In today’s workplace, the pursuit of collaboration is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s essential. Yet as organisations adopt hybrid models and flatter hierarchies, many struggle to balance collaboration with autonomy, business goals with personal growth. At the centre of this tension lies a need for systems that are not only equitable but also adaptive and scalable.

Shefali Sharma Garg, Chief People Officer – India at Publicis Sapient, offers a compelling lens into how companies can resolve this tension—through a framework that redefines career progression and learning itself.

Redefining collaboration as a multiplier

“At Publicis Sapient, we think about collaboration very deliberately,” says Garg. “It’s about enabling each other’s potential in structured, meaningful, and deeply human ways.”

This thinking is operationalised through the company’s Enabling Your Potential (EYP) model—a comprehensive approach built on psychological safety, individual accountability, and shared growth. Its core principles are realised through weekly one-on-one conversations (O3s), decentralised promotion structures, and peer-based recognition systems. The result? A culture where people feel empowered to challenge, learn, and lead—without being absorbed into a faceless collective.

For example, EYP’s weekly O3s aren’t just box-ticking exercises. They’re co-owned, logged and tracked conversations that help managers and employees surface ambition and unblock challenges in real time. “Silos don’t just slow work—they burn people out,” Garg notes. “So we’ve built a system that’s proactive, not reactive.”

Traditional promotions are often based on rigid annual cycles and managerial discretion, which can suppress talent and demotivate high performers. Publicis Sapient’s Fluid Promotions model dismantles this bottleneck. Employees can self-advocate for advancement whenever they feel ready, provided they can show evidence of impact.

This approach not only empowers employees to take ownership of their careers, but also encourages continuous development aligned with business needs. It reflects a larger shift toward workplace models that prize agility, transparency, and decentralised decision-making.

The removal of top-down gatekeeping is not symbolic; it’s systemic. Peer validation plays a key role in awards and promotions, creating an ecosystem where recognition isn’t held hostage by one manager’s viewpoint.

AI-led learning: Personalised, embedded, dynamic

At the heart of Publicis Sapient’s growth strategy is Marcel, an AI-powered learning platform that curates personalised, role-aligned content for every employee. This platform ensures learning is not an extracurricular activity, but an integrated part of daily work.

Garg sees this as essential to evolving workplace culture: “Learning should be indistinguishable from work. It should be embedded, not bolted on.”

This personalised learning is supported by broader initiatives, such as cross-functional rotations, CSR projects, and employee-led passion initiatives—all of which give employees opportunities to stretch and grow beyond their current roles.

One of the most common pain points in performance management is the perceived trade-off between individual ambition and business needs. But Garg argues that alignment, not compromise, is key. “The more our people grow in the right ways, the stronger the business becomes,” she says.

Tools like Performance & Growth Plans provide employees with flexible roadmaps that evolve as their ambitions shift. Managers are coached to act not as gatekeepers, but as growth partners, facilitating transitions and supporting new challenges.

The organisation also invests in surfacing ambition early—ensuring that opportunities to pivot, lead or build new capabilities are co-created rather than denied.

Keeping collaboration authentic

Garg is candid about the risk of “collaboration fatigue,” where rituals lose their meaning over time. Publicis Sapient addresses this through continuous design feedback and cultural auditing.

The Aspire Awards, for instance, use a double-validation process—peers nominate, supervisors validate and vice versa. Recognition is thus democratised, resilient to organisational churn, and meaningful across levels.

What prevents these rituals from becoming bureaucratic is a grounding in core values like Inclusive Openness. It’s not about politeness, Garg says, but about inviting challenge, surfacing dissent, and resolving conflict constructively.

A collaborative system, however well-designed, risks overlooking those who don’t conform to dominant archetypes—loud voices, extroverted styles, or those with strong internal networks.

To mitigate this, the company’s O3s serve as dynamic checks—helping leaders see beyond the obvious. “These conversations let us recognise people who may not shine in large rooms but deliver consistently,” says Garg.

There’s also an active effort to use data to surface hidden talent and remove subtle hierarchies that can discourage self-advocacy. “Even with self-nomination and open reviews, not everyone feels confident,” she notes. “That’s the next frontier: ensuring equitable access to growth—not just equal opportunity.”

Designing for a networked future

Publicis Sapient’s long-term vision leans into networked teams, multi-generational pods, and non-hierarchical leadership. The company’s Next Generation Leadership Team, selected through a transparent, company-wide process, is emblematic of this direction.

Recognition, learning, feedback, and even leadership pipelines are designed to transcend managerial bottlenecks. The goal is clear: build systems where impact is visible, growth is ongoing, and no one’s trajectory depends on one person’s favour.

Garg’s insights offer a clear alternative to traditional models of career progression and collaboration. Through Fluid Promotions, AI-enabled learning, and peer-validated recognition, Publicis Sapient presents a robust playbook for future-fit talent strategies.

It’s not about replacing managers or eliminating structure—it’s about redistributing agency. By aligning personal growth with business outcomes, and by designing rituals that stay meaningful, the company shows what’s possible when workplace systems reflect the complexity and diversity of the modern workforce.

In a time when organisations are searching for answers to talent fatigue, generational divides, and AI disruption, the message is clear: collaboration must be designed, not assumed. And growth must be enabled—not granted.