EW 036 – How To Win With Integrity and Innovation In A 100-Year Old Organization with Nick Grimshaw, CEO of Commissionaires Northern Alberta Division

Gordon Sheppard (00:01.08)
Nick, welcome to the show.

Nick Grimshaw (00:04.142)
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Gord.

Gordon Sheppard (00:05.946)
Well, it's really great to have you here for so many reasons. One, the depth of work that you've done in the military and out of the military, in government, in so many different roles that you've done throughout the years. But the bigger thing that has struck me since meeting you is that you can tell that you've met that with high integrity at every step of the way, including the current leadership role that you're in now. That's very, very clear, certainly to me, having spent a bit of time with you.

before the interview, but you know there's a lot of people that haven't met you, so if you were at a sort of a party or a fun thing and you had to introduce yourself, what would you say?

Nick Grimshaw (00:41.56)
Sure. So my name is Nick Grimshaw. I'm the CEO for the Commissioners Northern Alberta Division based here in Edmonton. We are one of 15 not-for-profit divisions within the core of Commissioners, which is a federal organization. Been around for 100 years. We're celebrating our 100th anniversary. And so I'm the CEO for this division. And prior to my time here,

I spent about 28 years in the military as an officer, an infantry officer with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and served for about 28 years and then after that decided to do something different and I continued to serve in a different capacity about five and a half years with the provincial government here in Alberta in a variety of roles in emergency management as well as my last role was

looking after the provincial wildfire program. So yeah, it's been a busy ride, but I'm very happy to be here with this group of the Corps of Commissioners.

Gordon Sheppard (01:45.882)
What a lucky thing for us in a sense that you put in your reps to develop your leadership skills. You put in 28 years in the military, you rise up in those ranks, that gives you set of skills. It's that leadership skills that get applied in a different way when you're in a provincial government setting in that type of leadership role. And now you're with the commissionaires. And I'd love to actually explore, fun enough, the entire thing. We don't have enough time, but we're ought to get into, if people don't know what commissionaires are, maybe you just need to orient us a little bit that way in case the audience doesn't quite understand that just yet.

Nick Grimshaw (02:15.736)
Sure. So the Corps of Commissioners, as I mentioned, we've just turned 100 years old this year. So 2025 is a big year for us. Originally founded in Montreal by veterans of the First World War and the primary focus was creating employment opportunities for other veterans. So the Corps of Commissioners has started out as a provision or provider of security services to a variety of clients, primarily the federal government.

but we have a variety of clients. So we are a national security company, but Canada's only not-for-profit security company. again, divided into a federation of 15 separate divisions. So over the 100 years, it's expanded from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver to coast to coast to coast. And in Alberta, for example, there are two divisions. The Northern Alberta Division, which I look after.

and we're responsible for the provision of security services in the northern half of the province of Alberta, everything pretty much north of Red Deer, as well as the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. And then there's a Southern Alberta division that's based in Calgary that looks after the remainder of Alberta. But our division here in Edmonton, we are the third largest division in the country in terms of number of personnel that we employ, as well as the geographical area that we cover.

Canada is only a not-for-profit security company, a pretty significant milestone, I would argue, of sticking around for 100 years, and we're looking forward to the next 100 years for sure.

Gordon Sheppard (03:52.9)
Remarkable and how nice to have that pedigree and to be able to step into a leadership role here to continue that tradition as you kind of go forward on a given day just and this is funny I'll just be kind of quick but if I'm you know, if I hire you to do some security for me I'm like a what an oilfield services provincial government I'm something like that and I need folks to do just a few there's different kinds of security that you provide right in terms of your services What would you say the top three be if I was looking to hire security for my company?

Nick Grimshaw (04:20.27)
Right, absolutely. The traditional security function of a security professional, a uniformed individual providing on-site security, physical security, access control or issuing and verifying security cards and things like that, identification cards to get onto the site. Another role would be to monitor the security systems that are in place.

autonomous systems or remote cameras, that kind of thing. And then another service that we would provide is a mobile patrol unit that could respond to alarms or incidents on your property, for example. Those are the three key sort of...

