Grupo Argos S.A.

Investing in Talent Development Drives Global Growth, Employee Retention

In 2015, Jorge Mario Velásquez knew he needed to equip his company's leaders with the skills to help steer the organization's rapid growth and expansion into a robust, multinational organization. As CEO of Grupo Argos—a Colombian-based infrastructure holding company with three core businesses spanning cement, energy, and road and airport concessions—he recognized that best-in-class talent development for his leaders would provide a distinct competitive advantage in an evolving global marketplace.

Velásquez approached HBS to codesign a custom program that would help the holding company and its subsidiaries develop the competencies needed to grow and compete globally. "We needed a program to fulfill the needs of a multicultural company that managed different businesses in a wide range of geographies," he noted. "We also sought to partner with the best university. HBS has an outstanding tradition of educating leaders. It also has the reputation, knowledge, and methodology that we consider to be the best."

Jorge Perez, Senior Talent Director at Cementos Argos, and Vivian Garces, Senior Talent and Culture Director at Grupo Argos, were appointed to design the selection criteria for choosing employees to attend the training programs. Ultimately, two cohorts of over 50 executives each attended a one-week program on the HBS campus in August 2016 and in August 2018.

"Before 2015, our talent development strategy was more about sending people to an open enrollment program," said Perez. "Our employees would share learnings with people from different industries then return and share their experiences internally. But that approach didn't provide us with the strategic impact we needed to provide to the business."

Lower barriers to entry, particularly in the cement business, along with rapid growth in a number of other business units contributed to the urgency in finding an educational partner that could address the company’s growing challenges. “We shifted to a different strategy, to have a curriculum designed explicitly for our needs that would create deep organizational conversations regarding the changes we needed to implement in our businesses,” explained Perez. "That's why we partnered with HBS."

The first group of participants consisted of the top executives from each company—in all, 51 executives from 11 business units. "We started at the top with the executive committees from each business unit,” said Perez. “These leaders were making decisions regarding growth, expansion, and mergers and acquisitions, so it was very important for them and the company to be aligned with our corporate strategy, business strategy, and globalization."

Several months after the conclusion of the first on-campus program, Garces was promoted into her current role at Grupo Argos and assumed a corporate responsibility focused on standardizing and optimizing best practices for recruiting, training, performance management, and succession planning across the business units. This work informed the selection criteria for the second group of participants.

"Since we had already covered the executive level in the first program, we started looking at next-level leaders who were part of our succession plan based on our standardized assessments, but who also had competencies to fulfill in either their current roles or future ones," explained Garces. Evaluating the strengths and skill gaps of high potential leaders within the context of the needs of each business unit ultimately led to the selection of 55 participants from nine business units for the August 2018 program.

Participants found the HBS experience to be truly enriching and beneficial in advancing their effectiveness within the organization. The programs brought together executives from all companies of Grupo Argos for the first time, providing a sense of belonging within the holding group while helping strengthen the shared goal of positively transforming the lives of millions of Grupo Argos customers through continued investments in infrastructure. The experience continues to empower the executives to make significant decisions regarding the growth of their business units three years later.

The HBS campus environment facilitated conversations among colleagues who previously had few opportunities to interact, resulting in the formation of a robust network across multiple business units that remains vital to this day. The curriculum helped align leaders along a shared global vision while providing them with skills and perspectives to enhance their leadership abilities. And perhaps most notably, Grupo Argos’ early recognition of talent development as a distinct competitive advantage has paid dividends. Nearly all of the executives who attended the programs at HBS—over 100 in all—are still part of the company.