Where Insights Meet Impact

We are the foremost independent, applied research organization in Canada. We deliver unique insights into Canada’s toughest problems.

As a country, we face greater complexity and higher stakes than ever. The way we respond to challenges will define the Canada of tomorrow.

That’s where The Conference Board of Canada comes in. We master complexity through our trusted research and unparalleled connections—delivering unique insight into Canada’s toughest problems so leaders can build a stronger future.

Message from our CEO

Susan Black

At CBoC, we have a responsibility to inform Canadians. We have to equip them with integrated and independent research enabling them to tackle society’s greatest challenges. It is inspiring to lead a team of inquisitive, entrepreneurial and bright minds, whose insightful work has a meaningful impact on Canada’s future. I learn from them every single day.

Our Impact

We aim to get our research into the hands of decision-makers—be they in government, business, or civil society—so that they can act on the best evidence and research in Canada. Learn more about our impacts from June 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023.

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Our Values

Our success comes through the hard work and dedication of our people. Our values speak to the commitment we share—as individuals, as teams, and as an organization—toward building a stronger Canada.

Behaviours

Examples

  • Make short-term goals that link to your larger goals
  • Seek out new challenges and try to grow in every role you have
  • Think beyond the status quo to create new solutions
  • Assess how work could be improved, even if it was successful, to foster continuous progress

Examples

  • Anticipate changes; prepare contingency plans and backups
  • Actively seek out and incorporate feedback; learn from past mistakes
  • Plan effectively, act decisively
  • Set clear expectations (mutually understood/agreed on)
  • Build in time buffers, safeguards, and quality checks
  • Design work processes with a goal in mind
  • Look for patterns in failures and build systems to fix repeat problems

Examples

  • Build a network of stakeholders and partners who challenge you to think and act like a leader
  • Reverse engineer every process or project from the stakeholders’ perspective
  • Represent the enterprise
  • Aim to delight your stakeholders in all interactions

Examples

  • Celebrate all successes (even the small ones)
  • Actively discourage false modesty
  • Respect deadlines, project plans, and meeting times to help others stay on track
  • Assume others are delivering their best, and reciprocate with your best work and effort to help everyone succeed
  • Share your work generously so others can build off your successes
  • Be ready and willing to lend a hand

Behaviours

Examples

  • Ask questions—the right questions, stupid questions, the next question
  • Go into each situation with an open mind
  • Seek both sides of an argument or opinion
  • Validate sources of evidence and test for competing sources
  • Establish a good methodology—have one, test it, analyze it, get someone to review it
  • Actively seek out and listen to feedback
  • Rely on evidence to lower the temperature when resolving conflicts

Examples

  • Understand and monitor your privilege
  • Be your own critic
  • Don’t approach any situation with a conclusion in mind
  • Get a second opinion

Behaviours

Examples

  • Communicate and share information/resources in a timely manner
  • Recognize others’ expertise or success
  • Choose positive language
  • Share success stories
  • Maintain an open-door policy
  • Say “no” or “not right now” when you need to
  • Respect barriers and recognize bias
  • Minimize power dynamics
  • Host lunch-and-learns to share findings/successes
  • Solicit feedback from other groups and stakeholders
  • Harness the strengths of those around you

Examples

  • Seek to understand each other
  • Accept different approaches
  • Commit to learning new ways
  • Learn and apply conflict resolution skills
  • Understand when colleagues have priorities that compete with yours, and work to align them together

Examples

  • Take advantage of file-sharing platforms (SharePoint, OneNote)
  • Support pitch process, content strategy, and pre-research checklists
  • Leverage the ET, SLT, and other groups (e.g., Research Community of Practice, Council Community of Practice)
  • Use recograms to share successes, collaboration, teamwork, etc.

