Damiano Guidolin, new ASA GM: Human capital and method are the cornerstones of the restart

A challenge this that had developed several years beforehand by the previous management, aware of the need to change the now consolidated corporate paradigms to achieve new development objectives. Choosing a manager who had significant international experience in managing highly structured realities, characterised by complex dynamics, was the right solution.

Damiano, it is no small responsibility that you have taken on, given that ASA already is a solid and profitable reality…
The challenge is precisely this: on the one hand the need to grow to remain a reference player in a global market and on the other the desire to maintain the already valuable results achieved by the previous management, through the progressive introduction of new innovative technological tools and at the same time of organisational methods that are now available and can be calibrated even on medium-sized companies like ASA. Thanks to the work done by those who preceded me, here it is not a question of revolutionising everything but of activating an evolutionary process to keep up with the times, which emphasises the valorisation and empowerment of our internal professional figures, many with excellent skills and consummate experience, but above all the awareness of their direct responsibility for company events, acknowledging both that they have direct management of their work and the centrality of their role. In order for ASA to grow not only in size but also in efficiency and performance, I immediately recognised the need to shift from the classic “directive management” style to a more modern and structured “management and control” style that, using adequate support and coaching tools, progressively develops the appropriate leadership and downward delegation skills in the management team. 

The first step in this virtuous circle was to intercept or confirm the leading figures to be put in the front line.
Not a difficult job, because as I have already said, ASA’s human capital is rich in skills and abilities, but it also has an inherent desire to grow and improve. Giving them “weight and space” is equivalent to seeing their energy and creativity unleash, which of course always make the “big difference” in any company project, whether large or small.

An involvement that goes hand in hand with the need to create teams capable of interfacing in a fluid and effective way.
Creating a common language for the entire company is always a great undertaking: members of the different departments love to use their own “jargon”, but in these uncertain times of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), in order to master the growing complexity it is much more important that there should also be “protocols” for exchanging information with the other departments and that they should be consolidated and equally understandable. A sort of “corporate Esperanto” that is understood and spoken by all ASA resources, without distinction of role or sector, essential to obtain a more functional and effective interaction to achieve our objectives.

Objectives that, in a broad sense, also speak of influence and inclusiveness…
Valuable ideas take shape mainly in environments where diversity is considered to be wealth, where empathy is the key to mutual understanding and where a respect for timetables and deadlines constitute the main road to follow to give shape to projects that can truly make the difference between mediocrity and excellence.

An “almost Zen” vision and one in which a lot can be read about your professional history that took you to China for work for 10 years. What did that experience teach you?
From a professional point of view and after obtaining my MBA back in 2005, it was an unparalleled “practical management school” to learn how to manage progressively larger organisations, sometimes ones that already existed but were not performing, or other times ones that had to be created from scratch and made to grow, “from greenfield” as we say in jargon. From a human point of view, instead, it forced me to adapt to an “alien” and depersonalised relational culture, even in the workplace, profoundly different from that of my origins.  Having returned to Italy after a decade of living at the speed of light, I had to relearn to deal with lengthier company times and also to give people a “name and surname” again, to re-evaluate their centrality and appreciate the personalisation of relationships, both outside and inside the workplace.

We started from human capital and to that we return. 
As everything begins from that, especially in companies like ASA that are not “capital intensive”, that is, they do not have an economic predominance of material assets, machinery or plants. In fact, already before my arrival, it is no coincidence that the company had already begun the #ASApeople project, with the aim of giving “space to the story” of the people who work there, trying to highlight, in addition to their skills, also the passions and desires of the individual personalities in the company. 

A company that immediately welcomed you…
I tried to enter on tiptoe, aware that I had to first “learn” the new and specific dynamics of the sector, in order to then be able to bring added value.  I adopted an approach that is technically defined as “soft turn-around” and that is used to bring change to companies that do not have contingent problems of profitability but that must shed their skin and adapt to different and new operational-organisational methods in order to maintain this in the future. The same goes for me: accustomed to interfacing with companies whose executive and decision-making speed was the rule, I have found myself redesigning some of my methods of intervention. ASA is a different world compared to those I have dealt with so far: its marked complexity and sophistication, however, if correctly managed, can truly transform into a great wealth to be capitalised for a rosy future.

Does change scare?
In the case of companies of similar size, but especially here at ASA, I prefer to say that change requires great courage and the ability to dare from everyone, but at the same time also a great deal of respect for the noble “history” on which it is based.