"Canadian Tire is in the midst of both dreaming and doing. We are dreaming the future of Canadian Tire and that includes becoming a top-quartile performer among North American retailers, and becoming a growing, innovative network of businesses that are achieving extraordinary results through extraordinary people. We are doing no less than transforming the very nature of our great organization." Wayne Sales, President and CEO
Canadian Tire Corporation, Limited The Canadian Tire triangle has proudly stood the test of time since our founding in 1922. What began as a small but bold entrepreneurial concept has emerged over the years to become a proud Canadian retail and financial services organization and one of Canada's most successful companies, with retail sales topping $7.2B in 2002. Our triangle is a powerful symbol of who we are and what we stand for. To many customers, we represent the place where kids go to get their first bike with their parents. To others, it is where they have always gone to get their car fixed, buy some recreational gear or to get supplies to work on their lawns. Today, we have become much more multi-dimensional and include a family of inter-related businesses, also providing a place for serious auto enthusiasts and commercial installers to buy auto parts, for people to buy casual work wear, to finance their shopping purchases and to buy gas. We represent convenience and comfort…a place where customers are confident in their purchases. It's a place for Canadians to get started. We have developed a company, a team, and culture we are proud of. In the summer of 2000, Wayne Sales was promoted to President and CEO and embarked on the development of a comprehensive strategic plan for the enterprise. That plan underscored the growth potential in each of the respective businesses and inspired us to consider the cultural attributes of long-standing, highly successful companies. What we learned is that companies that are truly visionary, those that had stood the test of time and outperformed in the market, live and breath by a clearly defined purpose, vision, and values. They know why they exist, what they are striving to achieve, and how they are going to get things done. Canadian Tire had to find a way to unite our various businesses under one vision and set of values. For the first time ever, we explicitly stated that we could not be as successful as we need to be by relying on the acknowledged strengths of each of our businesses - we should, indeed we must, act as a united team that feeds off of each other in executing our growth strategies. While Canadian Tire was awarded The Best Company to Work For in Canada by the Report on Business magazine and Hewitt Associates in 2000 it was agreed that to communicate our strategic plan and inspire the organization to new levels of performance we must develop a consistent Statement of Purpose, Vision, Team Values and Leadership Expectations for the enterprise. The Canadian Tire Way When you look at all the pieces that make up Canadian Tire - our Statement of Purpose, Vision, Team Values and Leadership Expectations - you get an overall view of who we are, where we're going and how we'll get there. We call this overall view The Canadian Tire Way. What is The Canadian Tire Way? It's an umbrella brand that brings together our key messages as an organization and helps us focus on the 'big picture.' It also gives us a framework for the decisions we make and the work we do - both as an organization as a whole and as each individual team member. PEOPLE are the heart of Canadian Tire and The Canadian Tire Way. Without PEOPLE, our Statement of Purpose, Vision, Team Values, and Leadership Expectations are no more than words on a page. PEOPLE brought these words and concepts to life and make them real every day. PEOPLE are the 'team' in our Statement of Purpose and the 'extraordinary people' in our Vision. Our Team Values and Leadership Expectations were developed using the Appreciative Inquiry approach, which was ideally suited for building on the rich culture we had developed over eighty years. PEOPLE reflected on what they think and feel about Canadian Tire and through story after story, they brought The Canadian Tire Way to life.
We are a Proud Canadian Family…
We exist to serve and enrich the lives of our customers, our shareholders, our team and our community. Our Statement of Purpose was first developed by the executive team and edited by the board of directors and employees. It illustrates the central, never-ending reason we exist. It outlines, in clear and simple language, who we are and why we are here - Canadian Tire's fundamental reason for being. It is a statement that talks to the focus and commitment that is at the core of what Canadian Tire stands for … and has always stood for, ever since the Billes brothers opened the first store in 1922. Every day we live and breathe our Statement of Purpose in so many different ways:
We are a growing, innovative network of interrelated businesses,
achieving extraordinary results through extraordinary people… We touch the lives of more people in more ways every day. Our Vision developed along with our Statement of Purpose provides focus around what we are striving to become and achieve and is directly linked to our Strategic Plan. It is a compelling and vivid description of our aspirations and goals. Our Vision clearly sets an enterprise-wide course for Canadian Tire as a dynamic, growing company fueled by all our businesses working together. It recognizes the contribution that each and every team member plays in our future success.
Developed with the input of 371 team members from all areas of Canadian Tire, our Team Values represent the common bond and shared principles we have for achieving extraordinary results. These statements embody what we know in our hearts is true about Canadian Tire - that it's a great place to work. Almost 50 people were trained to interview using Appreciative Inquiry through an interview guide that was developed. The interviews were summarized and themes were developed, which were then presented to the Executive Team and the Canadian Tire Dealers Association, a group of 20 key dealers from across the country. What emerged was a set of Team values, which are important because they help guide our behaviour and decisions, and express our organizational culture. Each and every one of us is accountable for living and breathing these team values, every day at Canadian Tire. These simple yet strong words define how we treat each other and reflect what we stand for and what we believe in. We are learners … who thrive in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
We are committed … to operate with honesty, integrity and respect. We are owners … with a passion to continuously improve. We are driven … to help customers achieve their goals. We are accountable … to ourselves and each other. We are leaders … who perform with heart.
Leadership development was determined to be a top priority following the development of the Statement of Purpose, Vision, Team Values and Strategic Plan. The goal was to develop expectations and practices that respond to the emerging business realities, reflect the needs of our current and future leaders, and drive learning, improvement, and top-quartile performance. We initially developed a leadership model focused in four areas:
These broad categories provided the framework for developing a second Appreciative Inquiry protocol by a team of students from Case Western Reserve University to identify what became known as our Leadership Expectations. This team conducted interviews with 27 key talent leaders from across the enterprise. The interviews were then summarized and presented at a report-out workshop to all interviewees on April 11th, 2002. From this workshop a sub-committee was established that finalized the Leadership Expectations:
Real Player can be downloaded for free at real.com
 |
