What challenge(s) do our clients face?
Each change is unique in terms of complexity and dimension – but people are always at the heart of it
Organizations of every size experience processes of change very often. These could be any of the below.
Each of these change can vary in terms of complexity (it can be an incremental change, an evolution or a revolution) and also in terms of dimension (affecting one area, one business unit, a whole country or even globally); but at the heart of each change is always people.
Changing behavior, routines and habits is not something which happens naturally or overnight, it is a process requiring sustained and targeted action. Each Change Management process must be unique to address different challenges and organizations must be prepared to work hard to embed these changes to achieve their strategy or goal.
How do we help?
In order to drive transformation, we help our clients manage the human aspects, increasing the likelihood of individuals, teams and organizations contributing positively to change.
We support our clients in guiding their staff and stakeholders through a journey and making them champions of the change through a series of targeted actions:
- Establishing the purpose of change: clarity on the current and future desired state
- Communication Strategy and Plan considering stakeholders affected
- Training plan: for leadership and other impacted audiences
- Evaluation of necessary adjustments in remuneration and benefits and other management systems
- KPIs and governance to monitor progress and resistance
Nonetheless, we know that the success of every transformation cannot rely solely on the people. Integration believes that true transformation can only be generated through the connection between Leadership, Planning AND Change Management.
- LEADERSHIP (WHY): responsible for identifying the need for change and the extent of disruption or evolution. Leaders need to be prepared to drive the change.
- PLANNING (WHAT): a new ambition demands the right resources and coordinated activities to deliver the results.
- CHANGE MANAGEMENT (HOW): generating the co-creation movement that connects aspirations to reality, respecting culture and individuals.
Therefore, in the delivery of our projects, we focus strongly on the HOW element, but we also maintain the connection and ensure the delivery of the other pillars also. Our equation to achieve this connection is respect, cooperation, consistency and ability to adjust to reality.
What are the benefits?
- Leadership aligned and prepared to drive the movement, with clarity of the status quo, where the company wants to be and the gaps to achieve it.
- Coherence among the decisions taken during the process considering the change objective, the business strategy and results the company wants to achieve.
- Increased engagement and buy-in with a common goal, resulting in lower levels of turnover (usually high during large transformations).
- Development of skills/capabilities within the organization which make professionals more prepared to successfully carry out the change process and also to act in their new roles after the transformation.
- New ways of working, processes and managements systems aligned with the culture
- Brand equity/external image of the company maintained through a careful plan for clients, customers, suppliers, partners, investors, and media.
How does it work?
A Step by Step approach – moving to a different stage only when the company is ready to.
Change Management has been present in Integration’s DNA since its foundation. It is part of our mission to ensure organizational transformation and leave a positive heritage with our clients.
No matter whether you work with us on a ‘Change Management’ project or a ‘Strategy’ Project, throughout our work we focus on building recommendations and solutions which are truly implementable. This means listening closely to everyone from leadership to the factory floor, understanding stakeholder conflicts, understanding culture and values, building collaboratively the solutions and communicating with everyone impacted. It is simply our way of doing consulting and all our consultants exhibit these attributes from Day 0 of any project.
Thus, Integration has a very well-rounded experience in Change Management, applying this methodology to projects of different natures and sectors. Our main differential, being a strategy consulting firm, is to always connect the human aspect with the business. Our goal in the end is to achieve the strategic objectives through people.
In Integration’s tried and tested methodology, we always consider 6 aspects:
- We start with building an understanding of the need for change and how this transformation connects with the business strategy, as well as how it impacts people.
- In the champions preparation, we count on a scientific methodology to develop leaders, the ID One® Human Factor – a science used within Integration since 1998. Besides that, technical and non-technical skills are developed in order to support all the professionals that will drive this transformation (HR area, leaders of workstreams, internal client change leads, etc.).
- To ensure consistency along the transformation process, some ways of working must be adapted. We guarantee that culture, informal mechanisms, organizational model, R&Rs, remuneration and incentives are aligned with the new reality of the company.