Gordon Sheppard (05:03.043)
Yeah, three key ones in an ever expanding security area. And funny enough, we talked about you going up to the North, the North and you know militarily the strategic scenario and you're gonna be a part of that as sort of folks go forward in that. And I don't mean to sort of, again, expand the interview to include everything that I'm really curious about, but thank you so much for again, setting us up with who you are, your pedigree from where you've come from.

Nick Grimshaw (05:08.407)
Absolutely.

Gordon Sheppard (05:28.163)
the current leadership role that you're in and really giving us a sense of your organizations. It's not really or answers quite well to get into our first question, which is, if you had to describe your biggest win in the work that you do, what would that win be and how would you describe it?

Nick Grimshaw (05:43.746)
Well, our mandate is to provide meaningful employment to veterans, both the military and law enforcement, their families and others who wish to contribute to the well-being of Canadians. And I would say that our biggest win is we are definitely doing that. Not only are we providing meaningful employment to veterans and their families, but also to a variety of individuals who are perhaps new to Canada and are starting their way. And so for me,

a great sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment that our organization not only is helping veterans and their families with finding employment after their service with the military, but creating another way to serve and continuing their employment in their communities, but also, you know, we've got a fair number of new Canadians and this might be one of several jobs that they have and it's a great role and honour, I believe, for us.

to be part of their journey in this country of getting themselves established and stepping forward with employment in Canada and who knows where that might end up. So, you we are a very diverse organization now. We used to be where you couldn't be a commissioner unless you were a veteran up until about 1991. And now we're much more inclusive, much more diverse organization, and only about 20 % of our workforce actually today are veterans.

So we do cater to a large number of other people that are looking for meaningful employment, who wish to perhaps get into law enforcement and the commissionaires and security with us, that type of work is often seen as a stepping stone for them to get to, you know, perhaps a professional development goal that they have. So, you know, that's a sense of satisfaction for us. And so you've got new people coming into the industry, but you've also got, you know, experienced veterans that are looking to continue to contribute in some way.

and we offer that as well. So I would say that that's one of our biggest wins is being a valuable employer for a variety of people.

Gordon Sheppard (07:50.864)
Being a valuable employer, can really actually, funny, I'm glad to hear you describe it, but you can hear that you believe it. Like you can really hear it in the tone of your voice that this is something that's really important and I'm sure you're happy to be helming, you know, at the helm of this organization at this given time, given that it's that powerful. That actually really strings really nicely into exploring this win with what I call the anatomy of a win. And this is where we take a look at the strategy, the work plan, the people, the operations and results behind a win.

When we talk about strategy, always have to talk about vision, mission, values, goals in there, and you're already starting to get us in there. in terms of achieving this goal of providing meaningful employment for these groups of people that you described, what's the strategy behind it, and what's maybe some highlights from the strategy?

Nick Grimshaw (08:36.162)
Well, our strategy involves really attracting people that have the shared mindset of wanting to be part of a not-for-profit organization, number one, but also have that sense of service to their community. As I mentioned before, certainly military law enforcement veterans, it's well known to them that idea of service within their community. And so by showcasing that as one of our key values,

that we're continuing to serve our communities as individuals and as an organization in a variety of ways. So yes, we provide employment and we provide security services, but there's other things that we do that are important to us as a veteran-led Canadian company, veteran-friendly Canadian company, but as a not-for-profit organization. So, you we believe that we have an obligation to help out the greater good.

And we have the agency and we're fortunate we have the resources that we can do that with a solid foundation that exists here. And so contributing to other organizations that are also supporting veterans, for example, Homes for Heroes, Veterans House Canada, Veterans Association Food Bank, Valor Place, the Military Family Resource Centres, as well as other community organizations such as the Mustard Seed.

other food banks and a variety of different community organizations. You know, we have an opportunity to give back and support those very, very important organizations and there's a lot of need out there. And so, yes, we're providing employment. Yes, we're providing very, very professional, robust security services to our clients, a variety of clients. But we're also, I believe, being good neighbors and contributing to our community.

And I think that we all share some responsibility to do that in some way, shape or form. And I think that that's part of our, certainly our recruiting rhetoric and looking for those people that are looking to be part of something that's perhaps bigger than themselves and contribute their efforts towards a common goal or a greater good and also a high degree of integrity.

