Latest News
- Category: Latest News
The world of work is experiencing considerable turbulence. Unavoidable macro forces, such as COVID-19's toll on financial markets, Canada’s aging workforce and management challenges during the pandemic are exerting pressure on organizations and changing work expectations. While change can be daunting, it ultimately offers an opportunity to grow, creating healthier organizational practices and happier employees.
Recently, the Telfer School of Management hosted Dr. Ruth Kanfer, a world-leading expert on work motivation and workforce management from the Georgia Institute of Technology, to speak as part of the annual Distinguished Speaker Series on Thriving Organizations and Societies.
Kanfer reflected on her over 30 years of studying work motivation and how organizations can adapt to change in the post-pandemic era, which led to the following takeaways:
Shifting from a job design model to a workplace design model can increase competitiveness
Creating value for organizations starts with recognition of employees as life-long learners who continue to develop skills, interests and goals, and the adaption of jobs so that they grow as employees. This workplace design model can sustain organizations’ competitiveness and ability to adapt to market changes. In contrast, a job design model may prevent organizations from learning from their workforce.
Embracing the notion of nonlinear careers helps retain talent
The modern day workforce is highly educated, and potential employees wish to continue to learn and grow. Thus, younger generations’ career trajectories resemble the branches of a tree rather than a straight line. Creating programs that appeal to this desire, such as sabbaticals, special projects and opportunities to mentor junior colleagues, can help retain top talent while nurturing and diversifying employee skillset.
Viewing ongoing training as a long-term investment contributes to a firm’s success
Organizations need to consider training as an essential long-term investment to foster sustainable careers. Rather than offering “one-and-done” training, organizations must continually reflect and adjust training to fit employees’ ever-changing needs and motives. Since few careers are linear, training should open the door to new career paths within the organization.
The secret of thriving organizations
The future of workforce management requires organizations to accept the fundamental nature of employees as ever evolving and to adopt more nimble organizational practices that accommodate this dynamism.
For Kanfer, while change can be difficult, adapting to the challenges of the 21st century will require some creative thinking and problem solving. Organizations that can assess challenges and act accordingly will not only gain a competitive advantage, but also put the conditions in place to help their employees thrive.
About the Distinguished Speakers Series on Thriving Organizations and Societies
This annual lecture series provides an opportunity for students, professors, practitioners and members of the community to learn from world-renowned researchers sharing ideas on topics related to building meaningful organizations and thriving societies.
The workforce has been changing and so has the nature of work. As the Thriving Organizations and Societies research group at Telfer examines the impact of these changes on our workforce, organizations and society, it also seeks a better understanding of thriving, that is, greater well-being and performance. Research conducted on this multidisciplinary and timely topic by the group will look beyond productivity and financial performance to the conditions that encourage or hinder thriving environments.
About the Authors
Jane O’Reilly, Associate Professor and Telfer Fellow in Workplace Well-being
Professor O'Reilly’s research examines informal workplace interactions and relationships. Her main research areas are mistreatment and social sexual behaviours in organizations. Her work on third-party mistreatment focuses on how bystanders can help (and sometimes harm) targets of workplace bullying and harassment. She also studies workplace social exclusion as a form of mistreatment, and the ways it can be detrimental to employee well-being. Her research program seeks to understand when social sexual behaviour in the workplace becomes harassment.
Yanhong Li, PhD in Management candidate
Li’s research focuses on courage in the workplace, the work-family interface and employee well-being. Her master’s thesis, supervised by Professor Laurent Lapierre, focuses on factors that contribute to individuals’ work-family enrichment using meta-analyses. Li is currently working on several projects to identify problems related to, raise awareness of, and advocate for equity, diversity, inclusion and employee well-being.
Daniel J. Quintal-Curcic, PhD in Management candidate
Quintal-Cucic's research interests include mental health, intersectionality, leadership and prejudice in the workplace. He is pursuing his doctorate under the supervision of Professor Laurent Lapierre. Recently, Quintal-Cucic's placed as a top 25 finalist in the 2022 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Storytellers Challenge.
- Category: Alumni in the Lead
Telfer alumni Kim Ades (MBA 1993) and Nichole Grenier (BCom 1990) discuss how job candidates can overcome this type of anxiety and instead use genuine, powerful strategies to create a positive impression during a job interview.
