Often perceived as a risk to the company, change is nevertheless essential for its development. Crisis periods often reveal this: the transformation of processes and working methods within companies can lead to significant improvements, both in terms of revenue and attractiveness. Draw inspiration from these 3 examples of change management to succeed in yours!
1. Santander: Changing to Unify
The leading Spanish banking group, Santander decided to establish its operations in the UK in 2008. To do so, its CEO Emilio Botin opted for the acquisition of several historical financial institutions in the country, including Bradford and Bingley and Alliance and Leicester.
The catch: these British institutions, whose creation dates back to 1849, have long been paralyzed by ancestral practices and a marked aversion to change.
To modernize, but also to unify the methods of these British institutions, Santander’s director did not hesitate to communicate with all his employees, including those not affected by the transformation to be carried out.
The preliminary discussions, preparation, and training phases undertaken by the Santander group have a single objective: to trigger employee buy-in, and not just acceptance of the ongoing change. A successful gamble, as Santander bank is now one of the leading banking groups on British soil!
2. Ooredoo: Change as a Unification Effort
When Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani and Nasser Mohammed Marafih were appointed to head Qtel, a Qatari telecommunications company, they initiated numerous acquisitions on behalf of the group. By the end of the 2010s, Qtel thus held 17 telephone operators, each retaining its particular operating mode.
However, it was in 2012 that the real change occurred: Qtel’s leaders shifted from an acquisition strategy to an integration process. And they achieved this through incredible work on Qtel’s brand image. By placing rural communities and the voice of women at the heart of their communication, they brought all their operators under the umbrella of a single company: Ooredoo.
Carried by an internationally renowned ambassador, Lionel Messi, this new brand quickly established itself in the Arab telecom sector, as it now has over 95 million customers in 17 different countries.
3. Direct Line: Transforming Crisis into Opportunity through Change Management
Direct Line, a leading group in the British insurance sector, was born out of difficulty. It all began in 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis: the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was ordered by European Union regulators to divest its Insurance department if it wanted to receive state aid intended to get it back on its feet.
Paul Geddes, director of the department managing RBS’s insurance, had no choice: he not only had to lead the transformation within his team, but also its separation from the parent company, and that as quickly as possible.
18 months: that’s how long it would take him to rebuild a viable insurance company from scratch and ensure the transfer of client data, all without any plan B. Once again, and despite the urgency of the context, Paul Geddes managed to master a crisis situation to transform it into a business opportunity: that’s the whole point of change management in business!
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