Viewing Change Management through the People-Centric Lens

Isabel Montes, Vice President Human Resources, South America, Newmont Corporation [NEM]

Isabel Montes, Vice President Human Resources, South America, Newmont Corporation [NEM]

Isabel Montes, who is currently Newmont's Vice President of Human Resources for the South America Region, took an unexpected leap into the HR world when she graduated as an Industrial Engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia. Montes got selected by Procter & Gamble to join their internship program for HR, which opened the doors for her to understand the HR arena and change management. While at Procter & Gamble, Montes gained immense experience and soon joined Arthur Andersen as a senior business consultant. She moved to the U.S. 22 years ago, got her master's in HR from Chapman University, and started working for Starbucks. There, she held different roles, including the HR and Learning Director for Latin America. Her skills, expertise, and leadership helped the company build the brand across 22 countries, establishing it as a critical retail player, not only from the product and customer perspective but also from the people practices point of view. In 2022, Montes joined Newmont, where she was attracted to the opportunity to help evolve people's practices in the mining industry. Montes' current role at Newmont involves leading the People Function for operating sites in Mexico, Suriname, Peru, and Argentina. She is responsible for setting the People vision for the region, evolving people practices, and developing leaders within the business.

In a conversation with HR Tech Outlook magazine, Montes underlines the importance of change management and sheds light on how these practices can be implemented to drive better business outcomes.

What are some of the leading trends within the change management space?

One of the biggest trends that excites me in the HR space is the notion that change is not limited to being a top-down effort. It has drastically evolved to become a bottom-up endeavor as well. It is necessary to start with the individual and ensure that every person impacted by the change has the space for navigating it. It is also essential to consider that change is an individual's journey that leaders must support.

"Leaders need to take a people-centric approach to change management, go beyond the scope of a specific model or project management, and consider how each individual can be supported/empowered to make changes on their own."

With the growing significance of psychological safety and vulnerability concepts, leaders must understand the experience they are offering. They need to tailor that in terms of how each team member is navigating change and help them transition. A one size fits all approach is no longer valid to make change happen. And the organization behind those leaders must provide the tools and skills to make it possible. Because ultimately, what we want is to drive change and support our people to thrive through change- because we depend on the success of the change to deliver on Newmont's purpose of creating value and improving lives through sustainable and responsible mining.

What is the significance of a contingency plan for organizations today?

In my opinion, contingency is all about the concept of having a growth mindset and accepting the fact that it is all about 'trial and error.' It is essential to assure team members that there is no consequence in failed attempts and to have backup plans ready to incorporate learnings into revised approaches. Focusing on a strong "resistance" plan is also necessary to enable individuals to accept change. Leaders need to understand the team members that may resist change and help them navigate through that as part of the contingency and reinforcement plan. Along with implementing a new initiative, it is important to strengthen new behaviors that can facilitate proper change within organizations and understand what is needed to influence each person to embrace and adopt the change. In this way, we can significantly increase the chances of success.

What are some key issues in the change management space, and how can organizations adapt quickly?

The best way to adapt to organizational change is through learning and development. All stakeholders within the organization need to understand what the change is about and the skills required to navigate it because change is constant and requires more openness and availability of information.

Today's business landscape has gone beyond the idea of 'doing what we are told.' People are looking for valid reasons as to why something is being asked of them or something needs to be done. There is a lot of demand regarding understanding the reasoning and viewing leaders as the influencers of change. As such, it is important to get complete clarity of who are the sponsors of change and the natural change champions that can make things happen. This approach requires a lot of dedication, a curious mindset, and deep conversations anchored in a feedback culture to discern our business landscape and who will play what role.

Change agility is critical for companies to survive; this one can be achieved by providing learning opportunities for the people and ensuring the concepts of psychological safety and vulnerability are skills that leaders can exhibit daily. These skills also form the core for the entire workforce to stay ahead of all the different pressures that are a part of today's business. For instance, at Newmont, we invest in developing change leadership capabilities in our functional leaders.

How will change management take shape in the future? What would be your advice to align with these disruptions?

Change management's future will be fueled by a combination of changing cultures, technology, and business practices. Today, people, in general, have higher expectations from their employers, leaders, and managers in terms of experience. The pandemic has accelerated the importance of purpose and value in how people view life and work balance. It is, therefore, important to ensure that change management is implemented in a people-centric way. It is, however, easier said than done, and it is a test of time for leaders who need to be equipped with skills that will enable them to assist their team members in navigating change from an individual perspective.

In such challenging times, I would advise leaders to take a people-centric approach to change management, go beyond the scope of a specific model or project management, and consider how each individual will make changes independently. They also need to understand and act around intention and co-creating. They need to craft the change and their vision for the future in a way that allows their teams to participate, enriching the solution and making it easier to adapt to in the future.