As BC HRMA’s 2013 Award of Excellence: HR Professional of the Year, Cindy Dopson holds firm her belief of HR professionals also being business professionals.  With an MBA, the CHRP designation and 15 years of both operations and HR experience, Cindy has modeled her own wisdom throughout her career. Prior to joining the BC Cancer Foundation as director of HR in 2009, Cindy led HR teams at TELUS where she drove a number of innovative and winning-programs.

 What brought you to HR and how has that world changed most?
I started out doing corporate training. I loved the idea of giving new employees their first experience in an organization—and of having fun with them while setting them up to be successful in their new jobs.

I had an amazing mentor in my vice president at the time, Josh Blair, who encouraged me to do an MBA in HR Management.  Completing that degree changed my awareness of what’s possible in the world of HR. It opened my eyes to the degree to which we can influence the success of a business overall.

What is the best way to build the business case for HR?
Know your business—not just the HR business, but truly know and understand the business drivers for your organization.  When you really understand that, you will develop HR solutions that not only align to the business strategy, but enhance it—and those solutions are easy to make a business case for.

Involve yourself in things that wouldn’t traditionally be considered HR. Establish a reputation for being able to contribute on many levels of the organization. When you do that, you have more credibility for anything you want to initiate.

What aspect or words of wisdom from the 51st Annual BC HRMA Conference and Tradeshow inspired you most?
I attended many incredible sessions at the conference that gave me practical ideas and information, were thought provoking and energized me.  If I have to say what inspired me the most, I think it would be the stories of the Rising Star award finalists.  Seeing the passion and energy that Nilesh, Sabrina and Sarina have for this profession, and hearing how much they have accomplished so early in their careers, excites and inspires me – and gives me great confidence in the future of human resources as a profession.

What remains the most enduring challenge for HR—and where do you see the greatest opportunity?
I think we still have a long way to go in the shift from policy-makers and policy-police to business-enhancers. Besides our own choices, a number of things get in the way of that —like labour laws that struggle to keep up with changing technology and changing culture.

I see so many opportunities though: the availability of better HR educational opportunities that are focused on understanding impact and business rather than focused on technical HR administration; the shift in thinking of so many executive teams about the value of HR; the thought leadership that is happening within BC HRMA between members and the association; and the inspiration of those trying new and different ways.

I am really excited about the path we’re on.

What piece of advice do you wish someone had given you earlier in your career?
Remember to live in the moment.You will have lots of time to do all the things you want to accomplish, you don’t need to do everything today!  In fact, I probably still need that advice…maybe a daily reminder.

As the theme of our Fall 2013 issue is “Diversity and Dividends”, how does diversity help fuel the innovative potential of a workplace?
I love that we are starting to look at diversity through many lenses—beyond culture or gender—and becoming aware of all the ways that each of us brings unique perspectives and viewpoints to the world around us.

Truly capitalizing on diversity goes beyond hiring practices – it’s finding ways that enable all those perspectives to have a voice in an organization.  If we believe that innovations comes from thinking differently about the challenges we face, then having different thinking around the table is the most likely way to get there.

The challenge for us in HR is to find ways to systemically support and encourage such diversity throughout the organization—and to ensure that it becomes a living part of the culture.

(PeopleTalk Summer 2013)