Leadership Insights
Refinery’s leadership insights are written by our experts from around the world with decades of leadership development experience. We’re always learning and always sharing. Get the real dirt.
3 Aspects of Internal and External Team Alignment
Alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It requires deliberate and sustained practices built into how a leadership team operates. Much of the work we do with intact leadership teams is about bringing awareness to the root causes of misalignment and helping the team...
7 Signs of Misaligned Leadership Teams
In turbulent times, misaligned leadership teams steer in different directions, struggling with internal conflicts and wasted effort, leaving the organization confused and disheartened. Truly aligned leadership teams work together to foster a positive culture while...
5 Ways to Improve Leadership Team Alignment
As we embark on a new year, we’re partnering with many of our clients as they launch their 2024 strategies. This is the season of clarifying priorities, communicating plans, and cascading goals. One thing we can be sure of: few plans will survive contact with reality....
Professional Coaching Empowers Leaders – From the Inside Out
As a coach, I have the privilege of helping clients dig at issues until they uncover a truth that resolves more than the issue itself. This happened this week. For this client, the solution was right there. I could see it in the back of his eyes. But it was evasive,...
Professional Coaching: A strategic pause that builds sustainable high-performance
At Refinery, we call this time of year the “silly season.” As our clients wrap up their fiscal year and plan for the next, they shuffle and shift priorities to get initiatives across the line. Our team is heads down, but our hearts are with our clients as they push...
Leadership Coaching: An Essential Element for Your Development Strategy
Leadership coaching is the secret sauce that elevates the leadership development strategy, not as a replacement but as an indispensable partner to existing developmental efforts. This approach recognizes that coaching bridges the gaps in between, offering...
Refinery Merges With BBA Engineering, a Recognized Leader in Consulting Engineering Services
Refinery merges with BBA Engineering, a recognized leader in consulting engineering services Refinery Leadership Partners, Inc. (Refinery) is excited to announce that as of September 1, 2023 we have merged with BBA Engineering, https://www.bba.ca/ a Montreal-based...
The Impact of Leader-Employee Relationships within an Inclusive Culture
Having positive relationships with employees is crucial for effective leadership and the overall success of an organization. Positive relationships between leaders and employees contribute to a healthier work environment, increased productivity, better...
Unlocking the Power of DEI Transformation: The Crucial Intersection of Organizational Initiatives and Personal Journeys
Recently, during a conversation with a client seeking to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within their organization, we inquired about their progress in this area. While they shared numerous initiatives at the organizational level, such as DEI policies,...
How to Determine If Your DEI Initiatives Are Effective
Assessing the effectiveness of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account both the short-term and long-term impact of the initiatives. Here are some key indicators that can help you determine whether...
Is it time to rethink your development approach for today’s modern learner?
How many times have you in the past attended a workshop, received a workbook and then, upon returning to your office, placed it on a shelf…where it likely still sits. While organizations invest heavily in learning and development ($332 billion in 2019, projected to...
Leadership Development in Small Groups – Real-Time, Focused Development That is Accessible to Everyone
While multi-day leadership development sessions with large cohorts have long been a standard method of professional development, they simply aren’t for every organization. Professional development in smaller groups led by an experienced executive coach has been shown...
How to Ensure Your Strategic Planning will be Successful in 2023
We are now in Q3 and approaching Q4 when many organizations and businesses begin to develop their strategic plans for the year(s) ahead. Organizations place a high value on strategic planning, evidenced by the fact that they can spend anywhere between 50 and 1000...
4 Steps to Building a Successful Strategy
You’ve probably been there. Faced with developing a strategic plan—for your company, your department, or a non-profit board that you sit on. You need to involve others, but how? You need a meaningful, practical approach, but what does it look like? You need to end...
The Real Truth about Strategic Planning: Part Two
An average organization spends anywhere between 50 to more than 1,000 hours developing their strategic plan. And yet, so many organizations continue to waste their time producing strategies that don’t identify their barriers or the decisive actions to overcome them....
The Real Truth About Strategic Planning: Part One
When organizations create business strategies, they are typically focused on mid-term business outcomes such as increased market share, revenue and product or service enhancements to grow the business. These plans can look and feel very robust and clear; however, what...
Part Three: Building The Better Boss: The How
In my previous two blogs, I explored the reasons why Refinery decided to design a leadership development program focused on psychological health and safety in the workplace; a two-module program that would focus specifically on psychological resilience (leading self)...
Part Two: Building The Better Boss: The Why
In my previous blog, I shared some context around what we understand are challenges facing leaders today and a little about how Refinery decided to design a program that focuses on supporting them through those challenges – with focused development around mental...
