For the second year, the Goodfish Lake Business Corporation [GLBC] has supported staff in completing a Dale Carnegie course focused on developing self-confidence and the soft skills needed for success in the workplace and in life. Thirty employees of the various businesses owned by the corporation attended classes once a week for 13 weeks.
Robert Wastle is a trainer from the Dale Carnegie of Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. Based in Edmonton, he drove out to Goodfish every week to pass on the human relations principles Carnegie outlined in his 1936 book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
"We give a few [principles] each week and ask them to try them out, then each class everyone comes back and tells us what happened in a public speaking format," said Wastle.
He said the principles taught in the course help people to "realize more goals, and increases the likelihood of realizing more goals in a person's life."
Those goals range from making more friends and getting along better with family members and co-workers, to getting a better job, increasing income, and beyond.
"I've seen you all develop a long way. Everyone had their little area where they wanted to share. But as we went through the class we started to talk about experiences and it drew me out of my shell too," said Kelly Shirt, the valedictorian of the group. Shirt said taking the course had helped him to become much more comfortable with speaking in public, and shared a story about having recently been in Edmonton and needing to speak in front of a group without having any time to prepare.
Sandy Sanderson is the chief executive officer for the GLBC. He said some of the funding for the course came through the Canada Alberta Job Grant, which covers a maximum of two thirds of the training costs for eligible programs.
"I'm not from Goodfish, I'm originally from the Fort Chipewyan area. But it's really important to build capacity. And often companies talk about capacity and knowledge, but we really wanted to make sure that not only do we leave the company in a better position than when we came and started working here, but so that one day I can sneak away and the company is going to continue to grow and run," said Sanderson.
"We're now seeing employees come forward and saying, you know that thing I learned? I used it in this example. ... Those are the kind of wins we want to focus on," said Sanderson.
The GLBC manufactures the coveralls worn by many oilfield workers as well as providing laundry and dry cleaning services, among other things. It is entirely owned by the Goodfish Lake First Nation, but operates independently of the chief and council, following a decision a number of years ago to separate politics and business.
According to Sanderson, the past three years have been the most profitable in the GLBC's 42 years of existence. "We really want to make sure that our products and services are good, and that we can go toe to toe with any other company," said Sanderson, noting the significant improvements the company has made to various scorecards in that time and the focus on operational health and safety.