Kim Ades: Helping people tackle the fear of being evaluated in a job interview in three steps
Kim Ades, president and founder of Frame of Mind Coaching, received a BA from the University of Ottawa with major in psychology and then decided to pursue an MBA. She was always interested in understanding what triggers anxiety and stress:
“Some of us can experience anxiety when we are preparing for a job interview, an important presentation at work, or a big event in our lives, and expect a negative outcome,” she says.
As an executive coach for nearly two decades, she takes people through a three-step process to overcome the anxiety created by their fears of winning and losing. The first step is to describe what it looks like to experience failure. “I ask people to imagine the worst possible scenario; one where they experience disastrous failure,” says Kim. She then asks them to express their feelings in journal entries that they share with their coach, a task that job candidates often find very difficult.
The second step is not to ignore the difficult feelings that many candidates might experience when preparing for a job interview. Instead, they should face the possibility of failure head on: “I ask people to imagine that they might fail a job interview, and then imagine what it looks like to recover from that failure,” says Kim. Envisioning recovery helps candidates build resilience and strength to handle any negative evaluation they might receive in a job interview.
The final step is to envision complete success. Job candidates are encouraged to imagine what it looks like to step into the interview, successfully answer the interviewers’ questions, and walk away thinking: “That was the best interview I ever had.”
Nichole Grenier: Preparation is the best strategy to show yourself in the best light
Nichole Grenier, founder of Grenier Executive & Business Coaching, graduated from Telfer with a major in accounting. She became a certified accountant and after many years’ working in the field, she was asked why she kept focusing on people instead of numbers. Her passion to work with people led to a career shift to human resources and to her becoming a certified coach.
Nichole believes that when studying the impact of anxiety on interview performance, coaches, and researchers should not only look at personality, but also on how culture, gender, and age affect how individuals cope with the fear of being evaluated. “The interview setting is very stressful, and people can react very differently to this specific situation.” For Nichole, there are many ways for individuals to position themselves as suitable candidates for the job, but the key to success is preparation and practice. This includes mock interviews with family, friends, or a coach:
“Preparing well is what allows you to show yourself in the best light,” she says.
Nichole asks candidates to do some research on the organization and its work culture: “What is the culture and how will I fit in? For example, should I be prepared to dress for an office environment that is more formal or more relaxed?”
She also advises candidates to carefully examine the job description and identify the key competencies required for the job. This can indicate what the employer is looking for and guide the employee in showing that they are capable, competent, and have experience in performing that type of work. “Even if you don’t have a specific example to illustrate that you developed a competency, you can think about transferable skills you developed in a previous job.”
Kim and Nichole share tips to help job candidates impress the interviewer with honesty
Kim and Nichole also commented on a new study coauthored by Silvia Bonaccio, a full professor at the Telfer School of Management. The research suggests that some anxious job candidates are more likely to use deceptive strategies to impress the interviewer. Both alumni offered valuable recommendations to help all candidates make a positive—and honest—impression during a job interview:
Back up exuberant statements with tangible facts
Kim believes that extroverts who wish to impress the interviewer do not need to “turn down” their extraversion when describing their success. However, she advises them to support their accomplishments with tangible, supportable facts, such as “I increased the company’s revenues by 50% last year.”
Show your credibility and impact
Nichole advises candidates to be prepared to tell stories based on past performance. Ideally, for every story, candidates should also provide a reference who can back up their story and prove to the interviewer that they have credibility and are suitable candidates for the job. Another way to leave a great first impression with the interviewer is to tell your most impactful stories. “Maybe you recently optimized the process of an entire company with 1,000 employees.”
Curiosity and interest go a long away
For those candidates who rank low on extraversion, Kim thinks that there is nothing wrong with being an introvert. “As an introvert, I think that sometimes curiosity and interest trump being outgoing.” When job candidates show they are honestly interested in the organization and their work, “employers will be able to evaluate their readiness, and their fit for the role, as opposed to whether or not they rank high on extraversion,” she adds.
