Tell us about yourself.
I have recently relocated to Vancouver and have 17 years’ experience in program/project governance and change management. My background in strategic business management and change management together with my MBA, has provided a strong foundation to successfully deliver large-scale strategic initiatives integrating people, processes and technology across different business functions operating across silos. My experience covers large-scale transformation projects and programs with a focus on Program/Project Governance, Consulting and Change Management across the Financial Services, Health Administration and IT Managed Services industries. Customer centricity, strategic thinking, and intelligent innovation are my personal passions
How did you get into Change Management?
In my experience as a Program/ Project Manager, governance remains important for effective program/project management. However, to truly deliver sustainable business benefits, change management and coaching plays a significantly larger role. I found that this is especially evident when running initiatives that require collaboration and decision making in organisations that operate in silos that is characterized by distinct operations and disparate management activities. As the global economy continues to operate in constrained conditions, economies of scale and cost saving initiatives are becoming increasingly prevalent among my larger clients. I frequently find that no one individual understands the full life-cycle of a service. Instead there are multiple individuals, who understand disparate pieces of their function as a part of the life-cycle. Furthermore, these individuals are measured on their small piece of the puzzle, further reinforcing the creation of key-man dependencies and inefficiencies across the organisation. Additionally, these siloed teams do not understand the dependencies of their role and work outputs on the other functions in the life-cycle. Thus, the move to optimized operations to save costs in met with enormous resistance.
Change management has given me the tools to assist with the engagement and collaboration of these individuals to firstly build the end-to-end picture that everyone agrees on and then to uncover the systemic impacts of the impending change. By working together, this understanding is then reinforced through change management initiatives, communication and training that dispels fears and assists with better integration which supports the ease of adoption. Furthermore, change management has assisted me in facilitating better decision-making across these disparate management functions. Appropriate and relevant change impact analysis assists with managing the perceived threat and discomfort of the change where gentle coaching through the systemic impacts, facilitates better business decisions that can be made timeously to ensure the initiative continues to progress on schedule and delivers sustainable business benefits.
Why did you decide to join ACMP Vancouver?
I have just relocated to Vancouver and I looking to meet like-minded individuals and share industry experiences. Furthermore, I would like to be more involved in furthering the importance and standing of Change Management in the Vancouver industry.
What are you working on?
I am finishing up a small consulting engagement with a large Financial Services Provider. The programme intends to centralize all Finance Risk and Compliance Governance functions across a business comprised of 4 segments. This requires a new Target Operating Model, new standardized processes and reporting. People, Culture and Change play a very large role in this initiative and I have been asked to assist with the planning the transition of staff into new roles.
Do you have any recommended change management books / resources to share?
I am busy reading Nudge by authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. The book is about choices and how we make them and how we can make better ones. They demonstrate that sensible choice architecture can successfully nudge people towards the best decisions without restricting their freedom of choice. There is lots of applicability from this book in my line of work. Another great book is Crucial Conversations by Joseph Grenny, Al Switzler, Ron McMillan. I am sure we have all read it and I often refer to it on regular occasions for greater insights. The next book I am interested in reading is Changing Conversations in Organizations by Dr Patricia Shaw. Most methodologies for organizational change are based on systems thinking, as are many approaches to process consultation and facilitation. I am sure you would agree that these are idealised models. Dr Shaw challenges these models and provides recommendations for use of detailed reflective narrative to evoke and elaborate on the experience of participating in the conversational processes of human organizing. This fascinates me as it asserts that possibilities are sustained and changed by the conversational life of organizations.
How do you like to spend your time outside of work?
I enjoy spending time with my husband and 2 dogs, Max and Lulu, exploring nature and new places is a fun adventure. We are so thrilled to be able to live in such a beautiful part of the world and can’t wait to explore beautiful British Columbia. Now that I am living in Vancouver, I look forward to reconnecting and spending quality time with my parents and my younger brother and his family.