NEWS RELEASE
TIMMINS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
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The Chamber launches Next-Gen report, identifies attraction campaign through celebrating young leaders already paving the way in our community
Today, the Chamber launched the Next-generation Leadership Roundtable report in partnership with MNP LLP after close consultation with forty leaders within the membership.
The report outlines key recommendations, borne of the roundtable discussions, that focused on corporate social responsibility, fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, leading change within the business, and the value of business engagement with the community.
These themes were chosen to learn how the Chamber, and the broader business community, can support the new generation of business leaders.
As part of the discussions, entrepreneurs, leaders, and owners and operators shared their barriers to growth and their vision for advancing Timmins' socio-economic landscape.
Some challenges circled around generating employee buy-in when connecting at the community level, how challenges to implementing effective change within the organization derive internally, often with converging family or previous owner relationships, and how new leaders can find it difficult to establish their role if the retiring business owner is still very much involved in the organization.
"Timmins faces challenges in attracting and retaining a new generation of business leaders. With a looming demographic shift as many business owners look to retire, we must address the net outflow of youth from the region by undertaking a campaign effort to address the coming gap," said Melanie Verreault, President of the Chamber.
"While Timmins has much to offer young families, we found that more can be done to celebrate and support those who have decided to call Timmins home as a means to an effective community attraction initiative."
The report offers the following four key recommendations to any new or established leader:
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Cultivate community and employee engagement by collaborating broadly. Identify ambassadors from within the organization who can act as powerful agents to promote and foster community engagement. This will allow employees to broaden their networks and form deeper connections with the community, leading to a higher retention rate. To help leaders promote community engagement, non-profits and charities should better connect with organizations and highlight those already engaged in providing greater opportunities to connect and grow their volunteer base.
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Implement change through balance and inclusion by undertaking organizational shifts with a balanced, measured approach that reflects the landscape and fits the digital age while keeping succession planning at the forefront. Gaining trust and ensuring employee buy-in is derived from transparency, diversity and inclusion, and leveraging existing knowledge and skills from within and growing an external network is equally important.
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Make the right shift by adopting a leadership mindset. Securing critical strategies and frameworks within the organization allows for a more rapid response to an ever-changing market. Encouraging upskilling by investing and celebrating life-long learning opportunities at all layers of the operation will ensure future leadership is developed.
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Champion hyper-localized initiatives by internalizing long-standing ties that have been formed over the business' history and assess how they can be adapted to fit a new generation of workers and consumers. When a new leader understands how they can apply the mission, vision, and value statements to fit localized needs, they can dovetail these core values to apply to community initiatives.
"I would like to extend the Chamber's gratitude to MNP for supporting the project and to all those involved in the initial consultation, including our roundtable chairs," added Verreault.
"The next generation of business leaders exhibit talent and passion. Harnessing that talent and celebrating new business leaders within our community will undoubtedly produce an attraction and retention campaign as an unintended but impactful by-product. To grow our community, we must first know our community and promote success stories internally."
To view the Next-generation Leadership Roundtable report, visit: https://bit.ly/2HgRoEM
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