Ashima Kapur
SVP, Human Resources & Chief Diversity Officer
Allied Solutions LLC
Episode 217
Unlocking Growth: Shared Accountability Fuels Employee & Company Success
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleApril 25, 2025 · 9:51
Thesis
“Individual employee growth and organizational success are mutually inclusive and driven by shared accountability between the company and its employees, underpinned by clear values and proactive development.”
Show notes
Leadership Insights with Ashima Kapur: Navigating People Development and Community Engagement
In this episode of the Built by People Podcast, we welcome Ashima, who shares her journey from a master's in psychology to leading the HR function at a major insurance and financial services company.
Ashima discusses her approach to people development, emphasizing the importance of mutual accountability between the organization and its employees.
She explains strategies for building a strong employer brand through community engagement and highlights the significance of aligning leadership development with company objectives.
Ashima also offers insights into effective succession planning and maintaining company culture while scaling development programs.
She concludes by advising listeners to take initiative and own their career growth.
The episode is sponsored by Previ, which aids employees in saving on monthly expenses.
00:00 Introduction to the Built by People Podcast
00:39 Meet Ashima: A Journey from Psychology to HR Leadership
01:55 Balancing Individual Growth and Organizational Success
04:03 Building a Strong Employer Brand Through Community Engagement
05:17 Measuring the Impact of Community Engagement
06:04 Key Elements of Leadership Development and Succession Planning
08:00 Maintaining Company Culture While Scaling Development Programs
09:08 Parting Advice and Closing Remarks
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What you'll take away
- 1People development requires shared accountability, with both employees and organizations contributing to growth.
- 2Formalizing community engagement through employee surveys and aligned funding priorities significantly strengthens employer brand.
- 3Effective leadership development and succession planning starts early, focusing on building a deep bench strength for growth rather than just replacement.
- 4Maintaining company culture while scaling is achieved by consistently living and exemplifying core values across all interactions and people programs.
- 5Employees should take initiative and own their career journey, actively seeking growth opportunities and expanding their responsibilities.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Succession planning should not be viewed as an approach to replacing someone, but rather as an opportunity to grow everyone within the organization.
In Ashima's words
“At the end of the day, though, there is a shared accountability. An employee cannot look at development and say, it's all of company's responsibility.”
This quote highlights the critical role of personal initiative in employee development, emphasizing that growth is a joint effort.
“We've always thought of succession planning as an approach that comes from wanting to grow everybody.”
This reframes succession planning from a purely replacement-focused task to a strategy for comprehensive employee growth and organizational strength.
“For us, culture is about living those values, behaving in ways that, that exemplify those values with our clients, our employees, everybody.”
This provides a clear, actionable definition of company culture, tying it directly to the consistent embodiment of core values.
“I think my biggest advice is take initiative, own what you're doing. It's a two-way street.”
This concise advice powerfully reinforces the guest's recurring theme of shared responsibility and employee empowerment in their career trajectory.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Employees feeling disconnected from organizational objectives and overall company mission.
- •Maintaining consistent and high employee engagement in community initiatives without a formalized strategy.
- •The challenge of ensuring a strong internal pipeline of leaders for future executive roles and retirement replacements.
- •Overcoming the perception that employee development is solely the company's responsibility, leading to passive participation.
- •Defining and consistently embedding company culture across a growing organization to ensure unified behavior and values.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
My career journey started with doing a master's in psychology
What is your Career Journey?
Ashma says people development ensures both individual growth and organizational success
Ashma's Take on People Development
What strategies have you found most effective in building a strong employer brand through community engagement
What strategies have you found most effective in building and maintaining a strong
How do you measure success of your community engagement initiatives on your employer brand
What is the impact of your community engagement initiatives on your employer brand
Leadership development and succession planning can lead to successful company management
What are the key elements of a successful leadership development and succession planning
How do you balance maintaining company culture while scaling people development programs
Ashima Patel on Company Culture and People Development
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
Full transcript
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