Module 3

Situational
Awareness


  • Daphne Meredith is an experienced public service leader, having served as a federal Deputy Minister from 2006 to 2016. Her roles included Associate Deputy Minister, Public Works and Government Services (2006-09), Chief Human Resources Officer for the federal public service (2009-12) and Deputy Minister, Western Economic Diversification Canada (2012-16). Following her retirement from full-time work in 2016, she has been actively engaged in mentoring senior federal executives through the Canada School of the Public Service, supporting the Privy Council Office on the performance evaluation of federal Deputy Ministers, and provided advice to the Auditor General of Canada regarding audits and audit plans.

    Early in her career, Ms. Meredith taught economics (Queen’s University, Royal Military College). She joined the federal public service in 1983, serving in analytical and policy-making roles in a variety of departments, including Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, Finance Canada and the Privy Council Office. She then took on executive responsibilities at Finance Canada, followed by the Privy Council Office, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada and the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. In addition to her public service experience, she also had an enriching three years in the private sector providing strategic information and advice to financial institutions.

    Ms. Meredith has held various professional and voluntary positions throughout her career, including as Vice-chair of the Financial Markets Committee of the OECD (1989), member of the Board of Directors of CommunityWorks, a non-profit housing corporation, member of the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management, and Chair of the Board of Governors for the Canada School of the Public Service. She is currently an active member of the Vancouver Council for CARE Canada, serving as Chair of the Council’s Walk in Her Shoes event.


  • Allan Seckel is the Chief Executive Officer of the Doctors of BC, a voluntary association of BC’s physicians that makes a difference for doctors so that doctors can make theirs. Before joining the Doctors of BC, Mr. Seckel was a senior public servant, first as the Deputy Attorney General for British Columbia (from 2003-09); and later as the Cabinet Secretary, Head of the Public Service and Deputy Minister to the Premier of British Columbia, the Hon. Gordon Campbell (from 2009-11).  He is a lawyer by profession and practiced with a major Vancouver law firm. In 1983-84 he was Law Clerk to The Chief Justice of British Columbia, the Hon. Nathan Nemetz.  Mr. Seckel is also the co-author of two legal texts, including one on the Rules of Court (with James MacInnis).

    Allan has B.A. (Hons.) degree with joint honours in economics and commerce from Simon Fraser University, and a law degree from the University of Victoria (where he was the Law Society Gold Medalist upon graduation}. After being called to the bar in 1985 he attended Gonville & Caius College at Cambridge University as a Commonwealth Scholar, earning a Masters of Law degree. He was designated a Queen’s Counsel in 2003 and an ICD.D. in 2013.

    Allan is active in his community, having served on the board of several charitable organizations. He currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Covenant House Vancouver.


  • Theresa Oswald is the CEO of Doctors Manitoba and has held the post since January 2018. She also served as Executive Director of the Women’s Health Clinic in 2017.

    Theresa was an elected member of the Manitoba Legislature from 2003-2016. During that time she facilitated broad ranging community change through legislative, policy, procedural and program initiatives as Minister of Health, Minister of Jobs and the Economy, Minister of Healthy Living and Member of the Legislative Assembly. Theresa has expertise in forging cooperative relationships with union, community, corporate and intergovernmental organizations. She has strong experience in the management and balancing of budgets up to $5 billion.

    ​Theresa provides effective leadership, development and coaching to management and support staff to build a dedicated, productive and engaged team. Theresa is highly skilled in crisis management, media and public relations. Known for uncompromising integrity, fairness and compassion, Theresa employs a delicate blend of brain and heart to every decision that she makes and every project she undertakes.

    ​Prior to her time in politics, Theresa served as a teacher and a school administrator in Winnipeg. She holds a B.ED and B.A from the University of Manitoba.

Module length: 90 min

Study time: 3 hr

Accelerator Short Course: Available

In this session, Master Mentors will share how they learned to anticipate and recognize the impact of political, bureaucratic or cultural themes that can directly or indirectly impact your ability to carry out a mandate.

Core concepts

Timing

Knowing when to act / contribute.

Positioning

Knowing what to say and how to say it.

Delivery

Knowing how to ‘socialize’ the idea.

Strategic influence

Knowing your audience and knowing who can influence the outcomes positively or negatively.

Improving your judgement

Knowing how to distinguish between the urgent and the important, gossip and rumour, sound advice and slanted advice.