SriLankan Airlines’ Human Resources Division recently nominated two successor pools consisting of managers and senior managers, with the aim of preparing them for the critical positions of the organisation. Under this programme the nominated managers are to be mentored by prominent corporate personalities.
Under this initiative, seven role model personalities have been selected as mentors for the successor pools; namely, Susantha Ratnayake – Board Member of SriLankan Airlines and Chairman of John Keells Holdings, Kishu Gomes - MD and CEO of Chevron Lubricants Lanka , Prof. Sri Kandaiah- Management Consultant and Executive Coach, Deepal Sooriyaarachchi - Former CEO of Eagle Insurance and Management Consultant, Prof. Uditha Liyanage - Senior Faculty member and Professor of Marketing at PIM, Dr. Ajantha Dharmasiri - Director PIM and Prashantha Lal De Alwis - President’s Counsel and Director of Softlogic Holdings and Sampath Bank. These renowned mentors dedicate their time to provide assistance and share their in-depth knowledge, enabling employees to plan and nurture their career paths and aspirations in the organisation, as a result of this valued corporate knowledge transfer.
Head of Human Resources Pradeepa Kekulawala further said that SriLankan is very fortunate to have the above star personalities in their member pool who have added tremendous value to their successor development project.
With this initiative, the selected managers are given the opportunity to interact with the mentors via one-to-one chats, email, skype calls etc. Some of the topics that are discussed in detail are leading for results, the Norms of 21st Century Management, Leading with a Creative Edge, Making sense of Life as well as Revolutionary Leadership to successfully deal with modern day challenges.
In addition, a series of knowledge sharing sessions are organised during which the successors are provided with exclusive training for their professional as well as personal development. SriLankan Airlines’ succession planning programme is a 2-year programme and at the end of the training period the nominated managers will be assessed and their readiness will be communicated to the higher management to determine their roles . (KH)
