The human side of change · for manufacturers

# The better the tools get, the more human judgment is worth. Fear is what keeps it locked up.

Getting your people to trust the change, share what they know, and lead through it — that's what decides whether any of it sticks. We work it like a craft, not a pep talk: a clear method, and the people skill to make it land.

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or call 778‑985‑OPEN (6736)

Where change actually breaks

## You can buy the software. You can write the procedures. And still watch the whole thing quietly fall apart.

Because the new way asks people to change — and people don't resist change to be difficult. They resist it because it threatens something: their standing, their habits, the thing that's made them the one everyone relies on. The veteran who won't quite share what he knows. The supervisor who nods in the meeting and does it the old way Monday morning. The blame that starts flying the first time something goes wrong.

None of that is a character flaw. It's how people work. And the way out is simpler than it looks: nobody who's teaching is obsolete.

Where does your team sit? Take the two‑minute Change Check →

One business, two sides

## The human side of ShopWisdom.

Open Communications is the human side of ShopWisdom. ShopWisdom builds the systems that keep a shop running when your best people leave. We make sure the people actually use them — and come through the change stronger, not fractured.

Same business. Same straight talk. One side works on the shop; the other works with the crew.

How we work

## The work happens in three places.

Depending on what's actually getting in the way.

### The people who carry the knowledge

Delivered through one-to-one coaching, scheduled around their calendar.

Every shop has someone whose expertise is real and hard-won and almost entirely in their head. When they leave, retire, or just get pulled in another direction, that knowledge leaves with them.

We work directly with those people — not to extract what they know and hand it to a system, but to help them see the value in passing it on and actually want to do it. That usually takes more than one conversation. It takes someone who can ask the right questions, earn the trust, and help them work out what letting go actually means for them.

### The team that has to get on board

Delivered through facilitated sessions — one-off or a short series — with the team or a cross-section of it.

A change announced is not a change adopted. The people affected by it usually have something to say — about what's getting lost, about whether it'll actually work, about what they're worried won't be considered. When that stays unsaid, it surfaces later as resistance, workarounds, or quiet non-compliance.

We create the conditions for that conversation to happen before the rollout, not after. When people have real input into how something changes, they're more likely to make it work — and the end result is usually better for it.

### The process that could work better

Delivered through structured working sessions, with the right people in the room.

Sometimes the real opportunity isn't getting people to accept a new tool — it's rethinking how the work actually happens. Not patching the old process with something faster on top of it, but asking whether it still makes sense for the people doing it and the customers depending on it.

We facilitate that redesign work with the people closest to the process: mapping how it really works now, where it breaks down, and what a better version could look like. The output is something the team helped build, which is most of why it gets used.

Most engagements draw on more than one of these. A knowledge holder who won't quite let go is also a team-alignment question; a process redesign that doesn't involve the people doing the work tends not to stick. We design each engagement around what's actually needed — not a fixed program.

Who we are

## Rigor and soul.

Open Communications is led by Michael Victory, with Inga Michaelsen as an Associate — a leadership and team coach who collaborates with us on coaching and facilitation engagements.

Michael Victory

Michael carries the through-line across both sides of the business — he knows the shop and the crew, and brings the same rigor to people that ShopWisdom brings to systems.

Inga Michaelsen

A Professional Certified Coach (PCC) and Team Coach (ACTC) with the International Coaching Federation, Inga designs experiential leadership work at Royal Roads University. She collaborates with Open Communications as an Associate coach, bringing trauma-informed, systems-aware depth to the engagements that call for it.

More about Inga →

> The rigor to build something that works. The soul to make people actually want to use it.

Start a conversation

## The people part doesn't have to be a mystery.

No pitch, no program to sign up for. Just a straight talk about what's getting in the way and whether we can help.

What's getting in the way?
A change that won't stick Team friction or resistance Succession / a leadership handoff Just exploring for now
Anything you want me to know? (optional)
Where do I reach you?

Hmm — that didn't go through. Please email me directly and I'll get right back to you.

Got it — thank you. I'll be in touch personally, usually within a business day.

Prefer to reach out directly?

Email Michael Call 778‑985‑OPEN (6736)

The first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.

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