E-News – August 2020 | Queen's University IRC

August 2020

Articles

What’s Your Superpower? A Reflection on Personal and Team Branding
Michael Goulet, Employee Relations Advisor, Canadian Pacific Railway, 2020

Like many people, my life changed significantly overnight in mid-March. Suddenly I was working from home – exclusively. Among the many changes from this, my commute went from 60 minutes a day to approximately 60 seconds a day to the “office” (including grabbing a coffee on the way). With this excess capacity and time, after a few sleep-ins (comparatively 08:00 a.m.), I decided to use this time productively for mental health (reflection, planning, introspection and improvement). After a few days of listening to iTunes and Amazon music, I decided that I should re-discover audio books and podcasts to exercise the mind as well as body. The first three business podcasts that I listened to at some point spoke about branding – our “personal brand”, “professional brand”, and “corporate or departmental brand”.

As I reflected on this, I had to think about my own brand. What is my personal brand? What is my team’s brand? I really liked the way that one of the consultants referred to your brand as synonymous with your “superpower”. I gave this some thought for a day or two… what do I think that my “superpower” is? Would others agree? What would others say about my brand or our team’s brand?

>> Read Article

Levels of Trust in Workplace Relationships: The Starting Point for Building a Trust Plan
Linda Allen-Hardisty, Queen’s IRC Facilitator, 2020

How do you define trust? How do you describe what trust means to you? Ask ten people and you will likely hear ten different responses. Because trust is personal. Our past experiences with building, keeping or losing trust really shape how we define trust.

For me, I define trust as having the belief that someone, or a company, will do what they say they will do and in with my best interest in mind. A tall order? Maybe, but never have the stakes been higher than in today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous times – just think how fast social media posts move and how quickly information in spread. It’s no wonder that trust levels can come into question more than ever.

With this I mind, it is critical to consider what organizations can do to strengthen trust with their employees. What if trust could be viewed as objective instead of just feeling so personal? What if we could mark where trust is now, identify where we want to take it and map out a plan to do that? We tackle this question in our newly expanded Building Trust in the Workplace Program.

>> Read Article

Latest News

An Inquiry into the State of Labour Relations in Canada in 2020

Queen's IRC is currently conducting a survey on the State of Labour Relations in Canada. We invite anyone who works in a labour relations role (union or management) to share your insights with us before October 15, 2020.

The survey asks demographic questions to understand the varied roles and responsibilities of people working in labour relations roles, as well as your perspectives on labour relations in Canada in 2020. For your participation, you'll have a chance to win a $50 coffee card (ie: Tim Hortons or Starbucks).

Questions? Please contact our research team at IRCresearch@QueensU.ca.

>> Take the Survey and Enter to Win a $50 Gift Card

Community of Practice Webinars and Community Meetings

Queen’s IRC is pleased to bring you a series of free Community of Practice (COP) webinars and online meetings, to allow the IRC community to connect with our facilitators and discuss burning issues in labour relations, human resources and organizational development.

The upcoming sessions are noted below – we expect them to run about 45 minutes each via Zoom.

Upcoming COP Sessions

Building a Successful Post-Pandemic Future – with Queen’s IRC Facilitator Françoise Morissette (Friday, August 21, 2020 – 11 am ET) Registration

‘Design This’ Session 1: Designing the Innovation Hub – with Queen’s IRC Facilitator Brenda Barker Scott (Wednesday, August 26, 2020 – 11 am ET) Registration

Scenario Plans in Uncertain Times – with Queen’s IRC Facilitator Dr. David Weiss (Thursday, September 10, 2020 – 1 pm ET) Registration

>> View full list and session descriptions

Upcoming Programs

Register for a Virtual Program:

We plan to deliver synchronous virtual learning this fall, where all participants attend the program live as it happens. In addition to the live sessions, there may be some homework or offline work to complete before the next session.