If there is one constant in the business world, it is change. Companies that can embrace and manage change effectively are bound to thrive, while those that resist inevitably fall behind. The art of corporate change management, known as “change management,” has therefore long since become a key strategy for success.
In this GSO Consulting blog article, we will explore the strategies, tactics and best practices that market-leading companies are using to navigate through change with confidence and determination. We will see how change management is not just a business discipline, but a critical skill for adaptation, innovation and growth in the modern world.
Meaning: What is Change Management
Change management, also referred to as “management of change” and translatable into Italian as “Management of Change,” is a business strategy that is concerned with planning, managing and guiding people and organizations through change processes. These changes may involve significant variations in internal organization, operational processes, technologies used and corporate culture.
The ultimate goal of change management is to Making sure that change is implemented effectively and efficiently, producing positive results for the organization and minimizing disruption to staff and customers.
At the time of wanting to communicate to the corporate and HR consulting world our pride in GSO’s acquisition of Del Mare Consulting (which we will recount below), we asked Elisabetta Del Mare to explain what it means for our companies to make “Change in the Company.”
The Phases of the Change Management Process
To be effective, a change management process must be designed from inception to completion, to have a comprehensive view of the activities to be completed, and to develop a plan that is effective yet realistic to implement and sustainable both operationally and economically.
Thus, activities related to corporate change management can be divided into several stages:
- Identification of needs for change
- Designing a transition plan
- Effective project communication
- Adoption of new technologies
- Employee training and involvement
- Recruitment of new professionals when necessary
- Monitoring progress and continuously adapting to challenges encountered
HR and Change Management
During the implementation of a change management plan, one of the most complex aspects to manage is precisely the reception of the change process by human capital. It is therefore crucial to know how to accompany people, who by nature tend to be averse to change, toward new habits and goals.
In the world of HR, the purpose of change management is to facilitate the change process, manage the transition and minimize any distrust or resistance the people involved may have to new operations, particularly when they are used to modus operandi that have remained unchanged for many years.
The Areas of Change Management Intervention.
Also within the HR sector, change management can intervene to cover different aspects, ranging from employees, to managers, to the entire corporate culture. We will therefore now delve into each of these aspects.
Change Management and Human Resources
HR plays a crucial role in communicating change, engaging employees, and managing human resources during the change process. They work for Ensure that employees are informed, prepared and supported during the change.
In addition to this, HR consultants can contribute to the defining performance indicators (KPIs) and to maintaining a cohesive organizational culture that facilitates change. This synergistic collaboration improves the overall success of business change projects.
Digital Change Management
Digital change management focuses on the effective implementation of processes of digital transformation within an organization; here, too, the proper preparation of employees plays a key role.
Digital HR transformation develops in several stages:
- First of all, the competencies necessary to successfully use the new technologies introduced in the company. This is followed by a phase of assessment, conducted through tests to assess the digital skills and so-called “digital mindset” (digital readiness) of employees.
- Based on the findings of the assessment, courses of training. Employees can be prepared for digital transformation through a Digital Mindset Training and trained in the use of new technologies through activities of Upskilling and Reskilling, aimed at acquiring new skills and retraining for assignment to new tasks.
Change Management Recruitment
Once the process of digital skills assessment and resource training, it will be possible to fill the skills still latent in the company through ad hoc recruitment, aimed at individing ad hoc professionals capable of filling strategic and often very new roles, but critical to the success of the business change process.
GSO’s division of IT skills assessment, training and digital head hunting for the search for qualified personnel in the digital field is GSO HR Digital.
Change Management and Leadership
Change management and leadership are two closely interrelated elements in the context of a business reorganization plan.
While the change management plan provides the strategies, tools, and support needed to successfully implement the planned change, strong leadership is essential to both defining and communicating a clear vision for change and to both inspiring and guiding employees through the process.
Leaders must therefore be able to prove themselves excellent communicators, able to Effectively convey the vision, goals and rationale for change To employees. This constant and clear communication will be the key factor in engaging and motivating staff to overcome resistance.
During a change management process, managers must work to provide the support needed during change, removing obstacles and ensuring that the right resources are available. They must also be some patterns of behavior, showing consistency between what they say and what they do.
Finally, leaders must contribute to create a culture that is open to change and values innovation, rimaning open to feedback from employees and vigilant in making quick decisions to adapt to supervening needs.
To this end, our specialized division, GSO Del Mare Change & Learning, can also provide within a company’s change management plan for leadership training courses, to enhance the leadership skills of business managers.
Cultural Change in the Company
A corporate restructuring process may be an appropriate time to also introduce a change in corporate culture.
Defining a new corporate vision and mission is often the starting point of a change process and sometimes cultural change is even the first goal of change activity in the company.
Cultural change in business is a strategic and organizational process aimed at transforming the attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviors of employees, as well as the general mindset within the organization. This type of change aims to creating a corporate culture better suited to the goals and challenges of the company itself, pushing for greater innovation, adaptability to market dynamics, customer orientation and collaboration in achieving production and sales goals.
Change Management for Diversity & Inclusion.
Within a process of cultural change in the company, Diversity and Inclusion are two of the most modern concepts of colleague and customer relationship concepts.
Creating a fair and inclusive work environment involves recognizing the importance of diversity, listening to and respecting all points of view, and taking steps to ensure that organizational changes consider and support diversity in all its forms, such as gender, race, age, sexual orientation, disability, and cultural background.
I benefits of a diverse and inclusive work environment extend beyond individual employees to benefit the entire company and its customers: involvement, loyalty, productivity, creativity, decision-making skills, and human resource morale will be increased, directly benefiting overall performance. Welcoming the unique contributions that individuals from all backgrounds can bring to an organization, you will have the opportunity to harness untapped potential and foster innovation.
