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The Facilitation Impact Awards (FIA) honours organisations that have used facilitation to achieve a measurable and positive impact as well as the facilitator(s) who worked with them. More about FIA. 
Platinum award
Oxford Properties - Alberta Retail Group
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Client: 
Facilitators: 

Team Alberta 4.0: Creating a culture of regional collaboration

Impact

Key results include:

  • Monetary savings of $500K+ and the elimination of duplicated programs and systems.
  • 6 cross-site exchanges for 20 employees and engagement activities for 130 employees.
  • The creation of a shared purpose and culture of collaboration that the team is highly motivated by.
  • The development of joint team wellness and health and safety initiatives.
  • A ‘first of its kind’ joint workforce plan and ‘attention’ from other sites across the country.

Context and challenges

The Oxford Properties Alberta Retail Group includes the Kingsway and Southcentre shopping centres (Edmonton/Calgary). These retail centres offer fashion, food and service options to customers. Their purpose is to contribute to the business success of Oxford and be a ‘connecting’ place for tenants, customers and community.

The retail industry has been disrupted with increased online shopping and the closing of long-time brands. This, coupled with long shut downs because of Covid, has left the centres searching for new strategies to recover and sustain the business. As Kingsway and Southcentre are two of the smaller Oxford retail properties, and the only ones operating in the West, regional cooperation is seen as a critical tool in addressing these challenges and building longer-term sustainability.

Project objectives

To reap the benefits of regional cooperation, the Alberta sites set out two key objectives:

  1. Forge a collaborative working relationship between the two sites including creating a common purpose and establishing a structure and system for ongoing cooperation.
  2. Identify key opportunities to maximize resources that contribute to business priorities and strengthen their capacity and effectiveness.

Approach

Held during Covid lockdown, the project was facilitated using Zoom and with a virtual workspace set up in Howspace for synchronous and asynchronous access by participants. To mitigate virtual fatigue, the process involved 24 “mini’ events spread out over 6 weeks with different stakeholders participating at different times. With 41 stakeholders involved (including guests), external facilitation was essential to support inclusion, participation and productive collaboration.