The prehistoric humans had no impact on the environment than a common housefly or a gorilla. But what has changed? What has driven our ancestors and all of us to become the dominant species of today influencing and impacting the future of all other species on this planet?
One of the crucial developments was – the movement for survival. It is this ‘curiosity to explore’ that proved that the Earth is not flat, that proved that we could colonize Mars. On a large scale, mobility was important for us as species in the battle for dominance and survival.

It is only fair to parallel the same at an organizational level. Changing roles and responsibilities is a key aspect to understanding business functions in greater depth and thus begins the journey of evolution of an individual and organization.

My story in Thermax is similar to the plot line of the movie “Yes, Man”. For those who have not watched the movie, the protagonist takes up a challenge to say “Yes!” to every opportunity that comes his way. I joined Thermax in 2014 as a Graduate Engineer Trainee; I was leaving home for the first time in my life. Being fresh out of college, realization dawns on you while transcending from lifeless square boxes placed in the corner of every engineer’s Thermal book representing a Boiler to actually standing in front of its “steaming” eyes. In my first stint, I moved to Delhi to understand the business of Heating-Services. Probably having watched Hindi movies with subtitles did not help my case, as I could barely understand the Hindi language. Yet Murphy’s Law had to catch up with me too. Though I could have chosen a location closer to my home, I agreed for a location in North India without any hesitation. While getting accustomed to corporate life and learning how a boiler works, I was inconspicuously learning another language and building a diary full of memorable experiences. It was more than just a language for me. It was learning something deeper in myself. Something unexplored for all these years and finding myself unlocking some hidden potentials in me.

Within the first year, I had acquired incidental learnings in domains related to Services, Sales, Manufacturing, Marketing, and Product Management. I also took up an opportunity to get into the role of Heating Proposals, prior to the completion of my GET stint, as an urgent vacancy had to be filled. This helped me get accustomed to the ownership required for a designated role in the organization and also to the market requirements and positioning of our products for a competitive advantage.

Post traineeship, I was guided to move to the International Business Group, to be a part of “Project Genesis” while also continuing to contribute as an Engineer – Heating Proposal supporting the Thailand Hub. The inception of “Project Genesis” was to identify select International geographies and formulate market sizing and working business frameworks through Go-To-Market strategies for the respective markets.

I was the youngest member of the team, but I am thankful to all the senior members who never made me feel like I was the youngest and instead offered me lots of opportunities to express my thoughts. Their constant guidance and mentoring set the foundation for my future endeavours. I gained deep understanding of market analysis, International Business, competition mapping, and ultimately making a short-term purpose for the targeted regions.

This understanding was further enhanced and utilised when I moved to the Philippines as an Area Sales Manager to create a market preference for the product offerings of our company. I was able to apply my earlier assimilated learnings of market penetration to a focused approach for Philippines business. The operations were like that of a start-up as initially we did not even have an address to our name card. Building a business framework for Philippines through the guidance of senior leaders, though extremely challenging, but was most rewarding. The learning basket was almost overwhelming, and I was able to further create an understanding of the nuances in techno-commercials of a business including sales. Working with multicultural teams and customers further enhanced my global perceptive to the Sales approach. One of the biggest takeaways was learning the Sales art of talking the language of the customer. A key line separating what is to be conveyed and what customer wants to hear.

Further to the Philippines tenure, I was shifted to the division of Absorption Cooling to support the International Sales operations and have been doing so till date. I believe that my earlier stints made me better equipped for the transition phase of C&H Division with a shift from Pune to Chennai. I was able to take the added ownership and responsibility and through constant support from the senior members, achieve my goals even in demanding times. I was also part of multiple special initiatives of corporate, such as “Voice of Youth”, which gave me an opportunity to appreciate business from a senior leadership perspective.

While I reflect upon my journey in Thermax, I believe that I have got the Goldilocks conditions to grow-surrounded by great leaders and senior members, opportunities to grab on, and the space to express myself within the arrays of business. I could probably utilise this opportunity to thank all my mentors and well-wishers in the organization who have honed me into a holistic professional, to the person I am today.