Part One: Building The Better Boss: The Challenge
In my role as Director of Design at Refinery, I’m often asked to describe our approach to leadership development and even more often asked to comment on what sets our work apart from other offerings. Because these are frequently asked questions, I like to think I’ve...
Refinery Welcomes Julie Butcher to the Role of VP of Consulting
Refinery Leadership is excited to announce that Julie Butcher will be stepping into the role of VP of Consulting. Julie has been with Refinery as an external consultant for the past four years, however her journey in the “people industry” started more than 30 years...
Refinery – What’s It Like to Be Our Client?
People often ask us what they can expect when they sign up their organization to engage in a Refinery Leadership Program. They know – more or less – what they want and what they are looking to achieve. What they don’t know is what it’s going to take to get there, what...
Featured YouTube Vlog: NedTalks: Leading Through Difficult Times
In this edition of NedTalks, Susan Eick, CEO of Refinery and a former senior retail banker, discusses how to lead through difficult times. She highlights the importance of showing up, communicating effectively, and being authentic in developing relationships with team...
Featured YouTube Vlog: NedTalks: Psychological Safety in the Workplace
In this NedTalks, Susan Eick, the CEO of Refinery, discusses how leaders can create an environment of psychological safety for team members. Drawing on her experience as a banker, Susan shares how a supportive manager can make a tremendous difference in creating a...
Featured Article: Western Exteriors Magazine: Psychological Health and Safety in Construction
In this article found in Western Exteriors Magazine, Refinery CEO Susan Eick, wrote about a recent construction tragedy in Kelowna, British Columbia that claimed five lives, a stark reminder that even mandatory safety training cannot completely mitigate critical...
Featured Article: The Canadian Mining Journal- The missing imperative: Psychological health & safety in mining
In this recent article found in the Canadian Mining Journal, Refinery CEO, Susan Eick wrote about the connection between workplace safety issues experienced in the mining industry and the mental health and psychological safety of the workforce. To deal with the...
Featured Article: Canadian Mining Magazine- ‘Your Mine Doesn’t Have a Safety Issue, It Has a Psychological Safety Issue’
In the latest edition of Canadian Mining Magazine Refinery CEO Susan Eick explains in her article, 'Your Mine Doesn’t Have a Safety Issue; It Has a Psychological Safety Issue'; "The problem with many traditional approaches to psychological health hazards is that they...
Think You Don’t Have a Budget for Learning Programs? Sustainably Linked Loans May Be the Key.
Working closely with mining and resource companies for the past 20 years, Refinery has seen the ebbs and flows of global market demand for our clients’ products and how these movements have affected their budgets for learning and development. It’s no secret that even...
What is Needed from Leaders in 2022
Leaders have faced many challenges they never expected over the past two years. And today, many are not only still dealing with the fallout of the pandemic, but they are also facing a labour shortage that for some is already reaching crisis levels. And these same...
Caution: Sharp (Change) Curve Ahead
Leadership in times of change.
Leadership in Technology; Is it Safe to be Innovative in Your Organization?
At its core, the technology industry revolves around organizations that focus on research, development, innovation and production of products and services that create new and unique value to their clients. Technology-based organizations are uniquely at the forefront...
The Link Between Psychological Safety and Physical Safety in Mining
Mining jobs--especially roles that are in site operations--are frequently cited as having some of the highest physical risk profiles of any job. Despite the constantly evolving precautions that are put in place to protect the physical safety of miners, an...
Safety in Mining Part 1- Susan we have a problem
“Susan, we have a problem at our Lost Wolf Mine Site*. Despite the fact that we implemented an intensive safety program last year, we continue to see a rise in critical safety incidents and fatalities. Can you help us?” This request was not one that we commonly...
Learning the Recipe of Refinery’s Secret Sauce
When Rhonda Gorman first joined the Refinery team in February 2019 in a business development role, she wasn’t sure if she had made the right decision or not. Of course, she knew of Refinery, but like many others that she now comes in contact with on a daily basis, she...
Banking and Leadership
I’m pretty proud of the fact that I spent a good majority of my formative career years in the banking industry. Fortunately, I had some great leaders to guide me through the sometimes treacherous political waters of “big bank” hierarchies. Over the years, I worked in...
Questions for a New World of Leadership
Last March, as we contemplated the need to adapt our in-person programs to virtual programs, we knew it was not as simple as just taking the same content and activities and delivering them via an online platform such as Zoom. After all, Refinery is best known for our...
Refinery Leadership – Does Your D and I Program Rumble Your Soul?
Many organizations today have Diversity and Inclusion programs because “it is the right thing to do”. These programs however rarely seem to be at the forefront in the day to day operations. Afterall, managers have the “real work” of ensuring the productivity and...
