The Great Canadian
LEADERSHIP
Podcast

Get ready for "The Performance Review" - that time of year when emotions run high and the impact on your organization and employees is significant. In this episode, we delve into how you can make this meeting engaging, clear, and respectful, ensuring it has a positive ripple effect. With the evolving work environment and the rise of hybrid setups, the performance review holds even greater weight.
How the review is conducted determines the effectiveness. This is the opportunity for a manager to put on their coaching hat and see this review as an opportunity to build for the future of the employee, the team, and the organization.
Join our host, Joel Silverstone, as he equips you with the necessary tools to conduct a motivating and actionable review that benefits both sides. Learn the strategies, dos, and don'ts, and have the confidence to deliver a performance review that leaves a lasting, positive impression in this episode: "Performance Reviews Can Be Great…Seriously".

Have you been trying to get your teams from good to great? Improve how they collaborate, communicate, and achieve goals, plus balance productivity and morale? Wondering what’s the best way they can use Microsoft Teams? What team building activities and skills can help? You’re not alone. That’s why we created this episode, the combination of technical and soft skills to guide you in bringing out the best in your organization’s teams.
We’re thrilled to have as our Guest Host Jon Neuhold, Co-Owner of Great Canadian Training , interviewing Senior Software Instructor Christine Irons and Senior Professional Skills Facilitator Joel Silverstone. There is a gap in using technical capabilities of Microsoft Teams – but technical skills on their own aren’t enough. You need team building skills to match them.
This episode is part of our podcast series on Teams, helping you to be engaged and respectful in collaborating and working together towards a common purpose and goals. We discuss:

• The elements to successful teams.
• The tools and activities teams need to be using.
• The qualities that make teams great.
• The best ways to use Microsoft Teams.

Our Guest Christine Irons is Great Canadian Training’s lead software instructor and courseware designer. Christine worked in Human Resources at York University in Toronto for over 20 years as an instructional designer, trainer, and learning specialist. As a certified master Microsoft instructor, Christine brings an extensive knowledge of Adult Learning Theory to her work, whether it’s designing and delivering live classes or creating e-learning that truly teaches.

Picture this: The team is getting together and… stuff is getting done! The team members (including you) feel heard, respected and want to contribute. This team is not only being productive, but they are also collaborating with ease.
This episode is “Three Ways to Improve Team Communication”. Our host, Joel Silverstone, shares with you the strategies and activities to better understand yours and others’ communication styles and needs.
How does improved communication impact teams?

• 86% of employees and executives cite the lack of effective collaboration and communication as the main causes for workplace failures.
• When employees are offered better communication skills, productivity can increase by up to 30%.

Listen in, take notes, share the activities with your team (such as designing your own user manual), build your ability to connect quickly with others, and start implementing the three ways to improve team communication. This is episode 1 of our series on the skills teams need for 2023. The next episode is: What Makes Great Teams? Best Ways to Use Microsoft Teams AND Team Building Skills.

The focus of business leaders has been shifting from task- or objective-driven to people-driven. That means soft skills such as effective communication, understanding, and collaboration have become increasingly important to leaders’ abilities.
In this episode, we have a great discussion with our guest Jennifer Lennox, a highly experienced HR leader on why soft skills are crucial in organizations and what leaders can do about it. Jennifer also shares how she found her voice to communicate and influence others and how her leadership career took off from there.
One of the major challenges for leaders is that they often find themselves multitasking and handling different priorities, but what's essential now more than ever is for them to put people first and adopt a whole new leadership style that is people-driven. Finally, as a leader, your presence lingers, and your behaviour is often a topic of discussion at the dinner table. Therefore, it's crucial to be fully present and aware of how your people feel when they are in your presence.
Our guest: Jennifer Lennox is an experienced HR professional and the Vice President of People, Culture and Learning at AutoCanada, a senior leadership position where she collaborates with the Senior Executive team, HR Team, and AutoCanada General Managers to create a world-class company culture.

As a leader, what can you do to find and grow the talent that’s right there in your organization? As an individual, how do you raise your hand to be seen? Discovered? To grow? This episode could have also been called, “We need to be able to take a chance on people”, as we explore the topic of finding and nurturing talent both as a leader and as an individual. Our guest, Nupur Khandelwal, draws on her extensive experience as a leader and as someone who has had advocates for her growth within an organization. We discuss topics such as complacency, mentorship, progress, and perfection. Additionally, we delve into the importance of candor and commitment and explore the mechanisms one can use to be an advocate for others. And find out Nupur’s ‘Ta-da’ moment on the significance of a CN Tower climb in reframing your thoughts. Our Guest: Nupur Khandelwal is helping people and organizations deliver human-centric programs and was nominated for Canada’s Top 40 under 40 Awards. At the LCBO, Nupur is the Director of Talent Management, where she leads enterprise-wide initiatives. Nupur is the co-founder of SheRocks! and contributes as a Board of Director member with the HR Professional Association’s Toronto Chapter.