Eligible Canadian companies looking to expand their innovation portfolios and protect their intellectual property can do so by taking advantage of available funding programs. These programs enable them to access the necessary capital to scale their businesses and attract investors who are interested in the potential growth of the company. By exploring these various cost effective sources, savvy SMEs can grow their business while also protecting it – a must in today’s competitive environment. Innovation is at the core of competitive economic growth, and intellectual property (IP) protection is ..read more

Are you looking for ways to foster a growth mindset in your team? Then it’s time to harness the power of “yet”! When we view our challenges and accomplishments through the lens of possibility, teams can unlock their greatest potential. This article will explore why this simple three-letter word is so powerful and how business and team leaders can foster a culture of positive motivation by leveraging its benefits and encouraging further learning by adopting a growth mindset for yourself and your team . A frustrating leadership challenge is when you find yourself having to influence or engage te ..read more

Periodic audits of your IT ecosystem are essential to ensuring optimal health of your IT assets and to ensure that everything remains up-to-date and running smoothly. Why not capitalize on the spring cleaning bug that hits so many of us and schedule your next IT audit now! Open your windows, clean your curtains and take stock of your IT assets, subscriptions, vendor agreements and data integrity.   Spring cleaning is something of a tradition in many cultures.  It’s an opportunity to dust off the remnants of winter and revitalize your home for a new year.  If you’re like me, you ..read more

The Benefits of an IP Focused Company Culture Or Why Your Organization Should Prioritize an Innovation-Minded Culture Culture is a critical component of IP protection. By implementing processes and policies that highlight the importance of its creation and protection, organizations will not only ensure compliance but also encourage creativity that leads to competitive advantage. Investing in an innovation-minded culture and implementing IP policies that outline the basics of awareness, risks and processes ensure that IP protection becomes second nature.  Intellectual property can get comp ..read more

Incorporating your EDI Strategy into your Total Rewards Program It’s Time to Check in on your Total Rewards Program to Ensure it is Meeting the Needs of All of Your Employees Does your Total Rewards Program take into account the diversity of your employees? Conducting a review of your total rewards will ensure that your holiday schedule, compensation structure, and benefits doesn’t favour a specific group within your organization. It’s time to make equity, diversity and inclusion a key part of your total rewards strategy.  Many organizations have made equity, diversity, and inclusion an i ..read more

Tackling Amorphous Barriers The Unwritten Rules of Strategy Execution & Culture Culture is comprised of values, beliefs, and practices that are both declared and tacitly shared but are often not codified. That being said, culture is inextricably intertwined with your business strategy and the degree of success with which it is executed, so how can you tackle these amorphous barriers? Here are the three ‘unwritten rules’ you can put into effect to ensure that your culture supports your strategy and that you are setting yourself up for organizational success. “Strategy without execution is j ..read more

You Had Me at Hello: Senior Hire Integration Why it’s important and how to make it work Hiring for a senior position requires a lot of time and effort up front to ensure that the appropriate candidate has the right mix of skills and expertise to succeed in the role. But, equally important is the effort required after they’ve been brought on board to ensure that they are integrated into the company properly. Don’t confuse onboarding with integration. To ensure the success of your new hire, you should be taking a deliberate and comprehensive approach to making sure that the relationship between ..read more

If you subscribe to any one of the myriad streaming services out there, chances are you’ve seen and maybe even clicked on a movie from the “Because you liked…” section which offers recommendations the platform thinks you’ll enjoy based on what you’ve previously watched.  This is a great feature, and I’ve found some hidden gems this way BUT there is a hidden danger to the over-curation of content in your news feed and the media that you consume – a narrowing of perspective. Instead of actively seeking out something new, you are passively consuming content that offers similar perspectives ..read more

Collaboration is the New Competition: Is collaboration part of your strategy? In our recently published “Global Trends to Consider in 2023,” we identified six key themes impacting organizations. Among them were Sustainability/ESG, Accelerated digital transformation, Augmented customer experience and Supply chain challenges. Collaboration is a common factor that allows organizations to take full advantage of these trends’ opportunities. Business schools have been teaching us for years that for an organization to be successful, it must beat the competition. Since the early days of strategic thi ..read more

Conflict Debt is Real – and Debilitating “The problem with conflict debt is that you pay interest on that debt. It’s the interest that’s slowing down your organization and killing you.” – Liane Davey Are you avoiding confrontation or conflict for fear of ruffling a few feathers? Unresolved conflicts get added to your “conflict debt,” which can negatively impact team success, contributing to inefficiencies at the organization level and overwork at the individual level. Workplace conflict is a natural byproduct of an engaged and and high-functioning team. Resolving those friction points (instead ..read more