Alignment is key to city’s success

Manitoba’s Premier has an expression that I love: the economic horse pulls the social cart. It’s a cogent reminder that the things we may want for society can often only be provided if we can afford to pay for them. A healthy economy is a prerequisite to a healthy society.

As a regular attendee at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair I know that a group of heavy horses working in tandem can pull a much heavier cart more easily than a single horse trying to go it alone.

With this in mind, a couple of years ago the Brandon Chamber of Commerce helped to convene partners to create Grow Brandon — an alliance made up of federal, provincial, municipal and Indigenous governments, post-secondary institutions, and the private sector, through its own members as well as the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce and the Business Council of Manitoba.

It’s clear that pulling in tandem we have a much greater chance of success than we do if everyone is out pursuing independent goals.

Whether it’s an organization or a community, alignment is an underrated element of success. As a leader of a large organization with diverse departments and interests, I know first-hand how critical alignment is to achieving big things in a resource constrained environment.

In economic development this is particularly true when you live outside the provincial capital. Provinces and the Government of Canada have assets that can be brought to bear on opportunities. As such, finding ways to harness those capacities for the good of your region is necessary. The Grow Brandon alliance is a way of achieving that. We can’t afford to go it alone.

As a college president, I also understand how important that alignment is to our work. There are lots of new programs we might want to add as an institution, but a shared vision for the future of the economy helps to inform how we set priorities. If the region believes it is well-positioned to be a leader in value-added agriculture or food production, it’s important that the college prioritize labour force development to support those efforts.

In bringing the alliance together, the goal was not to create another entity with its own bureaucracy. In fact, Grow Brandon is not even a legal entity at this time. In it’s early day, the Brandon Chamber of Commerce was shouldering the responsibility of providing secretariat services to support the group. Recently, the City of Brandon has been willing to be home to our secretariat.

We don’t necessarily need another player on the field, simply an orchestra conductor to help with co-ordination and alignment. (I know, horses, football, orchestras — it’s a lot of metaphors.)

Last month we were heartened to see the Government of Canada and Province of Manitoba each come to the table to support the efforts of the alliance for a three-year period.

Among the things these resources support is hosting an annual economic summit to take stock of our economic situation, to raise awareness about challenges and opportunities and to create a forum for dialogue about key economic issues in the region.

Last month, we hosted the first of those summits to a capacity crowd. We look forward to next November’s summit as an opportunity to assess progress.

Personally and professionally, I am passionate about economic development. Before I came to work in colleges in 2004, most of my career was spent in economic development. In fact, a member of the Saskatchewan media once said I was an economic developer masquerading as a college president. I have worn that like a badge of honour.

That’s why I was more than willing to serve as chair of Grow Brandon. In that spirit, I plan to dedicate a number of my Mark My Words columns over the next year to highlighting issues connected to economic development.

I look forward to what we can achieve together.