From 'Ready Now' to 'Ready Enough' - How Suntory is building talent from within

It starts with leaders, Patrick said: the industry is a fast-moving one that changes very rapidly, and so it is essential that leaders make a commitment to actively support their team members in seeking opportunities to upskill through a variety of experiences within the company. 

"Psychological safety is a key focus for us in APAC," he explained. "By fostering an environment of open dialogue and transparency regarding development, we empower employees to ask questions and view challenges from new perspectives. This encourages exploration of opportunities they might not have considered, allowing them to take risks and grow." 

His own team is now transitioning from a ‘Ready Now’ mindset to a ‘Ready Enough’ approach in succession planning, which is intended to emphasise nurturing employees’ potential and accelerating their career growth. 

"We support this through experiential learning, meaningful assignments, and, when possible, international opportunities that help unlock and realise their potential," Patrick said. "For instance, our HR business partner in Taiwan took a three-month assignment with Suntory’s global HR team in Tokyo and has since transitioned into a permanent role in global Learning and Development."

Similarly, he shared that the Oceania HR lead has stepped outside his original business partner role to take up multiple critical talent initiatives, which gives the opportunity to not only gain valuable knowledge but also - perhaps more importantly - exposure to the regional leadership team.

The HR team's branching out beyond the confines of their roles is an illustration of how curiosity and opportunity can intersect to transform career paths, Patrick said. And it is not just his own team, but an organisation-wide culture. 

"We promote a culture of curiosity by encouraging employees from various departments to share their career experiences and talk about their roles at quarterly Town Hall forums," he explained. 

 The objective of such knowledge sharing is to inspire employees to explore areas outside their expertise. And to ensure they have the tools to actually do that exploration, Patrick and his team have been working on the launch of a new AI-powered platform dubbed Suntory MyCareer, which allows employees to explore tailored development opportunities beyond their immediate job functions, connect with mentors from different departments, and engage in cross-functional projects within the global Suntory Group - essentially, to gain exposure beyond what their role would typically allow, and ideally use that exposure to transform their own perspective of their job. 

In fact, the people, culture, and communications function has a motto to encapsulate this mindset: “Distil Brilliance.” 

"It means nurturing our people, enriching our culture, and crafting a legacy of excellence," Patrick explained. 

And in line with this philosophy of embracing a diversity of learning and knowledge, he added, hiring policies are also very open to cross-industry experience. Over the past year, more than 60 percent of Suntory's new hires came from outside the spirits industry, and 15 percent of the people leaders were also recruited externally.

The last aspect of upskilling the workforce is balancing the demands of workload with the necessity for learning. To tackle this, Patrick shared that Suntory has adopted the approach of integrating learning into everyday work, using tools such as microlearning modules and on-the-job training opportunities that enable employees to learn without significantly disrupting their workflow. 

For general learning needs, the people and culture team launched the My Suntory University platform in 2019 as a central hub for learning and development resources, including co-learning with other employees who are interested in the same topics. The platform provides bite-sized learning modules that focus on specific skills such as effective communication or project management, designed to be completed in under 30 minutes or during a lunch break. 

For those in leadership roles specifically, the team recently launched a Compass Leadership Program for leadership growth, designed to fit the various schedules, market requirements, and learning styles of leaders from various regions. For example, Patrick shared that the programme recently catered to a cohort of learners in Australia with a series of virtual workshops that allowed them to engage with global leaders while managing their daily responsibilities effectively. 

That said, culture and environment are still the foundations of successful upskilling, he believes. 

"What’s critical is that we have the culture to nurture effective learning. Our focus on fostering a psychologically safe environment and encouraging curiosity and collaboration is intended to help employees feel comfortable seeking knowledge from peers in other APAC functions and markets."