Speaker Series: Becoming Leaders for Cultural Change

NOTE: Start time is 1pm ET.

The pandemic has changed our relationship with work drastically. As a recovering workaholic myself, also struggling with OCD, I've learned the hard way to find a better sense of balance in my life. A culture centered on openness, kindness and curiosity has been a key for me and my team to change our relationship with work to become a more harmonious part of our lives. 

In this session, you will learn about tools and initiatives that we've implemented since the start of the pandemic and others that are currently being reviewed for the 3 years to come at our school. Biweekly meetings to discuss avoidance behaviours, the creation of safe spaces when employees can really express themselves to managers, job design processes to reduce the workload of overwhelmed employees, investing in professional development with LinkedIn Learning and meditation apps have helped to improve the wellbeing of our employees. This has allowed us to take more time to work on real important projects that are not urgent and meaningful for us.

Other initiatives are also being reviewed to improve the wellbeing of employees, including the implantation of 4-hour work weeks, gym membership coverage and exercise/meditation apps.

Presented by Samuel Gagnon - St. Francis Xavier University

Sam has been a part of the summer accommodations & conference team at StFX University for the last 5 years. In his first years, he introduced a new yield management system to maximize profits from residence rentals, developed a new program for commercial housing on campus and built a large social media infrastructure for all the Ancillary services provided by the school. At the beginning of the pandemic, he realized the extent of his workaholic issues and decided to change his professional & personal lifestyle. His biggest passion is now to improve the quality of life of people, so that they find purpose at work and balance in their lives. To do this, he joined a cultural review committee in 2021, designed to create a self-actualizing culture where people are free to express their concerns openly, dare to ask for more flexible conditions of work and collaborate together by finding ways to include those that are less prone to talk openly about ideas to improve the department. This led him to create strategic plans for all the different areas of operations on campus to improve processes, determine activities that could be abandoned or identify new actions that had to be taken to continue the growth of the organization. At this moment, he’s working on a project to design new creative solutions to improve the well being of employees, including the implementation of a 4-day workweek where possible and offering time for employees to exercise during regular work hours. He is now a true believer that real productivity is fostered by organizations maximizing the well being of their employees so they are able to bring their best contributions at work.