The SHIFT in Atlantic Canada
HALIFAX– It’s been discussed enough, Atlantic Canadian businesses need to grow if we want the overall region to improve.
Though many Atlantic Canadian businesses have big ambitions to expand and give back, it’s something easier said than done.
That’s the focus of The SHIFT, a two day conference taking place Nov. 7 to Nov. 9 in Halifax. The event was created last year by Symplicity Designs, a Moncton-based company that helps businesses, not-for-profits and governments improve their operations.
“The sole purpose behind it is that there are a number of organizations who scale to a certain point and then lose momentum,” said Matt Symes, CEO of Symplicity Designs. “They have to find a way to get past that if they want to keep innovating, improving and growing. We wanted to provide an environment for those who were growing the region, and to talk to those who want to grow the region.”
The conference is a mixture of both speakers and workshops, which Symes says are methodically crafted and arranged to walk people through the process of how to change an organization for growth.
“What surprised people most about last year was it was as much workshop as it was speakers. The whole idea is to learn from those who are doing it, but also walk away with something you can do the next day,” Symes says.
While most conferences do a great job of inspiring people, Symes says many fall short of providing skills and information attendees can implement in their own companies.
“At too many of these conferences you get excited about what you could do, but you go back and you end up chasing your tail because you don’t have the tools or the network to put in place all of what you learned,” he says. “There’s all this positive energy at the conference, lots of positive thoughts going on and then you return back to the same habits that are there and you don’t have this network.”
This year’s Shift conference will feature keynote speakers from both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. From Halifax, Steven Kay of The Orb Factory, Christian Hall of Hallmark Dental Laboratory, and Shawn Hiscott of Micco Warehousing will be presenting. The New Brunswick speakers are David Savoie, president of Acadian Construction, James McKenna of Glenwood Kitchen and Nicola MacNaughton of Occupational Concepts. Like last year, there will also be presentations from Symplicty’s, Merv Symes, Jennifer Kikkert and Kendra Grant.
“[The conference is] really meant to introduce you to a number of people who are doing it and provide you with the templates and the workshop experience to start your own journey,” says Symes.”
Also during the event, Symplicty’s Improvement Award will be presented. The awards goes to an Atlantic Canadian business that’s growing and is implementing this culture of improvement, innovation and growth and sustaining it.
Symes, who has a masters degree focusing on Canadian History, says the Maritime’s culture of defeatism is long-standing.
“Since confederation, the Maritimes have struggled with the idea that it can be done here,” he says. “It doesn’t take long to reverse a culture if you want to. But we got a lot of reversing to do.”
Using the recent Hemmings House documentary City on Fire as an example, Symes says there’s definitely a role for storytelling when it comes to improving the region, but there also needs to be a lot of “doing.”
“That needs to be replicated, but it needs to be replicated with more than just a story,” he says. “It needs to be replicated with businesses that are growing, with businesses that are actually providing opportunities for our people to stay and come back.”
And that’s what he ultimately hopes people take away from the conference: We can do it here.
“We are doing it here and we can learn from others who are currently doing it well here. We’ve had enough reports. We’ve heard all the negative stuff… We know are heading towards [a cliff] and yet what we need to move to now is action.”