Announcement: Retirement of Paul Juniper

It is with mixed emotions that we announce that Paul Juniper has decided to retire after more than 10 years as the Director of the Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (Queen’s IRC).

Paul became the sixth Director of Queen’s IRC in 2006. During his time as Director, Paul expanded the IRC’s professional development programs to cities across Canada and internationally. He introduced a number of new human resources and labour relations programs, and conducted research into the state of the HR profession. He also developed and designed the Queen’s IRC Advanced HR Certificate to meet the increasingly complex professional development needs of HR practitioners.

Queen’s IRC has been a leading provider of premium professional development programs in labour relations, human resources, and organizational development since 1937, and has expanded and evolved over the past decade thanks to Paul’s exemplary leadership.

Paul will be greatly missed. We wish him all the best in his retirement. Fortunately, he will continue to serve as a facilitator for Queen’s IRC.

Stephanie Noel has been with Queen’s IRC for over 15 years. As the Business Development Manager, she was responsible for ensuring that the design and delivery of each program adhered to Queen’s IRC’s standard of excellence. She led the Queen’s IRC Program team as well as the Sales & Marketing team, and has been instrumental in developing and strengthening the IRC’s relationships with organizations and participants.

Stephanie Noel has been appointed the new Queen’s IRC Director, effective July 1, 2018.

Stephanie has worked with clients to tailor custom training programs specifically to their organization’s learning needs, and over the years, she has developed customized certificate programs with various organizations, including private sector, government and union organizations. Stephanie’s research interests include change management and labour relations practices.

Stephanie earned her Bachelor of Arts in Economics (Honours) degree from Laurentian University, and earned her Masters of Business Administration from Royal Military College of Canada.

Congratulations Stephanie!

 

Transforming HR Data into Business Insight: A Closer Look at the HR Metrics and Analytics Program

Jim Harrison teaching at the HR Metrics and Analytics programQueen’s IRC recently introduced the HR Metrics and Analytics program to help HR professionals analyze metrics and transform data into powerful stories for their leaders.

Led by Queen’s IRC Director Paul Juniper and Queen’s IRC facilitator Jim Harrison, the program was designed to help HR professionals become more confident and competent in how to analyze data, how to use data properly, and how to share it in ways that can help their organization make decisions.

According to Paul, one of the key things people learn is how to link the data to the story. “Data with no story is not helpful. A story with no data is not going to be believed. You need to meld the two together.”

“Some people can be really good with the data, but they haven’t had the practice or experience at presenting to senior leadership,” Paul said. “Alternately some people who are in HR have been afraid of using data and numbers, but they’re really good with the story. They don’t know how to pull the right numbers out of the data in order to support their story.”

Brenda Grape, an HR Business Partner at AMI, recently attended the HR Metrics and Analytics program. “I was really thrilled with it. It definitely went above what I expected.” Brenda said that she really got a lot out of the case studies, specifically being able to focus on how she wanted to present the story that goes with the numbers, as well as focus on the numbers that back the story.

“I loved the overall pace and format of it. I liked the pieces of lecture, but I love the practical hands-on approach.”  She is already using the knowledge and skills she learned at the HR Metrics and Analytics program back at work. “I’m utilizing the tools on a regular basis.”

Brenda enjoyed the interactive nature of the program, and being able to work with other people. “It was a good group of people, all bringing different perspectives.” She said that coming from a small organization, it was good to get a variety perspectives, including from HR professionals in larger organizations and other industries.

Heather Francis, Manager of Employee Benefits for High Liner Foods, also participated in the HR Metrics and Analytics program.  “For me, the lecture style learning is important as well as the collaboration, the ability to talk to my colleagues sitting around the table, and to learn from them as well,” she said.

“When I was thinking about HR and analytics, just because I’m so new to it, I was thinking on a very, very small spectrum. Through the course, I’ve been given a tool box of things that I can use and apply. I’m very interested in where it’s going to take us in the next year to five years. I think it’s a very good program.”

Post-program evaluations have given HR Metrics and Analytics a very positive response, with participants citing the right mix between lecture and teamwork, and the practical application of the concepts learned as the most valuable aspects.

Kenji Nuhn, a Human Resources Reporting Specialist at CAA South Central Ontario, said it can be a little chaotic trying to make sense of all the data in HR. “What this program has done for me is given me a very solid foundation to work off of. It’s a very clear and organized way of thinking.”

