Dr Luella Forbes
Lead Change Well
I’ve spent 25 years delivering and consulting on large transformations, mergers and restructures for global organisations including KPMG, Chevron, Prudential and Mercer. I was a Program Director for one of Australia’s largest super-fund mergers, led part of the COVID response for WA and I’ve helped organisations create engagement, and commitment to deliver significant change my whole career.
A safe pair of hands
"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things."
— Machiavelli, The Prince
A clear sense of purpose
I was relatively young when I first understood the importance of this work. As a teenager, I watched my Dad struggle with implementation of a significant change for his team. He was a senior leader in a global organisation, which he had been at for a long time (something like 20 years. When I was about 17, he got in a situation where he was asked to make his team (and himself) redundant. It nearly broke him – and 30 years on you can still see the significant impact it’s had on his wellbeing.
As a teenager watching, I saw someone who was trying so hard to do the right thing and feeling like he was stuck in a place where he couldn’t possibly win.
Looking back now, and knowing what I know, I can completely see how the business might have needed to make a change. But from the perspective of the leader who cared about his team, I can see the conflict that Dad was facing. It was about trust. He was trusted by his team and felt like he had to betray them – as well as being worried about his own future.
I realised a few years ago that I’ve actually been spending my whole career trying to make sure that what happened to my Dad doesn’t happen to other people.
I think that’s why I’ve always been fascinated by change programs. I’ve been trying to answer the questions:
How do you find the balance between business outcome and care for your people?
Is it possible to get an outcome that’s needed for the organisation and the team?
And what is the impact you’re having on leaders in the process?
What I do now
The good news is that after more than 25 years working on this type of change, I know it’s possible to find the balance. It’s always hard, and it’s different every time, but it is possible. That’s what I’m passionate about: creating and improving the connection between the organisation and its people. Which is all about trust (the work my Doctorate covers). Storytelling is a great way to do this – it creates and builds trust, empathy and collaboration. That’s at the heart of what I do.
So now I help senior leaders to lead complex change, bringing my experience as a leader, program director and organisational change expert to find the balance between delivery and culture that creates the best environment for change.
Leaders contact me for support when they want to make sure leadership teams are working well together, to help leaders to address a challenge, to establish a transformation program, or to reconnect the organisation, leaders and employees on a difficult issue.
Change is hard to implement at the best of times. I really want to make a difference for your business and your people, but that doesn’t mean I can do it for you. You still need to own and lead the change.
So when I’m looking at clients to work with I look for the following:
You genuinely care about getting outcomes for both the business and people
You believe in the change you want to make and are ready to stand up for it
Are willing to have the difficult conversations to implement it (with support)
We can work in partnership with each other. You bring the expertise about your organisation, culture and people. I bring the best practice expertise.
If I don’t think we can work together, I’ll recommend someone else who might be able to help.
How I operate
Track Record
Transformation Delivery
Delivery or oversight of over 15 restructures and mergers across a range of industries including: Mercer, AMP and AXA, Westpac and Lloyds, Chevron, and the WA State Government.
Program Director, Mercer’s acquisition of BT Super and Advance. $60m programme. Led a team of ~500 delivery and subject matter experts to transition $65bn of AUM, 880,000 members and 330 staff into Mercer Super, on time and budget. Including a $52bn successor fund transfer, Australia’s largest at the time.
Programme Director, VaccinateWA. Winner, IPAA WA award for Best Practice in Digital Transformation 2021. The only system in Australia ready at the point of first vaccination.
Programme Director, SafeWA. Australia’s leading QR code application, copied by other states.
Director, Transformation (WA Health System). Led design and implementation of the transformation program delivering HSS's strategy, incorporating scoping, planning governance and delivery.
Head of Change, Mercer Pacific. Designed a three-year, $30m regional change programme, and approved by global exec for Capex spend.
Culture and Leadership
I have coached more than 100 leaders through implementation of organisational restructures and significant transformations.
I have facilitated at least 15 formal consultation processes run with employees and unions, with no formal issues raised and no delays to implementation.
Led a full restructure of a 1500 person, 8 layer organisation over two years, with formal consultation at every level and every team,
Change coach to KPMG’s national Partner in Charge and 60 lead partners through its own 1,400 FTE restructure.
Led KPMG’s Perth People & Change practice for 2 years, with a 97 per cent engagement score, the highest nationally.
Change and storytelling expertise
2 x Doctorates in Change, Leadership and Storytelling. Thesis title: "Storytelling for Change: Telling Trusted Change Stories"
MBA with a specialism in Organisational Change
Australian lead for KPMG’s global Change Management, now used across all KPMG member firms.
Australian Lead for KPMG’s Change Leadership service offering
Host of Career Stories podcast, listened to in over 40 countries with over 20,000 views a month on YouTube.
Featured In:
Reviews from ANZSOG and IPAA on the role my leadership played in the VaccinateWA program.
Thought leadership on organisational transformation from my KPMG days
Work with me
If you are interested in working with me, or finding out more, you can contact me in the following ways:
Phone: +61 416 098 354
Email: hello@luellaforbes.com
Book: Or if you prefer, you can book an initial discussion with me here.