Tom Rankin
Profile
Tom Rankin, a senior associate of PHS at Work, has 25 years experience helping a wide range of clients in the areas of, labour-management relations, leadership development, strategic planning, organization design and development, multi stakeholder relations, and conference design and delivery. He has worked extensively throughout Canada and the United States, as well as on projects in Africa, Australia, India, the Caribbean, Panama and several West and East European countries.
Tom’s consulting practice includes assignments with all levels of government, the private sector, several UN agencies, labour unions, and non-governmental organizations. He is particularly skilled in helping diverse groups find common ground and is frequently employed to facilitate complex change efforts involving several stakeholders. He is comfortable working at all levels of the workplace from the “Board Room” to the office / shop floor.
Tom’s consulting experience is complemented by his University teaching and research experience. He has supervised field practicums for several Masters students enrolled in the Human Systems Intervention program at Concordia University in Montreal, was a full time guest researcher at the Swedish Centre for Working Life for 1 year, and taught organization design part time for 10 years in the Executive Education Division of the Faculty of Management at the University of Toronto.
Tom holds an Honours Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario, a Bachelors of Education from the University of Toronto, a Masters of Education from the University of Ottawa, and a PhD in Social Systems Science, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His professional development includes a 4 week long certificate program in Organization Development from NTL Institute and a week long Tavistock Group Relations workshop.
Tom is a founding member of the STS Roundtable and a member of the Organization Design Forum. He is the author of several articles and reports on workplace change. His book, New Forms of Work Organization: the Challenge for North American Unions, is published by University of Toronto Press.
Overview of Consulting Experience
Leadership Development: Tom has designed and delivered leadership development programs for supervisors, managers, and executives in both the private and public sectors as well as for local union executives. Programs have ranged in scope from 2-day workshops to year long, blended programs involving multiple in class sessions, action learning, international learning tours, coaching, virtual chat rooms, and simulations.
In addition, Tom has designed and delivered training and development programs in the areas of procurement, material management, real property, finance, human resources, performance feedback, fraud prevention, management accountability and values and ethics for line managers and functional specialists in the federal public service.
Clients include the Canada School of Public Service (Direxion, Advanced Leadership Program (ALP), ileadership and Authority Delegation Training); Human Resources and Skills Development Canada; United Nations High Commission for Refugees; Unilever; Government of Macedonia; and the Communication, Energy and Paperworkers Union.
Strategic Planning: Tom has designing and facilitated both traditional and accelerated, high involvement approaches to strategic and business planning. He has helped clients conduct environmental scans, carry out bench marking studies, clarify purpose and distinctive competencies, craft and prioritize key strategies, and develop performance indicators.
Clients have included National Police Forces in Albania, Serbia, Croatia and Romania, UN Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI), Health Canada, Justice Canada, CUSO International, United Way, Perinatal Association of South-Eastern Ontario, Canadian Police College, Sybase Inc., ECWU Local 914, CEP’s Health, Safety and Industrial Relations Training Fund; Unifor Local 707, and Joint Union Management Career Transition Committees in the Canada Federal Public Service.
Organization Design and Development: Tom has extensive experience helping clients design and implement macro and micro organizational structures in both existing and new workplaces; reconfigure business and work processes; determine work unit boundaries and accountabilities; design inter unit and organization wide integration and coordination mechanisms; clarify management accountabilities, responsibilities and authorities; redefine roles and relationship among line and staff groups; and align organizational systems (e.g., performance measures, training, compensation, performance management).
Recent assignments include an organization review of the Public Service Academy of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago; the development of a global management accountability framework for UNHCR; advising the senior leadership team of UNISDR as they implemented a new agency wide organization design; and the design and delivery of a series of planning / team building sessions for the executive of Unifor Local 707.
Tom’s experience includes using both design teams and large group methods to support numerous joint union – management groups, in both the public and private sector, to redesign processes, structures and jobs to enhance client service, productivity and worker health and safety. Clients include DND / UNDE, Miller Brewery / UAW, and Unilever/ Teamsters.
Previous organization design and development clients include International Development Research Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, INAC, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Ault Foods / USWA, CEP, OPSEU, Public Service Commission of Canada, UNFPA, City of Kanata, Township of West Carleton, Miller Brewery, Shell Canada, Kraft Foods, Whirlpool, BHP Steel, Georgia Pacific, Unilever, Alcan, Exxon, Cameco, and Scott Paper.
Union / Management Relations: Tom has advised employers and unions on the development of human resource systems to support overall enterprise strategies; helped labour-management groups develop consultation systems, improve communications and problem solving and develop new roles for managers and union leaders; and designed and delivered over 20 relationship improvement programs for union – management leaders from shop stewards - supervisors to National officers - senior executives.
Clients include Hibernia / Unifor; Campbellford Memorial Hospital / Ontario Nurses Association; Saskatchewan Department of Corrections / Saskatchewan Government Employees Union; Canada Bread / Teamsters; Unilever / Teamsters; Shell Oil / CEP; Sifto Salt / CEP; Dow Chemical / CEP; Suncor / CEP; Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.; Canada Customs and Revenue Agency; United Nations High Commission for Refugees / UNHCR Employee Association; and the Public Service Commission of Canada.