He values the tools and frameworks that were presented in the program. “It’s given me a very easy way to organize my data, and a very simplified way to make recommendations through the data that I collect, interpret, and report on.”

Facilitator Jim Harrison describes this program as a real working session, a sentiment echoed by Brenda Grape and other attendees. Participants work through a number of case studies during the three-day program, in addition to the option of working on a real-world project.

“We ask you to bring a live project or a live situation from your organization,” Jim said. “You get to apply the tools and the templates and what you’ve been learning, and we give you direct feedback on that. We think that it’s really important that if people are going to take the work that they’re doing in the program back into the real world, we bring the real world into the program to let them work on it directly.”

Michael MacBurney is the People Relations Manager with WestJet. He chose the HR Metrics and Analytics program because his organization has recently put HR at the business table. “This program, I felt, could provide me with some tools, a different way of thinking, a different skill set to take back to that table and be a better asset to the company.”

Michael enjoyed the being able to work in groups to really get a good grasp of some of the concepts that were being taught, before taking them back to the real world. “I think in HR specifically, we see a lot of theory doesn’t necessarily translate into practice,” Michael said. He valued being able to draw off others’ experience and learn how things work in other organizations, so he could draw correlations into what might work within his organization.

“It’s been eye-opening to understand it’s not just solid numbers that you’re taking back to the business,” Michael said. “It’s really a bigger picture, in that you need to essentially captivate your audience, tell the story and understand what story you’re hoping your business to understand.” Other points that resonated with him included not getting too lost in the numbers, really understanding what you’re trying to solve when analyzing numbers, and using the numbers to support your argument. “I definitely recommend Queen’s IRC programs to any individual who’s looking to take something new back to their organization.”

Facilitator Paul Juniper believes this program can be beneficial to all organizations. “It will help them bring clarity to what information they’re collecting and why, and what they’re going to do with it. Some organizations leapt into metrics quite early. What they found is now they produce massive amounts of data and the data is distributed. Unfortunately people don’t know why they’re getting it and they don’t know how to use it. There’s a need for some organizations to take a step back and say, ‘What are we going to collect and why? How are we going to use it? How are we going to report on it?’ This course will teach you how to do all of those things.”

 

To see upcoming dates and locations for the HR Metrics and Analytics program, please visit our website: HR Metrics and Analytics

Help Wanted: HR Analysts

 HR AnalystsGet ready to see this job ad a lot in the near future. 2016 seems to be the year when HR Analytics hits the windshield of our corporate bus. There is an increasing demand from organizational leaders for evidence-based decision making.

Unfortunately I think it will take a while for our certification programs in HR to fully integrate these needs into the supporting training.

At present we can end up with a situation where we have lots of data but unfortunately, it isn’t the data we need, or it isn’t accessible in a meaningful way.

So, to be successful at HR analytics what do we need?

  1. We need a real business problem to work on. Sometimes people work on a problem because it is one that we have data for, but it doesn’t really solve an organizational need. To be successful, the first thing you need is a business or organizational problem where analyzing data would help provide a solution.
  2. We need to choose the right tools. Unfortunately if the only tool we have is a hammer, all problems can look like nails.  So it is necessary to have several analysis methods in our tool chest and know which one to use in which circumstance.
  3. We need the analytical skills to select the data we need and draw conclusions from it.
  4. We need to be able to decide how to present the information to people who haven’t been living with it.
  5. Lastly and very importantly, we have to be able to use the data to tell a story. Data without a story will not be acted on.  A story without data won’t be believed.

If all this sounds daunting, it shouldn’t. It is a matter of breaking it up into small enough bits to not be intimidated, and then putting the bits together in a coherent way.

The ability to do HR analytics work is soon to be an essential part of every HR professional’s toolkit.

Want to learn more? Check out the new Queen’s IRC HR Metrics and Analytics program.

About the Author

Paul Juniper, Director, Queen's IRCPaul Juniper (MA, Geography (York); CHRL; SPHR; SHRM-SCP; Honourary Life Member, HRPA) is the Director of the Queen’s University IRC. As a leading and respected figure in Canada’s HR community, Paul has over 30 years of experience in human resources and association leadership. Paul is particularly sought for his views on the future of the human resources profession. He speaks regularly at conferences on trends in human resources, and the ways in which individuals and their organizations can continue to raise the bar on HR. Paul developed and designed the Queen’s IRC Advanced HR Certificate to meet the increasingly complex professional

An Inquiry into the State of HR in Canada in 2013: Executive Summary

 Executive SummaryQueen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (Queen’s IRC) is pleased to announce the release of An Inquiry into the State of HR in Canada in 2013. This executive summary is based on a survey of over 400 HR practitioners and explores the current and changing state of the HR profession in Canada. It also compares the findings with our 2011 survey, An Inquiry into the State of HR in Canada in 2011.

