Meditation: A Powerful Change Management Tool - By Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
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Meditation: A Powerful
Change Management Tool
Resiliency during a Major Change through Meditation & Mindfulness
By
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 1
Executive Summary The Challenge: Getting
Pacific Blue Cross recently experienced the employees through the largest
largest technology and business transformation transformation in the
in the history of the organization. This was a
seven year project, affecting every department,
company’s history
most business processes, and how we do our This paper is not about common change
jobs. management strategies, it is about a unique
We started offering weekly lunch time and innovative way that we used to build
meditation and mindfulness classes in early employee resiliency to change and reduce
2011, and participation has grown from 12 to stress.
190 employees (representing 26% of the Pacific Blue Cross has been British Columbia's
organization). It has become part of our culture leading benefits provider for over 70 years.
and has the highest participation rate of all Together with BC Life, our subsidiary, we
health and wellness activities offered at work. provide health, dental, life, disability and travel
Leading up to our large transformation project, coverage for approximately 1.5 million British
which went live in April 2014, I wanted to Columbians through employee group plans and
capitalize on our employee’s engagement of individual plans for those who do not have
meditation and mindfulness. Specifically, I coverage with their employer.
based each session’s introductory talk on the In April 2014, Pacific Blue Cross implemented
Prosci ADKAR model for individual change. In its largest technology and business
the months leading up to and after the transformation in the history of the organization.
implementation, I geared the classes towards This new system replaced 25 disparate
guiding people to experience the journey they systems that managed our enrollment,
wanted to have, rather than feel like a victim or administration, claims and billing functions – the
that they had no control. administration heart of the organization. The
I hypothesized that the success we had to date new system, called ‘ACES’, replaced multiple
could benefit participants by helping them mainframe systems with a Windows-based
through the transformation with more resilience client server system.
and less stress. In turn, this would reduce the This seven year project substantially impacted
organization’s risk from a people perspective. business processes, how people do their jobs,
At the six month post-implementation mark, a and changed the way we interact with our
participant survey was conducted clients. Pacific Blue Cross had 730 people to
demonstrating the undeniable benefits that help through this massive change. Our
meditation and mindfulness has on our unionized employees had little experience
employee population. going through change and most were long term
employees (20+ years) in production type
Even amidst the typical technology and clerical roles.
business process issues that most large
implementations experience, our staff went At eight months post-implementation, we are
through the height of the transition phase with now able to share how our meditation and
strong commitment and calm. This paper mindfulness program positively helped people
explains our journey. through this transformation.
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 2As the Change Manager at Pacific Blue Cross, I Unmanaged stress that could lead to
was part of a Business Readiness Team that toxic behaviors affecting the work
did a superb job of preparing the organization environment, performance, absenteeism
for the change from a business readiness, and disability leaves.
training and communication perspective.
Inability to focus and learn the new
From the start of this project in 2007 until now, systems could affect user adoption and
the change management competency of our proficiency.
management team has risen to a solid level. Poor client relations which would affect
Much emphasis was directed to business our reputation.
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 A powerful change
team and detailed business readiness plans,
we still had a significant challenge ahead of us.
management tool – the use of
Meditation and Mindfulness
Along our journey, we experienced four delays
in the project’s go-live date. A new CEO arrived In early 2011, about half way through the
in the company. Stress and burnout were project, I introduced a practice within the
mounting. People’s vacations were cancelled, organization that was seen as unusual at the
anxiety increased and cynicism grew about time.
whether we would ever go live.
I had just returned to work after dealing with a
Even with our diligent business readiness and cancer diagnosis, and told many co-workers of
change management plans, people were fearful my experience with meditation and
about the magnitude of this project and how it mindfulness. This practice had given me a
would impact the organization, jobs and our whole new perspective on life, and gave me the
client community. calm and resilience that carried me through the
cancer journey.