The last year of COVID has shown us how unpredictable business can be, and adaptability to change is going to remain the key for us as individuals and for the company. Yes, I have taken the opportunities, and I feel one can also take up opportunities that knock your doors. I can proudly say that Thermax will ensure ample opportunities for you; the only question is – are you willing to take it?

Thermax could be your Goldilocks too!!

– Sai Prashanth
Assistant Manager – International Sales, Absorption Cooling & Heating Division

“Congratulations Rupali, you will complete 7 years in this month with Thermax, in your second innings”, my HR mentioned this to me (yes, HR also needs HR and has HR). “Thank you so much, time just flies…” was my instant response. But as I reflect on my professional journey, my heart pours with lot of memories, learnings and reflections that kept me motivated to look forward to Mondays to get back to work (rather than Monday blues) and contribute in a better way. It is my pleasure to share some insights through this blog.

Say Hi to Surprises. Post completing my MBA, I got placed as a Management Trainee in one of the consumer durables company through Campus. This being my first job, I was excited but equally anxious. Thanks to robust assimilation process, I could get settled in new atmosphere quickly. The organization was going through transformation and that brought in lot of surprises (yes, I prefer to call it surprise over challenge as it brings in excitement around ambiguity); and as young enthusiast I decided to adapt to the organizational need and moved across functions like market research, L&D and HR business partnering and locations like Aurangabad, Mumbai and Gurgaon. When I reflect, these transitions at the initial phase of my career became the building blocks for my next move and engraved a deep belief that agility in thought process is equally important.

Learn, Unlearn and Relearn. Continuous learning is vital to keep yourself abreast on new happenings in and around; but I realized unlearning and re-learning are also equally important as I moved to new city (Pune) and new organization (Thermax). My first innings at Thermax began as HR Associate for C&H Services business. Coming from different industry, different organization culture, I had to unlearn not only policies and processes but also operating styles. Guidance by Manager, support from business & HR colleagues helped me immensely to navigate through this change. Apart from supporting the growth agenda of business, I was given opportunity to launch campus hiring for one stream, which helped me to build the perspective around end to end campus management.

Explore the Unexplored. While I was enjoying my job, I was on a crossroad where I had to choose between family priorities and career. I decided to give preference to family and accompanied my husband who was moving to USA for long term assignment. The curious traveller in me encouraged to explore different parts of country and I could also complete couple of courses in HR domain. But after a while I could not suppress my inner voice which was calling out for getting back into action in the corporate world. When I decided to move back to India, Thermax was an obvious preference, the culture of organization and its contemporary people practice never ceased to amaze me.
I joined as Talent Management anchor. This role helped me to widen my thinking horizon from one division to entire organization. The necessity of having holistic yet agile approach to achieve desired outcome was my key learning in this exploratory journey.

Go Extra Mile. I truly believe in the concept of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour i.e. going over and beyond goal plan/ key deliverables of your role. Applying this concept has helped me a lot to enhance my skill set as well as learning agility. While Talent Management was my core responsibility, I was given various other short term stretch assignments to gain experience and exposure on different HR areas. HR Associate Power -LPP (Large Power Plant) role gave me understanding of projects business. I was nominated as HR representative for Project Modernize – a strategic project involving 14 young colleagues across businesses and functions to modernize, digitize and simplify some of the key processes @ Thermax. This project not only helped me to develop overall appreciation of functional nuances but also enhanced my thinking and execution skills. ASPIRE – Learning intervention for senior leaders, T-Quiz organization wide quiz contest driving engagement beyond divisional and functional boundaries, leading Change Management for new HR system implementation, Campus Management and many more such assignments helped to enrich my knowledge and build the skills.

Adapt, Align and Augment. And the day came where my Manager who has always been my mentor got into conversation discussing with me an opportunity to work with Chemical Business as a Group HR head. I was overwhelmed by the trust placed by my mentor and seniors. I was nervous about the transition but kudos to the nurturing ecosystem co-created by functional and administrative manager along with colleagues from HR and business who made this transition seamless. This role is not only helping me to leverage on my learnings from the previous experience but also honing my skills in new arena.

