Mala Baliraj
CEO
Massy Wood
People in Energy
Mala Baliraj, CEO, Massy Wood Group Ltd. (Massy Wood)
Mala Baliraj is the head of one of the leading energy services companies in the country. However, she did not have a traditional route into the energy sector and her ascension to the top at Massy Wood was not typical.
According to Mala, she started her professional life as a secondary school teacher since, after graduating from the University of the West Indies with a B.Sc. in Literature, this seemed to be the first natural step. She taught at the secondary school level but this was not to be a long-term plan. Though she enjoyed teaching, she felt that she was not making a true impact.
After some time in the teaching service, she decided to make a change by pursuing a postgraduate diploma in Human Resources at the Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business. It was during a lecture there that a job opportunity was brought to her attention. She was successful in her application to work with API on the Cross Island Pipeline Project to support recruitment efforts in the local communities. Despite not having any experience outside of academics, she was able to fulfill the requirements of the job. She has since been involved in the energy sector.
After the completion of the project, Mala worked at TOSL Engineering Services. She lauded the support and guidance of former CEO, Shazan Ali, and described the company as a great place to learn. Her experience at TOSL, a multifaceted organization, helped her to understand many aspects of the energy sector and played a huge role in her development.
Mala later moved on to Massy Wood as a recruiter. At that time, the company was seeking to enhance their human resources to better service a maintenance contract for local energy giant, bpTT. It was at this point that Mala realized her passion for startup operations. After successful completion of the project, her supervisor, a female expatriate, recommended her for an HR Lead position. Following the repatriation of her superior, Mala was appointed as HR Manager of Massy Wood.
This opportunity provided her with significant exposure to international benchmarking. She stated that she always loved the business and it was strange that an HR person could be so intimate with it. She enjoyed the operations and frequently set out on site visits to capitalize on and better understand the inner workings of the organization.
Her Managing Directors soon recognized her passion for the business. Mala stated that, “It’s unusual for a person to lead an organization coming from a human resources background and managing a balance sheet.” She admitted that Massy Wood would have taken a risk and was appreciative that she had great support from the Board.
Experiences managing the business in the time of COVID-19.
During the past year, the energy sector has endured significant shocks from the falling commodity prices to contraction of the service sector. Mala expressed some of the challenges in managing the business during this time, citing that the company was forced to look at their market and their strategy differently.
During the pandemic, a lot of changes were made which, under normal circumstances, would not have been done. According to Mala, “We’ve given up buildings and carparks to accommodate working from home; this manages overheads, but it is a huge risk.”
She added that, “converting to a work-from-home operation as fast as we did, for a company that supports 24‑hour operations, was a very risky move but, the fact that we did it successfully, I think is huge!”
Her concern at the time was whether this arrangement was sustainable for the long term. She went on to say, “I think we’re in a more psychologically comfortable space that this can be a long-term scenario. This is new for us in T&T but not for other organizations around the world. What it did was force a greater reliance on technology – not just technology to operate from home, but technology to support the people out on the field. In our business we are always close to client sites. I normally do regular leadership visits, walk downs etc. however, during the pandemic, there were fewer opportunities to do so and fewer opportunities for our people to go offshore. Now we rely on technology to be connected.”
Mala continued to reflect: “This is one of the good things that came out of the pandemic. We would not have leapt over to embracing technology so quickly and I’m happy for that. This is what our clients want – they want us to be forward thinking and bring ease to the work. Technology does that for us during this time of COVID and beyond. I don’t think anything we have implemented during this time is short-term. It is enduring because it supports business. In the past, there was no impetus to make the changes we’ve made. Now, going forward, these measures are sustainable.”
Quality of life and productivity.
In this dialogue, Mala confirmed that quality of life is very important. She has two pre-teen children and, overall, the Massy Wood organization comprises a fairly young workforce with many employees having young families.
Mala believes that people’s lifestyles have been positively impacted and suggests that during this time we have to think about productivity differently. She stated that, “We have parents with kids at home who have to work at different hours to the traditional nine to five. There is a big shift we can take in the way we see employees and how we can support people with working from home.”
Reflecting on her own kids, Mala said that she was fortunate to have a lot of family support while they were growing up, which is not something that everyone has.
What is it like being a female executive in the energy sector?
“Sometimes lonely”, were the words Mala used in her response to the question of being a female executive in the energy sector. However, she feels a sense of pride and speaks with a lot of female engineers in the business who equally share their excitement to see females rise within the organization. She said, “I’m always stunned by that. We think we live in such a modern age yet, something as basic as gender equality, we still struggle with as an industry. The oil and gas industry should be one of the more forward-thinking industries.”
She continued to say that she does not think that women are just victims – “there’s not someone holding us back somewhere – it has a lot to do with the choices that we make as females. I had to consider whether this was the right time for my family and children, before taking the CEO role.” She stated that, “It’s just that we don’t have the luxury of taking the same decisions that males do, but I do not think that we are victimized in all instances.”
She went on to say, “I’m not a feminist, I have a lot of male friends in leadership roles who have been a great support to me over the years to get insight; there are a lot of symbiotics that can happen.”
Mala expressed that, “It’s exciting and I am happy to be part of a pioneering space. If I can influence some young females to consider their career path and trajectory differently, then that’s a huge contribution I have made and I am happy for that.”
Advice for girls.
Mala pondered that for many girls, decisions are made on what has happened in their past and those frames of reference are used to make the next decision. She added that “sometimes there’s a huge lack of confidence in one’s personal strength, so one has to look inside. The power and strength we have within ourselves to impact other peoples’ lives is underestimated as women.” Her advice is that women should look into their own power and strength and use that to get to the next place. This ability, she believes, is sadly underutilized.
“If I used my frame of reference – I have a literature degree and a masters in HR, there’s no way, I would be running a billion-dollar company that has over 1200 employees. If I thought like that then I would not get here – I would be scared”, she stated. “Instead, I look to see what I can bring that is different; my personal power to impact lives and to really do something different is what I choose to focus on, not all the labels on what I do or do not have.”
Lessons learned in your time as CEO.
Mala strongly affirmed that the main thing she has learned is that “It’s never just you, to do anything! Being CEO has no weight if I do not have a team and, I would be arrogant to say, I have the best people in the industry working with me. The leadership team is not made up of old, wise, experienced people – most of the managerial team is fairly young, but they’re awesome. The reason why Massy Wood has been able to survive and even thrive in the current environment, is because these people bring their best to the job every day. The commitment and dedication that they bring to their roles is fantastic and that’s why I say it’s not just you.”
She continued, “Every day I have a lot of influencing and engagement to do with the entire team; the organization does not depend on me to succeed, it depends on my leadership. For me, it’s about the personal connections, so I like to be close to each of my leaders in understanding where they are and what’s happening in their areas. This helps me to know where they need some slack, where they need support or where they need encouragement. For me, what works is being involved with them individually and building a relationship. I feel obligated to ensure that these people feel appreciated, rewarded and have constructive criticism done with integrity, so that we build trust.”