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We have the depth of experience to tackle any challenge
Here are a few examples of our ability to solve business problems with impactful communication programs.
Onboarded a new CEO at one of Canada’s leading consumer brands.
The challenge was to successfully onboard the new CEO at one of Canada’s largest companies. Chris and her team delivered a 5-point communication plan to build familiarity and trust with the new CEO. This included a 3-month, cross-Canada listening tour, an internal CEO blog, the comprehensive launch of the new business strategy and an extensive change communication strategy to support the restructuring of the company. The plan helped deliver a seamless transition maintaining employee engagement and focus on delivering business results, while rallying staff behind the vision for the company.
Developed an annual series of high touch, high impact events.
With 80,000 employees in Canada and a brand experience synonymous with consistency, it’s a business imperative for McDonald’s to keep everyone on the same page. The challenge was to do so efficiently and effectively. Chris saw the opportunity to create a regular cadence of high-touch, high-impact events for leaders from across the business. Franchisees, restaurant managers and assistant managers came together at a series of conferences to rally behind a new initiative, long-term strategic plan or pending challenge. Including theatre-style shows, dynamic content and visuals, exciting guest speakers, a full exhibit floor and interactive learning sessions, every element came together to deliver a consistent message. Each conference scored above 85% on “understanding the business plan,” “knowing what I have to do in my business,” and “planning to attend the next event.”
Created a change management playbook for extensive workplace transformation.
Switch was engaged to develop the change management approach for an extensive workplace transformation for one of Ontario’s largest utilities. This initiative was a multi-year journey to not only modernize multiple outdated workplaces, but also kick-start a people-first cultural transformation. The change management playbook needed to be comprehensive, yet easy to understand as in-house teams would lead implementation. Switch embedded itself with the team and conducted multiple interviews and focus groups with key leaders. The resulting playbook assessed organizational readiness using an impact/stakeholder analysis and mapped the key activities to a successful change across three phases: preparation, the actual move and embedding the new normal/bringing the new culture to life.
Developed extensive change management process for seamless manufacturing plant closures.
To support the transformation of a North American food manufacturer, Switch was engaged to develop and implement a change management process that would ensure a consistent and seamless approach to plant closures. The challenge: respectfully provide enough time for employees to digest, adjust and prepare for new employment, while continuing to operate the plant until closure. Typically, a three to six-month period. Critical success factors included meeting compliance standards, ensuring no gap in supply of top-quality products to customers and maintaining overall employee engagement. Leveraging strong and visible leadership, robust and transparent communication, and meticulous project management, the program has been successfully implemented more than 10 times in various communities across North America.
Built an internal communication infrastructure for a decentralized company with employee base of 5,000.
While undergoing a three-year enterprise-wide transformation, this North American company identified the need to elevate and expand its approach to employee communication. Switch created a communication system that established the new leaders, eased the burden of change and provided a consistent approach that employees could rely upon for education, motivation and celebration. The implemented system demonstrated a significant shift toward transparency, an evolution from one-way, top-down to two-way dialogue and clearly reached all employees – head office, remote and frontline. A consistent cadence of annual live and virtual events was established. Distinct communication platforms were developed for each senior leadership member. An extended leadership team was formalized and charged with specific and ongoing employee outreach. Since its inception, most communication metrics have steadily improved year-over-year.
Orchestrated the change management and communications to support the restructuring of a 450-person technology department.
This 450-person technology team at one of Canada’s leading companies was moving away from traditional project teams to an agile model with cross-functional, dedicated teams working in sprints. The challenge: Although team members still reported to their functional tech leader, their day-to-day accountabilities and ways of working changed dramatically. Switch focused on two parallel paths – employee engagement to ensure buy-in and excitement for the change, and leadership communication within the tech team and with all partner groups to ensure a common understanding of the steps needed to reach success. Within 6 months, most of the department had transitioned and were successfully producing minimum viable products.
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