On September 20, ITT held its annual China Forum. Every participant who came to Shanghai for the event left with a head full of information and a neck stiff from whiplash.
The information came from ITT's top executives, who addressed the key issues facing ITT in China and then took part in spirited question-and-answer sessions with the group. The whiplash came from Zhang Xiao Ling, Dong Cheng Yu, David Wang and Chang Ke Yi who battled to see who would become the women's and men’s champion of ITT's inaugural employee ping-pong tournament.
Zhang Xiao Ling and David Wang took home the ping pong prizes, but the real winners were the group of China-based general managers and their direct reports who got a chance to interact with ITT leaders from the other side of the planet.
"Very often in China, we get messages cascaded down through the management companies and value centers," says William Gu, director of human resources and management development for ITT China. "The Forum gives us the opportunity to see, hear and really engage the leaders who are putting the ITT Management System in place."
Bi-lingual translators were on-hand to relay key messages from the speakers, including CEO Steve Loranger, the four management company presidents, and the heads of ITT's finance, operations excellence, human resources, diversity, compliance and communications functions. They also translated questions from the audience, which included representatives from all 10 of ITT's manufacturing facilities in China, and its two China-based sales organizations.
In all, 120 people attended the one-day Forum. That number -- which is up substantially from years past -- reflects the growing number of ITT facilities and people in China. To further underscore the importance of this geographic region to ITT's future, the company's top leaders stayed in Shanghai for two more days to attend a China strategic meeting, and the ITT executive council held its first-ever meeting in China.
The ping pong tournament was another first-time event, but the excitement it generated among players and spectators assured that it will be part of future Forums. Throughout the fall, employees competed, first to represent their value centers, and then to represent their regions. The finals pitted the top man and woman from ITT's electronic components facility in Xiamen against their counterparts from ITT's pump facility in Nanjing. The flying paddles and high skill levels of all the players had the Forum audience on the edge of their collective seats.
"The tournament helped us all get to know each other as people, but it also sent a subtle message," says Gu. "Ping pong helped kick off China-U.S. relations in the 1970s, so it was a good way to remind everybody that we are again trying to create connections."
Click here to see more photos from the ITT China Forum, held September 20 in Shanghai.