I can’t but we can

Tajinder Singh, Vice President - Finance

 

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress and working together is success.” – Henry Ford

 

When a crisis hits, there is a need for swift actions to be taken in a systematic manner. In a company with over 2000 employees working in multiple cities across the country, bringing about change is no easy task. In 2016, just a couple of months after I had joined, I was asked to study a legal issue being faced by MakeMyTrip (MMT). I took some time to deep dive into the processes to understand the gap and the best way to address the issue. I realized, it had to start from reworking on the communication between MMT, the customer and the suppliers themselves. As an intermediary, we needed to clearly establish our role in the entire booking process between the end user and the vendor.

 

While the actionable was clear, I also realized that the implementation and long-term change in the process required something much bigger - a mindset change and I alone couldn’t do it, I needed all hands on deck.

 

Transparency had to become the mantra, across all departments. Perhaps there was no resistance to transparency itself, but the resistance was to change. This is what makes changing the management tricky—it involves constantly reiterating the need for change, without creating a sense of panic. It means getting all necessary stakeholders on board. Through constant communication, we continued to clarify and emphasize that the change was to make the process more effective and efficient for the long-term, by establishing clarity for all. 

 

It was gratifying to see how all teams collaborated to incorporate this change. A deep belief in solving the customer’s issues, gaining their confidence and winning their loyalty, helped bring everyone together.