Monday, Sept. 21, 2020
DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM: Conference – Program
(all times listed are in Pacific)
9:00 a.m. WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR
Priya Bates, ABC, MC, CMP, IABC Fellow, President, Inner Strength Communication Inc.
9:05 a.m. OPENING KEYNOTE: Getting to the Heart of It All
Ayelet Baron, Author & former Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Cisco
Our hearts know it because we have experienced glimpses of what communication in our world can be. Yet, as individuals and professionals, we stay stuck in decaying paradigms that no longer serve the vast majority of humanity. We are living in one of the most amazing times in human history and yet we mostly lead with structure and technology, when there are abundant opportunities to create with meaning in business and life. But we don’t easily know how to get there from here as it yet to be acceptable to trust our hearts.
9:50 a.m. Cultivating A Transformation-Ready Workplace Culture
Sheri Morgan, ABC, Director of Communications, PepsiCo Foods Canada
In early 2015, PepsiCo Foods Canada (PFC) had reached a milestone in its 40 years of operations. The Canadian consumer, customer and industry landscapes were changing fast and the company’s Executive Committee laid out a new 2020 strategic plan to address the growth opportunities ahead. Against the backdrop of this new plan and significant transformation agenda, and a newly-appointed President, PFC Communications seized the opportunity to lead an organizational culture change which was critical for the company’s long-term success. The result was a multi-year communications strategy which both engaged employees and transformed the culture to embrace transformation and growth.
In this session, full of practical examples and lessons learned, you’ll hear about how:
- The Communications team identified an opportunity to connect multiple business events to elevate and transform the company’s internal communications strategy.
- Communications and HR partnered closely to develop, refine and launch a new culture rally cry and behaviours and embedded them at all levels of the organization.
- The PFC Executive Committee and senior leaders engaged all of its 5,000 employees in its transformation journey.
- To engage a diverse and disbursed employee population through technology-based campaigns.
10:30 – 10:50 a.m. NETWORKING BREAK
10:50 a.m. Engagement – Numbers to Conversations
Shawna Boyko, Director, People Services, Calgary Zoo
Engagement is a moment, a conversation, a connection. True engagement is when employers can move the conversation from numbers to authentic discussion between leaders and their people. Three insights participants will gain:
- Engagement is a moment and not a thing or program
- People leaders are the true drives of engagement
- What engagement looks like (and it won’t be the same for every organization)
11:30 – 11:40 a.m. Stretch Break
11:40 a.m. – 12: 20 p.m. Beyond the annual survey: Leveraging employee ambassadors to increase employee engagement
Erica Howes, Communications Specialist and Sanita Alias, HR Director
CIRA, Canadian Internet Registration Authority
Employee engagement isn’t just about a score on an annual survey. It’s about creating employee experiences where people feel they are part of something bigger than themselves. CIRA is a team of 100 and we compete with global, world-recognized, technology companies for highly skilled talent. We completely overhauled all of our HR and talent management programs over the last couple of years and now see the results: a high performing, inclusive and engaged workplace.
This past year, CIRA has been recognized as one of Canadas Best Employer’s by Kincentric, a winner of Canada’s Most Admired Cultures and been awarded Most Effective Recruitment Strategy at the Canadian HR Awards.
We’ve shifted employee engagement from an HR initiative, to an organizational wide priority. To do this we needed to agree on the culture we wanted at CIRA and ensure we are living up to it. This didn’t happen overnight and required a lot of candour and trust. We want to show you how we got here, and highlight steps and tips on how to implement this at your workplace.
In this session, you will learn:
- How to create and empower a team of staff ambassadors to make employee engagement an organization-wide priority.
- How to improve your employer branding content with staff as your influencers.
- How to measure employee engagement, beyond an annual engagement survey.
12:25 p.m. Day 1 concludes
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
9:00 a.m. OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR
Priya Bates, ABC, MC, CMP, IABC Fellow, President, Inner Strength Communication Inc.
9:05 a.m. Creating a Positive Employee Experience: A City of Edmonton Journey
Brian Harker, Program Manager, Performance & Innovation, City of Edmonton
Creating a Positive Experience will walk participants through the journey that the City of Edmonton is on to create a sustain an excellent workplace for employees. Participants will:
- Gain a good understanding of how to create an effective voice of the employee strategy;
- See how to shift away from a traditional employee engagement survey cycle; and
- Learn how to define the employee experience.
9:45 – 9:55 a.m. Stretch Break
9:55 – 10:35 a.m. D&I Audit: Understanding where your organization lies on the DEI Continuum*
Jefferson Darrell, Breakfast Culture
Diversity and inclusion is not just a “nice-to-have” but a must-have if an organization is to enjoy the highest standard of recruitment, performance and retention for viable, sustainable growth. BREAKFAST CULTURE’s Diversity and Inclusion Audit is a comprehensive measurement and analysis process to understand where your
organization lies and how to move it along the DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) Continuum*.
This is one of the first steps towards cultivating a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace culture. In this session you will learn about the DEI Continuum* and how Breakfast Culture uses current tools, including leading edge Employee Engagement Enterprise software and/or Global Diversity & Inclusion Benchmarks (GDIB) to analyze where your organization currently resides on the DEI Continuum*.
*The Human Equity Advantage: Beyond Diversity to Talent Optimization, Wilson 2013
10:35 – 10:55 a.m. NETWORKING BREAK
10:55 – 11:45 a.m. Keynote: Creating Your Career Vision and Making it Real
Angee Linsey, Managing Director, Linsey Careers
Too often we find ourselves head down, managing our jobs, until one day we look up only to find we haven’t been managing our careers. This can be a particularly jarring reality if you suddenly find yourself out of work during these times of Covid-19.
No matter where you are in your career journey – actively engaged with an employer and looking to make that stretch, considering leaving for a new role, or actively in job search — this keynote will inspire you to dare to be deliberate by starting with your personal career vision.
In this session Angee will guide you through a values and vision exercise that is a game changer for anyone wanting to manage their career with intention.
- Whether your career is stuck in a rut or you’re on a fast track to leadership, learn how to imagine what “ideal” looks like so that you can ensure the path you’re on is the path you want.
- A fun exercise that you can do throughout your career to stay true to your goals as they evolve with your priorities through life.
- Once your vision is complete, learn how to make it real by having better career conversations with your boss, your mentors and your network so that you are attracting the right opportunities either within your current company or with a new organization.
CONFERENCE CONCLUDES
