Larsen and Toubro Infotech, (LTI), is a global technology and consulting digital solutions company, helping clients in 33 countries worldwide. We spoke to Marie-Pierre Civiel, Country Head of France and Benelez at LTI, about the company, her personal career journey and the unique ‘shoshin’ philosophy LTI takes towards business management.
- Tell us a bit more about your career journey and your current role at LTI.
Since my career began 25 years ago, I have held various managerial, commercial and operational positions at major French and international IT service companies. As a specialist in enterprise resource planning (ERP), I have extensive experience supporting clients with their global transformation journeys. I am currently the Regional Head of France and Benelux at LTI, where I am responsible for leading the regional market strategy, expanding our client bases, consolidating existing client relationships and shaping our strategic offerings and alliances.
- What is your company’s vision and goal?
At LTI, we have unrivalled real-world expertise to solve the most complex challenges of enterprises across all industries. Combining our deep domain know-how with our technology expertise, our mission is to enable our clients to improve the effectiveness of their business operations and deliver value to their customers, employees and shareholders.
- What kind of clients and market do you serve?
While a large proportion (over 70%) of LTI’s business in France spans the consumer, technology and utilities sectors, we also serve the energy, manufacturing and banking services. Our client base in this region is predominantly composed of CAC40 companies (top-listed organisations in the Paris Stock Exchange), who operate in our core markets. We believe that our clients choose us for our industry expertise and tailored approach – we are ‘small enough to care but large enough to deliver’.
- How has the business grown since you have been there and how did you ensure growth?
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, LTI in France has been growing at an impressive rate and we expect to end the fiscal year with a 12% growth. Our key area of growth over the last few years has been bringing to life the ‘intelligent enterprise’ through Digital Transformation and our client base is rapidly expanding in these areas as a result. Our remarkable growth has also been largely due to a big acquisition – which we cannot yet disclose – but we can proudly say was one of the largest outsourcing deals of Q2.
- What’s the business’ approach to management? Could you provide some more information on ‘shoshin’?
At LTI, one of our core values is to ‘keep learning’ and we apply the philosophy of ‘shoshin’ to business management. ‘Shoshin’ is a word taken from Zen Buddhism, translating to ‘beginner’s mind’. LTI, thus, encourages all of its employees to always have an open-minded attitude and to approach any task as a beginner would, even at an advanced level. Not only does ‘shoshin’ foster a culture of learning and growth, I believe that this approach to business can challenge established norms, stimulate innovation and unlock opportunities for both us and our clients.
- How do you equip your staff with skills and knowledge?
LTI runs a learning academy to not only ensure that our staff are well-trained in all of our fundamental areas, but also to reskill and upskill our team members as new technologies and approaches develop. Alongside this, we provide opportunities to achieve certifications and credentials in a number of other important areas, including technology platforms such as Google, Azure and Amazon Web Services.
At LTI, we are also passionate about inducting a young pool of talent, so we have launched ‘Genesis’ – a programme to recruit, train and retain apprentices. Developing soft skills is also a central focus area for the business and our HR teams conduct various initiatives to make the workplace inclusive.
- How do you work with other executives within the C-suite to make sure your voice is heard?
To be heard, I believe that you need to be a good listener first. Listening shows that you respect and care about the ideas of those you work with and it is essential for building rapport with colleagues. When you are a good listener, people tend to listen more carefully to what you have to say.
I also encourage transparency – if you say what you do and do what you say, then you are more likely to be heard and trusted, no matter what level you are operating at. This way, leading through example will naturally reinforce your credibility and bolster the authority of your voice among others. This is especially important at a C-suite level.
- How do you ensure different teams in your organisation work together?
Excellent communication is the quintessential way to foster cohesion within teams and all my best practices revolve around this.
Firstly, I make sure that everyone is aligned to the central project vision and broader core values of the business. I also ensure that everybody understands their individual roles and contributions to the wider team. With a greater understanding of one another’s value, teams are inherently more supportive of one another. These are all central to creating a successful collaborative environment.