The questions in the first section of the survey were designed to better understand the demographic characteristics of HR practitioners, their roles and responsibilities, the characteristics of the organizations for which they work, and the career development strategies of HR practitioners. This section of the survey plays an extremely important role in determining who is practicing HR, where HR practitioners fit into contemporary organizations, and the strategies used by HR practitioners and their organizational sponsors to develop and advance individual careers and the profession as a whole.

The second section of the survey sought practitioners’ perspectives on the HR profession in Canada. It  included questions about the extent to which the HR function shapes organizations’ strategic directions, the importance of various activities to the HR function, practitioners’ involvement in the same activities, the knowledge and skills required by practitioners, the HR challenges facing organizations, practitioners’ outlook on the future of HR in Canada, and organizational HR priorities. This section included both qualitative and quantitative questions. This mixed methodology is important in understanding the broader trends and challenges facing HR practitioners and the profession as a whole.

Talking Trust in Trinidad

 34 Behaviours That Affect Levels of Trust in Business EnvironmentsI recently had the opportunity to work with a group of HR professionals in Trinidad, through Queen’s IRC’s partnership with the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business within the University of the West Indies.

As part of our discussion about building trust in the workplace, we discussed behaviours that lowered trust and those that raised trust. It did not take long for the participants to generate lists of behaviours through table discussion. It was not surprising how frequently participants pointed to similar behaviours in very different workplaces.

Below are two lists of behaviours which affected levels of trust in their workplaces. Have you experienced these in your workplace?

Behaviours which they experienced in their workplaces that LOWERED trust:

  1. Dishonesty from management and leadership
  2. Leadership not walking the talk
  3. Lack of transparency (hidden agendas)
  4. Not admitting mistakes
  5. Playing favourites/showing bias
  6. Lack of open dialogue (secret side deals)
  7. Lack of rewards and recognition
  8. No credit given for ideas contributed
  9. Executives not fulfilling responsibilities
  10. Lack of communication
  11. Unwillingness to change
  12. Selective sharing of information
  13. Double delegation
  14. Personal biases and prejudice
  15. Double standards
  16. Incompetence
  17. Not listening
  18. Breach of confidence
  19. Acting without facts

Behaviours which they experienced in their workplaces that RAISED the level of trust:

  1. Keeping your word
  2. Being honest, fair and treating people equally
  3. Rewarding and recognizing employee performance
  4. Mentoring other employees
  5. Delegating responsibility
  6. Sharing information
  7. Being personally accountable
  8. Supporting structures such as policy, training, internal promotions, penalties, and sanctions
  9. Keeping confidentiality
  10. Supporting work-life balance
  11. Demonstrating competence
  12. Giving credit for work and ideas
  13. Coaching and acting as a change agent
  14. Demonstrating integrity
  15. Leading by example

To learn some ways to help build trust in an organization, please read 5 Steps to Build Trust and Change the Culture in an Organization

If you are interested in building trust training for yourself or your organization, please visit Building Trust in the Workplace.

5 Steps to Build Trust and Change the Culture in an Organization

5 Steps to Build Trust and Change the Culture in an OrganizationHow do you change the culture in a workplace where workers don’t trust the leaders, where employees are not engaged, and where people just don’t care about doing their jobs? A few months ago, I was speaking to a group of senior leaders and the topic of changing culture and increasing employee engagement came up. The conversation started innocuously, with a comment like, “There’s too many potholes in the road and you can’t get people, whose job it is to fill potholes, to care.”

“Why do you think that the workers don’t care?” I asked.  “How does management behave?” We had talked earlier about the importance of mission, vision, values and behaviours – and the one we didn’t get to was behaviours. Every organization has a mission and a vision, and most of us have values like honesty and integrity. But often in the workplace, what you actually see demonstrated is dishonesty and lack of integrity.  Is it any wonder why the employees are not engaged?

As our conversation continued, there was disbelief that it was possible to change a culture, particularly from one very senior person who works in the public sector. She was fascinated. She said, “Can you really change a culture?”

