I took over as CEO of Sanofi Canada in May 2012 when the healthcare organization was preparing for major change. We were about to move hundreds of employees to a new corporate headquarters, a challenging operation at the best of times, while also getting set to transition to an open-plan workspace, a first in our history.
The shift to a state-of-the-art office space, with employees working side-by-side in a collaborative environment, required a complete transformation in work culture. Many of our senior staff had spent several decades working in a closed environment. As a result, apprehensions ran high. Making sure the appropriate level of consideration was given to employee concerns, while ensuring a major shift in our corporate culture was successfully implemented, proved to be a massive job. Indeed, it turned out to be the challenge of my career, perhaps even a bigger challenge than I’d bargained for when signing on.
To successfully meet the challenges of our corporate relocation, and bring about a fundamental transition in work culture, we initiated a 12-month change management campaign in the fall of 2012. In this article, I share key lessons and personal insights gained from that experience that I hope will prove invaluable to fellow executives embarking on a similar journey.