The heads of some of Manitoba's most successful companies talk about their business and people challenges.

THE Canadian Wheat Board enjoys a high degree of support from the 75,000 western Canadian farmers whose wheat and barley it markets around the world. Even so, president and chief executive officer Ian White, who joined the farmer-controlled organization last year, is spearheading efforts to improve the CWB’s service to farmers and introduce new ways to meet their expectations.

A sharper focus on service to farmers requires the buy-in of all 450 employees working in the Main Street head office and the CWB's satellite offices in Canada and Asia. It has also required a technology upgrade to systems that have been in place for many years. These efforts will help the CWB find efficiencies to benefit farmers and provide staff with opportunities to collaborate across various business units and grow together.

Q: How would you characterize your personal leadership style?

A: Early in my career, I realized that I wasn't the sort of leader who could stand out in front and order everyone to follow me over the hill. I always preferred to help an organization develop its strengths and then make sure everyone made it over the hill together. I'm not generally a directive-style manager; I like to give people authority and have them do their job rather than do it for them. If you have put the right people in the right place, I believe you should let them do their job.

Q: Since joining the CWB last year, what stamp have you put on the organization?

A: Although we have implemented some new ideas within the past year, I haven't changed the fundamental way our business is organized because I generally think it is lined up pretty well. My main focus has been on improving service to farmers. In my view, we need to align the CWB as much as possible behind this idea so that whether you work in contracts, IT, marketing, HR or accounting and finance, you understand that you are ultimately here to serve the farmer. Our organization has been serving farmers for a long time, so this is not a new concept, but it's a rejuvenation to try and find ways to do it even better.

Q: How did you go about implementing this new emphasis on service?

A: When we realized that we could do more in terms of serving farmers, we started by asking ourselves what we can do better. We went out and talked to farmers and culled a group of managers from across the organization to identify issues we needed to resolve. That resulted in the formation of a new department overseen by our vice-president of farmer service, who will administer our "Farmer First" strategy across the organization.

Q: What sort of operational challenges has making these changes presented?

A: Not only are we changing our philosophy to be more focused on farmers' needs, we have been undergoing a major supply chain transformation for the past three years. This includes overhauling all our systems, from the moment a farmer fills out his permit book right through to organizing the grain in the country elevator system and supply chain of rail cars to ports to meet shipping deadlines. It's an enormous undertaking and has involved significant resources, but it has given us an opportunity to streamline. Another part of this has been replacing our legacy computer network that didn't necessarily interface well together with a new suite of programs designed to be more fully integrated. Once again, the purpose is to allow this organization to line up behind our ability to service farmers better.

While all of this has been going on, we have also been undergoing office renovations to reflect the culture change within the CWB and upgrade our building to achieve new efficiencies. These projects have been an overlay to our everyday business, which does cause extra pressure and at times, can make it difficult to move forward. But I am confident we will be able to work through these challenges and soon enjoy their benefit.

Q: The CWB was selected as one of Manitoba's Top 15 Employers in 2008 in part because of your innovative employee programs. Can you talk about some of them?

A: Our organization has had an on-site day care centre for close to 20 years, and a number of employees say it's one of the reasons they enjoy working here so much. We have our own cafeteria offering reasonably priced food and a small fitness facility in the basement. We also have a wellness co-ordinator who develops programs designed to help employees live healthier, well-balanced lives at home and at work. A healthier workforce results in less absenteeism, so making a small investment in these programs pays us back many fold.

We have been doing these things for quite a long period of time and in that regard, I think the CWB has always been quite innovative. We do our best to pay attention to the needs of our people -- listening to what they need, then finding ways to make that happen.

Q: What challenges does a large organization face with retaining younger employees?

A: It seems that these days, many young professionals lend you their skills for a period of time before they are ready to move on. It's fairly common for people coming out of university to have six or seven jobs throughout their career whereas previously, people might have started and worked for an organization their entire career. We try to provide young professionals with an engaging work environment, recognizing that at some stage, they might choose to work elsewhere. That's not unhealthy as long as they leave for the right reasons, and if they do decide to go, we will send them off with our blessing.

We have also had people return to the CWB and have many long-serving employees who have been with us for 20 to 30 years. We want employees to know that our organization is large enough for them to build their careers here. We believe in career development but also believe this is a shared responsibility. Employees must be prepared to invest personal effort.

Q: What qualities do you look for in future leaders?

A: I look for people who are prepared to understand the task, set objectives and work with the organization -- meaning they must have the skill set and the ability to lead not only within their department but also across the company for the total benefit of the business. I prefer a collaborative management approach, so I'm looking for people who are leaders in their own right and can also contribute to the bigger picture. They need to be able to work with the team to understand our organizational goals, support that direction and lead others both inside and outside their department to achieve those goals. We're not talking rocket science; it's just about getting everybody going in the same direction and working for the same purpose.

-- With reporting by Barbara Chabai

John McFerran, PhD, CMC, C. Psych., F. CHRP, is founder and president of People First HR Services Ltd. For more information, visit www.peoplefirsthr.com.