Nick Grimshaw (11:01.28)
So that's something that we also are looking for and we want to instill in people that, you know, our organization has a high degree of integrity. We've been around for a hundred years. There's a lot of history. The uniform is extremely important and means a lot to a lot of people that have served or are currently serving. And so maintaining that integrity is very, very important. Doing what we say and saying what we do. Following up with our clients. Looking after our people. But also,

I don't know about you, but I don't like to be micromanaged. And so don't need somebody looking over my shoulder all the time. But we have all been hired to do a job. We're entrusted to do that job. We're accountable for that job. And it involves integrity to get the job done to the best of your abilities. And having that trust in our employees to get on with the job that they've been hired to do and do that in a professional way is something else that we do promote here.

and instill in our employees that a high level of integrity reflects really, really, you know, not just on the individual, but on the organization writ large. And that has, you know, obviously business implications to it, but it's also part of our values as an organization and honoring our past and be respectful of that past history of the organization and moving forward as an organization into the future with that high degree of integrity. And so that's another aspect.

service, integrity, those kinds of values that resonate not only with veterans, but other people that are looking for, you know, perhaps the culture of the organization that's also attractive, you know, is something else that we've noticed and people, you know, we asked them, you could have gone anywhere if you're interested in getting into the security services. Why did you come to the commissionaires? And many of them say because, you know, it's a professional organization.

You treat people with respect, you treat people with integrity, you've got a great history, and we want to be a part of that. And so that's extremely rewarding to hear from a number of people coming through our door, and then they stay with us for quite some time as well. So that's a great win as far as I'm concerned.

Gordon Sheppard (13:19.885)
Wonderful, you are walking the talk. The integrity piece that I had the spidey sense on there early is obviously very clear, but not just you. You stepped into an organization that's been doing it for a hundred years, right? And that's remarkable to have that continuity. So as a leader, you're not having to reinvent the wheel necessarily when you step into your leadership role at this stage. You get a chance to step in and enhance a sense, something that's been there for a long, long time. Good neighbors, wow. How wonderful to say, not only do we have our strategy for our employment recruitment,

Nick Grimshaw (13:22.414)
Yeah.

Gordon Sheppard (13:48.964)
the type of work setting that we wanna have for our workers having it. But we're part of a community here. And you know with your lived experience how important that is to give a hand up to the next guy in a sense, no matter which organization you're supporting, because the need is so great to support veterans, but now all kinds of people that you would be supporting and having an impact on. Wow, that is just so inspiring to hear again, someone that's living it. It's a tough thing to put that together and to put it together for a long time and really live it.

to where it actually becomes an attraction and retention opportunity. There are many organizations that could learn from, if they just stopped right there in the podcast, there's a lot of organizations that can learn from this very moment and a lot of leaders that could take a lot from it. Wow, that's great to hear about the highlights from your strategy. Anytime we have a strategy, we need a work plan. We need to be able to put that strategy into action. So there's sort of, you know, this idea that you are providing meaningful employment. Would you say that, you know, the work plan is like, yeah, we've been doing it for a hundred years or there's sort of some highlights in them?

I'm going say in the 90s you said that you had a moment where you changed the makeup of the organization to evolve with the times in a sense. Are there any of those sort of highlights along the way on the timeline that have allowed you to contribute to this win?

Nick Grimshaw (15:00.876)
Yeah, absolutely. There's been some things that have occurred naturally, I think, in our society. You know, we look at the cost of living, for example, and people that are looking for perhaps more than one job to make ends meet. And so, you know, being able to be sensitive to that and aware of their needs and being flexible. And so that's something that I think that this organization has evolved.

gradually over the past decade or so to be much more flexible and there's still room to grow and improve in that case. I'll be the first to admit it. But you know the modern veteran may not be looking for full-time work. He or she, they may be looking for contract work or seasonal work depending on what they're looking for and how long they've served perhaps.

as well or others that are, as I mentioned, perhaps looking to become a member of a law enforcement organization, but want to get some experience. So coming and joining us for a while, get that experience in the security industry, perhaps become a certified peace officer, work alongside law enforcement and get that experience and then be that much more successful in their application to join law enforcement. And that's another...

opportunity that people have by joining the commissionaires. And so being being cognizant of that flexibility, think people in the workplace now are looking for flexibility in a lot of different ways and you know expecting people to stay with an organization for 20 years, that's fairly uncommon nowadays I would suggest. And so we have to change our mindset a little bit.

of being flexible and catering to people's needs. And I think we've been quite successful in doing that recently with some of the opportunities that we have. And also exposing the opportunities that exist in the commissioners with military members who are serving as reservists. So part-time military staff who bring a tremendous amount of qualities and experience and capabilities to any organization.