Be confident
Nichole reinforces that introverts should show confidence during the interview. Candidates should recognize their ability to collaborate with teams and be inclusive when referring to team accomplishments, but it is equally important to use I statements to show how they contributed to the team. “The interviewer will want to know what you did to promote teamwork, so you can say we (the team) went for a mountain bike trip but use I did this if you were the person who planted the idea of the trip.” Downplaying these contributions can be too risky, especially if candidates are applying for a leadership position.
Make sure your actions reflect your vision
Kim often asks candidates how they would like to be seen and if their actions correspond with that vision. “A lot of times people behave in ways that clash with their desired outcomes; it is important to help job candidates understand that the action of stretching the truth doesn’t necessarily lead to the outcome they are looking for.” Nichole agrees that if anyone believes that they should stretch the truth to land the ideal job, then they should consider coaching to develop skills to resist the temptation to use deception. “Being manipulative or cunning can be a great skill if you are applying for a job as a bank robber,” she jokes.
You are also in a position of evaluating
Kim advises candidates to run their own mental interview with the company based on what they learn during the recruitment process. Nichole believes that if they do their research well, they will be prepared to ask the right questions and understand if this organization is the right fit for them.
Are you looking for a job but experience interview anxiety? Prepare, practice, and overcome your fears of being evaluated during an interview.
Kim Ades, of Frame of Mind Coaching, developed a coaching methodology to help executives and entrepreneurs become more effective leaders. Learn more about Kim
Nichole Grenier, of Grenier Executive & Business Coaching, offers customized coaching to groups, teams, and individuals to unlock potential, remove barriers, and maximize performance. Learn more about Nichole
- Category: Latest News
Successful in her career, Maria McKay (Telfer MBA, 2012) is a caring mentor and a true agent of change for her clients in the public sector and for the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities and beyond. Maria is a Senior Manager in KPMG's People & Change Advisory Services Practice. She grew up in an environment where differences of opinions and ideas were encouraged and seen as a strength. Throughout her life, she lived according to the values of promoting good, both for herself and others around her, by standing up for what’s right and supporting people to do the same.
Maria was adopted as a small child by two people she considers to be her original allies: “I am very lucky to have been raised by thoughtful, humanist parents,” shared Maria. Her late father was a United Church Minister who shared his beliefs about social justice and inclusion with her growing up: “My dad grew up in New Glasgow and told me about a teenage experience he had there when a Black woman refused to leave a Whites-only area of the local movie theatre, and the disgust he felt at the violence against her that ensued. I only figured out who this incredible woman was in 2016 when Tim Harper of the Toronto Star wrote a story about the heroine, whom he suggested should be put on our new $10 bill (Viola Desmond), which was the same story my dad had told me as a child. My dad would have been absolutely thrilled at the ultimate decision to put Ms. Desmond on our new currency! This early experience may have been part of the reason why Martin Luther King and the US Civil Rights Movement had such a profound influence on my father, and was why he chose to study in Boston, where my parents met me.” Despite hopes to the contrary, Maria’s parents were powerless when she was on the school ground, and she had many early, difficult personal experiences of exclusion and racism. However, this opened Maria’s eyes to observe human behaviour from many different angles and led to her interest in the study of groups and organizational values and norms, or cultural anthropology.
After completing her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Cultural Anthropology and History, and later her Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) in Canada, Maria’s career took her back to the United States East Coast and the cities of Atlanta and Boston. She worked at McKinsey & Company as a Research Analyst and as a Strategic Market Intelligence Analyst at EY. Her strong strategic research and analysis capabilities combined with her interest in working with others made a career as a management consultant seem like a perfect fit. At least, that’s what Gregory Richards, Director of Telfer’s Executive MBA program, thought back in 2011 when Maria showed interest in pursuing an MBA.
Telfer MBA: A Life-Changing Decision
Maria decided to come back to Canada and pursue her Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Telfer. We have Gregory Richards, Cognos Professor of Performance Management at the time, to thank for it: “At the time, we interviewed everyone who applied to the MBA program. Maria had non-consulting experience at McKinsey and EY,” recalled Professor Richards. “After talking with her, it struck us that she had the analytical, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills to become an excellent consultant. I think we might have asked her why she hadn’t considered consulting before given her professional background.”
