3S: Tata chief's yearend mantra for employees

‘In order to achieve peak performance, we must focus on three things: Simplification, synergy and scale,’ Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran wrote in a 2-page note to employees.

In his year-end message, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran asked Tata employees to focus on synergy, scale and simplification as the $105-billion salt-to-software conglomerate seeks to play a significant and influential role in India’s growth story and on the global stage.

‘With our diversified global footprint and our presence in the lives of almost a billion consumers, we are uniquely positioned. In order to achieve peak performance, we must focus on three things: Simplification, synergy and scale,’ he wrote in the two-page note on Tuesday.

This is his second letter to employees since he stepped in as the firm’s chief. He took charge in February 2017, amid a bitter legal battle fought between former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry and Tata Sons.

Chandra emphasised upon the need to simplify and reduce complexity in a rapidly changing world, and to bring agility in decision-making. He mooted the need to adopt the ‘One Tata’ approach that leverages collaboration between group companies and associates.

‘One Tata, to my mind, is a mindset that brings the best of the group together for every opportunity. It is a journey that will allow us to discover the art of the possible when we work together,’ he wrote.

‘These efforts must be unequivocally underpinned by a culture of high performance and accountability,’ he wrote. The collaboration, he added, would also enable the Tata Trusts -- which have been working in areas such as education, health care and technology -- to make a larger impact.

As part of the larger strategy, Chandra and his core team have been firing on all cylinders -- from disentangling the complex cross-holdings of group companies to taking calls on troubled debt-ridden units such as Tata Teleservices and Tata Steel Europe, to executing the strategy that involves simplification and streamlining of operations.

The Tata group under Chandra has already started working on the three principles cited by him. In the past 10 months under his leadership the group has taken significant steps in simplifying the monolithic business house that boasts of 110-odd companies and plans to prune it.

Image: Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters.