How to manage change in an ever-evolving world, always putting people first

In a world of continuous and rapid evolution, it is essential for any company to rise to the occasion. It is not a choice, it is a matter of being able to remain competitive in the market. At the same time, the real challenge for innovation is to evolve while keeping the company values and mission strong. A good, solid “compass”, made of clear values and vision, makes it possible to navigate these turbulent times. These factors help reduce background noise and focus on what really matters. Is this here to stay? Is it a temporary trend? Will it still be prominent in the future? These are our key questions.  And asking ourselves the right questions can help us focus and invest on the proper skills, technologies and capabilities by always keeping in mind that any change impact people and should start from people.  They are the ones that make a real difference when it comes to future success. 

It doesn’t matter whether it is about a new process, tool or strategy: it nonetheless implies that someone will have to do something differently to straddle this change while, at the same time, staying consistent and true to a well-structured process, without forgetting that too many changes at one time can potentially compromise business sustainability.

A strong culture built on strong values is what can make the difference.

Focus, insight and building up experiences make people agile and resilient to change; this is the kind of people who can facilitate evolution, reinvention, reorganization and ultimately thrive in this constantly changing world. 

To me, what really matters are people and the development of an environment in which they can learn and grow to face the change. With a “learn-to-learn” approach it’s ensured that people are able to absorb and draw value from their surrounding environment in a process of continuous learning. This is the challenge I decided to focus on, understanding how to navigate this evolution while pointing out what is important to Amplifon:  valuing our people and being consistent with our corporate values, which are our distinctive success factors at the heart of our identity. When you manage to develop corporate culture and to maintain its values, it is imperative to be consistent and follow them. Furthermore, another challenge to face during times of change is being able to find the right balance between the enhancement of history and traditions, and the need to be open to innovation with speed and agility, while taking the right time to allow people to understand the change and make it impactful.

 In the last months, I’ve been thinking more deeply about the changes in the world and which kind of repercussions they are having on our lives, on our businesses and on the way we work.  

How to make technology our enabler   

I finally realized how essential it is for everyone to keep up with changes when I watched my 8-year-old son approach video games and the whole world of technology. These kids might not know how to tie their shoelaces but are certainly better at understanding technology than the average 45-year-old, but mostly they can do it much faster than their parents can. The new generations are used to leverage on their intuition and have stronger inclination to experiment for learning new things. This makes them the first ones to be well-versed on the top of digital trends and platforms. My conclusion was that my son would overtake my digital skills before I even knew it. Despite this acknowledgement I did not lose heart, on the contrary I realized how crucial it is, especially for me and my fellow "Gen Xers”, to find new and more efficient ways to approach the digital world in order to ”keep the pace”.

We live in a fast, global and rapidly changing world, that requires constant evolution (on every level). This is why I - and Amplifon as a company - strongly believe in continuous learning that allows us to keep up with time. We believe that technology, if well used, is an incredible enabler and a door opener to new things. Beside allowing our people to learn new digital skills, our main focus is to build a digital mindset and make room for understanding the value that innovation can have in every field.

 In my experience, digital change is not limited to, for instance, taking notes on your tablet instead of your notepad or using new tools, but actually to the "forma mentis", everything that allows us to open our minds to different inputs and make us rethink our way of working. It may not be an easy challenge at first, but then it becomes a habit. Therefore, within Amplifon, we offer training programs to provide our employees with the information they need to take part in this path of unceasing evolution. For instance,

our Digital Citizenship Program is designed to empower people through technology, to do assessments and find knowledge gaps, encouraging our employees to keep learning and evolve according to skills that match the market. 

This is just an example of what we are doing to become a fully integrated digital organization and practice digitization at every level occupy the top step of the evolutionary ladder.

People first 

I believe it is the environment that makes the difference, and this is where Amplifon values come into play: even in a context where technology has a key role, we put people first. The context and the relational dimension are what really leads to individual evolution and growth: which is why we join up employees with different skills, backgrounds and ages, to make sure that they can give their very best when interacting. Working side by side with new generations, for example, can lead to a more agile approach, while senior professionals can share the values of experience and competences in facing situations. This approach, mixed with technology and the development of social networks, has allowed us to break down both physical and temporal barriers and distances.  

In this sea of change, our employees remain our main asset. Our primary challenge is to align the customer and the employee experiences since they are constantly interacting with each other given our operating model and retail business. It is essential that employees are perceived and perceive themselves as stakeholders and that they experience company values at 360 degrees. It’s part of our everyday job to search the right balance between standardization and customization.

Our workplace needs to be flexible to foster smart solutions suitable for everyone in the company, while allowing each person to foster their unique talent and characteristics. Therefore, when creating teams, we always look for people with different background and nationalities by considering diversity as a huge value for a successful and sustainable business.

Therefore, my team and I work every day: to live up to the challenges created by the fluid context we live in and transform them in opportunities. On the notice to never forget what really matters: the people who make our company and their individual values. 

In the retail business proximity and human relations cannot be replaced by anything else.