Strategic Thinking Times
Haines Centre for Strategic Management
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Jim McKinlay

Recent Public and Private Sector Client Projects

During 2003-06, Jim was directly involved as the Lead Consultant on the following projects with Public Sector, Private Sector and Not-for-Profit Sector clients:

Strategic Planning Projects:

  • Municipal District of Squamish — This is a municipality of approximately 15,000 residents located on the western coast of British Columbia, between Vancouver and Whistler.
  • Samson Cree Nation — This is a Native Community in Alberta that has 6,000 residents and is facing some severe community issues as well as significant financial resource pressures to meet the needs of their community and its residents.
  • Town of Cochrane — This municipality of approximately 12,000 people is located just outside of Calgary, Alberta. It was ranked as the fastest growing municipality in Canada about two years ago, as Jim and one of his partners helped them to develop their first Strategic Plan. We have just completed the Annual Review and Plan Update as they move into the fifth year of their implementation phase.
  • Prairie Habitat Joint Venture (PHJV) Initiative — This is an initiative among ten different organizations including federal, provincial and state institutions in Canada as well as the central USA, along with several private sector and not-for-profit organizations interested in preserving wildlife habitat in the central corridor from North America through to Mexico. This was an update of their existing planning process and it requires sensitivity to the issues of voluntary partnership and collaboration among a variety of different vested interest groups.
  • Phantom Manufacturing International Ltd. — Jim provided support for the development of this firm's initial strategic plan. This Abbotsford, BC firm is the North American leader in the design, manufacture and installation of retractable screening solutions. This plan has helped the firm to dramatically modify its supply chain system and its product distributor system to resolve a series of recurring problems that have been plaguing the company for several years.
  • County of Lacombe — This rural Alberta municipality developed its first strategic plan in 2005 and is currently actively implementing the plan.
  • Morrison Homes — This Calgary based homebuilder has been awarded the “Builder of the Year Award” by the Calgary Home Builders Association for five years in a row. Their first award was received in the year following the development of their initial Strategic Plan. Jim has continued to work with them and they have recently undergone a major overhaul of their plan.
  • Calgary Minor Hockey Association — This is one of Canada's largest minor sports associations. They have recently completed their initial plan, which was enthusiastically endorsed at their recent Annual General Meeting.
  • SaskEnergy — This Regina based Crown Corporation of the Saskatchewan Government has recently completed a major overhaul of their Strategic Plan. As one of Canada's leading suppliers of natural gas, they have been applying our methodology for over ten years now.
  • Eaton Electric — Jim helped the Western Canada Region to develop its own Regional Business Plan, as part of this large multi-national corporation headquartered in the USA. The CSM methodology is now being considered for application in all of the Regions across Canada as a “best practices approach to planning”.
  • High Arctic Energy Services L.P. — This Red Deer, Alberta company supplies drilling rig services to the Alberta oil patch, as well as in several international locations around the globe. Jim facilitated the development of a “mini strategic plan” for this company that has been experiencing double digit growth for the past five years.

Planning and Change Management Skills Development Projects:

  • City of London, Ontario — Jim was asked to assist an internal project team that was trying to create a major shift in the internal organizational culture of the City's staff. This is a very large municipality in central Canada that is undergoing some very dramatic and challenging changes in corporate leadership and is beset with a number of high profile problems that have created a lot of negative publicity in the local media.
  • City of Abbotsford, British Columbia — Jim has been working on two different projects in this municipality in the Fraser Valley area, east of Vancouver. We are focused on developing the internal capabilities and skills of City managers and staff to be able to make Strategic Planning Skills a part of their core competencies. This also includes regular updates to their own corporate strategic plan. He is also assisting an internal planning committee that is focused on securing a variety of community and business opportunities for the municipality related to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games that will be held in Vancouver and Whistler, BC.
  • Alberta Energy Utilities Board — Assisted this Crown Corporation with the implementation of their corporate strategic plan and the acquisition of change management skills for employees as they faced a major cultural change initiative.
  • Canadian Association of Food Banks — This national association, headquartered in Ottawa was grappling with some major Board Governance issues and Jim helped them to find a way to reconcile their problems, despite some entrenched positions by several of the various regional groups across Canada.
  • City of Richmond, BC — Jim facilitated the initial development of a Joint Use Agreement between a series of partners on the use of the new Olympic Skating Oval Facility, following the 2010 Olympic Games.
  • Government of the NWT — Department of Health & Social Services - Jim designed and conducted a workshop for Primary Health Care Coordinators on ways to introduce a new approach to providing Primary Health Care Services through a inter-disciplinary team approach.
  • Diocese of Calgary — Bishop's Office — Jim was asked to design and deliver a Leadership Skills Program for the local Pastors of parishes across Southern Alberta, as they grappled with a set of dramatically changing expectations in how their function as parish priests was shifting with changes in their communities.
  • Outlaw Eagle Manufacturing Ltd. — This Red Deer, Alberta company is one of Canada's leading manufacturer of riverboats and competition racing boats. They have been struggling with creating a highly motivated, high performance production culture, since an amalgamation of two firms, about two years ago. Jim has been working with their Management Team to establish a new, collaborative culture from the initial one of two competing firms who were merged.

