David Evans, group chairman and chief executive of The Grass Roots Group Plc., a $460 million (about Rs1,800 crore) performance improvement solutions company and an associate of the WPP Group, decided to give himself a memorable gift when he turned 60 last year. Evans chose India.
“India turned 61, and so did I,” says Evans, adding, “I felt the time was right to enter the Indian market.”
Evans started his career with a job in advertising after graduating from the University of London in economics and getting a management degree from the University of Bradford. His first brush with the employees’ issue came during his stint at American advertising agency Beton and Bowles, now called DMB&B, when the Arab-Israeli conflict led to the 1973 oil crisis.
In Britain, the problem was compounded when coal miners went on a nationwide strike. To save on power, the British government made a rule that nobody could work for more than three days a week. Evans had the task of ensuring the crisis was aptly advertised by the ministry of information. “The challenge was huge and exciting, but it profoundly influenced my thinking about the treatment of staff,” he says.
Evans’ interest in performance improvement took him to a US subsidiary of an incentive company, Maritz Inc.
In April 1980, Evans set up Grass Roots in a basement office near Oxford Street in London with three employees. Today, Grass Roots employs more than 1,000 staff and has more than 2,000 clients worldwide, including Rolls Royce, Peugeot, BMW, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Vodafone, Intercontinental Hotels, Sony, Siemens, Lenovo, Sainsbury, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline and Ernst and Young.
Evans, who was in India for the launch of Grass Roots India on 17 January, spoke about the business imperative of improving performance by positively influencing the attitudes and behaviour of employees, channel partners and customers, in an exclusive interview with Mint. Edited excerpts:
Why has performance management gained so much importance in the recent past? Do you think companies in India, which are now in an expansion mode, are ready for performance improvement metrics, diagnostics and solutions?