Vice President, Human Resources

JOIN OUR HISTORIC JOURNEY

At First Nations Health Authority (FNHA), you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to BC’s history. With a unique governing structure and mandate, our dynamic work environment means you can play an active role in real change.

Our talented teams value respect and foster lateral kindness in their working relationships. Our holistic approach to wellness, based on First Nations teachings, is incorporated into all aspects of work culture.

Leading with culture, all FNHA employees complete San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training. We support our family to be leaders in wellness and all staff members develop a yearly wellness plan as part of their performance partnership and goal-setting.

If you are looking for more than a job, come join the FNHA family.

About the Organization

The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) is a diverse and rapidly evolving First Nations health organization of professional, innovative, and dedicated team members and leaders. Founded in 2013, the FNHA is the first of its kind providing a proactive and holistic approach to health and wellness, and to the delivery of services which are sustainable and honour the customs and traditions of First Nations communities. The FNHA cultivates and values working collaboratively to achieve a shared vision of healthy, self-determining, and vibrant BC First Nations children, families, and communities.

FNHA works closely with the Ministry of Health and Regional Health Authorities and is focused on community-based services that advance health promotion and disease prevention including Primary Health Services; Mental Health and Addictions Programming; Health and Wellness Planning; Health Infrastructure and Human Resources; Environmental Health and Research; First Nations Health Benefits and e-Health Technology.

With 650+ employees, FNHA is transforming the way health services are delivered to First Nations people in BC. It is creating and leading a social innovation movement. It has a very clear Leadership Statement supported by 7 Directives and clearly defined Operating Principles and Shared Values that guide the culture, the work, and the decisions of the team.

As an employer, the FNHA provides the opportunity to contribute to BC’s history and play an active role in real change. Being the first-of-its-kind organization means doing important and meaningful work that often has not been done before.

Organizational Values Respect

We believe that maintaining respectful relationships is fundamental to the achievement of our shared vision. Respectful relationships are built upon the recognition that we all have something to contribute as individuals and participants in the First Nations health governance structure. Therefore, we commit to treating each other with dignity and generosity, being responsive to one another, and acknowledging that each one of us has our own respective process and practice. We are also committed to respectful interactions with First Nations, tripartite partners, and other collaborators.

Discipline

We have the historic opportunity to achieve transformative change in First Nations health and wellness, and an obligation to make the most of this opportunity. This will require discipline amongst us, including through loyalty to one another and our shared vision; upholding and supporting our roles, responsibilities, decisions, and processes; maintaining and nurturing unity and a united front; integrity and reliability in fulfilling our commitments, and accountability to one another for these commitments and contributions; and, solutions-oriented and active participation.

Relationships

We believe that effective working relationships with First Nations, tripartite partners, and with one another are the foundation for achieving our vision and implementing our health plans and agreements. We commit to fostering effective working relationships and camaraderie underpinned by trust; honesty; understanding; teamwork; and mutual support. We also acknowledge that humour and laughter are both good medicine and a good way to build relationships.

Culture

We are here because of those that came before us, and to work on behalf of First Nations. We draw upon the diverse and unique cultures, ceremonies, customs, and teachings of First Nations for strength, wisdom, and guidance. We uphold traditional and holistic approaches to health and self-care and strive to achieve a balance in our mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical wellness.

Excellence

We are humbled and honoured to have been asked by First Nations to work on their behalf to improve health and wellness and have a moral and personal responsibility to strive for excellence. Excellence means that our outcomes are sustainable, that our processes are professional and transparent, and that we commit to learning continuously – through capacity development opportunities, from each other and from new, different and innovative models worldwide.

Fairness

We work to improve the health and wellness of all First Nations in BC. Our decision making reflects a commitment to health for First Nations and leads to just and equitable treatment amongst all First Nations communities, First Nations organizations, and across all regions of British Columbia. We are committed to making room for everyone and are inclusive in our communications, information-sharing, and discussions.

The Opportunity

As a member of the Senior Executive Team (SET), the Vice President, Human Resources (VP-HR) is an experienced, influential, intuitive, charismatic and inspirational leader who partners in the overall success and achievement of the organizational goals. Ensures that the FNHA reflects a First Nations health and wellness organizational culture. The VP-HR builds strong collaborative partnerships and mutually beneficial relationships with diverse stakeholders, including professional regulatory bodies; health authorities; federal and provincial government departments; educational institutions; and unions.

