Wale Adediran, the Director of Human Resources at the Guinness Nigeria Plc, in this interview links corporate success to continual performance measurement and sound employee reward culture. He also speaks on why the company entered and won the Great Place To Work' Awards. Excerpts:On the Great Place To Work AwardsWe have always known the 'Great Place To Work' (GPTW) as a reputable Institute, which has done well to keep its standards and values intact for more than 25 years.It is on record that ' Great Place to Work' has studied the inner workings of work places around the world, from small start-up to some of the best known multinationals. They know what makes them tick and have proven that great workplaces consistently outperform their competitors.Also, their expertise and tools have, over the years, helped businesses transform and prosper through leadership development and workplace culture consulting services.All these are, no doubt, synonymous with what we believe in and place premium on, as it is part of our passion and tradition to create a great place to work for our employees at Guinness. So it was easy for us to decide to enter for the award.What particular innovation in human resource management would you say earned Guinness the award'It is not really about one particular innovation; it is what we are, who we are, what we do and how we do it.Over the years, we have placed great importance on quality of our brands, human capacity development of staff, which, from generation to generation, has never been shaken. We do well to stick with values structured on trust, commitment and dedication to work.One of the things I think that got us the award is the fact that, our staff are extremely proud to work, because of the tradition of excellence that our members of staff have done well to attach themselves with.Most importantly, we are a performance-driven organisation and our reward system is aligned with performance.Guinness Nigeria is proud to receive these awards. One of our company values hinged on tradition is that we do well to build members of staff with the freedom to succeed. This allows us to trust one another, foster openness while creating an enabling environment to succeed as a company. We are also employees and the company.To us, this award means we are doing the right thing and stand for the united spirit of Guinness Nigeria. In a survey of over 250 firms in Nigeria, we won the award for the 'Best Place To Work' for having the most conducive environment for employees in Nigeria.Guinness also sees rewarding its staff, when they do well as key to propelling them to want to do better. This ultimately translates into growth for the company, that is why we put in place a lot of benefits and facilities for staff. Our training academy is second to none when we talk of corporate training facilities that companies have.How do you hope to sustain the feat'Performance measurement is a fundamental building block of any quality organisation. So, as we go on, we try not to relent in doing what we know how to do best. We strive to do better than our competitors, by re-inventing ourselves and creating new ideas. This puts us ahead of them all, no matter what effort or strategy they put in to meet up with us. This is, no doubt, a true testament to the fact that, we are miles ahead of our contemporaries.In the cycle of never-ending improvement, performance measurement plays an important role in identifying and tracking progress against organisational goals, identifying opportunities for improvement, and comparing performance against both internal and external standards.So, reviewing our performance is also an important step when formulating the direction of the strategic activities that will take us to that next level. It is important to know where our strengths and weaknesses lie, and then do well to lift our performance at all times. All these and more are key in our going forward.Any future plans you will like to share'At the moment, we have put in place various strategies to ensure that our growth is sustained and also surpassed, especially, amidst stiff competition.We have made future plans that would see us boost our performance and increase profitability in the coming years.Several projects aimed at increasing the capacities of our Lagos and Benin breweries have commenced. In addition, work is advanced on the project to connect our Benin operations to gas supply. Also all our brands are set to benefit from the growth in the can-packaged segment, which we pioneered in this industry in 2005.Our business had switched over to System, Application and Products software, an enterprise resource planning tool are already in use in major markets of our parent company as well as in some of the biggest businesses in the world.With all these in place, our business is poised to experience a new drive, which would in turn be reflected in our financial performance. I believe that the evidence of these investments in capacity and processes will even be more apparent in the immediate future.Our commitment, to growing, developing and retaining talent, is ongoing and would even be better packaged, as we have recognised that it is a major factor for our long-term successes.How well has your organisation fared in giving back to the communities you operate in'I can boldly tell you that we have an excellent record, which by far surpasses our contemporaries. We are a responsible organisation and do well in never shying away from our responsibilities .Our efforts in giving back is visible everywhere we operate, not only in Nigeria; it has seen major parts of West African countries gain access to clean water with an affordable water filter supported by our parent company, Diageo's Arthur Guinness Fund, created to celebrate the beer's 250th anniversary.The funding aim towards a new enterprise in Nigeria and Ghana in building a sustainable market for the water filter, Crystal Pur TM, which eliminated 99.99 per cent of all waterborne bacteria and parasites with no chemicals or mechanical parts. We know that improving access to clean and safe water contributes to improved health and educational levels and reduces poverty.This project in West Africa with the Arthur Guinness Fund is being developed to complement our existing 'Water of Life' programme which has already helped many communities and millions of people across Africa.The initiative is aimed at benefitting over 250,000 people in areas where nearby surface water is predominately used and water is boiled for drinking purposes.Local entrepreneurs were supported through programme partners Enterprise works /VITA (EWV), an international not-for-profit organization, in the distribution and retail sales of the water filters, as well as develop local campaigns to educate people on the benefits of clean water and hygiene.Diageo's 'Water of Life' programme supports community-based projects to improve access to drinking water, as well as aid environmental conservation and deliver capacity-building training with local partners.In the last three years, since 'Water of Life' project started, Diageo's programmes across Africa have provided over 3.2million people access to clean water. The 1 Million Challenge aims to give 1 million more people access to clean water each year.I can also tell you that our company has given Guinness Eye Centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH), a face lift with the painting of its facility, replacement of the external signage and furniture.Guinness also partnered with the management of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, in upgrading the Eye Centre with laser eye equipment worth N7million in 2010. We did not stop at that, as we have also sponsored two eye centres in Nigeria located in Ontisha and Anambra State.As part of our total commitment to the communities we operate in, Guinness will continue to support the Guinness Eye Centres in sustaining them, as centres of excellence for eye care.The face-lift of the Guinness Eye Centre LUTH demonstrates our passion for community involvement and humanitarian service which is the focus of our corporate citizenship initiatives in Nigeria.
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