Integration was responsible for the full Change Management work stream, supporting the client to identify the needs required to bring about a smooth transition in each country.

To achieve this aim, we worked alongside the technical SAP project team, and leaders from each of the countries to co-create a strategic framework which defined these needs, considering the context, challenges and cultural aspect.

This frame was translated into tactical actions such as; the communication plan, knowledge sharing sessions, golden rules for the to-be culture, training, impact assessment, etc. These actions were implemented virtually, involving all 5 countries and the leadership.

Importantly, the transition occurred with no disruption to the operations right from day 1 and it was considered, by the company leadership, the most successful SAP implementation they had, both in terms of operational switchover and people readiness.

The SAP users across the five countries felt empowered and ready for the transition, having been fully trained – understanding the new processes, systems and ways of working, supporting and reinforcing the new cultural behavior expected.

This project required a strong focus on communication to both internal (workers and Unions) and external stakeholders (value chain and wider media). We helped our client craft a communication strategy and messaging, bringing together many specialized service providers i.e. journalists to write speeches/prepare speakers and specialized Union consultancy to help with negotiations.

Alongside wider change management activities such as Communication strategy, Retention Plan and Stakeholder Management, this was rolled into a detailed D-Day and D+1 hour-by-hour plan. This ensured a coordinated movement to communicate the decision to the company and a robust control to avoid risks related to the movement.

The factories and warehousing were closed without any business disruption, ensuring there was no impact to the operation and business results during the transference period.

Importantly the negotiation strategy with the Union ensured they were supportive of the movement and helped us manage the situation with the employees. In surveys we saw internal professionals communicating that they felt respected and this resulted in the positive external image of the company being preserved.

Besides that, as part of the retention plan, we mapped the employees that wanted to move to other sites inside the company and matched it with the demand from staff from other areas, reducing the social impact as much as possible.

Integration supported the client in preparing the integration to ensure that the two-divisions operated as a single company in 6 months.

To achieve this, we worked closely with the leadership teams to ensure there was a clear, cohesive and singular direction for the company. With the strategy in place, the necessary culture and organizational structure to sustain it was next defined.

Working across 2 waves of restructuring, we ensured that both operational changes and human-centric changes could be embedded with the necessary level of focus and quality. All the while, we maintained frequent communications with internal stakeholders and external media, helping with various key events, such as the official launch at the annual convention.

The new Business Unit was successful launched both internally and externally, with expertise from both companies preserved, the new culture defined and communicated, and with a single team and leadership in place.

During the entire process we had no volunteer turnover, no talent loss and no internal ‘noise’, and professionals felt they were truly part of the new company according to the surveys held.

Integration supported the client in 4 main aspects:

1. New model definitions: building a very detailed business case to define the Hub model to attend 17 European countries, centralizing key functions in order to bring cost efficiency
2. Business impacts mapping: carrying out an impact assessment to identify the main changes and actions needed to sustain this turn-around strategy (impacts on processes, systems, stakeholders).
3. Program organization: translating the strategy into a clear execution plan which would deliver the turnaround. Defining the scope, planning, prioritization and alignment of all interdependencies and implementation strategy for 25 projects in 17 countries.
4. Change strategy, plan and execution: based on the business and stakeholders impact assessment, we defined the actions needed to sustain the changes considering each country’s reality (training, communication, pulse surveys, risk management) and put governance and discipline to execute them according to the target plan.

We delivered a detailed and pragmatic 2-year roadmap for the business turnaround which was fully implemented by the client teams. This coordinated set of actions ensured the successful transformation for staff across 17 countries across Europe.

In particular, our actions to create stakeholder groups across countries and to deliver coordinated communications and training to these groups, led to better engagement and uniformity in the ways teams moved towards the new operating model.

A multinational sportswear organization with global presence, needed to improve the on-time-in-full (OTIF) delivery of its global marketing campaigns.

The main issue to address was the team ways of working. Talking to staff it became clear there was a lack of commitment, of staff empowerment, inability to prioritize, no clear accountability of roles and responsibilities, issues with workload, no clear process for decision making or feedback loops.

Integration supported the client to design and bring to life a totally new way of operating the global brand communication area. We addressed:

1. The unclear processes through a new campaign process design – defining flows, activities, gates of approval, RACI and KPIs.
2. Communication and accountability with a new campaign governance design – defining information flow, rituals, tools, instances of approval and validations.
3. The issue of empowerment through an innovation process design that aligned working with digital and other areas.
4. Lack of alignment and collaboration through an implementation journey that built team spirit in the adoption and training of the new ways of working

Regular pulse surveys helped us to identify progress and adjustments needed along the journey.

As a proof of the successful design and implementation, the pilot campaign was the client’s shortest campaign ever to launch OTIF. More than the operational improvement though, throughout the implementation we built up team motivation, commitment and understanding through a co-creation process. This meant the team felt part of the improvement process, rather than the subject of it.

Ultimately, this led to a totally new mindset in the brand communications team, more focused on planning, execution, collaboration and OTIF results. This model was considered a benchmark to be implemented in other business units of the company.