- Considering these changes, new competencies will be probably required. Then it is necessary to have this clarity, as well as map key talents, implement retention plans and ensure training for professionals.
- The success of all this transformation is only possible if you keep professionals aligned with a common objective, so they can contribute with the change. It requires a two-way communication, listening to the organization, as well as engagement actions during the process.
- It is essential to monitor the results during the transformation and make the necessary adjustments in order to guarantee the results expected.
SUCCESS STORIES
CHALLENGE
A British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage ingredients to industrial markets, was implementing SAP in all operations around the world, and one of the last regions to be addressed was LATAM. The systems needed to be implemented simultaneously in 5 countries, each of which had different as-is processes, legislations and cultures.
The project management team was not located in any of the countries where the implementation took place; therefore, besides the challenge of a multi-country go-live, the project leadership was also spread around the globe.
APPROACH
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.
RESULT
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.
CHALLENGE
One of the biggest consumer beauty companies in the world was reviewing their logistic network in Brazil and decided to consolidate various factories in order to become more efficient. They asked Integration for support with the Change Management of closing two factories and one warehouse.
Their key motivation for enlisting our support was to show care and respect not only for the 732 professionals involved in the closing, but also for many other value chain stakeholders that were somehow also impacted. A key concern among these stakeholders was the Union, who could force production stoppages, creating business disruption, in case the transition with the employees was not happening in a respectful and fair way.
APPROACH
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.
RESULT
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.
CHALLENGE
A consumer goods company in the food sector decided to unify two of its four divisions, in an effort to capture synergies such as capacity to maximize its salesforce, amplify market knowledge and be more efficient.
The movement impacted directly almost 1100 professionals operating in totally separated structures. The biggest challenge was to unify two companies (with completely different cultures and a history of competitiveness between them) defining and guaranteeing the necessary culture to sustain the business of the new division.
APPROACH
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.
RESULT
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.
CHALLENGE
In the face of changing consumer habits, our client, a household goods seller with a global footprint, was forced to rethink its business model drastically to survive.
This meant changing their Go-to-Market strategy, their relationship with distributors, their supply chain and digital capabilities to increase service level to customers and at the same time bring efficiency to the business. It was a monumental change which impacted processes, systems, org structure and mindset across all operations in Europe.
APPROACH
Integration supported the client in 4 main aspects:
- 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
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
RESULT
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.
CHALLENGE
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.
APPROACH
Integration supported the client to design and bring to life a totally new way of operating the global brand communication area. We addressed:
- The unclear processes through a new campaign process design – defining flows, activities, gates of approval, RACI and KPIs.
- Communication and accountability with a new campaign governance design – defining information flow, rituals, tools, instances of approval and validations.
- The issue of empowerment through an innovation process design that aligned working with digital and other areas.
- 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.
RESULT
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.
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
Over the years, we have had the opportunity to support transformations across many countries, from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, to Indonesia.
From an industry perspective, this has allowed us to work across the sectors of Agribusiness, Financial Sector, Chemicals, Media & Entertainment, Wholesalers and Distributors, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Telecommunication, as well as Consumer goods sectors like Food, Beverages and Health, Beauty & Personal Care.
The application of our methodology in these different contexts has provided our professionals with deep knowledge of how to achieve change across cultures and contexts.
TALK TO US
André Farat
André Farat is a manager with a strong track record helping large organizations through difficult transition moments. He has worked throughout Brazil, USA and Mexico on projects requiring strong change management skills, including Organizational and Cultural Transformations, Post-Merger Integrations and GTM Implementations in a range of sectors from Consumer Goods to Technology to Pharmaceuticals. He is [...]
Renata Moura
Renata Moura is the partner responsible for the Leadership & Organization practice established in 2016. Renata has over 20 years of professional experience, having worked in 5 different companies and segments. She began her career at AMBEV in the consumer segment, then participated in the privatization of the telecommunications sector at OI and the consolidation [...]