The VP-HR demonstrates the FNHA’s Wellness behaviours and champions the FNHA’s Shared Values and Shared Principles, as well as provides strong and sustainable leadership to the Human Resource function by fostering a healthy and engaging environment that promotes personal excellence. The VP-HR also provides a framework for planning, designing, implementing and assessing numerous aspects of human capital strategies, programs, and processes in the areas of Organizational Development and Effectiveness; Employee Communications; HR Operations and Advisory Services (including labour relations); Total Rewards; Employee Experience (including talent management, leadership development, training and learning and development); and Governance and Enablement (HR systems and policy).

As part of an ecosystem of health, FNHA respects the interrelated nature of our values and behaviours as well as the integrity and uniqueness of BC First Nations individuals, families, communities and nations. As such, FNHA works to champion, partner and live a holistic view of health and wellness that is inclusive and acknowledges others on a truly human level. This role presents an incredible opportunity to influence positive change for BC’s First Nation communities’ health through wellness, leading the Human Resources team in fulfilling their integral role in creating a positive, effective work environment to deliver on the FNHA’s province-wide mandate.

Principal Duties and Accountabilities Specifically, the successful candidate will be responsible for the following:

          Collaborative Strategic Leadership

• Champions Change Leadership of an evolving, innovative First Nations organization. This includes demonstrating and providing senior level leadership through a Change Leadership lens to support the implementation of the FNHA Leadership Statement and organizational transformation to relevant teams and all FNHA staff as required.
• Provides exemplary leadership behaviours in shaping, improving, institutionalizing and sustaining FNHA’s organizational culture as a high performing, wellness-based organization.
• Designs and implements cross-team collaboration processes for different functions by proactively discussing HR policies, issues and risks with the Senior Executive Team (SET) to resolve in a timely, collaborative and consultative manner.
• Contributes to the development of SET by coaching on the individual and collective leadership styles in driving the organizational strategy and ensuring its alignment to the FNHA Leadership Statement.
• Actively ensures that storytelling capability and reconciliation is embedded into FNHA’s culture, operations, leadership development, policies and strategies as a common thread to the work of the FNHA.
• Supports the development and implementation of the FNHA Multi-Year Health Plan and ensures that practices are consistent with FNHA’s curriculum (e.g. 7 Directives, Shared Values, Operating Principles and Leadership Statement).
• Champions the concepts of wellness, lateral kindness and cultural safety and humility, and the Executive's role in their implementation and achievement, both within the team and more broadly within the ecosystem of health and wellness.
• Collaborates with SET to ensure accountability and leadership for effective corporate reporting in a manner compliant with applicable policies and provincial legislation.

Human Resource Operations and Advisory Services

• Provides strategic human resources and organizational development advice to the CEO and SET for FNHA to achieve and operate as an efficient, effective and excellent First Nations Health Organization.
• Supports the CEO in the management of SET HR responsibilities, as required.
• Collaborates with SET and HR Leadership Team to develop strategic multi-year HR and workforce planning process to meet the emerging functional and business needs at the corporate offices and within the community.
• Accountable for supporting FNHA's annual and long-term strategic and operational human resources plans in alignment with the Multi-Year Health Plan (MYHP) 2016/17 — 2020/21.
• Supports the organization/staff in achieving excellence in operations from a human resources point-of-view.
• In partnership with SET, serves as the primary point of contact for all significant HR issues and is accountable for ensuring excellent leadership, service delivery, management and direction to the FNHA for responses.
• Develops effective, collaborative relationships with key internal and strategic external parties and partnerships, including the Standing Committee on Health Human Resources (HHR).
• Actively and positively represents FNHA with the Community Social Services Employers Association of BC (CSSEA) and the Provincial HR Table.
• Provides operational leadership and direction to implement effective human resources plans, systems, processes, practices, in collaboration with HR Directors and the HR team.
• Provides leadership in the development/maintenance of relevant HR metrics to identify and report on trends, taking action as required to strategically support the business and add value to the day-to-day operations.
• Provides operational leadership and direction to the HR department in providing HR transactional and inquiry services, recruitment and selection, and business advisory support.
• Stabilizes and builds a positive and productive labour relations environment that is based on trust between FNHA and the bargaining agents who represent FNHA’s employees.
• Assists in leading collective agreement negotiations to ensure collective agreements support the achievement of FNHA’s goals and objective and the MYHP (annual and long term) by providing strategic labour relations advice to the CEO and Executive Team to achieve a shared understanding of key labour relations issues.

