Prefer progress over perfection: MARS Inc’s Kavitha AK

In today’s world of work, change is the only constant. Having dealt with multiple disruptions over the past few years, modern HR professionals today are taking a people-centered approach to leadership – whether it is creating policies that are intentionally flexible, empowering managers to take charge, or working towards creating a positive work-life balance.

People Matters spoke to Kavitha AK, Director - People & Organisation for Mars Inc’s Royal Canin division, about the growing pet care industry in India, India’s emergence as a manufacturing hub, and her views on leveraging technology to not only improve employee experience but also stay ahead of the competition. She also discussed evolving expectations of employees and her recipe for building relationships – very appropriately called the ‘CAT’ model!  

Here are some excerpts:  

It's a sign of maturity when a function is hit by the automation wave – I think of it as the tech-enabled transformation of the function. Organisations are investing in HR technology and moving to highly-evolved operating models for HR. At MARS, People and Organisation directors are leveraging digital systems to drive data-backed decision-making for business and are empowering line managers to be in charge of people's decisions. This leaves us with time to focus on the things that matter for the business, which is keeping an eye on the external forces that disrupt business direction, building a robust business driven by our purpose and nurturing the cultural nuances that deliver a high-performing organisation. Tech savviness is a very underrated competency for HR in today's world and I'm looking at leveraging and unlocking the power of HR tech. 

We consider our employees to be partners in the business – that’s why we call them associates. We have taken note of how associate needs have changed over the past few years. I would bucket them into five themes: 

My role is to ensure that I build strong interlocks within the People and Organisation function so we can deliver the full value of all the MARS offerings to its associates.

Over the years I have developed a personal recipe for building relationships, which I like to call the CAT Model. C stands for credibility. Early in your career, you're hired for your potential. But once you progress into senior roles, you are hired for what you've already done. You're expected to bring in the functional expertise needed to solve problems. And your peers respect you and want to build mutually beneficial relationships because of your functional expertise. So that's what credibility is – the perception that you can solve problems and that's the first aspect you need to focus on to build great relationships. The A stands for alignment. Waiting for people to come to you with problems to solve is counterproductive as it can take away time from building strategic partnerships. I believe we should instead spend time understanding real problems on the ground, co-creating solutions, and reaching a mutually agreeable norm of working so that they can be a strong foundation for high performing leadership team. Lastly, T stands for trust – this is the toughest one to attain and the only way to build this muscle is to be authentic and show the courage to call a spade a spade and persistently advocate for win-win solutions. 

The pet care category is among the most promising in the FMCG industry. Because this category is so promising, there are more global and local players looking to capture a share of the fast-expanding market. The Make in India initiative has also created a favorable ecosystem and companies today are looking at India not just as a demand hub for sales and marketing, but also as a manufacturing hub. And that means there's going to be a lot of job opportunities and staffing is going to be a challenge. Since pet care products are rooted in science, there is a need for upskilling investments while onboarding new hires and launching new products. Hence, organisations will need to invest in building capability in scientific communication. 

Our associates deeply value the culture, purpose, our leaders’ people-first mindset and a deep sense of belongingness they experience in the organisation. It is very common to meet associates who have long tenures across different departments and we see this as a huge competitive advantage for us to retain our #1 position. 

I am very excited about partnering with the business in unlocking this opportunity for Royal Canin India.