Calgary, Alberta, Canada
The short answer: People and people practices matter. I was interviewed recently and asked why I chose to spend the majority of my career in People and Culture roles. People and people practices matter. That’s the simple answer. I’ve seen informed, included, and engaged employees move mountains for their organizations. I have also seen micromanaged, ill treated, and disengaged employees drive businesses into the ground. What research and experience has shown me is that if the leaders of the organization take care of the employees, the employees, in turn, take care of the business. The business succeeds even in the toughest times, and the shareholders are happy with the financials. Career arc How did it all start? I am fascinated with what make humans tick and wanted to better understand myself, those around me, and cultures that seemed different and far away (thus three degrees in industrial-organizational psychology, one in anthropology). As a result, I learned an awful lot about people - how they perceive and respond to their environments and how they interact with each other – with a focus on employees and leaders at work. Since then, in my career, I have mainly focussed on three core areas I am most passionate about: 1) leadership coaching, being a true partner to the business, and leading other HR employees in several senior HRBP roles, 2) rolling up my sleeves and assessing current state and designing new or better HR programs, policies and culture shifts in organizational effectiveness roles, and 3) breathing life to textbooks, creating engaging real world content, and teaching in academia as a HR professor. Value add I have a strong track record of delivering results and quickly building trust. I also am a seasoned change agent– I am always on the lookout to find better ways to do things. I understand the psychology of organizational change and can effectively gain management and employee buy in, and build engagement behind new/ better processes, policies, and approaches. So how I add to the bottom line: I design and develop HR strategy, practices, and policies that are customized for the work we do and the culture we want to work in, and help our leaders be their best selves so that employees are motivated to be fully engaged when they come to work each day. Things that matter People who lift each other up, big ideas, nimbleness, data-driven decision making, inclusion over a solely numbers-based diversity approach, lead dogs who are unafraid to chart new territory, the triple bottom line, and life-long learning.
Succession: Own and lead the enterprise-wide design and implementation of the succession planning strategy, strengthening leadership bench strength and improving organizational readiness for critical roles across the organization. Performance Development: Own and lead the enterprise-wide design and implementation of the performance development strategy, aligning goal setting and development planning with organizational priorities through targeted communication and training to improve accountability, engagement and sustained performance.
People Policy Development: Owned and led the development of YYC's comprehensive suite of People policies, partnering with key stakeholders, launching communications, and creating an employee-centric SharePoint site to ensure accessibility, clarity and consistency across the organization. Analytics and People Scorecards: Oversaw the creation and roll out of YYC's first People scorecards, enabling data-driven people planning, program refinement, and trend analyses. Employee Engagement/Experience: Led Crew experience initiatives and events to enhance social cohesion across the business units, strengthen organization culture, and reinforce the company's brand.
Previous corporate clients include: Alberta Real Estate Association, Calgary Board of Education, CIBC, City of Calgary, University of Calgary, Brown Bagging For Calgary’s Kids, Body Shop, Red Cross, Finning Ltd., Calgary Between Friends Society, Nova Corp. Projects include: employee and client satisfaction, performance evaluation tools and training, customized curriculum design, leader development workshops, DiSC debriefs, program evaluation, focus groups, selection assessments, HR policies and programs. One- on-one coaching with leaders and individuals on leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, employee relations and progressive discipline, DEI, disability management, Human Rights and Employment Standards, career development and job search.
Served as a strategic partner to senior Finance and HR executives in transforming a newly combined (Shaw/Rogers) organization into a high-performing standalone enterprise. This included driving business-unit and organizational-wide change management initiatives including talent calibration, succession planning, organizational redesign and optimization, leadership coaching, employer brand and employee value proposition strategy.
Continuing to report to the VP People and Culture, my responsibilities were as follows: 1) Enterprise-wide oversight of performance management and goal setting processes; 2) With VP HR and in partnership with Finance, reviewed monthly HR budget to actual variance analysis; 3) Act as Senior Business Partner for over 55 Corporate Leaders; 4) Led a team that used animation to destigmatize mental health issues and to drive employee awareness of EFAP and Mental Health benefits; 5) Support VP in delivering strategic People and Culture initiatives including Shaw-Rogers integration work; 6) Create Board (Human Resources & Compensation Committee) presentations and speaking notes. In April 2023, Rogers Communications purchased Shaw Communications for $26 billion.
Reporting to the VP People and Culture, my responsibilities were as follows: 1) Create the succession plan process for our Executive Leadership Team; 2) Enterprise-wide oversight of succession planning process and leadership calibration; 3) Enterprise-wide oversight of performance management and goal setting processes; 4) Act as Senior Business Partner for over 55 Corporate Leaders; 5) Development and facilitation of employee and leader workshops (Talent Q, Myers-Briggs, Clifton Strengthsfinder etc.); and 6) People and Culture Representative on Shaw's new Employee Resource Group AccessAbility.
Taught junior and senior business courses at the Bissett School of Business including Introduction to HR, Business Communication, Compensation and Benefits, Organizational Behaviour, and Employee Relations and Organizational Effectiveness. As an educator and a mentor, my mandate was to breathe life to theories and textbooks by linking them to real work situations and to ensure that the students I taught were set up for success in their careers post-graduation.