Maria shared how she chose to pursue her MBA at the University of Ottawa: “Greg Richards is a big part of the reason why I picked uOttawa. I wanted to study with an expert in strategy and performance management and my big brother strongly recommended Greg. I also did not have a long history of having had Black professors as I only had two as an undergraduate at U of T . In my MLIS I did not have any Black professors, but the school was incredibly supportive of my interests including my final project, a comprehensive bibliography that detailed the history and experiences of Black American librarians. I learned a great deal from all my professors at Telfer, and especially Gregory Richards and Gerard Brathwaite-Sturgeon, who is an expert in organizational behaviour and HR. And in the end, Greg was right, and I ended up doing very well in my consulting course.”
A proud mentor and teacher, Professor Richards saw Maria excel in the program: “Her work in the MBA program showed her capabilities to not only solve problems, but to work collaboratively even with people she found to be difficult sometimes. It is good to see that she has become an accomplished consultant post-graduation.”
Maria now has close to twenty years of professional experience. She helps people and organizations to identify desired outcomes and to determine how to realize value through structural cultural and operating model changes. She lives according to the spectrum of belonging that celebrates diversity and inclusion, and she also pushes for anti-racism, equity, and justice. Above all, Maria is passionate about serving clients and other people, and she’s been recognized for her ethics and support of students, professional peers, and newcomers to Canada. Her contribution to the Telfer MBA Mentorship program after graduating is no surprise to all.
A Passion for Mentorship and Coaching
Maria is a mentor in the Telfer MBA Mentorship program, providing useful advice to Telfer MBA students. The program allows current MBA students with the opportunity to interact with an accomplished professional to build their network and seek career advice. “A program like the Telfer MBA mentorship program couldn’t function without people like Maria,” exclaimed Caroline Hannah, Relationship Manager at the Telfer Career Centre. "Maria was a mentor before even joining the program. It all came naturally to her. Throughout her MBA, and following, she would welcome having coffee chats and meetings with students as she enjoyed those connections and guiding others. That’s passion for mentorship.”
Maria does indeed have a strong inclination for mentorship: “I am always on the lookout for somebody who needs my help as a mentor or coach: clients, colleagues, friends, strangers on planes, business school friends. If someone asks me for help, it may be just once or several times, I try to say yes if it makes sense and I have something of value to offer to them,” declares Maria. “I try to be a confidence lifter for others, and especially women and racialized people, as they build their feelings of self-efficacy and self-worth while also building a professional network.”
Mentees of Maria’s start with the end in mind by doing an exercise called ‘the life I want,’ and then they align their personal and career aspirations to their own desired future state. She helps to guide them on setting and achieving goals, and she engages in discussions with them about philosophies on management practices, work-life integration, and professional success. The mentor/mentee relationship might evolve from there, depending on the needs expressed by each mentee.
“A wise business leader shared with me her perspective on the difference between a mentor and a coach. When you are mentor, others learn by direct or indirect ‘osmosis’ when you share your own experiences and hope it inspires them. As a coach, you try to establish conditions for others to see what might be possible and what could be different through their own exertion of energy and effort and then support them as they build their own plan. What happens next is up to them in terms of how much they want to practice their craft and what actions they are willing to take, or which sacrifices they are willing to make to work toward their future life; so sometimes I am a mentor and sometimes I am a coach,” explains Maria.
She has enjoyed her experience as a mentor at Telfer, including helping students get started in their careers: “There is a component to my work at Telfer that involves communication training for newcomers related to learning how to do business in Canada and translating cross-cultural experiences. I have also been able to help some students make connections to employers and make decisions about job offers,” added Maria. “It’s an honour to help them with this, and to have others trust me enough to let me help them think about their future. I’m grateful for this experience, and I’m so glad Caroline Hannah brought me in with open arms.”
Standing Up for Herself to Help Others
With a successful career in consulting and dozens of mentees she has helped, it can be concluded that Maria has always found it easy to help others and advocate on their behalf. During her undergraduate degree she marched on campus and fought against discrimination in a group called ‘United Coalition Against Racism.’ However, it wasn’t until the tragic events surrounding the death of George Floyd in May 2020 that Maria rediscovered her activist roots and the courage to speak out more publicly again against racial injustice.