Pacific Blue Cross has an exceptional internal
offering of ongoing health & wellness programs Through many years of practice, attending
including: yoga, onsite gym, onsite health workshops and courses, and participating in
clinics, flu shots, educational Lunch & Learns, various groups, I had gained a tremendous
health challenges, health fairs, an employee amount of knowledge and experience about
assistance program, and so on. Even with this meditation and mindfulness. My co-workers
rich set of health & wellness offerings, the asked me to teach them what I knew.
anxiety and fear level about the upcoming
change was evident. Participation levels in I began a modest weekly meditation group at
these programs started to decline as the work for twelve people, which included two
implementation drew near. senior vice presidents. I taught basic meditation
and mindfulness techniques in a non-religious
We knew we had to keep people committed fashion, and quickly learned what worked well
and calm to get through the massive transition. to get beginners interested and develop
The risks were significant if we didn’t and confidence in their own practice.
included:
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 3I developed a ‘Learn to Meditate’ curriculum I attribute the popularity of the program to the
geared towards beginners and made it fact that when people experience such
applicable to the workplace. It was important to profound benefits (see figures below), they are
make it non-religious, easy to attend and offer likely to tell other people. Also, I often shared
people options so they could sit in office chairs the remarkable survey results around the
or use meditation props if they desired. company, and that captured people’s attention.
Most people are seeking ways to reduce stress
The light bulb went on for me: meditation and and make their lives easier.
mindfulness is much more than a personal life
practice. It is also a unique change How classes are run
management technique that can shift people’s
perceptions, attitudes and behaviors about what The meditation and mindfulness classes are
they are going through at work. The benefits designed for easy attendance and broad appeal
that my students were sharing with me to everyone, regardless of experience level.
indicated that their state of being, and often This is a non-religious program, so there is no
their outward behavior, had changed since conflict with anyone’s personal belief system.
starting a meditation and mindfulness practice.
Here are the key components of the program:
With so many reported benefits, it was
challenging to succinctly describe this. But Newcomers attend a 30-minute
simply put, it was increasing resiliency & introduction that teaches basic
reducing stress. foundation for meditation posture,
attitude, and technique.
In a few short months, the twelve participants Weekly 30 minute class, at lunch time.
reported many wonderful benefits and began to
share their experiences with co-workers. A Class starts with a 5-10 minute
natural grassroots groundswell began with very talk/lesson to settle people in, and
little effort. instructs on the meditation for that day.
The session is a guided 15-20 minute
I then opened up the program to everyone in
meditation, leaving a few minutes at the
the organization (approx. 730 employees,
end for questions and comments.
including external consultants). I felt it was
important to include consultants as I saw them Each class teaches a new concept or
as our partners and they also could benefit from reinforces a previously taught meditation
the classes. or mindfulness technique. This allows
participants to find what works best for
The participation list grew steadily over time: them. The variety also keeps the
interest level high.
By May 2011, four months later, the
class grew to 42 people. Participants must register, but
attendance is a drop-in format with no
By January 2012, one year later, the obligation.
class grew to 75 people.
I run this on a volunteer basis.
Today, November 2014, almost four A minimum $2 donation per class is
years later, 190 people are registered. collected, which is donated to holistic
This represents 26% of the organization. health and cancer causes.
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 4Although the skills taught and practiced in class Learning to mindfully choose their
apply to both our work and personal lives, I reactions.
often talk about common work examples that
Using mindfulness techniques to
cause stress in the workplace.
become present through their day, and
For example, I refer to the changes that the practice non-judgment.
organization is going through and how it may Recognizing emotions and being
impact jobs, processes and technologies. Then, mindful of behaviors at work and at
I ask the participants to become aware of how home.
they are reacting to the stresses; the simple act
of becoming self-aware is an important step to Creating a feeling of community that we
making a decision on choosing how to react. are all in this together. We had a change
management theme of ‘All Hands on
Deck’ for go-live.
Cultivating calmness and improving
The Vision clarity of thought and focus through
meditation.