Nick Grimshaw (17:23.502)
But allowing us that flexibility where they, you we can share their or cater to their commitments with the military and then provide meaningful employment as well when they're not deployed or they're not, you know, fulfilling their military commitments as an example. And then we've got people that are putting themselves through school at the same time and looking for a part-time job. And so a variety of different, I think, requirements or goals.

or needs of our employees is really important as well. And then we've got a large preponderance of our staff working in the Edmonton area, but we also got people working in other remote locations or a variety of remote locations across the province, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. And so we've got as well family members of commissionaires or serving members, for example, in Cold Lake, Alberta.

or there's a large Air Force base, there are family members of serving members of the military that are working with us. And being able to be part of that community is really, important. And I think that that is also a great benefit for our organization of being able to provide employment for families and spouses for those who are still serving.

Gordon Sheppard (18:42.957)
And at the core, this value of service is still being carried out. You're just simply adjusting to the times in terms of what's happening for that need of meeting the needs now. And isn't that nice that you've been able to be flexible and not rigid? Rigid doesn't take you very far these days as an organization. And so the reality of dealing with what's happening there while still maintaining the strategy is wonderful. So that's great strategy, work plan. There's always people involved in a win.

And maybe I'll just start with you in this case and I always like to say, you when you came into the situation and you talk about, you know, creating meaningful employment, how was your attitude at the beginning of that process and how would you describe it up to this point?

Nick Grimshaw (19:20.986)
I was very open to learning when I came in and try to gain an appreciation for, know, where have we come from? What are the current issues and what does the future look like? And having, you know, relatively recently left the military and the changes that were taking place in the military, where, you know, diversity, equity, inclusion is featuring more more prominently and the changing nature of

and their expectations so you know wrapping my head around all of that because there is a danger of just accepting the status quo because you the status quo is easy we'll just carry on you know and hope for the best and although that might be comfortable for people it's not sustainable i would suggest and so always looking out and trying to anticipate

What does the next four five years look like in terms of the community that we're going to be looking to recruit from or hire? Whether they're veterans or members of veterans families or others that are looking for to gain experience in the security industry. And not everybody wants to be a standard security guard, right? It's important work and there's a lot of people that do.

to gain that experience and contribute, but there's others that that's not terribly attractive. And so how can we as an organization create attractive employment opportunities that still fulfill our mandate and contribute in a meaningful way to our community? And so I'm very pleased to expose, I guess, our latest project.

and talk about our latest project of branching out. You know, we are a not-for-profit organization, but we have now established a separate for-profit group of companies that is investing in another opportunity to contribute towards our community and the public safety of our community. So we are embarking on our project right now to build and operate a public safety training facility in the Edmonton region.

Nick Grimshaw (21:39.054)
that will be primarily used for law enforcement agencies and public safety agencies so they can train in a secure location and a variety of different things that they need to do. Whether it's first aid training or pressure point control tactics or we would call unarmed combat in the military using other forms of simulation training, virtual reality.

but also running a weapons range, a live fire weapons range, because we have access to a group of veterans who have the skill set to be able to, and the experience, to be able to run and operate a facility like that, and then contribute and allow and encourage law enforcement organizations to train in a safe environment at our facility.

And I think that that's another branch that, you know, the core of commissionaires in the next hundred years, we can evolve into an organization that is providing training support, institutional support to law enforcement organizations, public safety organizations, and perhaps the military as well. So that's an exciting project that we're embarking upon right now. It's early days, but I was just at the site today looking at the construction that's underway.

And we're really looking forward to cutting the ribbon on this thing in the next 18 months or so.

