Alberta HR association sets sights on collaborative model
With the hiring of a new executive director, the Human Resources Institute of Alberta (HRIA) is ramping up collaborative efforts to bring together the province’s local HR associations. Nora Molina has joined the Calgary-based group and, she said, the collaborative model is the most significant initiative on the agenda.
Alberta does not have HR chapters, as is common in other provinces. Rather, it has independent groups who have discussed the advantages to coming together for several years. In June, a vote was taken among the groups — except for the Calgary association, which has expressed concerns about the governance model — and all indications suggest the local groups are in favour, said Molina.
Once approved, the HRIA will move forward with implementing the collaborative model, starting primarily with outlying, rural organizations.
“They don’t have the infrastructure to support what their members are looking for,” she said. “So implementation into the fall and into 2010 is going to be a major focus of my work here.”
Collaboration is a really broad concept, said Molina, and its overall purpose is to enhance services, and introduce new ones, for members throughout the province. That will include an increase in web-based resources, such as webinars and an online resource centre for quick and easy access.
“Wherever it’s feasible where we can do face-to-face, where the numbers can warrant doing that, we will certainly move forward with some plans to work with the regional groups to deliver those types of offerings as well,” she said.
Did similar work at CGAA
Before joining the HRIA, Molina worked at the Certified General Accountants’ Association (CGAA) of Alberta for 10 years. She started as director of business development and eventually became director of education where she assisted with business process mapping for all business areas, increased online enrolment services and oversaw the delivery of the CGA Program of Professional Studies to about 3,700 students across the province.
“(It) is a fairly more complicated process than HRIA, just by the nature of the number of exams that have to be written,” she said.
The job meant Moina had a breadth of contacts in the post-secondary and business communities and the position with the HRIA has similar responsibilities and objectives.
“I just saw it as a really intriguing opportunity to move into an area and a profession that aligned well with my professional interests,” she said.
Molina is “a dynamic leader” with 10 years of senior management experience, said Claudia Verburgh, president of the HRIA.
“The strengths that Nora brings to HRIA include exceptional collaborative and partnership-building skills, extensive board experience, project management on a national scale and the ability to align organizational strategy with tactical operations and management,” she said.
Alberta’s HR association had an executive director on staff last year who has since departed, so Molina is taking over after a lapse.
“Our association has been growing at a fast pace to over 3,700 members and we have grown beyond what a volunteer board can effectively manage on a day-to-day basis. Nora, with her background as the director of education for the CGA and her education in communications and a master’s in organizational dynamics and human resources, was a great fit for this critical position,” said Verburgh.
After reviewing all of the staff positions when she came onboard, Molina hired a manager of member relations — to replace a manager of administration who relocated — whose job will have strong communication and services components.
“We have an administrative responsibility both as an arm of the board and supporting the board and the organization, but I really felt the need to develop a role that is going to become a key contact for our members, in terms of services and designing programs and services for our members” she said.
The HRIA will also be doing more promotion of the value of the HR designation through greater on-campus presence at post-secondary institutions.
While she herself did not have a formal education in human resources until recently, Molina said she has always had a personal interest in aspects of the profession.
“For the most part, my interest is in the organizational behaviour side. Not so much the staffing, HR management and practice but organizations themselves and organizational design,” she said.
