The Operational Excellence (OPEX) Reference Group – North America Chapter, powered by PRIME BPM, hosted its August 2025 Live Meetup, exploring the essential elements of sustainable organizational transformation through a session titled: “Purpose, People, Performance: Leading Transformational Change That Sticks.”
The virtual meetup featured Ana Cavagnoli, Director of Customer Engagement at HID Global, who delivered an insightful presentation on the critical components of implementing lasting change. Drawing on her 20+ years of experience in change management across industries including pharmaceuticals, construction, and technology, Cavagnoli shared a practical framework of nine key principles that help transformation leaders create change that becomes embedded in organizational culture.
“When you introduce a change, you become a disruptor. The question is how can you produce transformational change that sticks, where you’re not seen as a disruptor in a negative way, but as someone bringing something valuable,” said Cavagnoli during the session, emphasizing that over 50% of organizational changes fail to become sustainable.
Key Discussion Highlights
- The essential qualities of transformational leadership, including humility, servant leadership, self-awareness, and empathy
- The importance of anchoring change initiatives in clear purpose and business outcomes
- Strategies for understanding different generational motivations in the workplace
- The critical role of communication beyond words—93% of communication is non-verbal
- Starting with small pilot projects and champions rather than attempting organization-wide change
- Using the “Law of Diffusion of Innovation” to identify early adopters and create momentum
- Measuring results through Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) rather than static KPIs
The interactive meetup sparked engaging discussions among OPEX professionals from diverse industries, with participants particularly interested in approaches to overcoming leadership resistance and managing change fatigue.
“A lot of times we as change agents think what’s holding us back is people—‘this person is so resistant’ or ‘leadership isn’t supporting me’—but it’s all about fear. You need to make sure that in all your elements during change implementation, you are tackling this uncovered spirit of fear,” Cavagnoli noted during the Q&A portion.
Upcoming Meetup
The OPEX North America Chapter will host its next meetup on September 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM EST, featuring Loai Gomaa from Procter & Gamble presenting on “Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement—At Scale” — register for free to join this live virtual meetup > September LIVE Meetup – OPEX Reference Group North America | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams
About the Operational Excellence Reference Group
Powered by PRIME BPM, the OPEX Reference Group is a cross-industry community that connects transformation professionals to collaborate, share insights, and accelerate operational success. Designed for professionals involved in process improvement, digital transformation, system implementation, compliance, risk management, and continuous improvement, the group offers a platform to stay ahead of trends, gain practical knowledge, and engage with industry leaders through exclusive meetups and sessions.