Adding to the numerous corporate honours CDB has been collating this year, Team CDB was crowned with the prestigious Gold Award at the SLITAD People Development Awards 2015 organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Training and Development. Having amassed some coveted crowns, CDB’s Team has proven throughout the year that it is a formidable force, both in the financial services industry and the corporate arena in general. Having formulated and built a truly winning team, CDB continues a penetrative people development plan based on a comprehensive strategy conceptualised to optimize the talent, knowledge, skill and competency of its people. The fact that CDB has shown continuous improvement in its people development initiatives is well evidenced in that CDB was recognised for its progressive people advancement, winning bronze in 2013, silver in 2014 and this year the coveted gold.

“We have always been a people conscious organisation,” explains Roshan Abeygoonawardena, CDB Director/ COO. “Being in a service industry, it is our people who are the catalysts to our business sustainability. Recognising this and ensuring that we maximise on our capacity is a responsibility we are tasked with.” He says that CDB’s training and development strategy is an inclusive one, formulated within a framework that aligns individual career aspirations with organizational goals and CDB’s ultimate vision. “We went a step further this year by analysing and evaluating the impacts that our training has on our business and also on our team members, mapping a blueprint that would help us formulate an even better training and development strategy the next year. This evaluation which also initiated a dialogue process gained significant positive comments from our stakeholders, once again proving that we are on the right path of action.”

The well entrenched Performance Management System and performance based compensation mechanism formed an integral platform to augment recognition for the award. In addition, CDB ensures that suitable training and development initiatives are filled wisely across various team levels and include cross-skilling and constant engagement. This ensures a collective ownership to our organizational strategy, goals and objectives. “For example, executive development initiatives are aligned to succession planning because these are eventualities we need to be prepared for,” states Abeygoonawardena. “In similar vein, front line service improvements were also emphasized upon this year, knowing that service is a continually improving bar and that service excellence at every stage is a goal we strive towards without compromise. These were both key highlights during the year and certainly added weight to the award recognition process.”

With CDB having garnered a spectacular year, amassing numerous awards and thus creating and sustaining a brand that surely places it among the honour roll in the country, CDB has now well entrenched its presence, image and brand as a preferred employer in the financial services industry. “Our industry is highly competitive, while also being one which is continually evolving,” concludes Abeygoonawardena. “This means that organizations like ours must be prepared for any eventuality as global, local and industry impacts can have direct and indirect consequences on our business. By equipping our people to be conscious and prepared for both threats and opportunities, we can assure stakeholders that our team will make it their mission to run a sustainable business, well cognizant as they are of the external milieu and well versed in thinking beyond the box to come out on top. It is this winning team we have nurtured that will be the catalyst in contributing towards the sustainable development of our nation, a vision which lies at the very core of our operations.”

Caption: Team CDB stand proudly with Roshan Abeygoonewardena, Director/ COO with the Gold Award at SLITAD People Development Awards 2015