COMMUNICATIONS AND LEADERSHIP LEARNING
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2023
Tough Talks - Managing Difficult Conversations with Employees
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
One of the most challenging aspects of being a manager or owner is dealing with difficult conversations with employees. Whether it's discussing performance issues, addressing conflicts, or delivering bad news, these conversations can be uncomfortable and stressful for both parties. However, avoiding tough talks can lead to bigger problems down the line, such as decreased morale, productivity, and employee turnover. That's why it's important for owners and managers to have effective strategies in place for managing tough talks with employees.
Speakers
Tara Landes
Tara Landes has spent over two decades working directly with the leaders and management of dozens of North American small and mid-sized enterprises. She is the founder and president of Bellrock Benchmarking Inc., a Vancouver-based management consulting firm. Bellrock helps business leaders solve their toughest problems. Permanently. She is also a highly sought after speaker. Tara earned an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business in 2000. When she is not helping clients, you’ll find her on a boat in the Gulf Islands of British Columbia, reading a great book while her husband and sons fish.
Investing in Leaders to Bolster and Sustain Bold Climate Actions in BC
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
The Zero Emission Innovation Centre (ZEIC) is a charitable organization dedicated to market transformation and enabling zero carbon communities and economies across the region and province. We advance urban climate solutions in the green building, transportation, and renewable energy sectors through (1) partnerships and collaborations, (2) impact investment, (3) granting, and (4) education, training, and capacity-building. Our programs build leadership capacity and empower practitioners and policy-makers to make progress towards 2030 emissions reduction targets. This presentation will highlight ZEIC programs, resources and insights relevant to engineers seeking to advance decarbonization in their professional practice.
Speakers
Melina Scholefield, P.Eng.
Melina is a progressive, collaborative and forward-thinking leader with over two and a half decades of experience as a civil-environmental engineer in both the public and private sector. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director of the Zero Emissions Innovation Centre (ZEIC), a non-profit charitable organization driving climate action in Metro Vancouver and BC's building, transportation, and renewable energy sectors. Melina is also an instructor at Simon Fraser University, specializing in green infrastructure and urban water management. Melina has a passion for community-building, sustainability and innovation and extensive experience leading integrated and inter-disciplinary portfolios related to climate mitigation and adaptation, green buildings, transportation, green infrastructure, and water resource management. She has received numerous accolades for her leadership and impact, including the Water Steward of the Year from the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association and YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Environmental Sustainability. In 2023, Melina was honored with the Royal Roads University Chancellor’s Award and Founders’ Award for her leadership and commitment in advancing sustainability, equity, diversity and inclusion. Melina holds graduate certificates in Values-based Leadership and Change Management, along with a Master of Arts in Leadership specializing in Executive Leadership from Royal Roads University.
Burnout - Helping the Individual and Helping the Workplace
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Burnout is becoming an issue of concern. Media reports highlight health care workers leaving their employer or leaving the profession entirely due to burnout, lack of work-life balance, poor workload management, inadequate rewards, etc. Others experience burnout as family obligations and their workplace seem to be in constant transition and uncertainty. And workplace leaders endeavour to balance the goals and needs of their organization with an economy and workforce that are changing rapidly. To address these challenges, we need to consider how to help the individual who seems to be experiencing burnout (which could be ourselves!), how to support the team leader, and in particular, how to improve workplace factors that influence psychological health and safety.
Speakers
Margaret Tebbutt
Margaret delivers workshops and conference presentations on mental health and psychological health and safety in the workplace. She also serves on the Advisory Committee to the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. As Senior Consultant to the Canadian Mental Health Association from 2005 – 2013, Margaret managed workplace initiatives including the national Bottom Line Conferences. Prior to 2005, she held positions as Senior Advisor, Executive Development for the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business; Director, Client Service Delivery with Western Economic Diversification Canada; and in Canada’s foreign service at embassies abroad.
Learning from Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Failures
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Failures present an opportunity to acknowledge, understand and learn. This workshop will present some common Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) mistakes and/or gaps in the form of thought-provoking scenarios. This conversation style and interactive session will allow attendees (Engineers, students, etc) to engage and present their own reflections and viewpoints.
Dr. Rishi Gupta, P.Eng., FEC
Dr. Rishi Gupta is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Victoria. He has previously served as the special advisor to the Dean: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). He is currently the director of the Center for Advanced Materials and Related Technology (CAMTEC). He leads the Facility for Innovative Materials and Infrastructure Monitoring (FIMIM) at UVic. He received both a masters and a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of British Columbia. His current research is focused on studying smart self healing cement-based composites containing supplementary cementitious materials and fiber reinforcement. His areas of interest include development of sustainable construction technologies, structural health monitoring, and non-destructive evaluation of infrastructure. He has more than 20 years of combined academic and industry experience. His industry experience includes working as the Director of Research of Octaform Systems Inc in Vancouver.
Aditi Gupta
Aditi Gupta is the Engineering and Science Librarian at the University of Victoria Libraries. She received her Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of British Columbia in 2004 and has worked in libraries for over 16 years. She is the currently the Visiting Program Officer, EDI for the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL). Aditi’s research interests include equity, diversity and inclusion, and social justice in libraries, inclusive teaching practices, information literacy instruction, and information-seeking behaviours of visible minorities, international students and multicultural populations. Aditi is the past recipient of the ALA Diversity Grant (2015-2016), the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute’s Collaborative Research Grant (2018-2020), NSERC Science Communication Skills Grant (2021-2022) and the Learning and Teaching Support Innovation’s Anti-Racism Grants (2021-2023).