Total Rewards (Compensation and Benefits)

• Ensures the development and implementation of Total Compensation policies and practices that are progressive, fair, transparent and consistent with FNHA’s mission, vision and values.
• Provides strategic compensation, benefits and recognition strategy advice to the CEO and SET.
• Develops/implements an internal Wellness and Health Benefits Strategy including the establishment of Benefits Plans, Disability Management Plans, Occupational Health and Safety Plans and Work/Life Benefits strategy.
• Provides senior leadership and support to HR team regarding all compensation, benefits and Workplace Wellness programs, processes and activities, and ensures compliance with all regulatory requirements.
• Oversees the effective management of the annual compensation cycle and annual reviews of benefits programs.
• Develops and manages relationships with external vendors and consultants to maintain an up-to-date understanding of competitive, industry and market intelligence related to emerging compensation and benefits trends, including salary surveys and reviews.
• Develops/maintains a compensation and benefits communication strategy aligned with FNHA’s vision and mission.

Employee Experience (Training, Talent Acquisition, Learning and Development, Performance Partnerships)

• Assists in building strong leadership and fostering a First Nations organizational culture in a team environment:
• In partnership with SET, develops and implements human resources programs that build upon a common FNHA organizational culture founded upon the 7 Directives, the First Nations Perspective on Health and Wellness and Shared Values;
• Assists in establishing FNHA as a leader in cultural safety and humility in the workplace;
• Plays a key role in the development of leadership, at all levels, consistent with First Nations approaches and teachings.

• Develops and implements approaches that create and foster a healthy and engaging environment and corporate culture that enables personal excellence:
• Supports continuous learning and development;
• Implements innovative health and wellness-based workforce approach.
• Oversees the development and implementation of Talent Acquisition strategies, plans and programs to ensure the needs of the organization are achieved in support of FNHA policies.
• Provides strategic leadership and support in the development and implementation of strategies, frameworks and plans, and the supporting infrastructure, for learning and development, training and leadership development including succession planning, mentoring and coaching, towards building a high-performance collaborative organization and to foster a continual learning culture.
• Oversees the development and implementation of onboarding and orientation programs.
• In collaboration with SET, senior management and HR leaders, identifies and facilitates transformational change management opportunities to foster a positive acceptance of change and adoption of desired behaviours and Practices.
• Oversees and leads HR driven organizational effectiveness and change management programs.
• Provides senior leadership and support to the HR Directors and HR team to ensure that performance plans are developed and that key performance objectives are achieved for all FNHA staff.
• Oversees the design and delivery of cost-effective performance management tools (“Performance Partnerships”) and processes to support an environment of open communication and feedback between employees and immediate supervisors. Ensures tools and processes support both Non-union and Union employee groups.

Governance and Enablement (Policy and Information Systems)

• Recommends and leads the implementation of organizational structures and accountability frameworks that will achieve FNHA's vision of “Health through Wellness.”
• Provides strategic direction and guidance in establishing an efficient, effective, compliant, consistent, service-oriented and sustainable governance structure to meet the client and business needs in achieving FNHA’s objectives.
• Provides guidance and framework in translating HR processes and procedures into integrated and sustainable HR Systems that align with HR Technology Strategy. Establishes a multi-year strategic road map of HR Systems Strategy for Human Capital Management (HCM), performance management system, Learning Management System (LMS), and Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
• Establishes plans to review, streamline, and communicate HR policies, standard operating procedures and HR tools with all stakeholders across FNHA. Ensures that the practices and policies are in full compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements.
• Creates an enabling environment between HR leadership and the FNHA client groups to establish accurate and insightful reporting on key management metrics, workforce data and analytics on a real-time basis to support effective decision making on human resource planning.
• Leads responsibility for HR-related risk management and business continuity activities.
• Mentors and coaches HR team in effectively managing vendor relations to minimize risk and maximize value by establishing a process for vendor onboarding and off-boarding, monitoring monthly analytics and providing ongoing feedback to vendors for meeting service standards in a timely and effective way.
• Introduces and institutionalizes HR audit practices to examine HR systems, policies and procedures to identify strengths and limitations that require resolution and thereby focus on improving and evolving the overall HR services to FNHA stakeholders.
• Provides guidance in developing and implementing internal communications campaigns to educate employees on HR initiatives and introduce organization-wide changes in a sensitive and culturally appropriate manner.

