The Covid-19 pandemic has remarkably changed the business landscape globally. Lots of companies have been severely affected by it in many ways. Corporations need to rethink their strategy to sustain their businesses in this complex crisis.
Batara Sianturi, the CEO of Citi Indonesia, shared the strategy of Citi to leverage its 53 years business and its strategy during Covid-19 through a public lecture entitled “Business strategy to sustain amid a pandemic” in MBA Jakarta SBM ITB.
“Citi is well-known for producing leaders in the banking sector,” explained Batara Sianturi, Monday (12/07/2021). Firstly, Batara emphasized the importance of leadership. He then introduced the leadership of Citi. He explained that Citi has three main leadership principles: taking ownership, delivering with pride, and succeeding together. Through these principles, Citi has successfully produced lots of leaders in the Banking sector. This leadership principle makes Citi stays resilient in any situation.
Batara added, in leadership positions, there is not only a focus on men but also women. So, Citi also empowers women to be good leaders. Batara revealed that Citi had established Citi Indonesia Women’s Network (IWN) to catalyze to create opportunities for women to succeed as leaders and increase retention and promotion of women in leadership roles. “Through this program, women may get a professional mentoring program, access to inspirational speaker series, and community outreach activities. 4 from 7 of our leaders are women,” highlighted Batara.
In addition, Citi also connects and builds networks between generations. It aims to make Citi a great place to work for everyone by displaying a welcoming attitude towards new members, making connections to develop talent, and raising awareness about diversity across generations. This move is carried out to make Citi the right place to work for all generations by combining various talents. With this, Batara hoped that every employee could maximize their potential.
During the current Covid-19 pandemic, Citi is trying to build digital capabilities to shape the future workforce through training programs at Citi. “We train people in this COVID 19,” said Batara, adding that employees can choose what to learn about the latest technology to build and strengthen critical skills and enhance digital acumen.
“So, Citi trains employees on digital, such as big data, Citi python, blockchain, and more. Because Batara believed that the future is digital, the future will be digital,” he said.
