air Canada

Pascal Salhuana

Pascal Salhuana, recently named one of PEX Network’s Top 50 Leaders in Business Transformation for 2025, is Manager of Organizational Change Management & Transformation at Air Canada. He leads cultural transformation and advances change practices in the Maintenance branch. With a background in psychology and organizational development, he connects business strategy with human behavior to help people thrive through change.

Can you share an example of a time when you helped shift deeply ingrained organizational habits or systems, and what it took to drive that change from within?

To drive meaningful change, I believe you first need to understand its origin. What purpose did it serve? What needs did it fulfill? Without that insight, change efforts risk being superficial. You might invest resources, but not in the right places.

In a previous role, I helped elevate an organization’s change management maturity to the point where it became a strategic priority. That shift didn’t happen overnight. It required challenging long-held assumptions about what change management is and what it isn’t.

Let’s take resistance for example. It’s often seen as something negative to overcome. But it could be seen as a form of engagement, an opportunity to listen, learn and adapt. Similarly, change management is frequently reduced to communication and training, introduced late in the project lifecycle. In reality, it’s a proactive practice that should be embedded from the outset.

Shifting that mindset takes time, persistence and a bit of strategy. I often draw from marketing’s push-pull model. At first, you may need to push, educate, advocate and demonstrate value. The objective, however, is to create pull: when people start asking for it because they’ve seen its impact.

I once asked a change management director at a major bank how he secured resources for a team of 50 internal advisors. His answer stuck with me: “You don’t convince people. You create demand. They’ll do the rest.” That’s the power of pull.

Have you ever had to pause or step back from an initiative because, despite its value, the timing or organizational priorities made it difficult to move forward? How did you make that decision?

Yes, and it’s never an easy decision. But in transformation work, timing and prioritization are everything. Sometimes, it’s not that the organization isn’t ready. It’s that other initiatives are more urgent or better aligned with strategic goals at that moment.

One of the toughest challenges we face is putting on hold initiatives we truly believe could make a meaningful impact. But pragmatism is essential. In a fast-moving environment like ours, adaptability is key. That’s where principles like the Pareto Principle come into play, focusing on the 20% of efforts that will drive 80% of the impact.

“Creating space doesn’t mean slowing down; it means being intentional”

More doesn’t mean better. Even positive change requires effort, and that effort can stretch people. Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional theory of stress or the Job Demands-Resources model show that it’s not just the change itself, but also how people perceive the demands placed on them. What might seem like a great opportunity to one person can feel overwhelming to another.

In that sense, a structured decision-making framework can help. For example, strategic alignment is a key pillar and every initiative should support our broader organizational goals. In addition, an iterative approach is required, using both quantitative and qualitative data to assess readiness, monitor progress and adapt as needed. It’s not about abandoning ideas. It’s about sequencing them in a way that’s sustainable and impactful.

How do you ensure diverse voices and experiences help shape transformation strategies, especially in complex or time-sensitive environments?

The honest answer is: it depends. These practices are deeply people-oriented, which means there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Every context is unique, and so are the voices within it.

Culture plays a pivotal role in transformation. It’s not just about behaviors but also about beliefs, values and the shared meaning people assign to change. When those cultural elements are aligned with the transformation vision, your job becomes much easier. That’s when transformation becomes not just possible, but meaningful. When they don’t, that’s where the real challenge begins.

In high-complexity or time-sensitive environments, it’s tempting to move quickly and skip the dialogue. But that’s a mistake. Creating space doesn’t mean slowing down; it means being intentional. It means asking: Are we hearing from the people who will live this change? Are we designing with them, not just for them?

Before we can create space for diverse voices, we need to lay the groundwork. And the most fundamental prerequisite is leadership alignment. Without it, you risk misinterpretation of the transformation’s intent, leading to confusion, resistance and a lack of shared purpose.