With the aim of “bringing positive transformation to the company and to people“, Ilaria Santambrogio and Silvia Nova courageously started a new professional adventure in the midst of the pandemic, in May 2020, after having worked together for an American multinational in the telecommunications sector with roles of Country Manager (Ilaria) and Marketing Manager (Silvia).
In this company they had the opportunity to experiment and promote the true Smart Working that they practice today as freelancers as founders of, Human Realization and Nova Marketing, companies that apparently operate in different fields but, as they explain in the video interview, often work together, consistently to define organizational and marketing actions to create customized solutions based on the needs of companies.
What are your role, your vision and your mission today?
Our purpose is to bring positive transformation to companies and people. Based on our past experience we know that working with a strong purpose generate commitment, wellbeing, sharing of values and excellent performance. We are now promoting this innovative approach into the companies we work with.
Our driver is Science of Happiness applied to work and we decline it in organizations through different impact areas integrated with each other: we consult and train on positive leadership and positive organizations and on smart working where we have a great experience on the field and we usually integrate the element of nature as a power booster in the professional area. On the marketing side, we work with companies for strategic, operative and internal marketing.
Our toolbox is full of tools, consistent with each other and allow us to create customized solutions based on where the company is, its needs or difficulties. Often the client arrives with an idea, but by listening to his needs and stimulating his reflections, we co-construct projects with the most suitable mix of tools for that specific reality.
For example, almost a year ago we were involved in the relaunch of a business with the request for advertising support. Following a context analysis, two different needs emerged: a more strategic approach to marketing and communication and a team training and coaching to align with new business objectives. Our versatile approach has allowed us to find out true needs of the company and to define organizational and marketing actions that are consistent with each other to achieve the goals.
What are the most relevant issues that emerge from the needs of your customers?
Each organization is in its own evolutionary stage so the needs are different. However, there is one thing that unites them, namely the desire to develop skills that help them “surf” the fast and profound changes of these times.
The issue of wellbeing in the company is changing from a trend to a fundamental need to face disruptive phenomena such as that of great resignation.
The cultural change that puts happiness and wellbeing at the heart of the business strategy requires a great deal of effort and time to implement but the return is extraordinary both in terms of results and impact on society.
Some examples of your ecent projects / activities?
As for smart working, we are the Italian country leads of ESWN, an international network created by two pioneers of Smart Working, Philip Vanhoutte and Andy Lake, which aims to share experiences, research, data of companies that have implemented smart working at 360 degrees.
In this context, we collaborated with great satisfaction within the management team of the Italian branch of a German multinational that felt the need to better understand what smart working was and how to get the best from both a personal and team management point of view. A very stimulating and enriching training course.
Regarding happiness as a driver for organizations, we made an intervention during the Italian and then European townhall within a large multinational leader in the food sector and this intervention had the aim of probing interest and openness of the company population to the issue (… and there was!)
In a smaller reality, on the other hand, we declined the theme of happiness in a training that had the aim of providing, mainly to the sales and marketing team, the tools that would allow them to move from the mere commercial negotiation to a higher and more distinctive level.
… I would say we never get bored.
Projects for the future?
The two most interesting projects at the moment are linked to innovative themes.
On the one hand, we are supporting a company that deals with the issue of all-round caregiving within companies from a marketing and also an organizational point of view.
On the other hand, we are collaborating with a Dutch professional and our mentor (as well as ex-boss) Philip Vanhoutte for the dissemination of the Weeting issue, the walking meetings that deserve a dedicated session.
