Competency Framework Shapes L&D Efforts

Suzlon Energy Limited: 2025 BEST Award Winner, #7

Pune, India

5-Time Winner

Suzlon Energy operates in the highly competitive renewable energy sector in India and is the only dedicated engineering, procurement, and construction player in the market. That unique positioning enables the company to provide comprehensive solutions for the entire life cycle of wind power projects, from turbine manufacturing to installation and maintenance. Suzlon's extensive infrastructure includes several manufacturing facilities and research and development centers in India and other countries.

With expected growth in its business, the company is focusing on effectiveness in operations and leadership and ensuring it stays competitive and on the leading edge of best practices in the industry. The L&D team is an indispensable partner in keeping the company agile, innovative, and future ready.

To improve leadership effectiveness and enable movement from functional domain leadership to enterprise leadership capabilities, L&D designed a nine-month program to focus on the behavioral and functional aspects of the business. The program encourages lateral knowledge sharing across the organization, with employees from all verticals learning from one another and understanding the challenges peers across the company face.

The organization empowers groups to present their challenges and find solutions through action learning projects. The initiative exposes participants to distinct functions to foster deeper understanding of overall business operations. Program outcomes have improved cross-functional collaboration, which is driving an improved growth forecast.

Suzlon has more than 125 critical positions that it must always staff to ensure business continuity. The organization pivoted a more proactive approach in developing future leaders by creating high-potential programs for staff in the mid- to junior management levels. The program identifies, develops, and accelerates the readiness of high performers across managerial and leadership tiers.

Assessment tools include a 360-degree evaluation that focuses on competencies such as ability, aspiration, engagement, relationships, tasks, and leadership. The development program takes a 70-20-10 approach and includes mentoring sessions with senior leaders. The company enrolls participants in top management institutes; additional experiential, social, and formal learning programs support their development. The initiative is yielding strong results, with 37 percent of participants transitioning into new roles.

"This program is a testament to our commitment to nurturing talent, fostering growth, and driving excellence in our organization," says Suzlon Group CEO Jayarama Prasad Chalasani.

Driving operational execution excellence is another focus for the L&D team. Taking a skills development approach, the team identified performance gaps across various trades and created targeted programs to upskill 2,500 employees. A component of the effort was also upskilling subject matter experts and training facilitators to ensure they deliver top quality training.

A new digital learning platform offers global access to resources, enabling employees to learn at their own pace in addition to get structured learning opportunities that align with Suzlon's competency framework. The combination of structured and self-directed learning proved beneficial for employees and the organization. As staff developed their skills, their confidence increased. The company has benefited from improved effectiveness that has translated directly to delivering on customer expectations.

View the entire list of 2025 BEST Award winners.