Manic Monday | The Right Partnerships are Powerful

Over decades we have seen countless examples of how partnerships between individual organizations, that share a like minded vision, can make significant impacts that might otherwise not have taken place.

The Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA), together with go2HR has seen first hand how beneficial partnerships can be.  In 2016, Arlene Keis CEO of go2HR, shared our vision to join forces to assist our regional tourism operators in dealing with the ongoing challenges in Human Resource specifically as it relates to recruitment, retention and training.

Vancouver based go2HR has always provided services to the entire province but there was an opportunity for us to join forces to amp up the services for our region.  The vision included jointly funding an HR position in the Thompson Okanagan that would develop deeper connections with our regional tourism industry and educators. Ultimately, the goal is to assist in uncovering key regional employment issues and challenges as well as identifying and implementing strategies to mitigate or greater reduce the identified concerns.

Leading the regional initiative for both organizations is Ginger Brunner,  who many of you will have met over the course of the past several months  Ginger is based in the TOTA office in Kelowna, and has been instrumental in taking on this daunting role realizing some tremendous success in this first year.

From the launch of a Regional HR Advisory Committee,  hosting and co-hosting events throughout the region,  promoting, coordinating and delivering Tourism Career Awareness  Presentations, encouraging the utilization of the go2HR job board and conducting one on one meetings with regional employers, Ginger's first 12 months have accomplished all that was envisioned and more.

In the coming year, you will see this role develop further taking on some very specific action items while continuing to broaden the reach of services provided to our stakeholders.

Partnerships work....partnerships are the key to advancement and partnerships highlight the necessity for collaboration in order to solve some of the most fundamental yet difficult challenges faced by the tourism industry.

If you are struggling to recruit, retain or train employees, please contact Ginger Brunner directly  gbrunner@go2hr.ca  or 250-860-5999 ext. 210

Glenn Mandziuk, TOTA President & CEO