Behaviours

Examples

  • Do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it; if changes crop up, tell all affected parties as early as possible
  • Acknowledge where you went wrong and share highlights when you succeed
  • Plan your work and interactions intelligently, and keep in mind how your actions—or inactions—will affect others
  • Know your strengths and limitations when taking on an assignment; identify what you need to be successful
  • Create accountability loops that reinforce and share learning; for major initiatives, plan checkpoints and risk assessments to get feedback at regular intervals
  • Share results outside your team to support broader organizational learning

Examples

  • Motivate yourself and others to own the work by creating challenging, engaging opportunities
  • Communicate within and outside your team to identify high-impact work
  • Recognize and reward ownership
  • Seek out roles and responsibilities that will challenge you and help you grow; support others in their development

Examples

  • Foster open and sincere dialogue to build trusted relationships
  • Express gratitude for ownership through sincere gestures
  • Provide strengths-based feedback and deliver difficult feedback sensitively; make people comfortable seeking input and support in the future
  • Model the behaviours you’d like to see in others
  • When in doubt, err on the side of over-including and over-communicating
  • Extend invitations to collaborate outside the list of “usual suspects” to build a larger sense of ownership in enterprise-wide initiatives

Examples

  • Drive ownership by allowing individuals and teams to introduce and test new ideas
  • Recognize and reward striving, even if it doesn’t immediately yield the desired result
  • Encourage innovation and intrapreneurship at all job levels
  • Celebrate failures—both individual and group—as an opportunity to learn and develop; if we don’t fail occasionally, we can’t grow

Behaviours

Examples

  • Own up to your mistakes
  • Be upfront when you don’t know something or need help
  • Be clear around reasoning and context; identify any caveats
  • Be direct when speaking; make eye contact
  • Be realistic when communicating; don’t overcommit—your actions should match your words
  • Be consistent in your interactions regardless of level/position/status
  • Consider others’ points of view and integrate them into your behaviour

Examples

  • Listen to understand
  • Forgive and let things go
  • Discourage gossip
  • Recognize your limitations
  • Appreciate the diverse strengths and experiences that others bring

Behaviours

Examples

  • Continuously learn and improve
  • Share your ideas and inspiration
  • Take pride in the work you do
  • Adopt a “we over me” mentality—do things for the greater good of the work, project, organization
  • Set high standards and goals for yourself; stretch out of your comfort zone

Examples

  • Promote what you do internally and externally
  • Align with the mission and purpose of the organization
  • Connect your work to the bigger picture
  • Bring positive energy
  • Know what you (and your team) bring to the table and promote it

Meet Our Leadership

Our forward-looking leadership team is composed of dedicated, focused, and seasoned executives who work with our research teams and provide guidance on the development of evidence-based research that equips Canadian leaders to make the best possible decisions. 

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Our organization is most impactful at the intersection of all our differences.

At The Conference Board of Canada, we are committed to providing an inclusive and equitable workplace where we value diversity. We continuously strive to build a community where differences are welcomed and respected.

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Equity.

At CBoC, equity means ensuring everyone is treated with fairness in all aspects of our organization’s programs, processes, and policies. We are dedicated to fostering an equitable work environment where our employees can be successful and reach their full potential.

Diversity.

In our diverse workforce, everyone is unique. We recognize that our visible and invisible characteristics and identities, including gender, race, age, cultural origin, ability, sexual orientation, personalities, ideologies and more, shape who we are.

Inclusion.

By acknowledging, respecting, and valuing all the ways we differ, the Board strives to create an inclusive work environment where everyone can be their authentic self and engage with their colleagues and their work with confidence, trust, and optimism. Making space for diversity and ensuring everyone is treated with dignity, compassion, and respect, helps us excel as an organization and as individuals.

Resources

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We are dedicated to building a better future for Canadians by making our economy and society more dynamic and competitive. Read this year’s report for a look at our financials.

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This report synthesizes The Conference Board of Canada’s impact key performance metrics to examine how we’re making an impact.

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The Conference Board of Canada’s industry experts offer their best advice, research, and insights—all in the name of helping Canadians tackle their most complex challenges.