COMPANY / HR SPECIAL ........................... Marico creates leaders who can mentor future leaders

Marico creates leaders who can mentor future leaders

Last month, Marico instituted a Young Board, comprising a group of young managers who are in leadership positions for the first time in their careers. The board will provide a fresh perspective to the management committee and also expose future leaders to the travails of business.
Though in a very nascent stage, this is just one of many people development policies that are underway at this rapidly growing consumer goods company. Last year it launched 'Maricognize', a digital portal aimed at making employee recognition a more instant affair.

Marico Chairman Harsh Mariwala sets the context to the leadership development initiatives at Marico. "A leader for me is someone who inspires a growth mindset, drives clarity of thinking, encourages experimentation and risk taking to build a culture of innovation, focuses relentlessly on execution excellence and nurtures talent to maximize potential," he says.

And that's where a large part of Marico's leadership development activities are focused - creating leaders who can nurture and mentor future leaders. "We work hard to grow leaders from within. The talent value proposition is focused on empowering and enriching roles," says Saugata Gupta, Managing Director & CEO.
The company has a fairly flat organisational structure with very few levels and an open, apolitical culture that encourages employees taking on a multiplicity of roles. The big shift in the leadership development processes at Marico took place a couple of years ago when the company realised that as the organisation was growing, it needed to create leaders for the future.

"The challenge was that as you scale up, how do you retain the DNA of a smaller organisation and the agility that comes with it? In a meritocracy like ours, it's easy to become transactional," says Gupta.

As the company entered new business segments and geographies, a number of young people suddenly found themselves in leadership positions. "They were getting early responsibilities and while they were delivering well in the business and functional domains we realised they needed help in developing people skills and emotional intelligence," says Ashutosh Telang, chief human resources officer. This led to the creation of the LEAD (leading, encouraging and developing) Talent program, now in its third year.

Carried out through a mix of classroom and virtual training, the programme starts with Mariwala talking about the Marico journey so far followed by Gupta sharing his vision and what he looks for in his leaders. Once the context is set, the employees are trained on how to become nurturing leaders who can instil the Marico processes and philosophies in others.

"The programme leverages the knowledge and wisdom of the leaders. People who go through this then conduct sessions the following year so it's not about preaching but imbibing the key tenets and talking about your personal experience," says Telang.

Gupta explains that the organisation is geared towards setting up the person for success and providing whatever tools are required to make this happen. If a person is 80 per cent ready for a job and keen on doing it, the company will give it to him. "It's a steep learning curve and there are initial difficulties, but the person ends up performing much better in a case like this. Our philosophy is to enhance the employability of the person," says Telang.

There's a clear thrust towards building capabilities through experiences and perspectives gained on the job with classroom training comprising just 10 per cent of the overall training process. Rather than binding tie-ups with universities, Marico prefers to pick programmes depending on the needs of the employee at that point in his career.

So if someone is moving from India to another country as a business head, he'll probably undergo a quick course on general management at ISB, INSEAD or the London School of Business where he also ends up interacting with a more diverse set of participants.

The top team is given external coaches to help with their personal growth and leadership journey. Another unique aspect at Marico is the demarcation between performance and potential.

While the variable pay for the year is linked with the KPI and goals, inherent potential doesn't go unrecognised. "Your remuneration is based on potential which is based on your competency and capabilities. The here and now shouldn't impact your long term growth," says Gupta.

By Priyanka Sangani, ETCD141003

The company doesn't follow a set career path for all employees, instead giving them the option of tailoring it as per their aspirations. The personal development planning process starts with a dialogue about the past year, the challenges as well as things the person did well and their aspirations for the future. 
Based on this, a development plan which takes the employee's strengths, interests and aspirations into account is created. While the company has a robust campus recruitment programme, preferring to take on candidates who have done summer internships with the company, lateral hires aren't uncommon at senior levels, especially when there are specific capability gaps that need to be filled.
"What's unique about Marico is the degree of ownership people have. Leadership development is a line responsibility and HR only facilitates it, it doesn't drive it," says Gupta. The onus of creating the next generation of leaders drives people to ensure that they are playing their part in the process.