By Anna Kominik - blogging on location from the Melcrum Change Communication Conference

Change is a fact of life. It’s a natural organisational response to competition and to shifts in the socio-economic environment, as well as being a route to gaining advantage and building business performance proactively. That was the message from Peter Bush, CEO of McDonald’s Australia, kicking off the Melcrum Change Communication Conference in Melbourne yesterday (Wednesday 1 April).

Love ‘em or hate ‘em McDonald’s has embarked on a pretty radical change over recent years in an effort to maintain its relevance in the market place. And it’s working. They have reversed their slide in market share and in the process have, somewhat perversely, become the biggest fast food seller of salads in Australia. Peter is undoubtedly one of those take-no-prisoner leaders who has the vision and passionate personality to make sure change happens. A communicator’s dream on a number of levels.

Day one conference case studies supported the notion that leadership is a big part of the success of any change process. Government-owned Australian electricity network Energex was the focus of a case study on changing employee behaviour in line with corporate values; Simon Covill from St George Bank talked about the change communication process around the merger with Westpac; and the lovely James Howe outlined how Ambulance Victoria had managed the Victorian heat wave and bushfires just six months after an amalgamation.

Some of the themes that came through today included the need to demonstrate the value of communications and having a seat at the decision making table, the value of measurement, the need to plan well and keep it simple and a requirement on all communicators supporting a change process to understand the psychology of change.

Coming up next... organisational change is complex.