1. Senior leadership – issues and best practices
Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre
Senior leadership – issues and best practices
September 28, 2015

2. The Importance of Senior Leadership in Engaging Employees

3. The Engaged Organization

4. The Engagement Challenged Organization

5. Engaged....
Not so much

6. ….guess which one has issues with senior leadership?6
Are you looking for or thinking of accepting a job with another employer (% Yes)?

7. What do the best leadership teams do better?

8. EXAMPLE POSITIVE COMMENTS
Among employees providing positive comments:
“Overall I am very satisfied with the company culture and think this is a great place to work. The company has fostered a team environment and is supportive of its employees.”
“COMPANY is a great place to work. Strong communication of the firm vision is what drives and motivates employees to continue performing their best.“
“Stay transparent with the organization's objectives and developments. “
“The Executive group is a large reason why I am still employed with COMPANY. I feel they walk the walk and are supportive in most everything we do.”
“The culture at COMPANY is unlike anywhere else I have ever worked. It really is like one big family.”

9. EXAMPLE COMMENTS: REQUIRE IMPROVEMENT
Visibility, Connectedness and Empathy
“Need more confidence that the organizational leadership is truly listening and doing everything within their power to support us”
“They make decisions in a vacuum. They have no idea what’s going on on the front-lines. We never see them”
Set, Communicate and Follow-up Clear and Realistic Goals:
“Ambitious goals; perhaps not realistic - involve staff when establishing goals that impact practice rather than deciding and telling them”
Decisiveness on Clear Priorities
“Improve priority setting, as it seems everything is a priority.”
“I would like to see more decisiveness. Projects are being delayed because either a decision is not made or work is being completed by the wrong person.”
Articulate and Communicate a Clear and Compelling Vision
“I can't say that leaders of the organization have painted a picture of the future of our agency. Most of their actions seem to be reactive to issues/funding changes that come up. It doesn't seem like there's a proactive approach to planning the future of the organization from my perspective.”

10. LEADERSHIP PRACTICES THAT ENGAGE
Building trust and honest communication
Transparency, especially in difficult times
Frequent and forthright – answer employee questions
Admit when you don’t know
Senior Leaders take ownership of the people agenda (as opposed to it being “HR’s” problem)
People priorities are clearly embedded in business strategy
People take precedence, sometimes over short- term gain
Talent is more built than bought (75% internal, 25% external)

11. Connected with Employees
Effectively communicate the organization’s goals and objectives
Consistently demonstrate the organization’s values in all behaviours and actions (“they walk the talk”)
Appropriately balance employee interests with those of the organization
Consistently demonstrate empathy and caring for employees
Ensure presence and visibility – in person or virtually

12. Performance Focused Effectively communicate goals and objectives
Ensure goals and objectives are aggressive, yet attainable
Empower managers and employees and instil a culture of accountability

13. Genuinely future and development oriented
Fill employees with excitement for the future of the organization
Ensure employees understand how they contribute to the organization as a whole
Consults widely, but decides quickly. Inclusive decision- making

14. How does this compare with OCTC
How does this compare with OCTC? Which behaviours do we think we do well? Which behaviours do staff think we do well? Which behaviours do we need to do more/better?

15. Thank you! Questions and discussion
Monica Helgoth
VP Engagement – TalentMap West
, x515
Norm Baillie-David
SVP Engagement
, x504