Three focus areas

Within Theme 1, the following three focus areas emerged as important to employees across SHCS.

A shared vision

A vision is the image of our organization that we’re all striving toward. Our commitment is to develop and communicate a clear 5-year vision for everyone in SHCS.

Why this matters

A clear vision will help ensure strategic alignment across all levels of SHCS and unify everyone towards the bigger purpose. It will inform decision-making, goal setting, and help us measure success. More profoundly, it will create purpose, inspiring and empowering each of us to help build a more engaged, fulfilling, and positive workplace culture.

Actions

• Ongoing: Update departmental 5-year plans annually to ensure continued alignment with UBC plans.
• Complete: Create a draft of the 5-year vision and mission.
• Complete: Facilitate broad consultation within SHCS to finalize the 5-year vision, ensuring alignment with relevant UBC plans (i.e., Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Wellbeing, Indigeneity).
• Ongoing: Provide clear and regular communication of the vision and mission.
• Complete: Develop unit and departmental 5-year plans.
• Complete: Share unit and departmental 5-year plans with SHCS employees.

Clarity in governance and decision-making

Our commitment is to ensure clarity on decision-making and governance, at the unit level (i.e., SHCS), departmental level (i.e., Bookstore, Food Services, etc.), the division level (i.e., areas within a department) and at the individual level for each employee.

Why this matters

Effective decision-making empowers the right individuals to make the right decisions at the right time, while also driving efficiency and accountability. By clearly outlining expectations and requirements, an effective decision-making process will help contribute to employee satisfaction: with a clear understanding of workplace and performance expectations, employees will be empowered to deliver.

Actions

• Complete: Identify gaps and barriers to clear and efficient decision-making at all levels of the organization.
• Ongoing: Create and effectively communicate decision-making processes.

Senior leadership excellence

Our commitment is to build and maintain a more cohesive, high-functioning senior leadership team.

Why this matters

The leadership team has a critical influence on SHCS workplace culture. When the leadership team is united in a common purpose, collaborating effectively and performing at their highest capacity, they provide inspiration and direction for everyone in their department and across SHCS.

Actions

• Complete and ongoing: Build a more cohesive, collaborative, and aligned senior leadership team, committed to our shared vision.
• Complete and updated annually: Design and implement a tangible and targeted plan to support the team in achieving this goal. This plan is a living document that is updated annually to describe the successes of the previous year and define new and ongoing goals and aspirations for the next 5 years.