How Aditya Birla’s Group Head – Learning Addresses the Complex Learning and Development Demands of a Global Business

We are excited to share this blog to highlight the valuable insights shared by Neelmani Singh, Group Head – Learning & Head – Global Center for Leadership Learning (Gyanodaya), Aditya Birla Group, as he speaks with Manas Mainrai, SVP, APAC/India at Emeritus Enterprise

Nestled within Aditya Birla Group’s sprawling Navi Mumbai campus in India, Gyanodaya which stands for ‘the rise of knowledge’ is Aditya Birla’s Global Center for Leadership Learning. Currently spanning over 2,00,000 square feet, Gyanodaya has over 12 classrooms and 25 meeting rooms accommodating 300 to 350 participants in corporate learning programs simultaneously. It stands tall as a testament to the company’s commitment to empowering its workforce through education and development.

At the helm of this transformative journey is Neelmani Singh, Group Head – Learning & Head – Global Center for Leadership Learning (Gyanodaya), Aditya Birla Group. Singh’s role blends thought leadership with operational excellence, addressing the diverse learning needs of the conglomerate with creativity and innovation. His team focuses on industry best practices, experimenting with global insights and leveraging executive education from top institutions like Harvard. By consulting with renowned professors and engaging subject-matter experts through campus visits or external learning sessions, Singh and team ensure cost efficiency without compromising quality. Prior to Aditya Birla, a company with 22 diverse businesses spanning 41 countries and employing individuals from 104 nationalities, Singh has also held leadership roles at Reliance Industries, Standard Chartered Bank, Microsoft Corporation, and ICICI Bank, to name a few.

We had the privilege of interviewing none other than Singh himself to discuss Aditya Birla Group’s best practices, their vision for the future, and his perspective on what it takes to excel as a learning and development (L&D) professional. Here are six key insights from our conversation.

Six Key Insights for Effective L&D in Global Businesses

Insight #1: Centralized and Distributed Learning and Development

L&D in large organizations needs to be a careful balancing act between centralization and localized execution. At Aditya Birla Group, this balance is a key pillar of their approach to workforce development.

“The Aditya Birla Group is adequately centralized and at the same time distributed – like the group and the business structure,” explains Singh. While group-level strategies lay the groundwork, individual business verticals adapt these strategies to meet their unique needs.

At the managerial and mid-managerial levels, the focus is mainly on business-specific skill development. This includes functional expertise, leadership training, and personal effectiveness programs tailored to the vertical’s demands. For senior leaders, the Group takes a more centralized approach. Profiles, capabilities, and developmental areas are thoroughly assessed. Themes and agendas for L&D are then crafted collaboratively by the Business COE (Center of Excellence), Group COE, and CHRO. Together, they create targeted programs while deciding participant eligibility at this level.

“It’s a very symbiotic way of working,” says Singh. “There’s a clear handshake and differentiation between what the business handles and what the Group manages.”

To complement this approach, Aditya Birla Group also champions functional leadership academies. These academies specialize in skill-building across five core areas: manufacturing, sales & marketing, HR, finance, and IT. Each academy works closely with functional talent management councils to stay ahead of market trends, ensuring employees are equipped with the skills needed for a rapidly evolving landscape.

Insight #2: Adapting to Global Trends in Your Unique Way

Global businesses are shaped by the dual forces of mega-global trends and more localized dynamics. Successfully navigating these shifts requires charting a path that aligns with the organization’s unique strengths and needs.

Take the Aditya Birla Group as an example. With 22 diverse businesses, meeting the varied L&D needs of such a vast organization is no small feat. The challenge is compounded by global megatrends like artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation, which are reshaping industries at an extraordinary pace.

Singh stresses that understanding and responding to global trends is non-negotiable. For instance, AI is no longer just a buzzword—it’s a tool that companies must help their employees harness effectively. People need a general understanding of AI along with role-specific and business-specific AI applications. For example, AI in fashion could mean virtual trial rooms, while in finance could mean robotic process automation and in manufacturing it could mean industrial IoT and Industry 4.0.

Digital transformation is another area of focus. According to Singh:

“When you do business transformation with technology, you can go 10x or 100x. It’s super critical that we upgrade our people on these things.”

But adapting to trends isn’t just about technology. Cultural transformation plays a big role too. Organizations must foster a culture of lifelong learning and manager training to sustain a growth mindset.

