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Dean welcomes and has a great conversation with Marc Spector, Deputy Registrar at the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA), and President of the Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation (CLEAR). They discuss a number of topics, including what it is like to lead a group of international regulators, what the regulator of tomorrow might look like, and what relevant regulation means to them. Marc also shares a little guilty pleasure that some people might just be surprised to learn!

After a long break from production, we are back for Season 4. In this episode, your host, Dean Benard, takes the opportunity to share his thoughts on communicating during conflict. Most people deal with conflict in one of two ways, or sometimes a combination of both these ways: Avoidance and Defensiveness. Neither of these approaches will help, and the advice we got as children... you remember, "Just ignore them and they will stop", or "You just stand up to them and put them in their place"  was well-meaning but ineffective. We need to engage strategically, thoughtfully, respectfully, and with an open mind, to resolve conflict. This episode will help listeners with some clear advice, and practical tools to manage conflict and prevent it from escalating.   Dean also provides a sneak peek into the upcoming episodes planning over 2024. 

How do young people break through into the professional world of business? How do they grow and become leaders?  This episode features Madelyn Robbins. Who is Madelyn Robbins?  Well, to start with, she is the stepdaughter of the host (Yes, full disclosure here), but she is much more than that. You will learn more about her in the episode as she opens up about the unique challenges her generation faces, her methods of growing and learning what school can't teach, how she manages her mindset, and attitude, and more. This one will surprise you folks!

Ever wonder how you can improve your brand to attract the best employees?  Emma shows us ways to accomplish this, to build great teams and keep them.  Emma is the founder of Iris, an organization that focuses on deepening employee-employer relationships. For over a  decade, she has shared her experience and talents to assist organizations across a variety of sectors, including private, public, and not-for-profit organizations. 

In this episode we talk about a number of EDI issues with our two experts Manny Rego, who has been one of our most popular guests and is a thought leader in EDI, and Dr. Vidal Chavannes, who has worked with many public and private, and non-profit organizations helping to establish equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) frameworks, and develop industry-specific EDI training and education programs and modules. We take on some interesting questions such as:  What happened to the D in EDI?Has the energy around EDI started to dissipate? We hear a dissention and complaints from some people, voicing their concerns of losing "something". A real fear? Yes, but is it a real problem? 

Richard Steinecke is highly regarded as a leader, educator, mentor, and one of the Godfathers of professional regulation in Canada. Dean had the opportunity to sit down with Richard Steinecke upon his retirement, and discuss Richard's reflections on his amazing career and some of his thoughts on where professional regulation is headed in the years to come. 

With so much concern for employee retention, the need to maintain psychologically safe workspaces, and the desire to establish high functioning and happy workplace cultures, Amy Davies brings one more tool for the Management and HR toolbox - Stay Interviews. Learn how these work, what they can do and why it is important to utilize them. Amy is a delight to have on the show and this episode is one you won't want to miss.   

There have been a number of controversies and concerns raised about entry to practice examinations. Things like fairness, equity, and remote proctoring, to name a few. Chris Beauchamp enlightens us about developing and administering examinations, and he addresses some of the recent controversies such as massive failure rates in some cases, suggestions that exams are not inclusive and create barriers for some exam takers to be successful. 

In this episode of the podcast John Farren and Dean discuss hot topics in workplace investigations including:  Investigation of the unwitnessed scenario - "One person’s word against the other"Selecting external investigators - What to look for as we see a proliferation of “would be investigators”The importance of avoiding bias and staying open minded during an investigationDuring this conversation, John brings his wealth of experience and insightful perspectives to all these topics. What is shared in this conversation is helpful to investigators, and those who would be looking to engage investigators. 

The phrase quiet quitting has been making the rounds and is seen as a hot new trend, but is it really? Mani Rego Mani is a strategic HR and DEI thought leader with over 25 years of experience in HR, Leadership Development, Training, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Mani helps us understand this concept, what it is and what we can do to address it. 

We called this the "Podcast Takeover" - Dean goes from host to guest and Brenda takes over as the host. In this episode Dean talks about illegal practitioners, what they are, the dangers they pose, and how they are investigated. There are  some great insights, interesting stories and advice on how regulators can deal with these fraudsters and how members of the public can stay safe. 

In this very interesting episode, the Registrar and Vice President of Regulation for the Human Resources Professionals Association, Claude Balthazard discusses the journey from association to regulator, and the incredible story of how the HRPA accomplished and continues to manage the transition. Claude is an engaging speaker and very knowledgeable on regulatory matters. He not only tells the story of the HRPA but also highlights todays thinking about regulation, its association roots, and the path forward to meeting public expectations.