HR Team Development and Management

• Builds a multi-disciplinary team, fostering collaborative information sharing, problem-solving, and decision-making in the context of a seamless service delivery model.
• Manages a multi-disciplinary team of directly and indirectly reporting staff, including selection, coaching, development, performance management and all other people management practices. Also engages and oversees external consultants and service providers as needed.
• Develops and communicates tactical and workable plans emerging from the strategic goals of the organization. Empowers, engages, coaches and develops the HR team to truly reflect the FNHA core values and principles of FNHA Wellness.

Other Leadership Expectations

• Establishes portfolio service standards and performance metrics for relevant functions; periodically monitors and tracks progress against the defined metrics and standards.
• Upholds FNHA’s health and safety, legal, regulatory and compliance requirements.
• Provides the CEO with strategic-level reporting at a departmental level, as applicable. Reporting includes progress reports, performance and/or outcome measures, organizational risks, staff safety concerns and community crisis response, as appropriate.
• Effectively manages human resources functions that fall within Vice President, Human Resources delegation of authority in compliance with FNHA human resources policies and procedures. Provides the CEO with a Strategic HR Plan, including breakdowns by specific departments (as applicable), for approval and report against it on a quarterly basis.
• Manages financial resources to meet Vice President, Human Resources annual mandate and objectives, including breakdowns by specific departments (as applicable), within budget delegated by the CEO to the Vice President, Human Resources in compliance with FNHA financial policies and directives. Financial performance will be reviewed and discussed quarterly with the CEO.
• Provides strategic leadership to the development and review of corporate policies, executive directives and procedures within the Vice President, Human Resources portfolio.
• Provides input to support the development of corporate policies, executive directives and procedures of other departments and teams, as applicable.

Qualifications

• Degree in Business or Human Resources (or equivalent experience).
• A Human Resource designation (CPHR, CPP).
• 10-15 years of progressive experience in a senior human resources leadership role.
• Extensive experience in human resource management in complex settings, including supporting labour relations and negotiations.
• Experience or knowledge running HR services across a broad geographic location.
• Human Resource Management experience in an Indigenous setting.

Knowledge & Skills

• Ability to model the behaviours of the FNHA’s Wellness philosophy across the work environment.
• Influential and visionary leader; Understands transformative change and the role of leadership in supporting change.
• Agile and solutions-oriented; Has the capacity to quickly assess issues and respond with actions that are aligned with organizational values.
• Effective and proven negotiation skills and has a track record of positive labour relations.
• Expert-level communication skills; Has the ability to listen and understand diverse perspectives and synthesize ideas to develop plans in a respectful manner.
• Engaging and optimistic; A collaborative team player with strong interpersonal skills.
• Has the ability to balance confidence and subject matter expertise with humility and compassion.
• In-depth knowledge of legislation and regulation governing human resource management in British Columbia.
• Strong administrative skills including in financial management, budget preparation and forecasting and project management.
• Demonstrated skills in critical thinking and analysis, strategic planning and policy development and management; Computer and communication technology and software abilities.
• Politically and culturally sensitive; Mental and physical capacity to address the demands of the position.
• Understanding of Canada’s historical relations with Indigenous Peoples and understanding of First Nations’ right to self-determination.
• Familiar with the Tripartite Agreement and formation of the FNHA.
• Knowledge of the First Nations perspectives of health and wellness is an asset.

For more information or to apply for this opportunity, please contact either Laurie Sterritt at 778-838-4569

or Robin Noftall at 778-754-0499

Or:

Submit your resume and related information to

laurie@leadersinternational.com or robinn@leadersinternational.com

For more information on the First Nations Health Authority, please visit their website at www.fnha.ca