Gordon Sheppard (23:11.417)
Thank you so much for being the type of leader who doesn't accept the status quo. Right? Because then good things can happen. You said, I've stayed open. I'm not just going to sort of roll along with this. It might be easy to park in one of these senior leadership roles, right? Where you park it and kind of just get by. But that doesn't speak to that next hundred years that you're supporting with your own attitude for growth, opportunities, and innovation.

in the space which all organizations need to be thinking about all the time. That's really lucky to hear. I just need to catch up and just say, you if we think about the 100 years, there might have been the founders in a sense, if we talk about 100 years ago. Any other kind of key people, just briefly, any other key people that have been an influence on this win over the years, is it really just the collective of everybody that's kind of pulled it together.

Nick Grimshaw (23:55.448)
for the Federation writ large.

Gordon Sheppard (23:56.932)
Yeah, the whole thing, you know, because if the wind is meaningful employment and now innovative meaningful employment, which is where you're headed, any other key sort of drivers maybe right now, or is it just impossible to name all the names that we would take?

Nick Grimshaw (24:09.57)
Well, there's been, yeah, thousands of people that have contributed to the commissioners over the hundred years, some tremendous leaders and tremendous individuals. And, you know, it's, I found it quite ironic when I came in here and, and an honor, quite frankly, as I became the CEO of this division. And as I learned more about it, I found out that the original CEO or the president at the time.

was also a veteran of the same regiment that I served with. A World War I veteran, one of the originals of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, went off to World War I, started as a soldier, and finished the war as a senior officer, and ended up here in Edmonton for many years, but was the first leader of the Edmonton Division, which became the Northern Alberta Division. And so, you know, that direct

or one would say indirect sort of relationship with one of the originals of the commissionaires as well as an original member of the regiment that I served in. It was a really, really sort of ironic and yet heartwarming and an honor, quite frankly, to sort of continue in his footsteps. And my predecessor, who had been here for 16 and a half years, he too had served in the same regiment. So there's that affiliation there, which is really, really quite unique.

And so, you know, making sure that we don't lose sight of that and we honour that history as well is really important. And maybe, you know, pave the way for others is also an aspect of this. one of the things that, and maybe I could just mention this as well, one of the things that certainly has been on my mind as a Canadian over the last little while, but coming into an organization like the Corps of Commissioners, you know, we speak about Indigenous reconciliation and we've just had...

the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation this past week and a time to reflect and listen. And so, you know, I was wondering about what is the Federation's perspective on this? What is our position and what are we doing, you know, towards Indigenous reconciliation? So we've taken upon ourselves in this division to enter into a program through the Canadian Council of Indigenous Business. It's called the...

Nick Grimshaw (26:32.192)
a pair program. And what it is is a tiered structured program that helps businesses, organizations increase their knowledge and awareness and relationships with First Nations members and communities. And really, in my view, it was a meaningful way to be part of Indigenous reconciliation. And so the

We're embarking upon this. in our first year of, and we've received a confirmation that we are at the committed stage of the PEAR certification. We hope to attain bronze in a few years. But it's, as I said, a structured program that has some very clear deliverables. And so it's not just tokenism. It's not, you know, slap a sticker on the door and declare that you're, you know, a support of Indigenous issues.

This is actually meaningful activity and it requires effort. And so we have had all of our headquarters staff here complete the Four Seasons of Reconciliation training, which is phenomenal and I would recommend it to anyone as a way of increasing our awareness and knowledge as a first step. And so that's another area. I just felt as an organization that's been around for so long,

What can we do? What little piece can we do to contribute to the broader effort across our country to address some of these Indigenous reconciliation commitments? And this is what we're doing. And so we've also got two individuals who are agreed to be our Indigenous advisors to the division to advise me and our board, as well as members of the organization here.

as a way of increasing our knowledge and awareness and building relationships. And so we're pretty excited about that as well. I just affirm believer in every little step will help, every little piece will help. It may seem insignificant at first, but when you put them all together, amazing things can happen.

