Andrea Duke

We invited new ACMP member Andrea Duke to share a little about herself with our change management community.

Tell us about yourself.
I am currently working as an HR Advisor at TPD, an HR and Workforce Solutions Company. Most of my past experience has been in HR in mining, manufacturing and government. 

I recently graduated from the full-time MBA program at the UBC Sauder School of Business. During and after my program, I completed contracts as a Business Analyst at WorkSafeBC and as an HR Systems Analyst at ICBC.

Why did you become interested in change management?
I became interested in change management because it has been at the intersection of my experiences in HR and process improvement. I also enjoyed learning about change management during my MBA program. We were given some challenging cases, each one having a very different organizational context. 

I particularly enjoyed a computerized change simulation which required us in groups to choose a variety of tactics and when to sequence them. We received immediate feedback on how the timing and sequence events were received by different employees. It gave me a great preview of how complicated change management can be.

What are you working on?
At TPD I work with different clients across many different industries, mostly small and medium-sized companies with anywhere from 80-200 employees. Most of my projects involve change management because we introduce new HR policies, programs, systems and processes in organizations where such items do not exist or their current practices are not working. 

In either case, significant behavioural change is required and change management is crucial in ensuring that the implementation is well received and has the desired long-term impact. I’m currently working on a performance management system design that will require a cultural change involving more regular feedback and coaching. 

What are you reading these days?
I’m currently reading The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins. It was a gift from UBC Sauder’s Business Career Center. The book has some great tools for adapting to a new organization.

I just completed How Performance Management is Killing Performance–and What to Do About It: Rethink, Redesign, Reboot by M. Tamra Chandler which had a good section at the end on change management. 

How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
I enjoy downhill and cross country skiing. I’ve taken advantage of the Whistler student season’s pass. This summer I will start open water swimming. I also volunteer for the ACMP Communications Committee which has been a lot of fun. We have a great team.