The Prevention Check: A proactive approach to managing business change

How companies and people can master change. 

Which are your favourite heroes in series or in the cinema? Somehow the ones who successfully do their thing, show personality and face every challenge - no matter if zombies, asteroid impact or monsters. Can we learn something from this for successfully dealing with threats and change? Yes! All film heroes have one thing in common: they act - instead of reacting. They fly towards the asteroid that is hurtling towards the Earth. They face the threat.

Act instead of wait and see.

Translated into the world of work, this means that companies and employees master difficult challenges when they take the reins of action and confront the perceived threat instead of avoiding it. In concrete terms, ways of thinking have to change. Separation hurts" must become "separation as an opportunity", "I can't" - "no problem, we'll find a solution!

Preventive check-up for your career: Prevention Check.

The best example is Ina L.: She has been working as a controller in an international company for twenty years. Her department is gradually being relocated abroad. What does Ina L. do? She calls a coach recommended to her by her friend Meike. In a "prevention check" - a precautionary examination for her career, so to speak - she weighs up all the pros and cons as well as the opportunities and risks of her current situation. Conclusion: Ina L. is actively looking for a new job with future prospects.

In the case of Meike's friend, it was the employer who offered all employees an anonymous prevention check with an external coach. Result: Meike S. has been given the chance to qualify in a management programme. She feels seen and valued as an employee.

A solution approach to utilise potentials.

Prevention checks are a solution approach with which progressive companies bring the potential of their employees to light. Similar to medical check-ups, prevention checks identify a risk before it is too late for treatment - i.e. change.

"As external and independent HR professionals, we give employees a realistic picture of what they can do and what opportunities their employer or the external labour market can offer them," explains Timon Michel, Managing Director of GS Consult, a consultancy specialising in change. "We support people in finding the right place - within the company or, if it makes sense, externally." GS Consult has now shown thousands of people an active path in its consulting services.

For all those involved in change processes - both employees and employers - it is worthwhile to deal actively and responsibly with the issues of employee retention and separation culture.