“Of course you can!” I said.  Everyone else chimed in, saying, “You can’t do that in our organization because there’s such a low level of trust in management and in the leadership.”

This conversation led me to develop the new Queen’s IRC Building Trust in the Workplace program. Here are 5 ways to implement a culture change, build trust and increase employee engagement in your workplace.

1. Cultural Change Needs to Start at the Top

In organizations with low levels of trust, what often happens is middle management has given up. They don’t know what to do, or their senior leaders are not supporting them. You must have the support from senior leaders to make a culture change.

Top management– the president, director, whoever is the head honcho or honchess – has to come out and say, “We know how things have been around here. We’ve heard from you in the surveys that you don’t trust us. We acknowledge that you have said this.” Top management needs to tell the employees what they’re willing to change, and what they’re going to change, and what that looks like.

2. Identify and Change the Behaviours

Making a cultural change has to start with the behaviours. As a manager in an organization where you have a history of poor performance, you may have four people who know how to do a job, but only two of them are doing it well. If you need something done, who do you give it to? Do you give it to the one that’s doing it well or to the one who avoids the work? It’s the same as having a child – you tell them to take out the garbage and they deliberately spill it all over the ground so you don’t ask them to do it again. Often employees can be like that. Unfortunately if you let the kid get away with spilling garbage on the ground, then the person who doesn’t spill the garbage gets the extra work. Eventually what happens is you totally overload the people who are capable and willing. They become unhappy and dissatisfied because they’re seeing what they think is the other people getting away with something.

Getting people to work in a positive and constructive way to make cultural change happen takes time. You have to be consistent, and firm, and you have to keep moving in the same direction. As a senior leader in a new organization, someone challenged my authority right at the beginning of my term about an important change announced in a meeting.  “No, I won’t,” that person said to me, in a room full of people. If I had let that go, then the other employees would have heard, “It’s okay to say no.” Instead, I said, “Yes, you are going to do this, but this isn’t the place for us to have that conversation.” Despite the fact it wasn’t on the agenda for that meeting, I took the time to explain the progressive discipline that would happen when someone says no to a legitimate work request from their manager. “This is what we’re going to do from now on. I’m not going to allow work refusals.” Unless you’re asking them to do something that’s illegal, immoral or unsafe, for work that is reasonably in their current job, they cannot refuse. That was fundamental and I could not let it pass.

Can we change culture? Yes. Can you do it quickly? No.

3. Don’t be Afraid to have Difficult Conversations

Lots of managers don’t know how to have a difficult conversation with an employee. And they’re unwilling to have those conversations. I’ve talked with people in organizations who just put up with incompetence because it was so difficult to manage people to leave. They’re unwilling to sit down with somebody and say, “I’m not satisfied with what you’re doing. Here’s the standard, here’s the expectation, and here’s what you’re doing.” It’s a hard conversation.

In one of my roles, I went to my leader and said, “I have people here who need to go.” He said, “We can’t. These people have been here for 15 years, we have a moral obligation to keep them.” But we don’t.

4. Lead by example

Sometimes we have to admit publicly that we’re wrong. If you as a leader can admit publicly that you’ve made a mistake and you’re wrong, it actually gives permission to everybody else to do the same. We all make mistakes. Did you do it deliberately? Did you do it because you wanted to come in in the morning and you really wanted to screw things up? It’s unlikely that you did. Instead, let’s understand why you made that mistake, and how we can stop that from happening in the future and move on. The alternative is a culture of punishment: “You screwed up. We’re going to make sure everybody knows what you did, and you’re stupid.” How many of us have worked in places like that? You go back to your office and you slam the door, and you bang a few things around, and you think terrible things about the organization. At lunch you go and you talk to your friends and you say, “You know what he said to me?” What’s happened to your productivity for the next month?

5. Motivate and Empower Employees to Build Relationships and Trust

There are many different ways to manage. My way is, I trust you. I trust you until you give me reason not to, and then I ask you about it. Trust has to be given, so as a leader I have to give you my trust, to earn your trust. I have to risk it first.

I believe that it is not possible for me to motivate you. All I can do is lower the barriers to you motivating yourself, or raise the opportunities for you to motivate yourself – but I cannot motivate you.  There are people who have a different belief system, who believe that if they get the whip out, that’s motivation. I do believe there have to be consequences, but I think that there also have to be opportunities.

