Ooredoo Myanmar: 5 things to get right if you want to be a great place to work

Transparent leadership, culture of collaboration, and management excellence, these are among the things that helped Ooredoo Myanmar win with people, affirms Human Resources Director, Htet Min Aung.

At the heart of every successful organisation lies a strong culture, where employees trust and get along with each other, feel valued, take pride in what they do. Cultivating this company culture has remained a top priority for us at Ooredoo Myanmar, delivered through our strategy of "Winning with People" that takes a people-centric approach toward organisational development.

Winning with people is all about encouraging a shared sense of responsibility, to ensure that our organisational growth is aligned with the personal growth of employees, and that any change implemented is ultimately sustainable, and internalised by each individual. The strategy is built around five core pillars that serve as the foundations of positive change.

Transparent leadership

An open line of communication and a lean organisational structure are essential to promoting leadership that is transparent and receptive to employee feedback. Toward this end, we have sought to establish various platforms through which employees remain engaged with key decision-making processes and are informed of key milestones and developments.

Our monthly town hall meetings constitute a core part of this pillar, where important updates are communicated to employees, and employee achievements are celebrated. We have also introduced a number of focused, department-led initiatives, including “HR Bits and Bites”, “Breakfast with the CTO” and “Coffee with the CEO” where employees are encouraged to engage, share ideas and feedback,cultivating a culture of openness.

Culture of collaboration

Our programme emphasises a collaborative mindset that encourages the leadership to move away from the from the traditional silo mentality. The end goal is to recognise diversity as an asset, in the form of expertise and skillsets and cultural backgrounds.To ensure that this mindset trickles down from the top, we have various work-groups that are focused on identifying strategic projects where employees from different teams can engage and work toward a common goal. We also set up a cross-departmental committee that organises interactive and team-building activities for employees, as an informal platform for improving workplace communication through an exchange of ideas and knowledge.

Management excellence

Well-executed leadership and management is critical to fostering a culture of positive accountability. Hence, we have developed a “People Manager Index” scorecard, a guideline and measurement framework for measuring and improving the effectiveness of people management skills. This approach has led to more regular coaching and feedback sessions that give employees the opportunity to set clear performance and personal development goals.

Self-driven learning and development

Self-directed learning can have a profound impact on the culture and productivity of an organisation, through inculcating a constant purpose and desire for growth. By incorporating the 70:20:10 model for learning and development, we created opportunities for employees to own their growth, from blended learning classroom training and micro training modules, to a digital learning hub and cross-departmental knowledge sharing seminars.

The competency-based mentoring programs in place also equip our workforce with soft skills and personal qualities necessary to navigate and succeed in today’s work environment.

High-trust and engaging workplace

Trust is a key element in building strong teams and creating a positive work culture where people take ownership of their responsibilities.

To inculcate a high-trust environment, we have sought to place the employee experience at the centre, by using innovative, data-driven approaches to gather employee feedback and analyse employee perceptions of the workplace. Our bi-annual engagement survey, for example, serves as an important tool for us to benchmark our organisational culture and identify improvement areas.

Results of this 5-pillared strategy

A core part of our approach toward building trust and engagement is to create a culture that enables individuals to learn from failure rather than be discouraged by it. Ultimately this comes down to fostering a sense of responsibility in individuals, and a culture where employees are not discouraged from taking ownership of their mistakes.

Challenges are inevitable when change is taking place, from stakeholder buy-in to ensuring that the end goal is not lost in sight during the implementation process. To cultivate intrinsic motivation and create sustainable change, it is important to establish a shared sense of responsibility between employees, direct managers and the organisation.

Ooredoo Myanmar continues to be recognised for its people practices through prestigious awards such as "2017 & 2018 People’s Choice Award" and "2017 Asia’s Best Employer Brand Award", among others. Most recently, Ooredoo Myanmar became the only organisation in Myanmar to be certified by Great Place to Work® for two consecutive years (2018-2019). Furthermore, by integrating talent management framework with business strategy, the organisation has consistently seen year-on-year improvement in engagement, learning hours and retention of high potentials.

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