Openness, trust and transparency, 3 critical factors to agile organisations

When the pandemic hit us hard, there were only a few organisations that were quick to take significant decisions, embraced changes and adopted new ways of working. One among them was Harsh Mariwala’s Marico. As a founder and chairman, he efficiently catered to the changing needs of his business and transformed a traditional commodity driven firm into a leading consumer products company, in the beauty and wellness space. 

In an exclusive conversation with Chaitanya Peddi, co-founder and product head, Darwinbox at People Matters TechHR India 2022, Mariwala revealed the changes he made at Marico that led to Marico’s exponential growth, especially since the pandemic. He first emphasised on the need to move with speed. 

“Leaders who are looking towards the future with endless possibilities need to realise that the entire organisation has to be in sync, thinking about agility and speed, as a whole. In every organisation, the senior management has to give the right execution signals. The mindset changes at the top but the challenge is how to keep the momentum going so it trickles down to the bottom,” explained Mariwala. 

While many sectors thrived, others were shaken to its core, resulting in cost cutting, layoffs and much more. In such situations, never underestimate the importance of lessening the workload of management.

“Amid the disruptions, organisations need to relook at goal-setting, core evaluation and incentive management, among others and simplify it - what can be eliminated and how to condense some of these processes to lessen the workload of management. This is an exercise that needs to be done by the leaders once every few years,” told founder and chairman of Marico. 

In the end, Harsh Mariwala emphasised on the need to hire great talent, form cross-functional teams and let them focus on one project at a time.