The Italian Air Force rising to the challenge of change management

The Italian Air Force (ITAF) needs commanders who are capable of effectively interacting with their people, realizing what their needs and expectations are, and at the same time nurturing their skills.  And there’s more:  in-depth knowledge of the ITAF’s myriad fields of operation to engage the different decision-making levels appropriately and achieve objectives effectively.  And finally, streamlining the organization, making it more flexible through collaborative, horizontal interaction. This serves to leverage the Air Force’s exceptional internal competencies to face emergent international strategic scenarios and the advent of new air defense technologies. These were the ambitious organizational projects that Lieutenant General Settimo Caputo hoped to achieve as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the ITAF - a full-scale revolution of the internal organizational culture of this branch of the Armed Forces impacting all hierarchical levels. 

In the last few decades, the ITAF (along with the other branches of the Armed Forces) transitioned from a highly labor-intensive organization to a technology-intensive one. This gave rise to the need for an organizational culture that was better suited to handle risk scenarios, as well as progressive managerial competencies to encourage communication and information sharing. So the time had come for a change in the organizational culture, thanks to investments in new technologies and in training policies and procedures. But what needed to change most of all was the people – first and foremost the top brass.

This was the setting for Project Feedback 360°, an extensive study implemented in 2017 and modeled on similar projects run in the US and in Israel. The project involved top levels of the General Staff of the Air Force, a total of more than 100 people. For the first time in the history of the ITAF, the management performance of generals would be assessed not only by their superiors but their peers and subordinates as well.

The results of the study formed the basis for an individual and general evaluation of the management of ITAF Air Staff, highlighting both strengths and areas for improvement. The staff proved to be highly skilled at analyzing and managing complexity. But findings also revealed the need for a reorganization to reinforce the ability of the generals to participate in strategic decision-making processes and to promote organizational innovation. In fact, the heads of staff had to deal with endless red tape, which made it impossible for them to manage the organization in a streamlined and effective way, or to focus on critical strategic decisions and promote organizational innovation in their teams.

The report revealed something else too: the Air Staff generals were practically paralyzed by organizational rigidity, which limited the resources that could be dedicated to strategic thinking or innovation. A number of problems also emerged with regard to the speed and integration of the chain of command and the need to enhance interdependence and information sharing. In other words, it looked like all the basic assumptions underpinning the traditional hierarchical model had some limitations, even in a military organization. These critical problems had to be dealt with posthaste.

In 2013, the General Office for Management Innovation (GOMI) was established with the exclusive mission of pursuing management innovation in the ITAF. To achieve this mission, the GOMI began working in three main directions within the organization: changing the governance (using project management methods and tools), improving work processes (using quality and risk management methods and tools) and implementing a Leadership and Human Resource Management program for all AM personnel. In fact, the first initiative undertaken by the GOMI was called Human Resource Management for Innovation, a joint endeavor with an international research lab. According to the project findings (involving 1,800 officers, non-commissioned officers and pilots), the critical areas were two: the fragmentation of work processes and the lack of effective communication in the ITAF.

One of the first moves toward structured organizational innovation came directly from the pro tempore Chief of Staff himself, General Enzo Vecchiarelli, who created a dedicated channel to engage all ITAF personnel on the issue of innovation. This project, “The Innovation Incubator”, was essentially a call for ideas, opening a direct line of communication that would connect anyone in the Air Force who might have an innovative idea and top management.

In 2018, three additional projects were launched:

• Mapping work processes of the ITAF General Staff, with the aim of reviewing the hierarchical structure of the Air Force and redistributing work functions and processes. This allowed the ITAF to reduce the number of hierarchical levels, minimize redundancy and fragmentation in work processes, and optimize human resources.
• The Guiding Group for Change, a body divided into theme-based sub-groups focused on assessing and solving problems impacting the entire ITAF, and concentrating on change management strategies to channel the efforts of individuals toward solutions shared throughout the Air Force.
• The Strategic Portfolio Model: an initial attempt to restructure decision-making processes using a collaborative approach in boards at three different levels (mission definition, plan execution, operational execution). The aim here is to facilitate organizational integration from the moment an idea is conceived.

In 2019, the order structure and the organization charts were redesigned, freeing the Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff and the High Command from routine duties and business activities. Thanks to this reorg, process redundancy and duplication was eliminated, which meant human resources (numbering several dozen) could be reassigned to other areas. What’s more, majors, lieutenant colonels and group commanders reported widespread implementation of quality management tools (for example SWOT, brainstorming, feedback) and the broad dissemination of a no-blame culture as a learning tool. In addition, more personnel were engaging in goal-setting, self-assessment and subordinate-superior evaluations. Open discussions were becoming routine and leadership was being allocated to several hierarchical levels, in a network-based approach.

• Management innovation policies can play a critical role in contending with various organizational challenges and supporting the radical ongoing technological and cultural transformations.
• Managerial innovation is an enabler of change management everywhere, but especially in the public sphere.