The discussion took place during the class “Change Management and Internal Communication”—which is offered as part of both the Specialization Diploma in Communication Management and the Master’s in Communication and Marketing Management—taught by Prof. Magali Da Silva on Thursday, August 13, 2020.
Badía joined Uriach about seven years ago with the goal of driving change: redefining the business through divestitures and downsizing.
Between 2013 and 2017, they focused their efforts on “breaking the inertia” and achieving profitable growth, as well as revitalizing the corporate culture. Starting in 2018, based on the 2018–2022 strategic plan, the focus is on shaping the “Uriach of the future,” accelerating growth, and consolidating sustainability. That is where “who we are, what we want, and how we are going to do it” is laid out.
“We’re very proud of what’s happened,” he summed up.
Our goal was to rebuild trust. We achieved this through extensive internal communication, but also through extensive external communication. And you have to convince people of the importance of external communication; for example, I would ask them, “Would you rather look good in the photo or look bad?”
About Uriach
- A leading consumer health company in Europe
- €196 million in annual revenue
- 60% of international sales
- Operations in more than 70 countries
- Mission:To improve people's health, quality of life, and well-being.
- Vision:To be a global leader in health and quality of life.
They started by working on the slogan— “Here we go!”—in Spanish, Catalan, and English. In a second phase, they moved on to discussing“Here we grow!”.
It was an organization where you couldn’t even have a cup of coffee, where it was frowned upon to wander around or chat with a colleague. We set ourselves a challenge: to change all that. We conducted a workplace climate survey and implemented active listening initiatives: three town hall meetings a year, monthly meetings by department, department-level climate meetings, as well as breakfasts with the CEO and biannual feedback sessions with every employee.
Belén Badía Catalán has served as Director of Human Resources, Communications, and IT at Uriach (Barcelona, Spain) since 2013.
She has led teams at SEAT, Winterthur, Fira de Barcelona, Proinosa, and Grupo Áreas. At the latter two companies, she served as corporate director of Human Resources, and at the others, she held various positions in Human Resources, as well as in Marketing and Communications.