Systems Thinking Skills Workshop:

  • Department of Economic Development - Jim designed and delivered a set of seven two-day workshops for the staff of this Alberta Government Department. This workshop was intended to help make “Systems Thinking” a common skill set within the organization. It complemented the department's current work on strategic planning as well as strategic human resource management using the Haines Centre for Strategic Management model.
  • Maritz Corporation - Jim was recently contracted to design and deliver a program on “Systems Thinking Skills” for the 2005 Sales Leaders Retreat of this firm located in St. Louis, Missouri. This family owned firm provides a range of services to corporations throughout the world including corporate incentive programs, travel services and other recognition and rewards programs as part of an expanded staff benefits package program.
  • Catholic Health East — Working in partnership with Steve Haines, President of the Centre for Strategic Management, Jim facilitated a series of regional workshops on Strategic Systems Thinking for this large health care provider that serves the eastern seaboard of the USA.

Strategic Human Resource Planning — The People Edge:

  • Environment Canada — Pacific and Yukon Region - Jim continues to work with the senior management staff of this Federal Government Department on the annual review and update of their 3-Year People Edge Plan. This project was completed in 2001 and received a National Citation from the Government of Canada. This same process is now being introduced across the entire department of Environment Canada.
  • Parks Canada — Mountain Parks Region - Jim provided consulting support for this Federal Government Department as they developed their initial Human Resource Plan for seven operating units of the department. This was designed to be an integrated, inter-park project, rather than have each of the seven Mountain Park Units develop their own independent plans.
  • Canadian Medical Forum — Working in partnership with an Ontario based consulting firm, Jim was a key member of the team who helped to develop a Physician Human Resource Strategy for Canada for this consortium of five different national health care associations.

Special Public Sector Initiatives:

  • Saskatchewan Department of Health - Jim has recently completed work as the Project Co-Lead, along with Rob Alder, on a large project team in collaboration with Med-Emerg International Inc., a medical consulting firm from Toronto to revamp the Primary Health Care Delivery System for the Government of Saskatchewan. Jim's portion included the development of interdisciplinary Primary Health Care Teams in the thirteen Regional Health Authorities across the province. This project used internal Group Facilitation Teams and Jim and a colleague provided the “train-the-trainer” sessions for local facilitation teams throughout the province. After completing the Pilot Project in four Regions the team was then asked to develop the methodology for completing this exercise in the remaining nine Regional Health Authorities, over the next year. This project was successfully concluded in 2005 and has become a model for primary health care reform throughout Canada.
  • City of Richmond, BC - Jim recently completed a major intervention with the Municipal Council and the city's Senior Management Team to develop a “Long-Term Financial Management Strategy” as part of this city's Strategic Planning process. This large urban city is a neighbour of Vancouver and is facing severe financial pressures related to capital budgets and infrastructure renewal issues over the next twenty years. This project dealt with the many contradictory variables inherent in finding a way to fund key capital projects, maintain facilities and municipal infrastructure, tailor service delivery levels, retain fiscal accountability and ensure that local taxes remain within an acceptable level to keep peace in the municipality.