HR Cornucopia explores expansion in Sri Lanka

Zeeshan Yusuf, the newly-appointed COO of HR Cornucopia, an engineer by profession, says that they see a huge opportunity in Sri Lanka to expand and are looking to invest to build and grow their Sri Lankan operation. Following are excerpts of an interview:

By Cherika Tissera

Q: As the Chief Operations Officer of HR Cornucopia Sri Lanka, what are your objectives and how long have you been associated with the Sri Lankan operations?

A: My association with Lankan operations began in 2010. My first project was a great experience as I was working under the guidance of Dinesh Weerakkody, which was a tremendous experience. Weerakkody and Ahmed Ali, the founder of HR Cornucopia, partnered together to set up Cornucopia Lanka in 2005 and then to grow the Asia Pacific business. Today under the leadership of Ahmed Ali, a former GlaxoSmithKline Asia Pacific HR Head, Cornucopia has become one of the fastest growing consulting companies in South Asia.

As the new COO I look forward to expanding our client-base and provide the most effective services at the right price. Though our core strength is ‘organisation development,’ our recruitment division is currently doing extremely well and our focus would be to take this forward to the next level both in terms of quality and speed of service.

Q: What are your plans for the following year?

A: Cornucopia India has several resources specialising in organisation development and have hands on experience in their specialised domain. Access to these resources coupled with our local presence would serve as a base to offer a wider variety of management consulting services. Focussing on our core competencies performance management, leadership development tools – 360/720 degree feedback, employee satisfaction/ engagement surveys, etc., we intend to offer our services aligned to the best HR practices across the subcontinent.

Q: What sets Cornucopia’s services apart from the other management consulting firms in Sri Lanka?

A: Cornucopia’s global exposure and local presence ensures that we provide you world class services at the right price. In the era of cut throat competition and globalisation, organisations have realised the importance of strategic HR practices for gaining an edge over the competitors.

Our Performance Management Systems have played a crucial role in streamlining employees’ alignment and realisation of several organisations’ ultimate corporate mission and vision. Cornucopia’s PMS models are customised to suit the client company’s culture and are based on models such as MBO, Balanced Scorecard, Competency Centric Frameworks, etc. The most critical aspect of our customised Performance Management Systems is its measurability and transparency.

Q: Why is leadership development critical to organisations?

A: In an increasingly complex business place, the presence of a leadership pipeline is of paramount importance for organisational growth. 360 degree feedback system helps the organisation and its leaders within to understand how the stakeholders perceive their leadership styles.

Cornucopia’s 360 feedback process is not a regimented system. The dimensions of assessment and the questionnaire are identified and defined based on a intense and in-depth study of the clients requirements and needs, based on the study our customisable web based application not only ensures the clients ease of access but also a sense of confidentiality.

Cornucopia is now in the process of taking its feedback model to the next level. The new feedback system includes input from a leader’s family, friends as well as business colleagues and direct reports. The 720 Degree approach is aimed at giving people a very different view of themselves as leaders and individuals.

Q: Are employee surveys critical to organisations to develop sound HR Policies?

A: Many business owners don’t realise the powerful connection between their employees’ happiness and the success of their business. You can’t have a successful business without happy, competent employees, so it makes sense to use an employee satisfaction survey to keep tabs on your employees’ attitudes about their work and their workplace.

A well structured employee satisfaction survey helps to understand the way employees perceive their organisation and its working style which finally contribute to the total satisfaction that one derives out of the organisational climate. There are several dimensions that contribute to this. Our surveys are generally conducted on a web based tool to provide clients ease of access, in certain cases these surveys have been conducted by paper pencil methods as well

Q: Does Cornucopia India see potential in the local market?

A: There is tremendous potential now with the conflict coming to an end. We are looking to invest in Sri Lanka to grow our capacity and improve our local infrastructure.