Oakville Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Business Development Bank of Canada, hosted its annual BDC Small Business Week Business After Hours & Trade Show and the popular Small Business Week Lunch and Learn for Chamber Members, their colleagues, and the Oakville business community. The event has become so popular that this year over 100 businesses participated at the Trade Show as exhibitors with elaborate displays designed to delight and educate the 450 visitors.
Lunch and Learn featured a spellbinding discussion: "If It Wasn't For the People, This Job Would Be Easy"....Tim Brennan, Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer of Fit First Technologies chose this fascinating topic and spoke at length on it at the BDC Small Business Week Lunch and Learn hosted by the Oakville Chamber of Commerce. According to Tim Brennan, "For the first time in history there are four generations actively participating in the Canadian workplace." He goes on to say that "Never before has there been a greater variety of opinions, talent and expertise crossing paths with each other."
Tim lives in Halifax (he’s the Oakville Chamber’s furthest member) and travelled quite a distance to share his message with the Oakville business community. His program delves into the reasons people make the decisions they do. Part of this understanding is "to know thyself.” It makes understanding the decision making process clearer. We have all heard of the generations being termed as "Baby Boomers", "Millennials", "Generation X", the "Silent Generation" and many more. They are all people influenced by certain life experiences. He encouraged his audience not to look at people by their age; but rather by their life experience. What a person needs from the workplace will be greatly influenced by their background. That means, you can be either 28 years old or 58 years old and be a "Millennial.”
Age is likely the weakest way to understand an individual. If you think of three people your age, do they all have the same point of view - or behave the same? Likely not; life experiences will tell you much more, and your understanding of this this will enable you to hire accurately and to have a work environment where you can have a higher level of productivity and stronger team relationships that can impact on your bottom line results. A Handy tool? You bet!
John Sawyer, President of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, explained the importance of BDC Small Business Week. “One thing that all large businesses have in common, is that they all started as a small business” stated John Sawyer. So - plan to be successful. Grow your business. There is no better place to start than the Oakville Chamber of Commerce.
The Oakville Chamber of Commerce continues to bring informative and exciting speakers and events to its members and their associates. If you would like to discover the benefits or learn more about the programs offered, and how your business can benefit from joining, please call the Chamber at 905-845-6613 or e-mail Marc Tremblay, Vice President, Membership Development at [email protected].