With the obvious success of the meditation
program prior to the project’s implementation, I
made a very intentional decision to see how this I openly and directly addressed many of the
practice would specifically help people through rumors and situations that were occurring
our big transformation. The vision was to: around the office regarding the project. I
discussed these issues and how the use of
Reduce stress and increase their
meditation and mindfulness could help them
personal resiliency.
deal with them. This significantly helped
Focus on people’s self-awareness and participants improve their ability to journey
reactions through the transition, hoping through the change.
it would help participants and have a
ripple effect across the organization. I designed my introductory talk at the start of
each session around Prosci’s ADKAR model for
Benefit the organization by having individual change. For example, ‘Awareness’
people calm and committed through the was discussed as taking the time to become
implementation. self-aware of how much they understood the
change, how they were reacting to the change,
and how their reactions affected their emotions
The Action and outward behaviors. ‘Desire’ was discussed
as reflecting on whether they made a conscious
In the months leading up to the project’s decision to support the change, etc.
implementation date, the focus of the
introductory talk/lesson at the beginning of each Many reported that their perception and
class was to specifically address the large mindset regarding the project shifted, and they
transformation from the individual, personal were better able to manage their own
perspective. This included: experience, regardless of what was going on
around them.
Becoming very self-aware of one’s own
perceptions about the change. On the day of ‘go-live’, silicone ‘reminder
bracelets’ were distributed to all employees,
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 5regardless of whether they were meditation There was a surprising calmness throughout
class participants. the organization during implementation and the
calmness continues now, at eight months post-
These silicone bracelets had the words implementation. There are still a high number of
‘Perspective, Breathe, Calm’ imprinted on them. technology and business process issues to be
The meditation participants had been involved resolved, so we’re not out of the woods yet.
in selecting the words for the bracelets. Note The degree of commitment and calmness,
that ‘Pacific Blue Cross’ is abbreviated as however, is very evident across the
‘PBC’, so the meditation participants chose organization.
‘Perspective, Breathe, Calm’. The bracelets
were introduced as a way to remind people to On balance, it is important to note that the
be mindful as we went through the implementation was not ‘rosy’ across the entire
implementation. An accompanying card was organization. There have been pockets of the
distributed with the bracelet stating: company that were hit hard, dealing with huge
backlogs, high call volumes, technical and
Choose your Perspective business process issues and angry customers.
Remember to Breathe The point is that even with such pressures, the
blanket of overall calmness has been steady.
Be Calm People have essentially been able to self-
manage through this difficult time.
The Outcome In the weeks leading up to and after
implementation, attendance was high at the
The action plan had remarkable results. weekly meditation classes. This was very
positive, given that people were extremely
The project implementation experienced typical busy, and missed other health and wellness
challenges, common with any project of this activities. This confirms the priority people gave
magnitude. We had many technological issues to this practice.
high call volumes, and lots of overtime to keep
up with the activity. Employees were very tired. The Metrics:
Staff and management, however, remained There are countless, wonderful anecdotal
calm and committed, and the ‘All Hands on stories from participants as to how this practice
Deck’ approach was apparent. has benefited their lives. Quantifying the
measurable benefits, however, is challenging.
We created a well-crafted guide for people Despite this, the charts and feedback below are
leaders called ‘Guiding Employees Through compelling.
ACES’. The purpose was to provide guidance
and support to people leaders in recognizing The following results are from a survey
distress and employees who are struggling with conducted in September 2014, six months post-
the change. The guide provided them with implementation:
suggested ways to handle such situations and
how to escalate people issues to Human 190 registered participants were invited
Resources. We were pleasantly surprised that to respond with 85 people responding.
not one instance occurred where an employee Results below represents 65 people
issue needed to be escalated. who attended class at least five times.
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 6Figure 1 – Stress Figure 3 – Degree it helped through major transformation
The most compelling comment provided by a
staff member was:
“This is the single, most important thing the
company has done to help people through the
project. All other things are good (yoga, gym, etc)
but teaching meditation and mindfulness is having
the biggest impact.”
Participant Feedback:
Below is representative feedback from
meditation class participants. These comments
Figure 2 – Resiliency come from all levels (front line staff to
executives) and across all departments:
The results show the remarkable and 1. Just 1/2 hour of meditation a week has helped
measurable impact that meditation and put things in perspective.
mindfulness has had on the participants. 2. After meditation, I was feeling more confident in
In particular, in Figure 3, 83% of the the project.
respondents (54 people) said that meditation 3. Meditation helped me manage and calm anxiety
and mindfulness moderately to significantly over related issues.
helped them through the transition.
