Progress Update: 2022
Highlights
Developed 5-year plans
Alignment with Student Plan
Reinvigorated OWC
First in-person staff awards reception
Installed new staff recognition wall
Developed new leader training programs
Progress
Provide clear, regular communication of the SHCS vision and mission
Sharing our Vision and Mission: In 2022, we continued to share our new SHCS Vision and Mission through staff email communications and on the SHCS staff website.
Plus, we integrated it into the criteria for our staff award programs. We will be looking for additional opportunities to raise awareness about the Vision and Mission in 2023.
Build a more cohesive, collaborative, and aligned senior leadership team
UBCO Retreat: In late-2022, we held a retreat at UBC Okanagan for members of the SHCS Leadership Team, where they learned more about the dynamics of workplace culture and participated in activities that fostered connection and alignment, along with individual and collective leadership development.
This retreat also provided members with a first-hand opportunity to learn more about our Okanagan operations.
Develop unit and departmental 5-year plans
5-year plan: In 2022, all operating and support departments developed 5-year plans, which outline current priorities and road maps for the next three years, along with aspirations for the next five; they also highlight intersections and alignment with UBC’s various strategic plans.
These departmental plans are being compiled into a single SHCS 5-year plan document, which will be shared with SHCS employees and the university community in early 2023.
Ensure alignment with relevant UBC plans
Student Strategic Plan: Throughout the development and launch of UBC’s Student Strategic Plan in 2022, we identified over 70 existing initiatives within SHCS that we can leverage to advance the plan’s student strategies: transformative learning, wellbeing and connections.
ARIE Task Force Report: Additionally, we have begun to assess our alignment with UBC’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force report, work that we will continue in 2023.
“Thanks to the effort, dedication and contributions of many colleagues across SHCS, in 2022 we continued to make substantial progress toward the goals established in our People Plan—and in service of our vision to cultivate community, inspire wellbeing and enrich lives.”
— Andrew Parr, Associate Vice-President, SHCS
Theme 2—Build connection and community
Progress
Identify opportunities for cross-departmental interaction
Coaching Conversations: We welcomed two new cohorts of managers and supervisors to the Coaching Conversations course with Jen Dowdeswell, our Manager of Organizational Development and Leadership in 2022, providing 23 of our leaders with a unique and SHCS-specific professional development opportunity.
Sixty managers and supervisors have now participated in this course since its pilot in 2020.
Not Myself Today: We launched Not Myself Today for SHCS employees again this year, from November 2022 to April 2023, and increased opportunities for our ten volunteer ambassadors to collaborate and learn from one other.
Increase participation in workplace enhancement programs
Outstanding Workplace Committee: In 2022, the SHCS Outstanding Workplace Committee (OWC) welcomed a new Chair, department representatives and support members and resumed its monthly emails/posters to SHCS Vancouver staff.
With the return of in-person events, the OWC ramped up its employee engagement efforts, hosting a wide range of events, ticket and photo contests, fundraising efforts, and more.
Create greater equity, inclusion, respect, and mental health literacy
Not Myself Today: We launched Not Myself Today (NMT) for SHCS employees again this year, from November 2022 to April 2023. Our ten volunteer ambassadors are communicating NMT curriculum to their colleagues by email or in-person, depending on what is best suited to their area.
EDI Committee: Two members of our HR team are participating in an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) committee, along with colleagues from across the Vice-President Students portfolio (VPS), to pursue ways of enhancing our EDI efforts related to staff recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training and education.
Define and develop SHCS-wide and department-specific communications approaches
Staff newsletter and memos: As the need for COVID-related ad hoc communications decreased, in early-2022, we redeveloped our SHCS-wide internal communications plan and schedule, which includes a bi-monthly SHCS staff newsletter alternating with memos from Andrew Parr, AVP of SHCS, at key milestones throughout the year.