Singh also emphasizes the importance of agility in navigating macroeconomic and geopolitical shifts. L&D programs need to develop decision-making skills that help employees adapt to unpredictable environments. And amid all this, soft skills will continue to remain a timeless necessity.

Insight #3: Ensure Culturally Sensitive Learning Programs for a Global Business

Cultural sensitivity is essential when designing Learning & Development (L&D) programs for a global workforce. Multinational organizations need to recognize and adapt to the diverse needs of local workforces, ensuring inclusivity across all training initiatives.

“One very simple thing that people (global companies) miss out on and we are going strong on is being multilinguistic—are your L&D products and properties multi-lingual? Such learning properties are a favourite for us.” Providing training materials in multiple languages ensures accessibility and engagement, making learning programs more inclusive.

Understanding the economic and cultural landscape of each region is equally crucial. Factors such as communication styles—including speech pace, tone, and workplace hierarchies—can significantly influence learning outcomes. “The whole hierarchy, culture, and communication style are different. A manager-subordinate relationship in South Korea is very different from that in Europe or the United States. These differences must be acknowledged and adapted to.”

Above all, at the heart of any effective L&D design is empathy. Singh believes foundational human values like sensitivity, listening, appreciation, and communication should guide the process. “If these principles are kept at the center, then all the other factors—developed vs developing economy, macroeconomics, geopolitics, culture, language, communication, workplace hierarchy, and DEI—become contextual and meaningful.”

Insight #4:  Use Learner Personas to Create Inclusive Learning Programs

Use of personas—fictional yet research-based representations of employees that reflect their demographics, roles, and specific needs—is a key strategy that the Aditya Birla Group adopts to design inclusive and impactful learning programs. These personas enable organizations to address the unique challenges faced by different employee groups, ensuring tailored and relevant learning experiences.

“We do personas. Whenever we’re building a product, we look at multiple personas,” Singh explains. “We try to go as complicated as possible. Then the diversities get taken care of.”

For example, an entry-level employee in India will have vastly different training requirements compared to an entry-level employee in Europe. By accounting for such differences, organizations can design programs that truly resonate with their audiences.

A standout example is the Corporate Leadership Training Programs for Women. These programs aim to empower women in leadership. This helps break down gender biases across teams and fosters a more inclusive culture. By leveraging personas, such nuances can be identified and addressed during the program design phase.

Insight #5: Use Data to Find the Story

Data is not just for crunching numbers—it’s a powerful storytelling tool that guides L&D teams in evaluating program effectiveness and making informed decisions. As Singh puts it:

“Data is useless if it does not help in decision-making. All data comes with a story, and if we are missing the story, we are missing the plot.”

At the Aditya Birla Group, ‘data storytelling’ is a cornerstone of their L&D approach. The focus isn’t just on collecting metrics but on deriving actionable insights that drive improvement. Singh emphasizes, “No insight means the data is not useful.”

Metrics like course completion rates, employee feedback, and post-training performance are key indicators of a program’s impact. But data also reveals gaps. For instance, low adoption rates in certain regions or functions can highlight areas needing targeted interventions. This deeper understanding enables L&D teams to refine their strategies continuously.

Insight #6: Have Passionate L&D Professionals on Your Team

Singh’s guiding mantra for the learning community is simple yet powerful: “Do what you love or love what you do.” He believes passion is the foundation for success in L&D. As he puts it, “In my interviews, I look for passion. If it is there, 70% of the job is done.”

Passion fuels creativity, resilience, and the willingness to adapt – qualities that are indispensable in today’s fast-paced business environment. A passionate L&D team doesn’t just stick to traditional methods. They experiment with gamified learning, virtual reality modules, and personalized coaching, pushing the boundaries of how learning happens. They also play a critical role in shaping company culture, ensuring learning becomes an integral part of the organization’s identity.

To cultivate such teams, organizations need to prioritize individuals who combine a growth mindset with an understanding of pedagogy and the ability to connect with diverse learners. These professionals are not just educators but also cultural change agents who align learning with business goals.

Singh sums up with a tip for future Chief Learning Officers.

 “Rekindle the passion. AI and Generative AI and technology are the next cognitive industrial revolution. Catch it, leverage it, and imbibe it in your life—the faster you do the better it is. Go back to the basics and understand people’s life. Understand the diversity. Look outside and inside. Know your business. Are you as good as a business leader? Read a lot—take the help of technology. Keep investing in yourself. Participate in training programs for learning professionals. Don’t attend these programs as an evaluator—come as a learner.”