Action Canada: Building Leadership

by Diane Luckow

Who will fill the void?

The public sector’s executive cadre is in the midst of an enormous retirement boom. Amid all the discussion, Action Canada is developing promising young leaders. Federal recruiters have already snapped up four former fellows from this unique, national leadership program.

Based in Vancouver, Action Canada is a private sector/Government of Canada partnership that is creating a network of emerging leaders in their early career years who have a passion for Canada. Each year, a fresh crop of fellows undertakes a program of leadership development and public policy projects of significance to Canada, with one overarching goal in mind: to build leadership for Canada’s future.

Who are they? They’re doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs, activists, graduate students, and engineers; they’re English, French, Aboriginals and immigrants. Some have already established international development organizations and Canadian volunteer organizations.

Selected for their leadership qualities and commitment to Canada, fellows receive a $20,000 Action Canada Fellowship to participate in the 10-month program. They join a growing network of inspiring young Action Canada alumni who all understand national public policy issues and have learned the skills to take action on them.

The Action Canada program is highly unusual. Co-founder Samuel Belzberg, a Vancouver entrepreneur and philanthropist, is funding 50% of the cost; the federal departments of Canadian Heritage, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Justice Canada are funding the remainder. CEO Cathy Beehan highlights the importance of the partnership in all aspects of the program, from its design to the valuable access to senior government officials who serve as mentors to the fellows. In turn, the government is finding value in the program’s progeny.

In 2001 the federal government initiated a pilot program where deputy ministers and senior executives actively sought and recruited exceptional young Canadians studying overseas and at home, and in national leadership programs. The recruitment effort proved successful and is now formally established as the Recruitment of Policy Leaders program.

“We’ve been blown away by the calibre of people we’ve attracted and the success we’ve had,” says Graham Flack, an associate assistant deputy minister with Natural Resources Canada. He is among the senior bureaucrats charged with recruiting new executives to fill the depleting ranks. He says that the Action Canada fellows’ acceptance rate was quite phenomenal, with four joining the government within four months.

It’s not surprising. Action Canada’s selection committee has well-defined criteria for choosing its fellows and a comprehensive program for developing their leadership skills.

“We’re looking for people who have already demonstrated leadership, made a commitment and produced results,” says Action Canada co-founder Jack Blaney, a former Simon Fraser University president who is well-known around Ottawa for the recent Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Form that he chaired. “We want people who engender trust and can communicate a sense of mission.”

Action Canada mentor Mark Winston, a professor at Simon Fraser University, a fellow with the university’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, and director of the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue, often interviews potential fellows prior to the selection committee. He and the committee are looking for people who have demonstrated outstanding accomplishments in their field; a strong ability to work collaboratively; a deep motivation to make a positive difference in the world; good communication skills and an ability to grow. During interviews, he’s listening for that extra ‘breadth’ that indicates the depth of their ambition, their interest in personal growth, and their passion.

“People who have strong intellectual, critical, and analytical abilities but who don’t have the corresponding passion to invoke change aren’t going to fully benefit from a program like Action Canada,” he says. “We’re looking for compassion for others and a passion for what they are doing.”

During the ten-month program, fellows participate in three week-long working conferences, one each in Vancouver, Ottawa and another Canadian location. This year, for example, they will spend a week in Nunavut exploring issues of arctic sovereignty. Last year, they spent a week in the Yukon. The Ottawa conference each winter is a week of seminars, workshops and special events designed to improve their understanding of Canada’s major policy issues and how the government works to address them. Throughout each conference, they participate in events and tasks designed to hone their leadership skills.

They learn to ‘read’ the room – to understand more deeply the nuances of the situations in which they find themselves. “We stress collegiality and collaboration, which we feel is the most effective way to be a leader,” says Winston. “We also try to crank up their motivation to effect change on a bigger scale.” They learn about Canadian geography, politics and issues.

Communication is a big concern. “We use dialogue techniques in which we give fellows points on how to talk to others in a more effective way,” says Winston, “and we try to teach an ability to listen.” Fellows must also write an op-ed for a major Canadian newspaper and try to get it published. “It’s a good exercise for honing their writing and thinking skills and it’s a growth opportunity,” says Winston. “It reveals a lot about how they integrate their personal traits with professional conduct.” They also learn networking skills and join a special network created just for them – the Action Canada network – that includes alumni and the many mentors and guests who also participate in the program.

The desired outcome, says Blaney, “we want them to think very hard about serving the country through elected office or public service. Leadership in this country is critically important and that is a particular interest of ours at Action Canada.”

“What sets Action Canada Fellows apart is their hands-on, demonstrated community involvement,” says Flack. “They’ve done something more than just being good at studying – they’ve been working at something they’re passionate about in the community; they’ve been making things happen.”

Fellows like Richard Hoshino, a mathematics PhD whose interest in his subject led him to establish and coordinate the Nova Scotia High School Math League as well as an in-service program for high school math teachers across the Atlantic. He joined the program in September 2003.

Hoshino is now working for the Canada Border Services Agency where his ability to think out of the box, says Flack, is helping to reform how Canada will deal with critical issues for national security and our economic future.
                                                       
Originally planning an academic career, Hoshino was surprised to find out about suitable career opportunities in government. “Action Canada instilled in me a desire to pursue a career in the public service,” says Hoshino. “The Canada Border Services Agency turned out to be the perfect fit since it combines two of my biggest passions: mathematics and public policy. Every day I use mathematics to work on problems dealing with issues of prosperity and security related to the Canadian border. I’m learning a great deal and I look forward to making a significant contribution.”     
                                   
Fellows in the Action Canada program, says Flack, “have a wonderful mix of demonstrated academic ability to deal with challenging issues; leadership potential, a commitment to public service and ethics, and an interest in serving the public.”


For more information about Action Canada, visit www.actioncanada.ca.



Sidebar

E-mentoring

DreamCatcher Yukon was conceived last year by fellows Josh Silvertown, Beverly Sembsmoen, Sara Ehrhardt, Kevin Chan, and Freddy Abnousi. This year, alumni fellows Silvertown and Sembsmoen are expanding the program, which is just one example of the can-do leadership and commitment to Canada that is so prevalent among Action Canada fellows and alumni.

“Our purpose is to address the high drop-out rates from high school,” explains Silvertown, who is a post-doctoral fellow at the Ontario Cancer Institute. “We want to empower kids to understand the value of staying in school.”

The program matches grade nine students and their career interests with Canadian mentors in similar fields. During class time, students log on to the DreamCatcher internet chat room to leave messages for their mentors, following a curriculum that details discussion goals and milestones. Many of the mentors are Action Canada alumni. The five-week program culminates in a day-long job shadow at a workplace relevant to the students’ career choices.

Last year’s pilot involved 14 students in grades seven to nine. A survey at the end of the program found that 11 of the 14 were interested in staying in school and that all of those eligible to move on to high school did so, says Silvertown. This year the program is receiving funding from both the Yukon Department of Education and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.

Sembsmoen and Silvertown have since formed a registered society, the DreamCatcher Yukon Mentoring Society, and work together as co-directors. “We’re volunteering our time,” says Silvertown, “We have a board of directors comprised of individuals in the Yukon who have the skills to see this through successfully.”

For next year, Sembsmoen and Silvertown are currently planning an intensive strategy to register all Yukon schools offering grade nine. “We hope to implement this across the north,” says Sembsmoen, a consultant to First Nations government. “We’re working to include all levels of community and government in our program.”