Jayne Paterson, Vice-President & Business Unit Head, Oncology, GSK Canada
GSK Canada hired ORCHANGO during the COVID pandemic to help with a significant culture change.
Edmond was a partner and guide throughout the transformation, and did an excellent job supporting and challenging our thinking as required.
Edmond combines his expertise with a keen ability to actively listen and adjust in the moment. He never gave us the answer – he coached us to think in a new way, both individually, and as a leadership team.
The transformation was critical to our organization. Employees were quick to express their passion to be a part of something special. And as we continue on our journey today, we go back to the principles instilled by Edmond time and again to ground ourselves.
I highly recommend Edmond as a partner. I trust not only his knowledge, but his vision and his authenticity to get things right for people and for the business. He is easy to connect with and brings an energy that inspires those around him while creating a truly enjoyable environment. He always goes above and beyond – willing to take a last minute call or demonstrate patience when bumps in the road appear.
He has taught me a great deal about organizational change and the importance of a great culture, where employees can and do thrive. Thank you, Edmond.
Nicole Stuart, Vice-President, HR Country Head & Country Executive Board Member, GSK Canada
GSK Canada hired ORCHANGO during the COVID pandemic to help with a significant culture change.
Edmond was our consultant, guiding myself and our top leadership team throughout the transformation. His expertise, knowledge and passion were contagious and energizing. He provided the necessary insights, direction and guidance to ensure we were successful.
Edmond has an openness that allows for easy, two-way communication. His willingness to challenge us and share his experience ensured a smoother transition to the new culture. When we experienced challenges or hit barriers, Edmond was there to help us check-and-adjust – so that we could hit our milestones and achieve our end goals.
The transformation was critical to the business and our employees. At the end, employee engagement was an astonishing 85%. We successfully embedded the mindsets and behaviours that our business needs to thrive amidst a rapidly shifting environment.
I highly recommend Edmond as a partner for three main reasons. First, the knowledge (frameworks, tools, etc.) and deep experience he brings to the team as an outside-in expert is invaluable. Second, his passion for change leadership is contagious and when facing significant change, you need energy to fuel the activities. Third, his level of commitment and personal drive to see our leaders, employees and company grow and succeed.
For me personally, Edmond acted as educator, supporter and challenger. It allowed me to fulfill my role as steward of the culture shift and ensure the transformation was the best it could be, and I was the best I could be. I learned and grew through the experience.
Leandra Wells, VP & Business Unit Head, General Medicines, GSK Canada
Edmond was instrumental in helping me bring my team through a cultural transformation.
His approach was thoughtful, thorough, and honest. Together, we took a thorough evaluation of where my team was, and where we needed to go. Edmond helped us lay a new foundation that involved all of our team members’ input and alignment, enabling us to build a new, and very clear vision of where we wanted to go, and what it would take to get there.
1.5 years later, my team continues to be resolute in striving towards that vision, and we are a different team because of it. Grateful to Edmond for his help and clarity in guiding us through massive change. Couldn’t be happier with where we are at, and his support has enabled all of us to make even more impact among the clinicians and patients we serve throughout Canada.
Vicken Kazazian, Vice President Business & Human Resources, Sun Life Financial
Edmond, as the engagement is coming to an end, I would like to thank you for your contribution towards developing and implementing a program to reinforce and embed the attitudes and behaviours of our managers and employees.
You did a very good job up-front understanding the overall business requirements, as well as those of the various business areas. We appreciated that the change strategy you developed was non-prescriptive. Instead of advocating for a rigid, one-size-fit-all approach, you devised different options to tackle our challenge. You presented a comparative analysis of these options, as well as the conditions under which each would be best suited. This approach enabled us to tailor the overall strategy to the various areas of the business – for maximum effectiveness and appropriateness.
You worked well with our different teams, providing the necessary guidance to ensure the customized interventions would fit each environment. I received positive comments from everyone about your style and effectiveness.
Similarly, you took a very pragmatic and flexible approach to developing the training component of the solution. The pilot workshops you ran were critical to ensuring the different issues were identified and properly addressed.
Finally, I was pleased with the way you managed the overall engagement, striking an effective balance between our tight timeline, the program’s cost and its quality.
The roll-out of the program is progressing well towards its objectives. Should you need a reference in the future, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Cheikh Fall, Chairman of the Reform & Special Advisor to the President, Islamic Development Bank Group
We hired ORCHANGO to help the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) to manage smoothly and successfully the change necessitated by the ambitious Reform process initiated by the Bank Group Management in the context of achieving the new IsDB Vision.
ORCHANGO began the job with a thorough assessment of the communication and cultural change needs of the Group, and then developed a detailed roadmap for managing the change throughout the Reform process.
Subsequently, ORCHANGO designed and developed a comprehensive communication plan for the Reform and helped the Group management in identifying staff concerns arising from the change along with options for addressing them in a timely and effective manner.
Recognizing the importance of instilling the Reform values of performance driven, innovative and teamwork-based culture for the Group to deliver its mission, ORCHANGO elaborated a customized Culture model for the Group, which was well received by the management and staff.
In sum, ORCHANGO provided critical support to the IsDB in developing change leadership program for the Reform, engaging staff in the change, managing the adaptation of the staff to the new organization and creating critical mass for nurturing the performance and teamwork culture.
Alan Hutton, CEO, FundSERV and Corporate Director, Aequitas NEO Exchange
Our board / management strategic planning session defined four enterprise-wide imperatives that required cultural changes to our historical modus operandi. It was recognized that we had limited internal experience in cultural change and that our potential would be limited if we failed to embrace a new enterprise model.
We prepared a RFP and selected ORCHANGO because of their unique approach to change management. The hands-on approach of their principal, Edmond Mellina, engaged and motivated our management team to support this evolution.
ORCHANGO helped us recognize and repair the imbalance of our focus on the hard side versus the soft side of our business. This led to the development of a balanced scorecard, which proved essential in communicating strategy, building organizational support for the plan, and monitoring results.
As change coach, Edmond was an important contributor to the successful implementation of our initiatives, and we look forward to continuing to work with ORCHANGO on our change journey.
Richard Vanderlubbe, Founding CEO, tripcentral.ca and Corporate Director, Travel Insurance Council of Ontario (TICO)
When I participated in the STEP UP!™ game at the Travel Insurance Council of Ontario’s Board of Directors retreat, I knew this would be something that my team could benefit from.
I had explained to [co-owner] Paul while he was working with you to set this up, that the game would set the table and open everyone’s mind to the idea of “change management”. It’s something that is not on their radar.
The game is so effective as a starting point because people’s minds are open. It’s a theoretical company and there is no reason to get defensive or prickly about questions around the existing situation and change.
It was very effective, as expected. You have a very disarming way of communicating while getting a very powerful message across. It’s excellent!
I look forward to us really diving into our change problem.
