In this episode of the EMEA Recruitment podcast, we were delighted to be joined by Devopriya Paul, the CFO Asia Pacific Middle East & Africa – Business Unit Transformers at Hitachi ABB Power Grids.

“If you want to be successful in this highly integrated, global economy, you need to understand different cultures and evaluate options from different lenses.”

As a regional Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Devopriya was used to working virtually before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted traditional ways of working around the world. Nevertheless, the crisis was still unexpected for most of us and accelerated the digital transformation that took place at Hitachi ABB Power Grids.

Devopriya has found that he’s equally productive working at home as he was in the office, and now enjoys new healthy habits, such as taking his son to school every morning and finding time to go to the gym.

Devopriya speaks to Paul Toms, our Founder, about the concept of Lean Six Sigma, which has not only been useful during the COVID-19 period, but can be “applied in every part of your personal and professional life”. Devopriya explains the concept in simple terms, similar to what we learn in algebra at school.

Lean Six Sigma is the biggest tool that Devopriya and his Finance team use in problem-solving. Alongside a concept called design thinking, he uses it to expand his team’s thinking. We find out how Devopriya uses this approach when facing any issues or problems at work, as well as the method he uses during a crisis.

We also discovered the three focus areas that Devopriya looks at when recruiting quality talent for his team. Although Devopriya’s management style was somewhat insensitive when his career began, he’s made the effort to change his behaviour in managing a now diverse team.

The exposure to six different countries during his time at ABB gave Devopriya the ability to see the power of group thinking. He now encourages everyone, both professionally and individually, to explore and learn about different cultures and team compositions.

Finally, Paul and Devopriya look into the impact of Business Intelligence and Data on the Finance function, revealing where Hitachi ABB Power Grids is on the journey to building a full picture of the business through analytics.

The full episode is available below: 

You can also listen through your preferred podcast platforms, or visit: https://emearecruitment.libsyn.com/emea-recruitment-podcast-93-expanding-your-approach-to-problem-solving-devopriya-paul

If you’d like to find a specific part of the episode, please use the timestamps below:

01:35: Building ourselves up from the COVID-19 crisis
05:53: What is Lean Six Sigma?
08:46: Expand your thinking to understand the drivers of a problem
14:18: Analysing different types of problems
16:34: How to maintain quality recruitment
19:51: Evolving with a diverse team
26:18: Why you should work and live in different countries
27:39: Where Hitachi ABB Power Grids is on its BI & Data journey
33:56: How to connect with Devopriya

If you’d like to connect with Devopriya on LinkedIn, please visit his profile here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devopriyapaul/

We’re pleased to partner with Operation Smile on the EMEA Recruitment podcast. Operation Smile is an international medical charity that delivers life-changing surgery to children and adults with cleft lip and palate. If you’d like to help us reach our goal of creating 100 new smiles, please donate through this link: https://www.emearecruitment.com/pages/operation-smile

This episode was hosted by Paul Toms, our Founder, and Rose Jinks, our Senior Marketing Executive.

To find out more about our international recruitment services, please visit our website: https://www.emearecruitment.com/

You can also follow us on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emea-recruitment-limited/

To connect with Paul on LinkedIn, please follow this link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paultoms/

If you’d like to follow Paul on Twitter, here is his profile: https://twitter.com/paul_toms

To share any topics you’d like us to cover in future episodes of the EMEA Recruitment podcast, please reach out to Rose: [email protected]