Helming its latest initiative is Jaswinder Jaswinder, who has rejoined Starcom as regional director Asia, training and research. Singapore-based Jaswinder will lead the project in 11 Asian markets.
Jaswinder is working with Bob Wisniewski, Starcom's Chicago-based worldwide head of training, who has overseen the establishment of the Starcom Mediavest Group University in both the US and Europe and is assisting in its setting up in Asia, where the company has about 380 staff.
"We talk a lot about people being our key asset but we haven't before really, in terms of a formal structured programme, spent a lot of time training and, at the end of the day, retaining people, Jaswinder said.
Her first task is to identify the strengths and needs of each market, develop "training champions in each country who can help foster a "learning culture on a day-to-day basis, and provide direction on training to each office.
"We realised that our offices are doing a lot of good stuff locally, but we've not been sharing it, she said. "For example, our Japan office has years and years of experience with outdoor, and one of our ideas is to use the bright sparks in each office and have them help train people in other offices that require that kind of training, rather than say everyone should become an expert in outdoor."
Similarly, she said staff in India, for example, could learn from the experience of colleagues in Singapore and Malaysia in developing region-wide projects. "We're trying to build a network that better utilises the talent we have."
The philosophy is that all staff, regardless of their seniority, are provided with ongoing training that suits their needs. While some of the training takes place in a classroom, some is done online through what Starcom calls "e-learning", and some is done less formally.
A two-day training session for managers around Asia was held in Bali last month, and the 'Top Gun'part of the scheme - to identify and foster the 'next generation' of managers - saw 16 people from around Asia sent to New York for a three-day session. "I've been in the business 14 years and seen good people go simply because they felt they'd reached a ceiling, they wanted to move in the region and they thought the only way they could do it was to do it themselves, Jaswinder said.
She added that the project broke new ground for the industry in Asia.