Food and Leadership Part 2: Making Lemons into Lemon…Bars
“Muster the courage to stir things up, and be stirred up, in the service of learning. Inspirational tales, theories, and tools alone don’t develop leaders. They protect them from the unsettling experience of leading.”--Gianpiero Petriglieri, MD In my first post...
Podcast Interview on “She’s Talking Back”: Being More Open and Authentic with Your Team with Susan Eick
Susan Eick thought she knew just about everything that she needed to be a successful CEO. However, even after working for more than 25 years in Corporate America and Canada, she found out that she was wrong. It wasn’t until she learned how to be real with her team,...
Problem Solving and Decision Making: Introducing the Cynefin Framework
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for many business leaders that they may not have seen before. In addition to having to adapt to new government regulations about how their companies can operate, they may be working with a remote workforce for the first...
Food and Leadership P1: What are you doing to provide sustenance to your team?
Events of the past few weeks have humbled me. What I thought I was prepared for as a leader—what I trained for, what I learned doing my MBA—was pretty much thrown out the window. Even things that I learned and held close as my personal foundations of leadership,...
Effective Leadership During Times of Uncertainty
Over the past few weeks, change has occurred rapidly and drastically. As a leader, engagement with your teams might be one of the few things our employees can depend on to guide them through their days. Now more than ever, we must remember the fundamentals of...
Executive Burnout Part 1: The Truck That Finally Hit Me
This video that I recorded to support my upcoming blog about executive burnout was filmed one day before I got hit by a truck. What’s ironic about that, you ask? Let me take you back to earlier this year—the end of June 2019. I was on a call with my coach,...
The Year of Not Quite Living: Part Three: Fumbling Toward the Light
I was not even at the half-way point of one of the worst years of my life. Already, I had lost my job, had to move my family back to Colorado, attempt, then fail, then attempt again to find a job, get pregnant, then lose the pregnancy, try to maintain a state of...
The Year of Not Quite Living—Part Two: One Step Up, Three Stumbles Down
Losing my job after moving my young family to another state was hard. Not having another job prospect once I returned home was harder. Finding out I was pregnant with my third child was beyond ridiculous on the stress meter. It wasn’t like I had planned this. No,...
What leadership looks like in times of turmoil
In the wake of the tragedy that took place on March 15th in Christchurch New Zealand, I shared something powerful and hopeful with my LinkedIn community: the picture of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, accompanied by a comment on her display of empathy and inspiring...
Can we create work environments that are truly inclusive?
Well, now here I am about a month after my daughter’s first birthday. And I get it. I really didn’t understand how motherhood would change me until it happened. I had heard about sleepless nights, postpartum blues, overwhelming love, undeniable guilt, and everything...
The Year of Not Quite Living—Part One: Falling into the Pit
“Today is my one-year anniversary with Central Bank". But, rather than getting an annual review, I got fired. Well, asked to resign, actually. How that differs from being fired, I don’t know. Perhaps tellers and personal bankers get fired, and Senior Vice Presidents...
Feedback and Meaningful Conversations Are Everything During the Talent Process
If your organization is embarking on a talent management initiative of any size or scope with an objective of ensuring a robust pipeline of high potential leaders, one of the most critical questions to ask is: Are we an organization which understands how to, and is...
Shedding the Corporate Armour—Part Three: Outgrowing Your Suit of Steel
Okay, let me set the record straight here. Despite my experiences of being blatantly (and sometimes subversively) mistreated, overlooked, harassed and otherwise not treated as an equal to my male counterparts at work over the years, I am over being angry. Anger does...
Knowing How Isn’t Always Enough
Last November, I took a break and spent a (well deserved if I do say so) vacation in Jamaica. While there, my wife and I went for a dive on one of the reefs off the coast of Negril. Despite being a proficient diver, having dove for many years in Central America,...
Know the Theory, Know the Real World, KNOW YOURSELF
Stencilled on the wall of The Refinery’s head office in Vancouver, BC, are some of the team’s shared values. “Know the theory, know the real world, know yourself,” is, in my opinion, a great foundation for success in the field of leadership development. The latter...
Shedding the Corporate Armour—Part Two: Casting the Armour
In my previous article, I examined the ways in which I used my business clothing—suits and other androgynous and stiff business attire—to gain access to a fairly male-dominated, conservative work world. I fondly remembered by the bright green suit that I had purchased...
Shedding the Corporate Armour—Part One
It was May of 1985. I had just finished my last final exam during my third year of undergrad, and had heard back from my internship coordinator that I was scheduled for my first interview for a professional internship at the Marine Bank Corporation in Milwaukee,...
Sometimes You Just Need to Get Punched
I love this excerpt from a recent New York Times interview with Amy Schumer where she was asked: “What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?” Whether you like her comedy or not, her reference to The Professional pulls out an inherent truth in how she...
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