E-News – February 2019

Articles

Ghost Sponsors: Is the Sponsor for Your Change Project Missing in Action?
Kate Sikerbol, Queen’s IRC Facilitator, 2018

George was sitting quietly at the back of the room when he suddenly came to life. “But you don’t understand. All this talk about getting ‘sponsors’ on board is all well and good, but what do you do when your sponsor is basically invisible?” A roomful of participants nodded in agreement as George continued. “We can’t get sponsors to show up at meetings, they won’t make decisions that affect the project, they don’t allocate the resources we need. They might as well be ghosts!”

Active and visible support from senior-level sponsors is well-documented in the business literature on change as one of the most important contributors to successful change implementation. Key leaders need to communicate their support of planned organizational change. Clarity of vision, and consistency in word and action are powerful levers that sponsors can use to convince people of the need and urgency for change and to get everyone pulling in the same direction. Yet the experience of many mid-level managers attests to the reality that it can be difficult to engage sponsors and maintain their commitment over the life-cycle of a change initiative.

What can you do when you are challenged by ‘ghost sponsors’ who may be mute, or those who fade in and out of your change project?

>> Read Article
 

5 Insights into Conducting Effective Fact-Finding Investigations
An Interview with Jerry Christensen
Cathy Sheldrick, Queen's IRC Marketing Assistant, 2016

Fact-finding is an essential skill set for anybody who is in an HR, labour relations or employee relations role. If you stay in this role, at some point you will end up doing investigations, and having this skill set is going to make you much more efficient as a practitioner.

Jerry Christensen, who recently retired from the City of Calgary, managed and coordinated the City’s respectful workplace program and dealt with all of their human rights issues. With previous experience working in the criminal justice system and with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, Jerry has worked in several regulatory environments where someone had to be held accountable. In this interview, Jerry shares his thoughts about the value of fact-finding and investigation training for HR and LR practitioners, as well as the five most important things he’s learned about conducting effective fact-finding investigations.

>> Read Article
 

Latest News

Follow Queen's IRC Online for the Latest Updates

We've kicked off our 2019 program season. Here's a few images that we shared online from our first couple of programs.

Join us online to see the latest pictures from our programs and events, as well as articles and updates on programs: Facebook – Twitter – LinkedIn.

Conference and Trade Show Update

Queen's IRC recently attended the HRPA Annual Conference and Trade Show in Toronto. It was great to meet some new people and see some old friends. Congratulations to the winner of our draw, Norma Mullen.

We will be attending a couple of conferences and trade shows in the next few months:

CPHR British Columbia & Yukon Conference and Trade Show on April 2-3 in Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

CPHRAB HR UNDEFINED Conference and Trade Show on April 10-11 in Edmonton at the Shaw Conference Centre

Vote for Queen's IRC

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve been nominated for an HR Reporter Readers’ Choice Award for the fourth year in a row! Please vote for us here: 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards

Upcoming Programs

Register for an Upcoming Program:

• NEW Workplace Restoration Feb 26-28, 2019 (Toronto)
• Labour Relations Foundations Mar 3-8, 2019 (Kingston)
• Linking HR Strategy to Business Strategy Mar 5-7, 2019 (Ottawa)
• Strategic Grievance Handling Mar 26-29, 2019 (Toronto)
• Performance Management Mar 26-27, 2019 (Victoria)
• Mastering Fact-Finding and Investigation Apr 2-5, 2019 (Toronto)
• Negotiation Skills Apr 7-12, 2019 (Kingston)
• Change Management Apr 9-11, 2019 (Toronto)
• Coaching Skills Apr 16-17, 2019 (Calgary)
• Building Trust in the Workplace Apr 26, 2019 (Toronto)
• Strategies for Workplace Conflicts Apr 30-May 2, 2019 (Kingston)
• Organization Development Foundations Apr 30-May 3, 2019 (Toronto)
• NEW Workplace Restoration May 7-9, 2019 (Victoria)
• HR Metrics and Analytics May 7-9, 2019 (Toronto)
• Designing Collaborative Workplaces May 14-16, 2019 (Kingston)
• Labour Arbitration Skills May 26-30, 2019 (Kingston)
• Strategic Workforce Planning May 28-29, 2019 (Toronto)* Just added!
• Labour Relations Foundations Jun 3-7, 2019 (Halifax)
• Negotiation Skills Jul 22-26, 2019 (Victoria) * New Location!

For an overview of our professional development training, from the perspective of our participants and speakers, please check out our Queen’s IRC Video.

For more program information, download our NEW Spring 2019-Spring 2020 Program Planner.

Email: irc@queensu.ca Phone: 1-888-858-7838 Web: irc.queensu.ca