Among the first companies to devote itself to diversity and inclusion in business, GSO Change & Learning also provides innovative diversity training programs and a specialized service of Diversity Management.
Tool and Tools for Change Management:
When we talk about change management tools, we can mean 2 types of IT tools:
- Psychometric tools, software and HR tools specific tools that are used during the change process by human human resources and HR consultants for HR assessment, management and training.
- SAAS capable of improve work efficiency and business performance, such as collaborative and project management tools, customer care and CRM (customer relationship management) software, and digital marketing platforms and tools.
While the former are the preserve of HR practitioners, the latter are introduced for use by employees and usually require dedicated training, sometimes provided by the companies providing the software themselves, sometimes by HR consultants specializing in the various fields.
The Change Management Courses:
As part of change training, GSO Consulting provides change management courses designed to enable resources to develop the right mindset in the area of.:
- Project Management
We provide trainees with a practical model that describes the main steps to successfully manage a project, and the soft skills needed to manage such projects. - Risk Taking & Innovation
We coach thinking styles that facilitate the acquisition of an entrepreneurial mindset toward innovation, the ability to take calculated risks, awareness aboutobstacles to innovation and the methods and strategies for dealing with them. - Team Effectiveness Framework
We help manage and enhance the identity of corporate Teams and foster evolution by enhancing team spirit, promoting a culture of collaboration, and identifying areas for improvement.
- Being a “Change Enabler”
We provide companies with the tools to develop the ability to “open – thinking.” to deal more effectively with complexity and uncertainty, and to strengthen self-confidence and the way of interpreting the role in order to generate value.
- Learning Agility & Adaptive Learning
We help trainself-reflection as a tool for personal development, open-mindedness and “learning agility” through the use of our proprietary “FLORA INCLUSION” test, which allows you to know the meta-competencies underlying your preferred learning style.
- Think out the box
We teach companies to deal with change proactively, to find new solutions to stalled or critical situations through the development of divergent thinking. We also work to Develop flexibility, creativity, and adaptability with respect to one’s changing work environment
- Thinking like Sherlock Holmes
During a change management process, it is necessary to gain awareness of one’s analytical, problem solving and decision making skills useful for broadening one’s areas of comfort and competence to solve problems in a “divergent” way. This course allows, through the analysis and resolution of investigative cases, to develop a concrete method of problem setting and methodological solving.
- Pragmatics of human negotiation
We help strengthen empathic skills to understand and interpret the needs of others. This is critical for acquiring negotiation-related skills useful for implementing “win-win” strategies and building successful partnerships.
The Change Manager
The change manager (also “manager of change”) is a professional figure who may be internal to the company or an external HR consultant; he or she is responsible for guiding, coordinating and facilitating the change process so that it is effective at every stage, minimizing internal resistance, defining KPIs to be tracked and monitoring the progression of operations so that it remains efficient and sustainable at all times until it is completely successful.
The presence of an experienced change manager or an entire change management team can make the difference between a business change operation that succeeds on time and with the planned costs, versus a process that fails or breaks down, incurring higher costs and leading to even severe losses in both turnover and credibility with customers and employees themselves.
Continuous Change
Continuous change or “continuous change,” is a very new concept that refers to the adoption of a business philosophy in which the organization embraces change as an integral part of its culture and daily operations. In this approach, change is not seen as an occasional event or a response to a crisis, but as a strategy of constant and necessary evolution, according to which change is managed incrementally, through small steps that are implemented and measured regularly.
Continuous change promotes flexibility, responsiveness and a culture of innovation and is becoming increasingly popular in companies as it allows them to respond more effectively to changes in the market and competitive environment.
The Benefits of a Continuous Change Strategy.
When well planned and developed within the company, a continuous change policy can thus lead to the following benefits:
- Better adaptability to market changes
- Improved efficiency and productivity
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Increased business performance
How to implement Continuous Change policies in the enterprise
To work, a continuous change strategy requires commitment from all functions of the company: it requires all employees to be involved and strong leadership to support it.
Key points for successfully implementing continuous change:
- Constant adaptation: Challenge ourselves and always be flexible and ready to change products, services and processes to adapt to market changes and customer demands, introducing new ones to remain competitive over time.
- Culture of change: Embracing innovation and promoting openness to change among employees.
- Agile Methodologies: there is a need to adopt “lean” methodologies, which encourage iterative development, allowing the organization to make decisions quickly and make small changes frequently.
- Feedback and learning: Continuously collect feedback from employees, customers and other stakeholders in order to continuously improve processes and its offerings.
- Data analysis: Collect data and compare it with industry benchmarks and KPIs set during the process.
- Proactive response: Trying to anticipate changes rather than react to them. To do this, it is necessary to monitor industry trends, technological evolution, and customer needs to be prepared to make informed decisions.
- Proactive leadership: Leaders of companies engaged in continuous change must serve as role models who are open to change and actively support change initiatives.
Choose GSO Del Mare Change & Learning to do Change Management in the Company
In early 2024, GSO Consulting decided on the strengthening of its Change & Learning division with the acquisition of Del Mare Consulting, one of the first companies in Italy to deal specifically with change in business thanks to the visionary work of founder Giorgio Del Mare, which since 2014 has earned a reputation for excellence in the field of business transformation, cultural, organizational and professional change management training, setting itself the goal of guiding companies toward the creation of dynamic and success-oriented work environments.
From this union was born Del Mare Change & Learning, whose ranks include professionals from the experience of Wingage, another pioneering company in the field of change management consulting in Italy. Through this revamped division, GSO Consulting is interpreting the legacy of these two companies, giving itself the goal of supporting businesses through innovation projects at both operational and strategic levels, to adapt companies to the market by accompanying clients at every stage of their implementation to success.
