Search Profile Director, Talent Development

Search Profile

Director, Talent Development

Company Description

The North West Company is a leading retailer, servicing underserved rural communities and urban neighbourhood markets in northern and western Canada, rural Alaska, the South Pacific islands, and the Caribbean. They have a rich, enterprising legacy as one of the longest continuing retail enterprises in the world with their roots tracing back to 1668.

North West stores include the Northern, NorthMart, AC Value Centre, Cost-U-Less and Giant Tiger banners and offer a broad range of products and services with an emphasis on food, but also including family apparel, housewares, appliances, and outdoor products as well as services such as quick-service prepared food, fuel, post offices, pharmacies, various financial services, and commercial business sales.

They are one of the best small market retailers in North America with their success being built on the core strengths of respecting local values and forging community partnerships; having an everyday community presence with hard-to-replicate skills, insights and facilities; and their logistics expertise in moving product to, and operating stores within, remote or difficult-to-reach markets.

With a vision to bring products and services to communities that help people live better, North West is continually looking for solutions to offer the widest possible range of products and services that meet our customers’ everyday needs. Their dedication to their customers and communities extends to their employees for whom they want to provide a fulfilling place to work based on their core values of Customer Driven, Enterprising, Passion, Accountability, Trust, and Personal Balance. For their shareholders, they have demonstrated a commitment to deliver superior, top-quartile total returns over the long term.

To learn more about The North West Company’s stores, click here

The Role

The North West Company is seeking a Director of Talent Development, to lead an international team of 11, focused on the design and delivery of innovative organization, leader and employee development solutions.

The successful candidate will enable business growth by improving leaders’ and employees’ performance through the development of organizational capabilities needed to support our culture, corporate strategy, and the Company’s competitive business advantage. This role reports to the Vice President Human Resources and is located in North West’s Winnipeg corporate office.

Candidate Success Factors

This is a critical role in the Company’s continued success and growth and is supported by the executive team. This role will be measured by achieving the following success factors:

 Developing and implementing:

o A Talent Management Plan aligned to the HR Strategy;

o Comprehensive leadership development practices at all management levels to enable the effective execution of the NWC Management System and achievement of strategic initiatives;

o Role specific training programs to build capabilities and meet operational execution standards in store, distribution centre and corporate office environments;

o Effective and efficient performance management process including performance planning, monitoring, coaching, assessment and development; and,

o Career development programs that offer career path alternatives, build organizational capability and improve employee engagement and retention.

 Leading the creation and sustainment of high quality and cost efficient programs, systems, processes, policies and tools that enable talent assessment and development of individuals and teams;

 Building organizational bench strength by designing, implementing and facilitating a succession management process that identifies and develops high potential talent to fill key roles;

 Designing a workforce planning process and coordinating the creation of plans to establish the talent needs of the company and how these needs will be met;  Assisting business managers to create organization structure designs aligned

to Management System principles;

 Measuring and assessing the effectiveness and business impact of all talent management programs to ensure intended outcomes are being achieved and improvement opportunities are identified;

 Remaining abreast of industry talent management trends and best practices. Sharing key learning and insights, providing expert advice and thought leadership, and identifying opportunities to adopt best practices;

 Ensure learning and development solutions are based on adult learning principles and appropriate instructional design/delivery methodologies;

 Leading, coaching and developing the Talent Development team to ensure the members are aligned, capable and engaged to execute the Talent Development Plan;

 Working collaboratively with HR partners to develop and implement integrated HR solutions supporting the corporate strategy and business needs;

 Working with business leaders to determine manager and employee development needs, design solutions and implement;

 Managing the use of learning and development systems and technology to assist in the execution and assessment of learning and development programs;  Providing key analytics related to talent development that assist managers to

make effective people decisions;

 Managing vendor relationships to ensure products and services meet quality standards and are relevant. Acting as a liaison between vendors and the business, as required; and,

 Managing Talent Development expenses to budget targets and continually seeking opportunities to improve team productivity and cost efficiency of solutions.

Location

 Winnipeg, Manitoba

Experience

Given the role this individual will play in the company’s future growth and success, it is essential that the successful candidate possess the following education, experience, and personal characteristics:

Education

 A Bachelor degree in Human Resources, Organization Design, Organizational Psychology, Business, or related field; graduate level degree preferred; and,  HR Certification or adult education certificate is an asset.

Experience

 Minimum of 10 years’ experience in progressive talent and/or organizational development;

 Experience developing and facilitating training programs and curriculum using various methodologies;

 Minimum 5 years team leadership experience;

 Prior experience in a customer service environment; retail industry experience is an asset;

 Vendor management experience;

 Excellent presentation skills; someone who can interact with a wide variety of external and internal groups;

 Proven ability to connect Talent Development strategy to business drivers;  Proven project management skills with experience in planning, organizing and

 Proven capability to design and deliver leadership and employee development programs;

 Expert knowledge of adult learning principles, as well as curriculum design and delivery methodologies;

 Demonstrated ability to successfully apply OD theory to real-world business situations;

 Demonstrated organizational change agent including ability to influence and lead cultural change through leadership and learning strategies;

 Proven ability to lead, mentor, and engage a geographically diverse team; and,  Strong track record of delivering sustainable results that are strategic and

solution focused and aligned with business drivers.

Personal Characteristics

 Someone who is passionate about their work and the impact their work has on the Company;

 Someone who is innovative and big picture oriented, but can manage the details required to execute without fault;

 Someone who is exhilarated by a challenge;

 Someone who is charismatic, and who inspires and influences others easily;  Someone who is practical and takes responsibility for their actions and those of

their team;

 Someone who has a demonstrated initiative and motivation to continuous improvement of process and delivery;

 Someone who is flexible, adaptable and resourceful to adapt to a constantly changing environment;

 Someone who has a natural customer service orientation;

 A credible leader with executive presence and mature interpersonal skills who is comfortable working with and influencing senior leaders;

 Ability to effectively summarize and present complex information to various audiences;

 Strong interpersonal and communication skills in conjunction with the proven ability to develop strong relationships at all levels across the Company;

 Business presence complemented with personal drive, a solution orientation, resourcefulness, maturity, integrity, and sound business judgment;

 Strong consultative skills; and,

Attractions

 The opportunity to build and implement leading Talent Development programs in a fully supported environment and a values led company;

 The opportunity to build a team of results driven Talent Development specialists;

 The opportunity to work for a successful, forward thinking company;

 The opportunity to make a real and meaningful contribution to the organization;  The opportunity to work with a company that truly lives it values;

 The opportunity to work in an environment that supports a work-life-balance, accountability based leadership and employee engagement; and,

 The opportunity to work for a company that is depended upon for its services in the communities it serves.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

BluEra

Suite 200, 116 8 Avenue SW Calgary, AB T2P 1B3

Kimberly Smith Phone: 403.817.0981

[email protected]

Shahauna Siddiqui Phone: 403.817.0999