By Wendy Quan

Pacific Blue Cross recently underwent the largest technology and business transformation in the history of the organization—and tapped into a powerful change management tool in the process.

Big Change Meets Fresh Perspective
Implemented in April 2014, this seven year project substantially impacted business processes, how people do their jobs, and changed the way we interact with our clients. Pacific Blue Cross had 730 people to help through this massive change. Our unionized employees had little experience going through change and most were long term employees (20+ years) in production type clerical roles.

A leading benefits provider for over 70 years, together with subsidiary BC Life, Pacific Blue Cross provides health, dental, life, disability and travel coverage for approximately 1.5 million British Columbians through employee group plans and individual plans for those who do not have coverage with their employer;

As the change manager at Pacific Blue Cross, I was part of a business readiness team responsible for preparing the organization for the change from a business readiness, training and communication perspective. Looking back post-implementation, we are now able to share how our meditation and mindfulness program positively helped people through this transformation.

Mounting Stress and Burnout
From the start of this project in 2007 until the 2014 implementation, much emphasis was directed to business readiness, which was well-planned, right down to cutover checklists. This ensured each business area knew what to do during the go-live period. Even with our skilled management team and detailed business readiness plans, we still had a significant challenge ahead of us.

Along our journey, we experienced four delays in the project’s go-live date. A new CEO arrived in the company. Stress and burnout were mounting. People’s vacations were cancelled, anxiety increased and cynicism grew about whether we would ever go live.

Even with our diligent business readiness and change management plans, people were fearful about the magnitude of this project and how it would impact the organization, jobs and our client community.

Health and Wellness a Concern
Pacific Blue Cross has an exceptional internal offering of ongoing health & wellness programs including: yoga, onsite gym, onsite health clinics, flu shots, educational Lunch & Learns, health challenges, health fairs, an employee assistance program, and so on. Even with this rich set of health and wellness offerings, the anxiety and fear level about the upcoming change was evident. Participation levels in these programs started to decline as the implementation drew near.

We knew we had to keep people committed and calm to get through the massive transition. The risks were significant if we didn’t and included:

• Unmanaged stress that could lead to toxic behaviours affecting the work environment, performance, absenteeism and disability leaves.
• Inability to focus and learn the new systems could affect user adoption and proficiency.
• Poor client relations which would affect our reputation.

Bringing Meditation and Mindfulness to Work
About half way through the project, in early 2011, I introduced a practice within the organization that was seen as unusual at the time.

I had just returned to work after dealing with a cancer diagnosis, and told many co-workers of my experience with meditation and mindfulness. This practice had given me a whole new perspective on life, and gave me the calm and resilience that carried me through the cancer journey.

Through many years of practice, attending workshops and courses, and participating in various groups, I had gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience about meditation and mindfulness. My co-workers asked me to teach them what I knew.

I began a modest weekly meditation group at work for 12 people, which included two senior vice-presidents. I taught basic meditation and mindfulness techniques in a non-religious fashion, and quickly learned what worked well to get beginners interested and develop confidence in their own practice.

Changing Minds in Challenging Times
I developed a ‘Learn to Meditate’ curriculum geared towards beginners and made it applicable to the workplace. It was important to make it non-religious, easy to attend and offer people options so they could sit in office chairs or use meditation props if they desired.

The light bulb went on for me. Meditation and mindfulness is much more than a personal life practice—it is also a unique change management technique that can shift people’s perceptions, attitudes and behaviours regarding what they are going through at work. The benefits that my students were sharing with me indicated that their state of being, and often their outward behaviour, had changed since starting a meditation and mindfulness practice.

With so many reported benefits, it was challenging to succinctly describe this; simply put, it was increasing resiliency and reducing stress.

Grassroots Growth Makes Meditation Mainstream
In a few short months, the 12 participants reported many wonderful benefits and began to share their experiences with co-workers. A natural grassroots groundswell began with very little effort.

I then opened up the program to everyone in the organization—approximately 730 employees, including external consultants. I felt it was important to include consultants as I saw them as our partners and they, too, needed benefits from the classes.

The participation list grew steadily over time:

• By May 2011, four months after launch, the class grew to 42 people.
• By January 2012, one year later, the class grew to 75 people.
• As of November 2014, almost four years later, 190 people were registered. This represents 26 per cent of the organization.

I attribute the popularity of the program to the fact that when people experience such profound benefits, they are likely to tell other people. Also, I often shared the remarkable survey results around the company, and that captured people’s attention. Most people are seeking ways to reduce stress and make their lives easier.

Participant Feedback Speaks Volumes
Shown below is representative feedback from meditation class participants. These comments come from all levels (front line staff to executives) and across all departments in the organization.

• Just 1/2 hour of meditation a week has helped put things in perspective.
• After meditation, I was feeling more confident in the project.
• Meditation helped me manage and calm anxiety over related issues.
• It helped me to be more focused.
• I’ve changed my mindset to worry only about things that are important to me or something that I can do something about.
• I’ve only been to two classes and I’m already making different choices on how I choose to react or behave. I know I’m just starting but the impact is so profound I feel I can already see my life in terms of before discovering meditation and after.
• I think it has helped the most in dealing with other people. I think more about the situation(s) for a few moments internally rather than just reacting.
• I have been able to take situations that would have stopped me cold in the past, and calmly, through meditation and mindfulness, approach the situation with less stress, anxiety and clearly move forward in a positive way. Having learned mindful presence has made me more here, in the now. As a result, I have solved situations with more clarity, focus and positivity.
• The techniques have allowed me to reduce the amount of counselling and medication needed to combat depression.
• Allow any negative interactions to be let go easier.
• Being mindful has allowed me to put the system change into a whole new perspective. Feeling relaxed about the learning the new processes were vital to my ability to go with the flow.
• Meditation has helped me in every way, work and at home. I deal with everyday things so differently now. I don’t feel as anxious.
• I was staying relatively calm through all the transition.
• I feel more calm and much more willing to experience whatever comes my way.
• The “Perspective, Breathe, Calm” bracelet we were given at Go Live really helped me.

Format, Results and Working Realities
In part-two of this article, I share the format of our classes, along with the results of our 2014 survey, and its importance for any organization undergoing a transformation or grappling with the daily realities of change management. Read Part Two now.

Wendy Quan is presenting a MAX session at HRMA’s 2016 Conference + Tradeshow. Her session Improving Organizational resilience: Implementing Workplace Meditation as a Change Management Tool is on Tuesday, April 26. For more information on this and other sessions, please visit hrma.ca/conf2016.

Wendy Quan is a certified change manager who has created an innovative way to build personal and organizational change resiliency through meditation and mindfulness. Her career has also included management in human resources, organizational development, coaching and information technology. She is currently manager of change management with Pacific Blue Cross.