It’s better if you extend trust and let people police themselves. “Here’s what needs to get done, you’ve got the tools that you need to do it, here’s a reasonable length of time to get it done, is that a problem?” “No.” “Okay. If you have a problem let me know. Don’t let it get to the end and it not being done without you telling me. But other than that, do it, and I’ll stay out of the way.”

To empower people, you can push decision-making as far down the organization as you can, and give people some accountability over what they do and how they do it. I am clear about what I want as an end-result, but I shouldn’t need to tell my employee in excruciating detail how to do their job. I don’t have the knowledge to do that, and it would be a mistake for me to try. The end result is important. How you get it from here to there, that’s really up to you to do it in an efficient way.

Many organizations struggle with low levels of employee engagement and trust. Changing the culture in a workplace and rebuilding trust takes time. Our new one-day Building Trust in the Workplace program will show you how to identify the reasons behind low trust levels, understand different types of behaviour in the workplace, and transform organizational culture to foster a more transparent and positive environment.

About the Author

Paul Juniper, Director, Queen's IRCPaul Juniper (MA, Geography (York); CHRP; SPHR; Honourary Life Member, HRPA) became the sixth Director of Queen’s University IRC in 2006. Paul is a leading and respected figure in Canada’s HR community, with over 30 years of experience in human resources and association leadership. Paul is particularly sought for his views on the future of the human resources profession. He speaks regularly at national and international conferences on trends in human resources, and the ways in which individuals and their organizations can continue to raise the bar on HR. Paul developed and designed the IRC’s Advanced HR programming to meet the increasingly complex professional development needs of HR practitioners. He teaches on Queen’s IRC’s Advanced HR, Strategic Workforce Planning, Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy, and Building Trust in the Workplace programs. His research focuses on the state of the HR profession both in Canada and around the globe.

An Inquiry into the State of HR in the Caribbean

An Inquiry into the State of HR in the Caribbean - Survey results from Queen's University IRC in collaboration with the Cave Hill School of BusinessQueen’s IRC has begun to develop a strong working relationship with the HR community in the Caribbean. Partnerships with the Cave Hill School of Business in Barbados and the Arthur Lok Jack School of Business in Trinidad and Tobago have allowed the IRC to bring its unique brand of programming to practitioners from almost a dozen Caribbean nations. Building partnerships such as these are critical to understanding the innovations and challenges in the global HR community. They have also allowed Queen’s IRC to extend our research beyond Canadian borders.

This report summarizes and analyzes the results of a survey of HR practitioners from the Caribbean conducted in 2012. The survey is a key component of the IRC’s commitment to engaging with international practitioner communities. More specifically, the results of the survey provide insight into several key aspects of Caribbean HR practitioners’ working lives. These include the demographic characteristics of practitioners, their roles and responsibilities, the nature of the organizations for which they work, their education and career development, the knowledge and skills required to thrive in the Caribbean, and of course, their perspectives on important issues, innovations and challenges in the HR profession today. The information in this report provides an important foundation to track ongoing trends and innovations in the Caribbean HR community and serves as a useful comparator when combined with recent (and forthcoming) surveys of Canadian HR practitioners.

Queen’s IRC Announces Partnership with Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business

Queen’s University IRC is pleased to announce a collaborative partnership with the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business in Trinidad.  This agreement will allow us to bring existing programming to a different audience and to develop exciting learning opportunities with a new partner.

We have been working with the Cave Hill School of Business at the University of the West Indies in Barbados for a number of years, and we are excited to continue to expand our partnerships in the Caribbean.  Both Queen’s IRC and the Arthur Lok Jack GSB have the goals of creating a better working environment for labour relations and human resources practitioners. We have similar teaching styles, using adult learning principles such as engagement and experiential techniques.

The Arthur Lok Jack GSB was established in 1989 as a joint venture between the University of the West Indies and the private sector of Trinidad and Tobago to provide postgraduate education in business and management. It is recognized as the premier institution for the provision of business and management education, training and consultancy services in Trinidad and Tobago, and it extends its reach to the wider Caribbean region.

We welcome this collaboration and look forward to a mutually advantageous relationship as we support the continuing growth and development of business in the Caribbean.

 

 

 

Queen’s IRC Archive Revitalization Project

The Queen’s IRC archive revitalization project has been unveiled.  The goal of the project, driven by Queen’s IRC Director Paul Juniper, was to digitize archive publications to make them available to the public once again.

“I am excited to be able to share our IRC research and publication history in a new and accessible way,” said Juniper.

