Sonica Aron is the Founder and CEO of Marching Sheep, an HR consulting firm specializing in strategic HR advisory, diversity and inclusion interventions, and capability building.
A mother of two, Sonica considers Marching Sheep her third child and is extremely passionate about what they deliver as a team. The values at Marching Sheep are Integrity in everything they do, Client orientation, Responsiveness, and Attention to detail. Her constant reminder to the team is that when she was on the other side of the table, she was always worried about the impact of interventions. What would happen after? Would there be any change in behaviour or impact on business? And insists that all their interventions be built to drive behaviour change ando give clients ROI.
In the last ten years, Marching Sheep has focused on designing and delivering customized and curated solutions to their clients and building long-term relationships based on trust and credibility.
The story of Sonica’s beginnings – how did she get started?
Sonica is an experienced HR professional and an XLRI postgraduate with more than two decades of experience. She has worked with companies like Pepsico, Vodafone, Roche Diagnostics, and ICI Paints. Sonica was heading HR for Philips’ Consumer Lifestyle Business in India in 2012 and realising the myriad of challenges women faced both at the societal and professional level, she decided to change her career.
“I took a sabbatical in 2012. Within one month of the break, I realized that I was not cut out to sit at home and went through an identity crisis, wherein I deliberated internally on my next steps. Should I go back to work, or should I do something on my own? I picked up a couple of gig assignments and enjoyed them. I always thought of myself as the most risk-averse person and never thought I would begin my own firm, but I realized over time that what made me happy was making a tangible difference on ground.,” says Sonica.
A mother of two, took a leap of faith and founded Marching Sheep in February 2013 to drive respect and equality for all by making a tangible difference in people’s lives and careers.
It was a bumpy ride for her, from understanding the different taxes and legal obligations of running a business, getting her first client, learning how to market Marching Sheep, making her first website, and attracting the right talent despite being bootstrapped. Even when revenues dried up for short spells due to demonetization in the country, changes in tax regime or company laws, or the COVID-19 pandemic, she took these challenges in her stride and did not give up. She kept evolving her offerings and building her team.
“Leadership is a journey, and I started Marching Sheep as a solopreneur in one city. Today, we are a thriving team of committed HR professionals, facilitators, and consultants delivering high-impact assignments globally,” asserts Sonica.
Marching Sheep: Strategizing HR Outsourcing and Consulting Services
As a consultative firm, Marching Sheep partners with their clients to enhance profitability and productivity through customized and aligned people management processes, structures, leadership, and diversity interventions. Their solutions cover:
- Diversity & Inclusion Strategies and Interventions
Inclusive organizations are more productive, and they enable their client organizations to arrive at their inclusion charter and strategy through diagnostics, executable plans and partner with the execution, drive mindset change, and culture building.
- OD Consulting
Organizations need their HR strategy, process, and policies to enable employees to deliver on business strategy and goals. The company works closely with client organizations to streamline the Vision, mission, values, behavioural frameworks, HR strategy, policies, and practices, drive communication and socialization, and the internal Leadership managerial capability to enable the same.
- Bespoke learning interventions
The competencies needed to succeed at work evolve as the socio-economic fabric evolves. Marching Sheep works with clients to enable individual contributors, managers, and leaders to grow by building the right competencies. The company curates each intervention to drive the right behaviours by facilitating insights, reflection, and practice.
- Health & Wellness Portfolio
Wellness today includes emotional, mental, and physical well-being. While policies and insurance can take care of the physical aspect, there still needs to be awareness and life skill-building around dealing with anxiety, stress, and burnout. Programs curated after research and with the help of clinical psychologists enable individuals to become emotionally resilient by identifying their stress triggers, responses, and coping mechanisms and, hence, more productive, personally and professionally.
The company works closely with clients to arrive at customized and effective HR interventions that support their strategy in the current lifecycle stage and support them in realizing long-term business plans.
Marching Sheep offers holistic interventions in People strategy, development, diversity, and inclusion, from diagnostics to policies and processes, and customized interventions that help organizations attract, engage, retain, develop, and grow a diverse workforce. “We understand the situation’s nuances, societal backdrop, and mindsets individuals and organizations struggle with. We propose and implement multi-pronged solutions, driving visible, long-term, sustainable change,” says Sonica.
Programs- Inclusion Diagnostics, Women@work, Unleash the power of diversity, Diversity@Work, Inclusion boot camps, and Leadership interventions have been very well received by the industry. “We are seen as a thought leader in diversity, inclusion, and progressive HR practices. Our opinions have been published by leading publications, including TOI, Hindustan Times, the Hindu, The Statesmen, The Chronicle, DNA, and Business World, to name a few,” asserts Sonica.
As a team, the company keeps upgrading with new technology and concepts to deliver high-impact interventions for its clients. Every assignment engages multiple consultants so that balls stay put and collective expertise is utilized.
Sonica’s thoughts on Leadership, Teamwork, Culture, and Transformation.
Perseverance, emotional intelligence, resilience, self-awareness, and nurturing team members are critical for a leader to succeed in today’s complex and dynamic environment. Success is not just about how a leader operates but getting the best out of their team members and building other leaders.
“I need to create an environment where everyone can be their authentic selves, regardless of the business situation, so that my team enjoys their work, receives fair treatment, receives constructive feedback promptly, and can do their job, learn and grow in today’s BANI world. Team Mantra – If we are together, we will prevail.As a leader, my role is to keep the team grounded in our purpose- To make a difference in people’s lives and careers and to drive respect and equality for all, and I ensure that these tenets run through all our solutions. My role is also to make all my team members learn and grow.”
Staying motivated to maintain a work-life balance
“I love what I do. I’m a mother of 2, a wife, a daughter, and a daughter-in-law. My son Kabir is 15 and independent, and my daughter Ira is 10, and she is my sunshine. I have a dog, Daenerys, who showers me with unconditional love at any time of the day, and two cats, Ginger and Cookie,” says Sonica.
“My husband and I have always respected that we are both ambitious professionals who take pride in our work, and he has been incredibly supportive throughout my entrepreneurial journey. I keep weekends entirely for my family and myself,” she continues.
Ideas for the Future of Marching Sheep
Sonica believes in doing meaningful work that touches and impacts the workforce’s lives and, in turn, builds agile, responsive, and great organizations. Marching Sheep will continue to research and evolve their offerings and wishes to enable organizations by building capability within and offering more certification programs; it wants to expand its geographical presence further.
A Leader Committed to Her Vision
“As we are passionate about building a more inclusive world, we also work with Bravesouls Foundation, a non-profit rehabilitating acid attack survivors. Additionally, we work with the Tweet Foundation, another NGO that educates, skills, and grooms transgender people. We will support the Tweet Foundation by connecting transgender candidates to appropriate openings with our clients, another non-commercial initiative. We will arrange fireside chats and panel discussions about disabilities, reasonable accommodations, infrastructure, and mindset challenges,” says Sonica.
Company Name: Marching Sheep
Sonica Aron :Founder and CEO