4. It helped me to be more focused.
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 75. I've changed my mindset to worry only about Why this is important to change
things that are important to me or something that management
I can do something about.
In change management, we know that people’s
6. I've only been to two classes and I'm already
ability and willingness to adopt and accept
making different choices on how I choose to
change is a critical success factor for a
react or behave. I know I'm just starting but the
successful transformation.
impact is so profound I feel I can already see my
life in terms of before discovering meditation and Sometimes the best change management
after. practices are not enough to help people through
7. I think it has helped the most in dealing with
a change. In such cases, developing personal
other people. I think more about the situation(s)
internal strength and resiliency contributes to a
for a few moments internally rather than just
more resilient corporate environment.
reacting. Personal resiliency can appear in many forms:
8. I have been able to take situations that would
have stopped me cold in the past, and calmly, Coping well with stress and adversity.
through meditation and mindfulness, approach Exhibiting positive behaviors when
the situation with less stress, anxiety and clearly faced with challenging situations, such
move forward in a positive way. Having learned as communicating one’s concerns
mindful presence has made me more ‘here, in respectfully, asking for help, seeking to
the now’. As a result, I have solved situations understand, helping others, etc.
with more clarity, focus and positivity.
Actively participating rather than
9. The techniques have allowed me to reduce the withdrawing or being toxic.
amount of counseling and medication needed to
Ability to ‘bounce back’ quickly after a
combat depression.
setback.
10. Allow any negative interactions to be let go
Self-awareness of one’s own reactions
easier.
and choices.
11. Being mindful has allowed me to put the system
Remaining calm and professional.
change into a whole new perspective. Feeling
relaxed about the learning the new processes Avoiding or reducing depression.
were vital to my ability to go with the flow.
12. Meditation has helped me in every way, work
As change management practitioners, we know
and at home. I deal with everyday things so
that successful organizational change happens
differently now. I don’t feel as anxious.
one person at a time. Addressing an individual’s
13. I was staying relatively calm through all the needs can be very difficult for change leaders
transition. for many reasons – lack of time, lack of skills,
14. I feel calmer and much more willing to etc. Teaching people to become self-aware of
experience whatever comes my way. their own thoughts, reactions and emotions
allows them to cultivate their own personal
15. The "Perspective, Breathe, Calm" bracelet we resiliency.
were given at Go Live really helped me.
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
Page 8Spreading into the local change Conclusion
management community
Since beginning meditation and mindfulness
I founded a change management group here in weekly classes in early 2011, the benefits have
my home town of Vancouver, British Columbia been loud and clear. This has been confirmed,
in 2010. This group has now transformed into through surveys, anecdotal conversations and
the Vancouver Chapter of the ACMP. I have the sharing of benefits that staff discusses
had the opportunity to share my journey about amongst their co-workers.
how meditation and mindfulness has had such
an impact on our change management at This paper is written to not only share the
Pacific Blue Cross. It has intrigued a number of benefits and how we achieved this, but to show
change management professionals who are measurable results in how this practice has
considering it for their organizations. helped people through our large transformation
project. The results are measurable and
remarkable (see Figures 1, 2 and 3).
Spreading beyond Pacific Blue Cross It is clear to our organization, from management
to front-line staff, that this practice has helped
Media attention regarding the proven benefits of many people through the change with lowered
meditation and mindfulness is pervasive. This stress and increased resiliency. People
has made the subject of meditation come ‘out of generally have remained consistently calm and
the closet’ and into day-today conversation. committed throughout the implementation, and
When I started teaching meditation almost four we are proud to be able to say the
years ago within Pacific Blue Cross, it was seen implementation went very well from a people
as rather odd. Today many companies are perspective.
showing interest. Mental wellness is becoming
more of a focus for organizations.
I have developed a workplace meditation
program with a self-sustaining facilitator training
module so organizations can run ongoing
sessions themselves.
Wendy Quan, Pacific Blue Cross
ACMP Change Management 2015
April 12 – 15, 2015 – Las Vegas, NV, USA
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