Throughout its rich history, Queen’s IRC has enjoyed a long-standing tradition of research excellence in the field of labour relations and human resources. For many years, the IRC operated the IRC Press, which was committed to creating, promoting, and disseminating knowledge about the world of work.

Today, Queen’s IRC primarily releases its practitioner-focused research online, but as a former publishing house, the IRC holds hundreds of publications in their archive.  In 2011, the IRC began a project to digitize some of the “lost” print copies of articles, papers, case studies, and interviews in the collection. During the digitization process, archive articles were carefully selected, scanned, converted, and reformatted digitally.  When the newly redesigned Queen’s IRC website launched in July 2013, they began to share these resources online.

“We have added these papers to the hundreds of resources available on our website,” said Juniper.  From George Adams’ Negotiation: Why Do We Do It Like We Do? to Diane Patterson’s First Contract Arbitration in Ontario: An Evaluation of the Early Experience, these documents will help students, practitioners, and life-long learners understand the context of where we came from and how we got to where we are today.

The two year project was spearheaded by Queen’s IRC Director Paul Juniper, and led by Marketing Assistant, Cathy Sheldrick. Several Queen’s students also assisted with the archive digitization process.

Archive documents can be found in the Research and Resources section of the Queen’s IRC website. More documents are being added on a monthly basis.

Queen’s IRC is also launching a “Flashback Feature”, which will appear in its newsletters, and will highlight an article from the archives that has recently been digitized.

 

Queen’s IRC Awards First Advanced HR Certificate

When Paul Juniper became the Director of Queen’s University Industrial Relations Centre (IRC) in 2006, he recognized the need for more senior level training in the changing human resources (HR) profession. To accomplish this, he designed a new series of Advanced HR programs to enhance the strategic knowledge, ability, and capability of HR practitioners. The goal was to enable HR practitioners to shift from an administrative and/or transactional role, to one that has become an integral part of an organization’s business strategy – an HR business partner.

By 2012, with a series of Advanced HR programming in place, the Advanced HR Certificate was introduced. This spring, Erin O’Flynn became the first IRC participant to earn this coveted certificate.

O’Flynn, who is the Director of Human Resources at Cogeco Data Services Inc., started her training with Queen’s IRC in 2008, with the popular Negotiation Skills program. While she had a wish list of IRC programs she wanted take, she wasn’t sure it would ever happen. “Training dollars are so scarce,” she said. “But over time, I was given the chance to take one here and one there, and then I just needed one more.” That one more was the Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy program, which O’Flynn completed in April 2013.

“The most beneficial programs for me were the Advanced HR, and Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy programs.” O’Flynn noted that the focus on culture change, how to become a business ally, and change management from a business perspective, were all key takeaways for her.

“I was at a point in my career where the programs underpinned everything I had learned to date, and they helped me to finesse what I’ve learned as an HR professional.”

O’Flynn also found the networking opportunities in the IRC programs very beneficial. She enjoyed the quality of the programs, and the hands-on experience that they offered. “I found the facilitators very good. They are all experts in their field, and they bring their experience to the table, not just the theory.”

“In the Talent Management program, the facilitator provided a lot of great tools. I was able to implement those as soon as I returned to work.”

“Overall, the IRC’s programming is fabulous,”O’Flynn said. “The IRC is very good at making people feel comfortable. It’s a rich learning experience, and very customer friendly.”

It is precisely these reasons why O’Flynn has arranged for other employees to attend the IRC’s programs. “We were coming up to bargaining, and I sponsored two people to attend the Negotiation Skills program. Both walked away with a whole new perspective.”

She describes one employee, who had an ‘I throw out my number and you throw out yours’ approach to collective bargaining. After attending the program, he was able to apply the skills and knowledge right away. “He learned the benefits of interest-based bargaining, and was looking for collaborative ways to negotiate. We saw an immediate cause and effect.”

O’Flynn was excited to earn her Advanced HR certificate – she already has it hanging on the wall in her office. “This certificate, coupled with my on-the-job experience, has further enhanced my credibility as an HR practitioner,” she said. O’Flynn is also excited to be a valued strategic business partner at Cogeco, and to have the skills and knowledge to help shape the company’s strategic goals.

The IRC’s Advanced Human Resources programming began with the foundational program, Advanced HR. It was designed for HR and labour relations professionals currently in a middle management role, with at least three to five years experience managing an HR department, who hold a CHRP designation or equivalent profile. Additional programs include: Succession Planning, Talent Management, HR Decision Making, and Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.