Gordon Sheppard (28:51.823)
And this is why you can provide meaningful employment. this onion's got a lot of layers on it and you're adding layers all the time. Your onion's getting bigger. This is so good. And how nice that you have the proactivity to innovate with, you know, let's set up a for-profit entity that supports the people that we need to support. Let's support other organizations by being good neighbors. I've heard that as well. Let's put meaningful work into Indigenous relations.

which actually benefits a few things. One, it holds up your values and integrity and those types of things. But it also speaks to the workforce realities too, of people that might be then attracted to your organization, which then becomes an attraction and retention tool as a leader. So it's so neat to see that it's hitting in so many different ways. just congratulations on these initiatives, it's so good. So we talked about the strategy, the work plan, the people, and then you named a couple of special programs around innovation and what you're doing in the indigenous area.

Operationally, if we're going to provide meaningful employment, I think we've heard a few of the things that you're actually doing. We're innovating in certain areas. We're taking on this indigenous training to sort of meet the needs of our own internal leadership development and workforce development, but also then to attract and bring people into our workforce as well. Anything else operationally? Like if you're going to pull this off, and maybe just one highlight operationally that kind of makes it good. Like is it an onboarding process? Is it something in the work?

culture that you're doing consciously? it policies, procedures? What's an operational, just maybe one highlight that allows you to do the meaningful employment well?

Nick Grimshaw (30:23.202)
Yeah, so I'm thinking of a variety of different things and a lot of it comes down to relationships. you know, in my experience in the military, working in a place like Afghanistan with counterinsurgency operations, there's this concept of an ink spot theory where, you know, you drop a signature of people there, start to gain a foothold and then gradually build out from there is the theory.

And so, you know, I think that that has some merit to it in what we're doing. We're demonstrating that, hey, we can do this and start small and then you never know where that will eventually lead to as we, you know, if you build it, they will come. We start in Northern Alberta in the Edmonton region. There's tremendous potential here. And I'm thinking of our public safety training center, for example. You know, we start here, prove the concept and then build upon that and demonstrate that.

Yes, the commissioners were, you know, we've been providing a variety of security services for a hundred years, but here's something else that we're now doing and can do extremely well. And so that sort of ink spot theory of spreading it across, certainly the province, Western Canada, and who knows where it will go from there is the idea. And really about building those relationships. mean, also we talk about non-core policing services.

So it's no secret in our country and across probably North America, would suggest law enforcement agencies like the military, they simply don't have enough resources to meet the demand. They don't have enough people. There may be people who are injured and are recovering and therefore they're not working in front line. And so everybody's challenged with, we have enough resources? And so non-core policing functions, maybe you don't need

a uniformed officer with, you know, fully kitted out, fully trained with a gun on their hip to do that kind of work. Maybe other organizations like the commissionaires could fill some of those functions like running a training center, for example, is kind of where we're going. And we've had some success. We're very proud to say that we've had some success again here in Edmonton with former law enforcement officers who are still looking to contribute in a meaningful way.

Nick Grimshaw (32:49.858)
that we have employed and are now working back with law enforcement organizations, helping out in a variety of different ways to fill those gaps that exist. And so, you know, there is a tendency to look at the commissioners as, it's military veterans and they're all working on the military garrisons, but there is so much more to that. And the law enforcement personnel who have retired but still want to contribute and are, you know, still current to a large degree.

Again, going back to what we talked about earlier, creating those flexible employment opportunities for people. Maybe they only want to work part-time. Maybe they only want to work certain amount of months a year. And that's fine. Because it's a win for us, and it's a win for them. And it's a win for the client. You know, get a veteran who's still trying to, as I can attest to, find their way, find their purpose again, find out where they fit.

and giving that individual an opportunity to continue to be part of the community they came from, I think is extremely important. And we are very well suited to provide those opportunities, I would suggest.

Gordon Sheppard (34:02.755)
can hear the relationship part is needed, but the combined thinking is what helps to operationalize this win as we kind of go forward. That's really, I can hear so many different aspects of it. And thank you so much for giving us a touch point around how you're actually pulling that off. Strategy, work plan, people, operations. Finally, there's results. Quantitative results and qualitative results. Quantitatively, if I heard north of 2000 folks working for your organization, is it something like that? Like, you know what mean? There's number of people.

whatever, number of companies, I don't know which quantitative ones you wanna talk about and you can just pick, and then qualitative ones as well, but any results-wise quantitative and qualitative highlights, what would they be?

