The three years of the pandemic have brought their share of challenges, impacting the development of skills within KMHB teams. Therefore, “when 2022 began, and we started to see the end of the pandemic,” General Director Marco Audet says, “we told ourselves that this year would be the year of training for KMHB.”

KMHB has thus decided to offer something more to its employees. It is looking to improve, not only as an organization, but every individual within it as well. It is all about skill development and providing an environment where people can personally flourish - a place where they can perfect their skills, and find purpose in their work.

Marco Audet is a firm believer in skill development. He often asks himself “how could the organization give employees their necessary skills and the tools to get where they need to be?” He thought that, in order to reach our objectives, we needed to double-down on training, instead of thinking about it as some kind of extra. 

From that point on, emphasis was placed on developing the skills of employees. As a goal before the end of the year, “our coordinators and directors have had to host at least one formative activity in each sector.” 

“We want everybody to follow the same path,” says Jennifer La Page, Interim Client Services Director, as “training is necessary for all of us, including myself.” In the client services department, training is essential to keep everyone, in all communities, up to date with the systems and protocols. Due to the pandemic, “we have not had an annual training in over three years,” she says. Because of that, KMHB put all of its efforts into developing the skills of its employees. 

Since the beginning of the year, directors and coordinators have been working hard to succeed in this goal. For client services, it came in the form of training on their system for all the Kuujjuaq office staff. “I requested COGI trainers to come up North,” Jennifer La Page says, “a lot of us had portions of their training done, but it was so long ago. We all needed a refresher to some degree.”

When it comes to field work, Director of Field Operations, Philippe Boucher, followed suit with his team spread out in the 14 communities. “The pandemic shifted our priorities” he says, “We can now focus on preventive maintenance and emphasize training.”

A series of training has already occurred for the maintenance department, with professionals coming up North to teach technical work to KMHB employees. Daniel Fredette is one of those professionals, specializing in plumbing and heating systems. “Danny Fredette is a companion,” Philippe tells, “he takes people under his wing and shows them how to work and maintain heating systems. In Kuujjuaq, we already have three employees that have now been formed in preventive maintenance for heating furnaces.”

Carpentry training has also been given to our maintenance teams through the Ikarjurtigiit and Sanajiit programs this summer and will resume this fall.  

Philippe Boucher explains that “the more we work on skill development, the less corrective work we need to do, and that means a more efficient and sustained maintenance of our homes.” The strategy is simple: providing training is to “ensure that our employees will attain their full potential by honing their skills.” 

This year, and in the future, the goal is to fill our employees with a sense of pride in both themselves and their work. Through an extensive skill development program, we can create an environment where people can flourish into their desired selves.