How long have you been an ISPI member?

Over 3 years.  When I first joined, I was involved with leadership and organizational development consulting.  By joining ISPI, I had instant access to a great community of professionals with whom I could share experiences, ask questions, and simply network.  I have since returned to a position within an organization.  Now, my interactions with ISPI help me to stay abreast of new trends in performance improvement initiatives and solutions for implementing them in an organizational setting.

As Director of Human Resources at Response Biomedical Corporation, my primary area of focus is ensuring our human resources and organizational development initiatives are aligned with our strategic objectives.  I’ve been involved with this “people” side of business for over 15 years.

The best thing about my ISPI involvement:

No question – it’s the people.  ISPI members are a phenomenal group; they are generous with their expertise and do not hesitate to share information and resources.  Professional organizations are typically good at attracting external experts for their conferences and workshops.  ISPI also does this well.  However, what sets this group apart is how we leverage the vast expertise within the organization’s membership.  The cracker barrels are particularly effective for this.

Most interesting performance improvement job/project? And why?

I really enjoy projects that include defining and documenting a process.  This exercise almost always highlights opportunities for improvement; it’s difficult to improve efficiency or effectiveness until you’ve completed this step. 

A good example of this was a project where we considered the interactions we had with potential employees.  We tracked all communications from the initial point of contact right up to an offer for employment.  The goal was to find out how effectively we were getting our message across; conveying the desired corporate image; and making a good first impression.  Our research included interviews with the people we ultimately hired to get their impressions.  The results prompted us to make several changes in the way we communicate with prospective employees.  It also highlighted opportunities to improve the internal processes that were less visible to prospective employees.  For example, we started to track the timing for critical milestones in the recruitment process.  How long does it take for us to fill a vacancy?  Where are the roadblocks?  We discovered there was a time lag between the date we discovered a position would be vacant (based on a resignation or approval of a new position), and the date it was actually posted.  This was an easy fix.  Understanding the issue helped us identify where we needed to focus our improvement efforts.

Accomplishments I’m most proud of (personally and professionally):

The development and implementation of an HR scorecard is a big accomplishment for me. You really can achieve meaningful change once you start to measure things. 

Something hardly anyone knows about me:

Although it’s well known by my family and friends, my ISPI colleagues may not know that I am an avid Canucks fan.  I rarely miss a game and it’s not unusual for the radio broadcast for out-of-town games to be playing in my office.  My favorite player is Trevor Linden.  I respect his leadership both on and off the ice.  He is a strong mentor to new members of his team, and also invests a lot of time in the community.  He is a wonderful role model.

If there’s anything you’ve learned in life, it would be…

The importance of understanding personal values.  We all have them, but may not be aware of them.  It’s important that we recognize and understand what “touches” us at a core level – it helps explain who we are and why we do what we do.

I have a very strong value regarding personal responsibility.  I believe we all have a responsibility to the people around us, but often we don’t see that.  We have a tendency to say “Oh well, management is responsible for that” or “the head of family is responsible for that.”  We don’t always recognize that we all share responsibility.

It’s about task, yes, but it’s bigger than that.  It’s taking away that victim mentality that can surface.  We all have a role to play and we can influence things.  It’s important to look for ways that we can positively contribute, rather than falling into a passive “I can’t do that because…” frame of mind.

What makes you most happy.

Family gatherings; sense of accomplishment; learning something new.