Achala Silva’s Effort on Building Organizations Where People Truly Matter

With more than two decades of leadership experience across industries ranging from logistics to hospitality and conglomerates, Achala Silva, Director of Human Resources and Administration at George Steuart & Company Ltd, has shaped her career around one enduring belief: business excellence begins with people. 

Her journey from a young trainee to a senior HR leader reflects a combination of curiosity, adaptability, and a deep passion for human development. Known for her integrity, empathy, and strategic insight, she has built her leadership philosophy on aligning people, purpose, and performance. 

A Journey Shaped by Curiosity and Connection 

Achala’s professional journey began at Logistics International Ltd., a subsidiary of Hayleys Advantis Ltd., where she joined as a Trainee Executive soon after completing school. During her time there, she was introduced to Total Quality Management, which provided her with a broad understanding of how different business functions interconnect to create organizational success. It was in this environment that she first discovered her fascination with the human side of organizations. Understanding how people, processes, and performance intersect to drive excellence inspired her to pursue a career in human resources. 

This early curiosity became the foundation for a career devoted to developing people and building cohesive, high performing organizations. Over the years, she transitioned across industries, applying HR principles in a variety of contexts from hospitality and service to corporate and industrial sectors. 

Her tenure in hospitality, particularly at Hilton, became one of the most defining chapters of her career. Working in the hospitality sector taught her that while HR principles remain universal, their application must align with the distinct rhythm and culture of each industry. At Hilton, where service excellence depends entirely on people, she came to see HR not as a support function but as a strategic driver of business success, shaping both customer experience and organizational performance through its focus on people. 

Aligning People and Purpose Across Diverse Sectors 

Today, Achala leads HR at the group level for George Steuart & Company Ltd., one of Sri Lanka’s oldest and most diversified conglomerates. With business interests spanning seven sectors Tea Exports, Healthcare, Travel, Leisure, Financial Services, FMCG, and Industrial Solutions, her role requires a balance of strategic alignment and operational flexibility. 

She describes the George Steuart culture as one of unity in diversity. Despite operating across vastly different industries, the organization is bound by a shared sense of purpose known internally as “Api,” meaning “Us.” This collective identity, built on integrity, collaboration, and respect, enables her team to maintain a cohesive culture across diverse business models. 

Each year, Achala and her team design the group level HR strategy to establish a unified direction while allowing room for customization based on each sector’s unique needs. She works closely with the leadership teams of all subsidiaries to understand their specific contexts and challenges, ensuring that HR frameworks are both relevant and effective. 

Her approach is rooted in balance creating policies that unify the group while respecting the individuality of each business. This dual focus ensures that HR at George Steuart remains centralized in philosophy but localized in execution, reflecting Achala’s own leadership style: structured yet empathetic, visionary yet practical. 

Leadership as Empowerment 

With more than two decades of senior management, Achala defines leadership as the ability to inspire others to thrive. For her, effective leadership begins with credibility built on competence, fairness, and consistency and evolves through empathy and inclusion. She views leadership as a process of helping people discover their best selves and aligning that potential with the organization’s goals. 

Achala believes that people are not motivated solely by rewards or recognition, but by a genuine sense of belonging and purpose. When employees understand how their work contributes to the broader vision of the organization, and when their voices are heard and valued, engagement and commitment naturally follow. 

Her leadership style is deeply rooted in listening and empathy, which she considers not soft skills, but strategic strengths. Taking the time to understand people’s perspectives, she believes, builds trust and empowers leaders to guide them more effectively while ensuring that the organization’s core values remain at the heart of every decision. 

“Leadership is about helping people discover their best selves and aligning that potential with the goals of the organization.” 

Creating an inclusive culture lies at the heart of Achala’s HR philosophy. She believes that inclusion must begin at the point of recruitment and continue throughout the entire employee life cycle. At George Steuart, hiring decisions are guided by alignment between the role and the individual’s profile ensuring that qualifications, competencies, and personal values complement the organization’s culture. 

Under her leadership, opportunities for learning and career advancement are based purely on merit and performance. The company’s competency framework reinforces fairness and transparency, ensuring that every employee’s growth is aligned with both individual aspirations and organizational values. 

For Achala, inclusivity also means fostering an environment where people can bring their authentic selves to work. She emphasizes recognizing and respecting the uniqueness of every team member while promoting collaboration and shared success. 

She believes that trust is the natural outcome of inclusive leadership. When leaders embody the company’s values and consistently lead by example, she notes, engagement strengthens and trust flourishes across the organization. 

Balancing Well Being and Business Performance 

Achala’s people philosophy is built on the belief that employee wellbeing and organizational success are inseparable. She maintains that ensuring employee wellbeing is not a soft or secondary objective, but a core driver of sustainable business growth. 

At George Steuart, she has shaped performance management systems that promote both accountability and development. Employees are encouraged to set clear, measurable goals and receive constructive, continuous feedback within transparent frameworks. For Achala, performance management should be fair, transparent, and growth oriented focusing not only on evaluating results but also on enabling improvement and future potential. 

She believes that leaders play a pivotal role in maintaining this balance. In her view, effective leadership requires empathy, care, and a commitment to creating an environment where people feel genuinely valued and supported. When employees are well, engaged, and motivated, she emphasizes that strong business outcomes naturally follow. 

Reflecting her time in the hospitality industry, Achala credits that experience with shaping her people first approach to leadership. She believes that hospitality teaches the true value of human connection where people are the defining factor between good and exceptional service. This understanding has become a cornerstone of her HR philosophy and continues to influence how she leads and designs people strategies today. 

In her current role, Achala applies these lessons by ensuring that every HR initiative from performance reviews to leadership development reinforces the company’s service driven culture. She views HR as a strategic enabler of performance through the right combination of structure, leadership, and culture. For her, when people are engaged, empowered, and inspired, both customer satisfaction and business performance thrive in tandem. 

The Future of HR Leadership 

Looking ahead, Achala believes that the future of HR leadership will be defined by how effectively organizations blend technology with human connection. While digital transformation will continue to reshape HR practices, she emphasizes that empathy, fairness, and inclusivity will remain at the heart of effective leadership. 

She envisions HR leaders who act as strategic business partners, combining analytics, innovation, and people insight to build adaptable and resilient organizations. In her view, continuous learning, upskilling, and leadership development will be the defining priorities of the next generation of HR. Her message to future HR professionals is to embrace technology but never lose sight of humanity. The most impactful HR leaders, she believes, will be those who pair sharp business acumen with deep human understanding, ensuring that data driven decisions always serve people, not replace them. Achala Silva’s career stands as a reflection of balance between business strategy and human empathy, between consistency and flexibility, and between leading and listening. From her early experiences in logistics and hospitality to her current role at George Steuart, she has consistently shown that HR leadership is most powerful when grounded in authenticity and purpose. 

Her approach continues to inspire a new generation of HR professionals to lead with fairness, empathy, and vision. For Achala, leadership is not about control but about connection creating workplaces where people feel valued, trusted, and motivated to give their best. In every role she has held, she has demonstrated that when culture, strategy, and compassion come together, organizations don’t just perform they thrive.