Nick Grimshaw (34:44.108)
Yeah, think certainly, you know, our numbers, the number of personnel that we have has been increasing. So we're around 2000. So we're very proud of that. And there's opportunity to continue to grow. Absolutely. And we're continuing to seek those opportunities and further diversify our group of clients. So it's not just all federal government. It's not, you know, exclusively municipal or provincial government. There's commercial clients in there as well.

as I said, across Northern Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. And so yes, there is growth there. In terms of the qualitative, when clients come to us and say, we would like to continue contracting your services, we're not gonna go out to an RFP open bid process because we like what we have, we are comfortable with that relationship.

admire the relationship or we benefit equally from that relationship and therefore we want to continue. It is one of those sort of intangible things I would suggest. And then, you know, it's really, it's kind of rewarding when I meet with new employees and ask them, so why did you join commissionaires? Why did you apply to join us? And a number of them remark, as I mentioned before, well,

you know, you have a good reputation. But others have said, well, my parents used to work for commissionaires or my grandfather just retired and spoke very highly of you or my brother worked for the commissionaires in another province, that kind of thing. And so those family connections do exist. And it's really quite remarkable to hear that from people to say, no, no, I...

This is where I want to come and work because it's familiar and a respectful organization that has a proud history. so again, one of those sort of intangibles, I think that we are experiencing. Don't get me wrong, there's always other challenges and issues, right, dealing with people, but you know, there's some really, really remarkable good news stories and I do enjoy going out and

Nick Grimshaw (37:09.07)
acknowledging our individuals that go above and beyond the call of duty and singling them out and thanking them personally for their efforts and accomplishments with the organization. And I think that that also has a cascading effect throughout the organization to see that, it's not just lip service. The organization does care.

and we admire what you do. We thank you for your efforts and reward the individual in one way, or form. We do have a distinguished service medal, for example. Last year, we awarded a medal of bravery to one of our commissioners for the actions that occurred at the Edmonton City Hall, if you'll remember, in January of 2023, early in my tenure as a CEO.

dealing with that was quite the incident, a phenomenal situation that was deserving of that recognition. And so there are definitely some intangibles there.

Gordon Sheppard (38:20.975)
So if your win is to provide meaningful employment and you do it for a hundred years and you bring the continuity, innovation, leadership continuity in there, we've heard that through the conversation that we've had, clients keep coming back, people want to sign up because they've heard about your reputation, you're doing something right. Congratulations, I think this has been just a wonderful chance to explore and learn about you, the way that you do things and the commissionaires and the high integrity and so many different parts.

that have come together to get this win for you over that hundred years. When I'm with strong leaders like you, I'm always looking for your one or two sentences. If you had another leader that you had a chance to sort of give maybe just a sound bite to, what would that short thing be that you would suggest to another leader that they could take away just here at the end of the conversation?

Nick Grimshaw (39:11.374)
Wow, lots of things going through my head. You know, I think there's a variety of things I would say is be true to yourself. Don't try to be somebody else. Do what you think is right and continue to move forward. You know, there's, as I mentioned, there's a danger of, and it's very easy,

just to sit back and enjoy the ride and the status quo because it's comfortable for a lot of people. But I do believe that we as an organization, but also as the CEO, we have an opportunity to to lean into things and make a difference, whether it's, you know, the difference, make a difference in one or two individuals in whatever, you know, however long you're in that role.

But if you can make a difference in people and their lives by providing that employment or providing an opportunity for someone and leave the place better than when you found it, I think that is successful. so, you know, people point fingers a lot in our society today about what coulda, shoulda, would have happened and what, you know, expect other organizations to step up to the plate.

Well, I firmly believe that we all have an opportunity to step up to the plate. And so as leaders, you you're entrusted to do your job. And part of that is to move the organization forward and help the people within it. And so I know that's a long-winded question or answer to your question, you know, be true to yourself, do what you feel is right for the organization and keep moving forward.

Gordon Sheppard (41:07.811)
Well said, what a pleasure. I really appreciated the chance to interview you here today. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Nick Grimshaw (41:15.49)
Thank you very much for having me, Gord. It's been great. Really appreciate it.