“One of the leaders at my firm told me last June: ‘You don't have to worry anymore about being labelled an ‘Angry Black Woman’ when you raise important issues – just be yourself,’" said Maria. “I honestly thought I would have to wait until I retired before I could voice strong opinions about racism, bigotry, misogyny, able-ism, and to loudly support Black Lives Matter, Indigenous Lives Matter, LGBTQIA2+, and Mental Health movements amongst others because I did not think the mainstream world would listen. What I realized in the last year is that there are so many people around the world who are as ready for change as I am and that if I speak from the principles of honesty, authenticity, integrity, and love for my fellow humans, there is nothing to fear from speaking the truth on any stage, private or public.”
Inside her firm, Maria is an active member of KPMG’s Black Professional Network and an ally in the National Indigenous People’s Network. She is also a change management leader who seeks to help organizations prepare for a future of work that is ‘inclusive by design.’ “The digital business transformations that were being planned or were underway before the pandemic are necessary to modernize how work is carried out to enable workers to do their jobs more safely and enable the large-scale shift to hybrid and remote work. However, when we introduce automation and AI to enable changes, many of the workers most at risk are women and BIPOC staff. If our guiding principle is to ‘leave no one behind,’ then we must use data and analytics to assess the impact of emerging technologies on workers by race, age, gender, and location before we change anything – and then build a people-centric path to the future for all, especially considering the differential impact of COVID by race and gender,” stated Maria.
According to Maria, without the support of others, it would not be possible to make changes in one’s personal life or career, and that is why she is so invested in being a mentor and coach to others. While she has experienced many challenging periods throughout her life, she has always had people who advocated on her behalf and helped her, so passing it forward comes naturally. It is also why she tries to live by the adage (exact origins unknown), ‘We are not put on earth to see through people – we are put on earth to see one another through,’ Maria concluded: “One of the greatest privileges in my life is to have mentees share their hopes and aspirations related to the life they want with me. It is fulfilling beyond words to serve others by helping them articulate their own vision, plan the required steps to get there, and then cheer them on as they make moves toward achieving their dreams.”
- Category: Student Announcements
Telfer School of Management Bachelor of Commerce students Joy Xu, Leah Salzman, Lina Salama and Madison Woo, better known by their collective pseudonym “Employees of the Month” at the competition, brought recognition to the program by winning 1st place at the 5th annual Diversity and Inclusion Case Competition. In all five years since the competition’s founding, a Telfer team has won first place each time, with “Employees of the Month” representing Telfer at the fifth edition. The competition took place last Saturday, February 29th, at Export Development Canada (EDC), one of the founding partners of the event.
The group’s ideas, which the judges found to be refreshing and grounded in the reality of today’s world, earned them a shared $5,000 prize that was presented at the evening awards gala. This was the first year that the competition was open to not only MBA students, but also to third and fourth-year undergraduate students. The latter showed they were up for the task, as two of the four finalist teams came from undergraduate programs.
A new edition this year in the spirit of renewal and innovation, this fifth edition of the competition started on Friday evening, February 28th, at a networking launch event at Bayview Yards. An interactive activity hosted by second founding partner, Deloitte, was definitely the highlight of the evening, according to many participants. The Deloitte Greenhouse team offered the students who were present an opportunity to attend four workshops that were each as useful as the next. Participants were invited to discuss real diversity and inclusion issues both in the workplace and in everyday life.
For this year's competition, which could count on the support of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) for the first time, the participants received the case analysis two weeks in advance, which marked a new direction for the case competition. Twelve teams from 10 different universities across Canada had to develop a strategy to recruit, retain, and develop employees of visible minority groups working for the Bank of Canada (the official author of the case study) by highlighting barriers to equal access.
According to Professor Catherine Elliott, Director of the Telfer MBA program, this new format enabled the teams to bring more depth in their analyses and increase the quality of the cases in the first round of presentations. “The bar keeps getting higher!” said Catherine; “Diversity and inclusion is now part of CEOs’ vocabulary, and is receiving more and more visibility as a topic in businesses. We can expect to host more teams and businesses involved in this subject, as a result, for the years to come.
The Competition
The purpose of the first part of this case analysis, which was presented before an audience for the first time this year, was to select four teams for the final round. This is where Joy Xu’s team stood out from the crowd, and this time the finalists had only 75 minutes to prepare before tackling a new problem posed by the Bank of Canada regarding employment equity data.
