Business Partner, Strategic Initiatives

Compensation Band: 7

Normal Hiring range: $104,870.00 to $131,087.00 per year

Your expertise shapes our business

At the CWB Group, we find fulfillment and inspiration knowing that we are performing meaningful and purposeful work. Every day is a new adventure with opportunities to learn from industry leaders and, most importantly, from each other. When you join the CWB Group, you become part of a diverse and inclusive, tight-knit team passionate about making a global impact.

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Our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

The CWB Group believes that diversity and inclusion among our employees is critical to our success, and we seek to recruit, develop and retain the most talented employees from a diverse candidate pool.

Work with us and achieve your career goals

For over 75 years, our employees have been the backbone of our business, driving our success and extraordinary reputation. We challenge our employees to take charge of their careers and provide growth opportunities, tools and resources to reach their goals.

What to expect:

As part of a ten-year transformational strategic plan, CWB Group has identified several critical programs that will drive strategic results. These strategic programs will require integration of plans across functional areas, clear business requirements and timelines, and regular status reporting. 

The Business Partner, Strategic Initiatives plays a critical role in the development and implementation of the unified organization’s strategic plan, driving the strategic direction and execution of high-impact initiatives. They will work in collaboration with various stakeholders (executive leadership, management, project teams, and vendors) to translate our strategic vision and objectives into functional requirements and initiatives for their partner business units. This will include identifying and operationalizing solutions to meet the business goals of the organization, recommending business process improvements that maximize efficiencies, align with operational goals for the organization, and help implement these solutions. They will also provide strategic insights to executive leadership and ensure alignment with long-term goals.

This role will support the Chief Strategy Officer in managing the complete strategic planning lifecycle. They will also be responsible for the development and execution of cross-functional strategic programs for their assigned client group(s). This includes working directly with stakeholders to develop program and project plans, including scope, timelines resource requirements, budgets, establishing KPIs, and managing workflow. A crucial part of the Strategy Business Partner’s role is to incorporate the people change management aspects of strategic programs including determining implications of the program outcomes on the workforce. The Business Partner will provide regular updates to all stakeholders, including formal reports management, to communicate progress, highlight variances against the plan and problem solve. This role is responsible for overall program quality and alignment of KPIs with the organizational strategic plan.

These includes:

Consulting and Implementation

• Collaborate and facilitate strategic conversations and planning sessions with executive and senior leadership across the unified organization. Act as a trusted advisor to senior leaders.
• Develop a strong understanding of the business operations and the strategic development and execution processes to effectively influence business units to make necessary changes as needed, challenge assumptions, help hold stakeholders accountable and make strategic connections among the functional requirements in the projects.
• Lead workshops that contribute to and challenge the organizations’ objectives in an effort to accelerate our growth and realize our strategic objectives.
• Identify opportunities, gather requirements, develop design documents and perform tasks to turn strategic objectives into functional requirements, taking into account business strategy and needs.
• Work with other members of the Strategy Realization Office to ensure alignment, remove blockers, and capitalize on opportunities for strategic
• Develop and execute governance programs to manage strategic progress and return on investment.
• Drive a consistent approach towards organizational and operational effectiveness as well as group (Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SteerCo) , ELT, Board) discussions on strategic effectiveness.
• Act as a steward and advocate for strategic long-term thinking across the unified organization, with a focus on providing guidance on strategies and analytical approaches to enhance engagement and deliverables.

Program Management 

• Oversee multiple high-priority projects with robust program/project management frameworks
• Lead management of assigned strategic programs to realize organizational goals. Includes planning, resource and budget evaluation, scheduling, communications, change management and reporting.
• Prepare high level strategic updates for discussion and utilization by the Board, ELT, SteerCo, Management and Townhalls.
• Establish program plans and provide operational leadership and progress tracking to ensure their success.
• Ensure organizational interdependencies are identified, well planned for, communicated and managed to enable effective delivery of program
• Ensure ongoing effective development, monitoring and evaluation of assigned
• Implement risk management and mitigation strategies
• Establish and monitor KPIs to measure the success of strategic initiatives
• Work with cross-functional teams on assigning tasks, establishing program and project deliverables and scheduling of those tasks and deliverables.
• Achieve operational objectives by contributing information and recommendations to strategic plans.
• Enhance department and organizational reputation by accepting ownership and exploring opportunities to add value.
• Monitor and ensure project milestones are met and that proactive corrective actions are taken to best maximize ROI.
• Deliver project work within scope, timeline and budget or provide detailed information to inform management when variations occur and cannot be course corrected.

Change Management

•  Consult with the Change Management & Internal Communications Lead to identify and apply a structured change management approach on strategic initiatives
• Lead the change management and other people impacts of the change as it relates to the strategic development and execution within a structured process framework.
•  Support the Change Management & Internal Communications lead in Implementing effective organizational change management (OCM) techniques that increase change readiness and resilience across the unified organization
•  Provide input on the organizational communication plan to the Change Management & Internal Communications Lead ,and develop content, as required.
•  Assess impacts on culture and leverage this change to support an enhanced employee value This includes evaluation of organizational readiness to limit potential risk
•  Design strategic approach to managing change and support operations that fall within the domain of change management.
•  Evaluate resistance in adopting the change at all employee level
•  Partner with Business Leads to develop internal and external training and communications to support the project.
•  Conduct post-implementation reviews to assess the effectiveness of the change-related plans and initiatives.

 Other duties as assigned.

This is an exciting position that reports to the Director, Organizational Planning and Execution but will be a dynamic position that will provide a diverse experience in the Strategy Realization Office and in a wide range of business lines within CWB Group. You will be working remotely from your home office with possible occasional travel to project locations across Canada. CWB has adopted a remote-first working model, where employees will work from their home office, servicing the client within their specified areas either remotely or in person. We are embracing radical flexibility, where employees are encouraged to work a schedule that works best for them, their team, and their clients.

 What you bring to the table:

• Bachelor’s degree in business or related field
• 5-7 years progressive experience in business administration, project management consulting or strategic project planning.
• Formal Project and/or Program Management training.
• Expert level Microsoft Project proficiency.
• Problem-solving skills and the ability to manage those over which you have no formal authority.
• Experience leading organization change required; excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong writing and organizational skills.
• Ability to see both the big picture perspective and pay scrupulous attention to detail.
• Ability to work with minimal supervision, multi-task and meet deadlines.
• Experience working with senior management team.
• Microsoft Office skills.
• Able to effectively deal with inquiries and concerns from all levels of staff.

 ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• This is a remote, work from home position.
• Travel might be required from time to time.

The following qualifications are considered assets:

• Post-graduate in a relevant field
• 10+ years’ experience in management consulting and/or strategic implementation
• Background in materials joining and allied technology services
• Expert level Microsoft Project proficiency in project management tools (e.g., MS Project, Asana, etc.)

Any of the following designations are preferred:

• Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP)
• Change Management Certification (PROSCI or equivalent)
• PMI Agile Certified Practitioner PMI- ACP

 What’s in it for you?

• Competitive salary structure
• Comprehensive medical benefits for you and your dependents
• Flexible work schedule
• RRSP and pension program
• Structured career development: we offer education and training opportunities to help you reach your goals

Accommodation:

The CWB Group is committed to providing accommodation to job applicants with disabilities throughout the recruitment process. If you require an accommodation, please notify us when applying and we will work with you to meet your needs. We welcome applications from all qualified individuals; however, only those under consideration will be contacted. Apply today!

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