From services to captive: the first 90 days for laterals joining a GCC

A large share of the people joining India’s GCCs come from IT services firms. They bring strong technical skills, delivery discipline and experience of working with global clients. What they often do not bring, through no fault of their own, is the mindset of an owner.

In a services firm, success is defined by the contract: deliver the scope, meet the SLA, keep utilisation high, escalate to the client when something is unclear. In a captive centre there is no client to escalate to. The centre is part of the business, and success is measured by what the work does for it.

What changes when you join a captive centre

The differences are subtle at first. A new joiner asks who signs off the requirements and is told the team does. They wait for a change request process and find there is none. They report hours and are asked about outcomes instead.

Services mindset

Captive mindset

• The client defines the scopeWe help decide what the scope should be
• Success is meeting the SOWSuccess is the business outcome
• Utilisation and billable hoursValue delivered and problems solved
• Escalate to the client when unclearFind out, decide and inform
• Our team versus their teamOne organisation, different locations

None of these shifts is difficult to understand. They are difficult to live, because habits built over years in a services environment run deep. Without help, many laterals spend months working in the old way, waiting for clarity that nobody is going to provide.

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Why standard induction does not cover it

Most GCC inductions are well run. New joiners learn the policies, set up their tools, meet HR and complete compliance training. Some get an overview of the global business.

What induction rarely covers is how the centre actually works with HQ, what ownership looks like day to day, and how the expectations differ from the new joiner’s previous role. Those lessons are left to be picked up informally, which means they are picked up slowly and unevenly.

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A 90-day plan for new joiners

A simple, structured plan, agreed between the new joiner and their manager in the first week, makes the transition explicit.

The first 90 days

1. Days 1–30

   Understand

   • How the centre works with HQ
   • Who the business stakeholders are
   • What success means for the team

2. Days 31–60

   Contribute

   • Deliver a first piece of owned work
   • Build relationships with HQ counterparts
   • Ask why, not just what

3. Days 61–90

   Own

   • Propose an improvement
   • Make decisions within agreed limits
   • Review progress with the manager

Days 1–30: understand the business

The first month should focus on context. Who does the centre serve? What does the business sell, and how does it make money? Who are the key HQ stakeholders for this team, and what are they measured on? A new joiner who can answer these questions has a foundation for every decision that follows.

Days 31–60: contribute and connect

In the second month, the new joiner should deliver a first piece of work they own end to end, however small. They should also have met their main HQ counterparts, ideally in a working session rather than an introduction call.

Days 61–90: start to own

By the third month, the new joiner should be proposing ideas, not only executing tasks. A good milestone is a small improvement they identified and drove themselves, along with a clear understanding of which decisions they can take without escalation.

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The manager’s role

The single biggest factor in how quickly a lateral adapts is their manager. Managers who explain how the centre works, set clear expectations about ownership and give permission to make decisions help new joiners shift faster.

A short briefing for hiring managers is one of the most cost-effective onboarding investments a centre can make. It should cover:

1. The common habits laterals bring from services firms, and why they make sense in that context.
2. How to set expectations about ownership and decision-making in the first week.
3. How to use the 90-day plan in regular check-ins, rather than filing it away.
4. What to praise. Recognising a new joiner who asks why, proposes an alternative or makes a sensible decision without escalating reinforces the behaviour you want.

Onboarding laterals well does more than shorten time to productivity. It sets the culture of the centre. Every intake that learns to think like owners makes the centre more capable of winning the ownership it is aiming for.

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Common pitfalls in the first 90 days

Even with a good plan, some patterns trip up laterals again and again. Naming them helps both new joiners and their managers spot them early.

Waiting for a perfect specification. New joiners used to detailed requirements often wait for clarity that will not arrive. Encourage them to make a reasonable assumption, state it and move forward.

Over-reporting effort. Habits from services firms, such as detailed time tracking and status reports focused on hours, can persist. Help new joiners shift their updates towards progress, outcomes and decisions needed.

Treating HQ as a client. Some laterals stay overly formal with HQ colleagues, or hesitate to disagree with them. In a captive centre, HQ colleagues are teammates. Constructive challenge is expected, not risky.

Staying inside their own task. Services roles often reward staying in your lane. In a GCC, people who understand the wider product, talk to adjacent teams and spot problems beyond their immediate work are the ones who progress.

Holding back ideas. Many new joiners have improvement ideas from day one but assume it is not their place to raise them. Managers who actively ask for ideas, and act on some of them, accelerate the shift to ownership.

A note for new joiners

If you have recently joined a GCC from a services firm, the most useful question you can ask in your first month is simple: “What would good look like for this work, from the business’s point of view?” The answer will tell you more about how to succeed in a captive centre than any induction slide.