In nutshell, role change happens in couple of hours technically, interaction with your Manager followed by changes in the system; but the changes associated with role (both behavioural and functional) take time. We get involved in various assignments, few may be from our area of interest and few may not be; some could be planned and some could be unplanned but everything that we learn, make us ready to take the leap of faith. And the learning curve continues as we get into newer role.

Diverse exposure has always brought in freshness to my professional journey making it more meaningful, exciting and I truly look forward to every Monday!

– Rupali Bagul
Group Head – HR, Chemical

I started my career in Millennium year of 2000. While Y2K was an exciting buzz that time, I chose a path to be associated with core engineering sector. After going through well-planned initial induction and getting to know the company, I was attached to Absorption cooling Division (it was called ACD that time) at Mumbai Office. I did evaluate few options of being in various functions but given my outward inclination of interacting with people, fondness for travel and also eagerness to have impactful conversation & communication, I chose to be in front end sales. While this was a well assisted process, the fact that I got into the function where I could apply my skillsets, young mind and enthusiasm, I got thoroughly involved and immersed into the responsibility. This change from being a student to getting into professional world happened when I was surrounded by right set of people, mentors and also colleagues who contributed to helping me through this change.

After successful stint of six years in ACD, I felt the need to get an exposure to work in a multinational company and in a different sector. This was at one of the leading global conglomerates for their marine and aviation lubrication business for Indian Subcontinent. From outside, it looks to be a completely different sector but the concept of value selling, differentiation, relationship management, product positioning- all remained the same. This change gave me an exposure to work in multicultural teams, engaging with different nationalities, understanding of how health and safety gets focused in multinational companies and dynamics of marine & aviation industry. This was the time when I worked very closely with many people & customers outside of India and this gave me an exposure of handling overseas business.

I was then offered an opportunity to lead our front-end efforts of Power EPC business for Middle East and Africa. That’s where I started my second innings in Thermax & this required me to shift from Mumbai to Pune. This change was driven by a desire to know and handle EPC business which is very different from product business. It was an exciting journey in early part of this decade when we started covering substantial ground in Middle east and Africa. With our rigor and focus on Africa through an initiative known as ‘Project Zebra’, we mapped potential, possibilities and challenges for Projects businesses and got a breakthrough for EPC power plant way back in 2011-12. This opened up a sizeable potential for this offering in African continent. While our actions were at peak and we were on the cusp of clinching many more opportunities, I was guided for making a career move to be part of a corporate initiative, then known as ‘Project Genesis’. This was followed by strategy formulation and envisioning, go to market, identifying interventions from the businesses, organization building for select geographies. While we were in the middle of this journey and after completing deployment in Indonesia, I was then asked to head business for Thailand and neighboring countries under Thailand hub for all the product offerings of our company and to be based out of Bangkok.

Being there in different country and working along with local teams & customers gave a very different exposure. Cultural differentiation and how it creates differences in business decisions was one of the biggest takeaways during this stint. This was like a start-up and I got involved in everything related to business and compliances. Getting the team together, identifying & evaluating different ways of doing business, building those partnerships & business collaborations in the market, creating initial success stories to ensure the business model gets wider acceptance in the market were some of key steps which we ensured as a team. My ability to unlearn was really tested here and the fact that we were not in our home country, forced us to sharpen our unlearning curve apart from faster adaptability. After setting up a strong foundation in three years, I decided to come back and handle Global Sales, Marketing, Proposals and Product management for Cooling Division and now shifted to Standard Plant Group of Water and Wastewater division to spearhead overall business efforts.

When I reflect on this journey and these varied experiences in product and project business along with working in different geographies, I feel that these career moves helped me to understand different businesses in greater depth, ensured faster alignment to business requirement through quick learning, take ownership, bring in more seasonality and maturity to deliver in different circumstances. It also helped me to create many diverse and long-lasting customer relationships which often cut across various businesses. While I know that there is a perspective that continuity gives us roots but change gives us branches, letting us stretch, explore our individual potential, and adds immense value to the organization.

