Exploring the change management path

By Felicia Empey

Felicia Empey shares her ongoing journey of transitioning her career from communications and public relations to more strategic, change management-focused work.

“There are many projects that had to come together to create each one of the NASA space programs. It’s high-level of bringing it together that you want to focus on.”

“Apply a 360-degree way of looking at an organization, if you see problems, find out how they’re connected or overlap and solve them.”

“Handing off a brand book with no instructions or person to implement is short-sighted and a missed opportunity, so I created a role for myself and made the changes happen.”  

These three paraphrased quotes are from three separate conversations I’ve recently had with communications professionals about their career journeys, where they started, and how they homed in a specific focus, sector, or function. Connecting to peers, I believe, is a vital action to engage in regularly, because it gives perspective and connects to how I got into communications work in the first place.

I didn’t intend to do communications initially; I loved history and thought working in a museum was exactly what I wanted to do, so I aimed my studies and experiences that way. But I discovered that the part of museum work I enjoyed the most was researching and finding new fun facts to share with the visitors, bits of information that might make the subject more relevant or exciting for them. I didn’t realize that I was essentially doing public relations for the museum, but I knew it was my favourite part.

Then I had a conversation with someone who pointed out that I wasn’t excited about museum work per se; it was the communications aspect of the job that resonated with me. 

So I pursued communications as my career focus because I enjoy presenting information and experiences to people in different ways that connect to them personally. I find that now, in these most recent conversations, I didn’t realize that I’ve circled change management as a career shift until I was able to string together the parts of those stories that stood out to me the most.

The first person I connected with shared how she worked at an agency that would put together brand and writing manuals for software companies so they have a more finished package to present to clients. But she then realized that after the manual was completed and handed off, there were no instructions or people to see through the implementation process. She took it upon herself to ask why it wasn’t being considered after all the work that’s been done to pull it together? The response she received was that this wasn’t in the scope of their role and responsibility – their part of the project was now completed. That didn’t sit well with her, so she decided to create the action plan and work with subsequent clients to ensure continuity and success.

Hearing that resonated with me. I’ve been part of many projects and initiatives, and it often felt like there was an abrupt end and a finality that I found difficult to accept. For me, handing over something or launching something feels like the start, not the end of a project.  

I first thought it was project management that I was connecting with, but then I had another conversation where I brought up how I like to ask ‘why?’ Why are we doing this? Why is it being done this way? Are we considering the longer-term outcomes of this? And how those questions are valuable, but not always welcome if you’re managing a project with a tight deadline and firm deliverables.

The usual pushback to asking these types of questions is that there would be time to discuss it later on, but “later on” can get buried under new deliverables and projects. If projects are happening in isolation, the more effective strategy isn’t being highlighted with each project, and project managers can miss critical elements for the larger program goals. 

In my second conversation, I relayed these feelings regarding the leap into project management, and I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to pursue next. But having experienced good and bad project management, I liked to see myself as a solution to the problem when the need for good experience would arise. In this second conversation with a mentor, she candidly shared that it sounded like I was on the right track to follow my instincts by asking why it was a benefit and an opportunity for an organization or company to do more and do better. A more holistic and strategic approach to project management was good, but only if you could get a team to rally and come together behind you. That was the other factor – true team collaboration does not work side-by-side in silos on individual projects, but comes together and sees how our work connects. We can work smarter alongside one another instead of working harder individually.

In a third conversation, initially, I shared these insights from the previous conversations, wanting to carry a project forward beyond an initial due date while simultaneously getting people on board and working together effectively. This conversation was with a management consultant who laughed and pointed out that I was talking about change management. I was told: “Read up on the 7 R’s of Change Management, and you’ll see that most of these questions you’ve probably either asked or internally questioned about decisions and processes before.” I did as instructed, and it was all true.

The same way I had circled communications before I knew what it was, I set my professional values and my professional brand around change management:

• I like to bring order and meaning to actions.
• I want to have a plan (or at least know what the plan is). 
• I try to be creative and simplify things to get results, and most importantly, 
• I want people to feel connected to what they are doing or experiencing. 

The only way that can be accomplished is with a clear understanding of the value of communications and its role in driving change.

It’s exciting to have a new avenue of communications to explore and learn more about change management’s strategic world.