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        2019-01-29T21:58:15+00:00

        Living Core Values

        Living Core Values

        Developing a robust strategic diversity and inclusion framework.

        Working with Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest retail pharmacy chain, and one of the most recognized and admired award-winning retailers, is an opportunity to engage with talented leaders who are dedicated to corporate excellence. 

        When a product brand is a household name, living core values is critically important. Shoppers Drug Mart (SDM) is an important destination for millions of Canadians. SDM is an anchor store that holds a prominent place in every retail cluster; moreover, each store is a vital part of the community it serves in over 1,200 locations.

        So it’s no surprise that at SDM, people are paramount. Owner-managers and employees are connected to the communities around SDM locations, and reflect the culture and values of the community. When it comes to talent recruitment and succession planning, a strategic diversity and inclusion framework is central to living the shared values of SDM and the community.

        Working in close collaboration with SDM senior managers, Diversity Advantage International engaged key stakeholders in corporate and regional offices and within the retail network. Our project connected with the many facets of SDM, including employees, management, associate-owners and their teams.

        Developing, for SDM, a robust strategic diversity and inclusion framework enhances the alignment and operationalization of the SDM business strategy with its talent strategy. Recruitment, retention, development and succession planning are mindful activities that are rooted in its corporate culture.

        SDM executives and senior managers are champions who recognize, and are committed to, optimizing the richness of SDM employees. The diverse skills, experiences, characteristics and perspectives of employees contribute to making SDM an iconic Canadian brand.

        SDM’s talent management strategy also includes their ongoing commitment to our unique B.O.L.D. (Broadening Opportunity Through Leadership Diversity) program.

        “B.O.L.D. is a great development program for diverse leaders that consistently challenged us to redefine our thinking through many unique and non-traditional learning activities. We tapped into the knowledge and experience of what other organizations have accomplished in the area of diversity and inclusion.”
        B. Hong Director - Pricing, Shoppers Drug Mart
        2022-01-31T21:04:57+00:00

        Music’s Biggest Night®

        Music’s Biggest Night®

        Celebrating Music Excellence

        Music’s Biggest Night®, the Annual GRAMMY Awards®, is one of television’s major global broadcast events and ranks as one of the highest-rated and most-watched specials.

        Our long-standing GRAMMY® work, as engaged by Alfred Haber Inc. (AHI), the international distributor, and The Recording Academy*, encompasses a comprehensive annual GRAMMY Awards – Canada Campaign to elevate the brand awareness, engagement and profile of the GRAMMY brand and the prestigious annual GRAMMY Awards. The live GRAMMY televised event celebrates outstanding achievement in the music industry and brings together thousands of creative and technical professionals in the recording industry from all over the world.

        LCI Associates Inc. (LCI)’s established relationship with the prestigious, internationally-recognized GRAMMY Awards is an exciting dimension of our work and an extension of our entertainment industry, media and event experience.

        Utilizing our experience of more than three decades working in media, culture and broadcasting, a stellar range of activities takes place, engaging domestically the broadcast licensee, music labels, industry, retail and media, with a focus to promote the GRAMMY Awards brand across Canada plus showcase Canadian talent – to Canadians and to the world:

        • Win-fly multi-platform contests
        • In-store P.O.P. and promotions
        • Broadcast licensee collaborations and support for the GRAMMY televised events
        • GRAMMY Week
        • GRAMMY-related Special Events creation and management
        • Media and public relations

        To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the GRAMMY Awards in 2008, LCI conceived, managed and produced the signature event, “A Showcase  and Celebration Of Canadian Music Excellence”. This now annual Showcase and Celebration is held during GRAMMY Week in Los Angeles, and is designed to recognize and honour the Canada-U.S. cultural relationship, the legacy of Canadian executive producer Pierre Cossette who brought the GRAMMY Awards to television, the Canadian GRAMMY nominees, and emerging new Canadian artists. Attended by industry executives, dignitaries and celebrities, the event heightens the exposure of the GRAMMY Awards as well as emerging and established Canadian artists through the live featured performances and multi-media coverage.

        We are proud to have, over the years, brought together stakeholders, like the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) and the Canadian Consulate in Los Angeles, as well as secured the support of The Recording Academy®, Canadian broadcasters, music labels, sponsors and media outlets.

        *For more information visit www.grammy.com follow @TheGRAMMYs on Twitter, like “The GRAMMYs” on Facebook, and join The GRAMMYs’ social communities on Google+InstagramTumblr and YouTube.

        2019-01-29T22:05:05+00:00

        B.O.L.D. Ideas

        Call to action for diverse leadership

        Driving innovation and organizational development.

        We are committed to addressing the disconnect between demographic realities and the practice of inclusion and effective utilization of Canada’s diverse talent. In 2010, Diversity Advantage International (DAI) undertook consultations with key talent and employer stakeholders, who consistently raised the critical issue of the under-representation of talent from diverse cultural backgrounds, internationally trained professionals, and Indigenous Peoples.

        Based on the consultations, and in alignment with key research and reporting on the issue of leadership diversity, we launched B.O.L.D. (Broadening Opportunity Through Leadership Diversity). The B.O.L.D. program is designed and delivered by Diversity Advantage international, in collaborative partnership with Schulich Executive Education Centre.