“Everything we learned in case resolution was really helpful to us, and each of us was able to put our own resources to work for the team, to determine exactly what employees needed”, Joy told us in the moments following the “Employees of the Month” victory. There was also the fact that two team members had to join the team just a few weeks before the start of the competition, and so the four of them were particularly pleased with this excellent outcome.
Another Telfer team, composed of Aditya Bhatkal, Allison Caverly, Camille Sigouin and Lisa Filter, all four MBA students, also performed well on the first round, but were unable to qualify for the final. The classmates were still happy to have had the experience and pleased with their presentation to the judges.
Competition Winners:
1st Place: Telfer School of Management, uOttawa, BCom
2nd Place: Schulich School of Business, York University, MBA
Tied for 3rd Place:
Memorial University of Newfoundland, Undergraduate; and
DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, MBA
The steering committee is already planning the 6th edition of the event, which will take place in early 2021. Any organization with an interest in diversity and inclusion issues and topics is invited to contact the Telfer Graduate Programs Office to discuss possible participation in next year’s competition at:
- Category: Telfer Announcements
The pressure of going back to school and managing your time for a new year and semester after the holidays can feel overwhelming. It is important to take the time to ensure that you’re staying healthy and organized to avoid major stress and exhaustion.
Here are some management tips for success this semester:
1. Take care of yourself: Self-care is more than a weekly face mask! Taking care of your mental and physical health is key to success in every facet of your life:
- Sleep: You’ve probably heard it a hundred times, but the importance of sleep cannot be stressed enough. Get at least 7 hours per night to have a well-functioning brain by the morning. Read the benefits of a good night’s rest in this Medical News Today article.
- Hydrate: When you’re thirsty, drink water. When you’re bored, drink water. When you’re tired, drink water. There is never a bad time to drink water! Try to always have a reusable water bottle with you, which you can refill at our many water stations across campus.
- Mental health: Be sure to prioritize your mental health, because a healthy mind makes a healthy you. The University of Ottawa offers a variety of mental health counselling services including therapy, workshops, and group sessions. Check the uOttawa Mental Health and Wellness website to keep up with their schedule of free events such as yoga, reiki, and pet therapy.
- Exercise: You already know this, but exercise is essential for a healthy body and mind. Here’s a list of super easy ways to stay active throughout the busy semester, like taking the stairs over elevators.
- Eat well: The key to a nutritious diet is variety. Be sure to have a ton of colours on your plate from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and proteins. Get more information on eating well and tips for a balanced diet from the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
2. Get organized: Organization is more than colour-coding your accounting notes. There are simple tasks and tools to keep you on track for success.
- Set goals: Set short and long-term goals for your personal and professional development. Take it a step further by writing down and tracking the little steps that will lead you to achieve your bigger goals.
- Use a planner: Whether it’s a hand-held agenda or a digital calendar, it can be super helpful to have a visual representation of your upcoming deadlines, meetings, and events. Check out this list of some of the top calendar apps for 2020.
- Prioritize and reprioritize: Now that you have your scheduled planned, you can figure out what are the most important things to work on every day. Even after you’ve decided these priorities, situations might change and you might need to reprioritize - that’s okay! The ability to be flexible enough to adapt your to-do list when needed is a great skill that you will use throughout your career.
3. Meet with an Academic Specialist: As a Telfer student, you have access to professionals who specialize in helping you plan your BCom degree and career path afterwards.
- Changing your course sequence: Don’t worry if you need to make changes to your course sequence. Whether you want to ensure you have all the credits to graduate on time or faster, change your specialization, or go on international exchange, our Academic Specialists can help you to plan all your semesters so that you take the right courses at the right time.
- Sign up for a meeting: Set up a chat with a Telfer Academic Specialist at the Student Services Centre to discuss your academic progress. Visit the offices at DMS1100, give them a call at (613) 562-5805, or send them an email at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
Whether you want to adopt a new lifestyle or simply implement baby steps towards change, we wish you all the best with your growth and learning in 2020!
Subcategories
Student Voices
The following article was written by a member of our student community. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Telfer School of Management. For more information or to flag inappropriate content, please