Coaching World Issue 1: February 2012 | Page 11

Leadership < Watch BC Housing accept their 2011 Prism Award BC Housing: Building Solid Foundations one leader at a time. Headquarters: Burnaby, BC, Canada Industry Sector: Housing Number of Employees: 640 Annual Operating Budget: $764 million Start date of coaching project: 2007 Nominating Coach: Julie Jones, PCC 11 Coaching World | February 2012 | www.coachfederation.org The significant growth and development of BC Housing’s leadership talent, as well an impressive return on investment of their Leadership Development Program, made them a perfect choice for the ICF International Prism Award in 2011. The agency, along with Joey Restaurant Group (also of Canada), received the ICF’s most prestigious award at the Annual International Conference in Las Vegas last September. “We are honored to receive this award recognizing BC Housing’s commitment to providing development opportunities for our employees,” said BC Housing CEO Shayne Ramsay. “As a public sector employer, creating a coaching culture has been fundamental in helping us achieve organizational goals and support our people as they carry out our social mandate. Our coaching program is designed to have long-term impact, creating and maintaining both personal and organizational effectiveness.” Research Status of coaching project: Active and ongoing BC Housing identified coaching as a powerful strategy to help attract, develop, and retain top employees. They created a customized Leadership Development Program designed for everyone who manages or supervises at least one person. The successful program is part of the organization’s all-encompassing People Strategy, which has also grown to include its new Coach2Coach program. Marketing BC Housing also helps bring about improvements in the quality of residential construction in B.C. and helps strengthen consumer protection for buyers of new homes. It should come as no surprise then that they also know how to identify and develop leadership talent, and rely on a coaching for performance culture to achieve effective results. BC Housing develops and manages a wide range of subsidized housing across the large province of British Columbia, Canada. As a crown corporation the agency partners with private and non-profit housing providers, as well as government agencies, to develop affordable housing solutions for the homeless, at-risk individuals, Aboriginal people, low income families, seniors and women and children fleeing violence. Benefits BC Housing develops, manages, and administers a wide range of subsidized housing options and partners with private and non-profit housing providers, other levels of government, health authorities, and community groups to increase affordable housing options for British Columbians in greatest need. Approximately 95,000 households in British Columbia benefit from governmentsubsidized housing. The executives at BC Housing understand that working in public housing is more about communities and individuals than it is about bricks and mortar. They understand that the key to providing a broad range of social housing for diverse population groups requires the ability to foster a wide range of partnerships between the private and non-profit sectors, and public institutions. Profiles About BC Housing