        B.O.L.D. participants embrace this highly interactive program, centered on nine sessions over the eight-month period to meet their leadership goals. The customized executive coaching is an important value add. The B.O.L.D. process also supports the growth and success of companies and organizations and the aspirations of individuals who are positioned to take on leadership roles. Together, we believe that we can tackle one of the biggest challenges to Canada’s future prosperity – advancing leadership diversity into the most senior roles in all sectors.

        Canada’s foremost employers have committed to grow their diverse leadership pipelines and workforce through B.O.L.D. More than a professional development program, B.O.L.D. addresses progress and sustainable impact through data compilation and the tracking of B.O.L.D. leaders for a five-year period.

        B.O.L.D. is committed to driving innovation and organizational development by advancing the careers of diverse leaders. We simultaneously engage both participants and employer-sponsors in “real time” interaction and activities. Structured dialogue supports applied learning, the generation of new ideas, and deeper integration, while firmly grounding value in the organization’s bottom line.

        We are actively working to expand the reach of the B.O.L.D. program to other Canadian cities. An in-house corporate program and scalable versions are available.

        2019-01-29T22:10:20+00:00

        Employers Forum

        DAI logo_1

        A New Paradigm for Leadership Diversity

        An employers forum dedicated to accelerating from good to great.

        As champions of leadership diversity, we have a substantial commitment to convening groups of senior executives and thought leaders. Our experience in strategic partnerships means that when we bring together leaders, with a thought-provoking and provocative agenda, what results is actionable ideas and insights and a clear direction on feasible solutions.

        In January 2013, Diversity Advantage International (DAI) convened over 30 leading diversity thought leaders and champions. CEOs, VPs and Directors responded to a call to action put forth by DAI, along with the Schulich Executive Education Centre and Knightsbridge. This invitation-only employers forum facilitated a discussion on solutions for a transformative Canadian diversity leadership agenda – and a call to action to accelerate culturally diverse executives into executive roles in all sectors.

        Pre-forum consultations generated comments that could be grouped into four themes. Discussion during the forum continued along these lines, providing deeper insights into each area:

        • Establishing the business case,
        • Data and metrics,
        • Targets and incentives, and
        • Training and leadership development.

        Establishing the business case was consistently expressed as connecting diversity to increased competitiveness and the importance of diversity in aiding innovation in thinking. Three critical areas that must all come together to bring about a new paradigm for leadership diversity were explored:

        • Identifying what is required of leaders in order for the organization to be successful in implementing its strategy,
        • Reviewing formal policies, programs, rules and aligning them with diversity goals and objectives, and
        • Establishing the fundamental belief systems that will continue the diversity agenda.

        The forum’s themes transformed into five action areas. We prepared an aide-mémoire as a reflection of the forum and the ideas presented. Forum participants expressed a shared call to action:

        • Change the systems
        • Move from WHY to HOW
        • Movement in upper ranks
        • Address the unconscious bias
        • Rethink risk
        2017-11-03T19:03:28+00:00

        Coaching Leaders

        Coaching Leaders

        The public sector’s commitment to excellence, integrity, respect.

        The federal public service is no exception. With the workforce getting older and a need to be agile in an ever-changing workplace, paramount is supporting senior executives to refine leadership strengths, to motivate and inspire staff, and to achieve individual and organizational success.

        Diversity Advantage International (DAI) provides one-on-one coaching of federal public service senior executives, with an emphasis on strategic situational problem solving, career advancement, legacy planning, and work-life alignment. We employ a strength-based process encompassing neuroscience, mind states and mindfulness, and emotional intelligence.

        One of our client leaders is a long-standing, well-established and experienced senior public servant with a deep commitment to the work, the organization and the community stakeholders. The leader has responsibility for a team in multiple locations in a large geographic region. The environment is fast-paced, with competing priorities, and deadline and output driven.

        The leader’s primary challenge is change management excellence in a time of fiscal restraint and re-engineering within a major department of a large public sector organization. The implications encompass human resources, new or modified processes, data and reporting protocols and funding allocations.

        Regular coaching sessions centre on the client’s agenda. The focus is change management in an environment of “a learning curve for all”. Through the executive coaching process, aspects addressed and positively impacted cover:

        • Transparency and accountability: to all stakeholders
        • Team dynamics: effective collaboration with peers
        • Human resources: staff engagement, moral sustainability, and succession planning
        • Strategic communications: “influential conversations”, meetings, presentations
        • Relationship management: managing up, peers, external stakeholders, influencers
        • Client’s own development and growth

        Application of our client-empowered, outcomes-centred Professional Coaching System with certified coaches has led to positive results. Through a process to elevate and fine-tune executive skills, capabilities, business outcomes and impact, in balance with individual values and goals, the leader identified several achievements, including:

        • Skillful navigation through budget and staffing constraints with positive resolutions;
        • More effective time and talent management resulting in solid team, collaboration and accountability amidst staff attrition;
        • Elevated performance scores with commensurate recognition;
        • Career legacy clarity and mapping; and
        • Improved work-family-life alignment.

        The client today has developed a stronger authentic leadership direction, presence and voice.