Multi Stakeholder Collaboration: Tom has advised and facilitated several multi stakeholder groups on a wide range of issues including governance and accountability (NATO Flying Program in Canada), science and policy integration (Federal Science and Technology Integration Board and Ontario Council on University Research), economic development (Jamestown Area Labour Management Committee), regulation (Canada’s Regulatory Process for Therapeutic Products), and joint ventures (Business Development Bank, Coulson Group of Companies and four First Nations Bands).
Conference Design and Delivery: Tom has advised on the selection of conference themes and objectives, the identification of the target audience, the development of conference agendas, the selection and briefing of plenary and workshop speakers, and the design and facilitation of plenary sessions and workshops. Several designs have incorporated a range of participative learning methods including world cafes, brain jams, open - space sessions, on site blogging, electronic polling, and the use of video to enhance learning.
Clients have included Unifor (seven, 4 day conferences each attended by 150 local union executives and employer representatives). The 2016 and 2013 conferences both focused exclusively on workplace mental health. Additional assignments include Justice Canada (three, 4 day leadership conferences each with 350 attendees), Canada School of Public Service (Future Leaders Forum for 300 participants), and Privy Council Office (two, 2 day ADM Forums each for 300 participants).
Tom was also the lead designer for a series of 8 ‘conferences’ or large scale learning events that introduced the Public Service Modernization Act (PSMA) and related policies to senior managers and HR specialists in the Canadian Federal Public Service.
Selected Consulting Assignments:
Hibernia / Unifor
In 2014 – 15 Tom designed and facilitated a series of workshops in order to improve both a deteriorating union management relationship and the effectiveness of the Joint Health and Safety Committee. Gold Winner of the 2015 Workplace Psychological Safety Award by Canada’s Safest Employers Awards Program, the Hibernia Management and Development Company operates the Hibernia platform, an offshore oil drilling operation off the coast of St. John’s, N.L. Five hundred employees, members of Unifor Local 2121, work three weeks on, three weeks off, with 270 workers on the platform at any given time.
National Joint Council
Tom designed and facilitated a 2 day strategic planning session for union and management co - chairs of Joint Career Transition Committees in the Federal Public Service.
Saskatchewan Department of Justice / Saskatchewan Govt. Employees Union
Tom chaired a joint Union – Management Committee mandated by the Minister of Justice to investigate labour relations issues in four correctional centres. The Committee was established due to the high levels of absenteeism, complaints concerning sexual and other forms of harassment, high numbers of grievances, extreme levels of distrust and conflict and illegal work stoppages. The Committee's recommendations were developed after comprehensive interviews with all levels of management and employees in all 4 locations, and were unanimously accepted by all parties. Action was taken on all recommendations; including delegation of decision-making, consultation processes and procedures, communications, grievance mediation, shift schedules and a variety of training programs. Four years after the initial investigation Tom conducted a follow up study to assess progress
Mosaic Potash / Lanxess / Petro – Canada / Cabot Carbon / Celanese Canada / Sifto Salt / Shell Canada / Nova Chemicals / Cogema / Chevron Canada / Suncor / Imperial Oil / Nexen / Nova & Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (now UNIFOR)
For each of the above 14 organizations, Tom designed and facilitated a 2 or 3 day group relationship improvement off site meeting for management and the local union executive. The National Office of Unifor sponsored the meetings while the local parties (management and union) made the decision to participate.
All meetings focused on the relationship and interactions among the meeting participants (usually the facility manager and his / her direct reports and the local union leadership). Topics addressed included distinguishing between positions and interests, improving day to day communications, revitalizing the monthly union management meeting, building trust, establishing norms of behaviour etc.
International Development Research Centre
Tom designed and facilitated a review and reparation process for management and staff of the Governance for Equity in Health Systems (GEHS) Program. GEHS is composed of researchers from several different countries and cultures. The review process was launched due to persistent dissatisfaction with the manner in which another Centre program had been integrated into GEHS.
United Nations High Commission for Refugees / UNHCR Employee Association
Tom co-designed and facilitated a series of workshops which led to a comprehensive redesign of the structures and processes for labour management consultation at all levels of the agency. Subsequently he advised on the development of the implementation plan and provided training support to implementation both in the field and at headquarters. The new consultation system was in support of and aligned with a major re-engineering of the Agency's primary business processes, overall organizational structure and operating philosophy
UniLever / Teamsters (Toronto)
Tom was initially hired by the local union to advise on how it might respond to work reorganization and process redesign initiatives being undertaken by management. He was subsequently hired by union and corporate plant management to facilitate negotiations which determined the terms and conditions of a joint change process. He helped to set up a union-management Steering Committee whose initial activities included the development of a technical training program and the introduction of total productive maintenance. In addition, he advised on the redesign of the maintenance function, jobs and career ladders in order to support the transition to a high performance work system
Campbellford Memorial Hospital / Ontario Nurses Association
Tom designed and carried a workplace assessment for hospital management and ONA. He conducted approximately 70 interviews with staff and management which focused on what was working well and what needed improvement with respect to relations among management, RNs, RPNs and other staff in work groups, relations between groups, and overall relations between all staff and management. A particular focus of the interviews was perceptions of the extent to which all staff were treated in a fair and equitable manner. Tom fed back the interview themes to a joint union management leadership group along with his recommendations for improvement, and facilitated subsequent action planning
Shell Canada / CEP Local 840
Tom carried out a study of the impact of the company’s Respectful Workplace Policy on unionized employees. He interviewed over 70 bargaining unit employees and all supervisors, managers, and local union officials and fed back his findings and recommendations in an all staff meeting.