Changes are definitely not easy. Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable have perhaps not learned their history. All the major changes in my career have been assisted and guided changes. At no point of time, there was a compulsion to change however at all the times, I was told pros and cons of the change. My sincere thanks and gratitude to the organization & to all my seniors and mentors who guided me throughout this journey and for also having confidence in me in handling these different roles. It is this true mentorship and ’let go approach’ of management & respective line managers which forms the foundation of our talent mobility policy. While seniors & mentors have played a major role in guiding me through these career moves, the real credit go to the teams, with whom I have worked in various roles, in making these moves count and making them meaningful. One cannot say whether things will get better if we change, but we should change if we aspire to get better. We can build an adaptable organization only with adaptable people. The art lies in constant readjustment to our surroundings and align our experiences & objectives to build synergy and harmony.

– Mandar Erande
SPG PU – Head, WWS

My journey with Thermax started a decade ago. I was fresh out of college and was striving to build my career in the R&D department for one of the leading engineering companies in India, Thermax. Yes, every engineer aspires to design fancy stuff after graduating from College. Back then neither did I know about the various facets of working in a Corporate nor did I realize my true potential as a professional working for this great organization.

After completing my induction as a trainee engineer, I joined Upstream Oil & Gas (UOG) division under Project Management function then. I was given the opportunity to work on a live project. There is a belief that On-the-Job training is the best learning you can get in any profession. During this initial stint, I had to collaborate across all the functions and was granted responsibility to be the single point of contact for the Customer. The Project was in a very precarious situation and I had a very tough time handling this demanding Customer. I was surprised to be made part of this Task force to Deliver. A trainee engineer managing a critical Export Project – this can happen only in Thermax.

From UOG, I was transferred to TBWES (earlier known as Boilers & Heaters Division) and worked in the Oil & Gas SBU. I was made responsible to execute multiple projects for a Key Account, who later awarded Thermax its largest project in its history. The most difficult part while working in a matrix structure is to influence your team members to deliver. This role taught me the art of building relationships.

There did come a thought in my mind, “what am I doing in Projects? Is it worth taking this responsibility at a young age or time to explore other industries or perhaps apply for higher studies?”

Millennials from my generation prefer to jump the ship at the first available moment, yet I am writing this blog after working here for last 10 years. How did this happen? Shekhar, in his blog, talked about ‘Change’. In today’s VUCA world, ‘Change’ is the only constant. This ‘Change’ played a key role in my journey as well.

During a casual discussion with my BU Head, I was asked “Rakesh, do you want to work in Sales?” I jumped and confirmed to him immediately without second thought. While working in Sales, I was selected for a strategic assignment (Project Modernize) from Corporate along with 14 young colleagues. We were given responsibility to simplify and modernize our existing processes within a timeframe of 90 days. Our team did a great job, and we could implement many new processes by making use of digital tools of the current era.

This Sales stint was my shortest as I got an opportunity to work with Thermax MD & CEO as his EA. Working in the Corporate office was the next best thing that could have happened to me. This phase was all about learning from the best minds in our organization, honing my skills around Corporate Strategy and Planning function. I was part of multiple organization wide assignments like ‘Voice of Youth’ and ‘Salesforce’. These cross-functional assignments did stretch my limits but gave me the horizontal exposure across businesses.

In a decade of being a Thermaxian, from Factory to Energy house and from Thermax house to my current role in International Sales, was I deterred not to make these moves? No. What was the most critical factor in all these moves? Some of these moves were planned but some were unplanned. I have learnt in this journey that it is all about your ‘Attitude’ towards life, which will make you or break you. If you have got the right ‘Attitude’, decisions made against the available opportunities will turn in your favor. You must continue with your hard work to sail through the difficult phases.

The willingness to learn and take responsibilities backed up by open culture at Thermax offers unlimited growth opportunities to excel. The question is – “are we eager to take this up and lead from the front”?

– Rakesh Ravish
Sales Manager, International Business Group