Staff website: In addition to telling SHCS stories on our blog, we launched a news and updates section to publish shorter-form updates on the staff website—in addition to staff newsletters—to increase access and visibility.
Departmental internal communications: In 2023, we will be working on the development of a more comprehensive and cohesive departmental internal communications plan.
Recognize and reward people for their contributions
Communications: Throughout the year, in addition to recognition through our email newsletter, we highlighted staff awards and recognition through stories, news and updates on the staff website—such as our culinary apprenticeship graduates, a Prime Minister’s Award recipient, industry award recipients, and more.
Awards reception: In April 2022, we hosted our second annual SHCS Awards Reception—and our first in-person—at the University Centre, to honour our Outstanding Contribution, Hero and Long Service Award recipients.
Recognition wall: In October 2022, we installed our new staff recognition wall, which celebrates our SHCS Outstanding Contribution Award and Hero Award recipients in a permanent way, at the SHCS Main Office.
“The People Plan originated from our SHCS colleagues—each of you. I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made toward its goals so far and our collective efforts to make SHCS an even better place to work.”
— Jennifer Dowdeswell, Organizational Development and Learning Manager, SHCS
Theme 3—Develop and engage our people
Progress
Identify and address gaps in the orientation process
Email auto-provisioning: Effective October 2022, staff email accounts are now set up automatically, which improves the onboarding experience by removing manual steps and reducing potential setup delays.
Create new courses for SHCS employees
Coaching Conversations: As mentioned above, 23 leaders in two cohorts participated in our Coaching Conversations course in 2022. New cohorts will begin in early-2023.
Leadership skills training: We made progress toward the development of a comprehensive leadership skills training program.
Support supervisor-employee career progression discussions
Development Conversations: We have now created a Development Conversations training course for managers, which we will pilot with our first cohort of six managers in January 2023.
This program is designed to support managers in having professional development conversations with staff—different from our Coaching Conversations course, which is focused on day-to-day coaching related to an employee’s current position.
Read about our people
Progress highlights: 2020–2021
Theme 1—Create a shared vision and strategic alignment
Create a draft vision and mission
In 2020, the Leadership Team developed and finalized the SHCS Vision and Mission, announcing it in November 2021.
Ensure alignment with relevant UBC plans
The SHCS Leadership Team met with leaders for each of UBC’s strategic plans and identified areas in each where SHCS can take aligned actions. Learn more about how we’re supporting UBC’s strategic plans.
Build a more cohesive, collaborative, and aligned senior leadership team
Both as a result of COVID-19 and by design, the SHCS Leadership Team met with increased frequency in 2020 and 2021 to collaborate and coordinate across departments and campuses.
Theme 2—Build Connection and Community
Recognize and reward people for their contributions
We successfully launched two new staff recognition programs and held our first annual SHCS Awards Reception, where we recognized recipients of these new programs and our Long Service Awards. Plus, we continued to feature staff recognized through UBC award programs on our blog.
Identify and address communications gaps
We provided all current SHCS staff with UBC email addresses and set up a system to ensure that all new staff received an email address as part of their onboarding. Plus, we held regular Town Halls and provided frequent updates via email throughout COVID-19.
Create greater equity, inclusion, respect and mental health literacy
We rolled out the now-annual Not Myself Today program in SHCS, regularly highlighted UBC wellbeing resources, supported employees in completing UBC’s Preventing and Addressing Bullying and Harassment online course, and collaborated with Central HR and UBC at large on anti-racism and inclusion work.
Theme 3—Develop and engage our people
Identify and address gaps in the orientation process
In 2020, we launched an overhauled set of onboarding and orientation processes and resources to ensure a more comprehensive and consistent welcome to SHCS.
Create new courses for SHCS employees
We created a suite of online courses specifically for SHCS staff, and held four Coaching Conversations courses, through which we trained nearly 40 supervisors and managers.
SHCS People Plan: 2020–2025
Your SHCS. Your plan.