Series S00509 - Transformation project records and other material

Series consists of records that document Don Simpson's work through the Innovation Expedition (IE), mentoring both public sectors and private organizations in their transformation processes. Transformation processes were usually an application of IE's Challenge Dialogue System and included such things as consultation; strategic planning; continuous improvement; leadership development; searching for innovations in systems, networks and operations; organizational integration; professional development; knowledge management; and personal mentoring. Tools used by Innovation Expedition in their projects included customized toolkits, presentations, workshops, retreats and conferences. Simpson mentored transformations in the agriculture sector, human resources sector, health sector, and departments of the Alberta government. He worked with Alberta's agriculture and food industry on AgSummit, a five-month consultation process for agriculture stakeholders addressing concerns, current issues and emerging opportunities. In the health sector, Simpson guided discussions of the future of health care and long term care, and was involved with international organizations including the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), Essential National Health Research (ENHR), Asian Health Research Forum and Coalition for Global Health Research. Africa-based health groups included AfriAfya, a consortium of health non-governmental organizations, for which Simpson has been a key advisor and supporter since its formation in 2000; AMREF, the African Medical Research Foundation; AfHRF, the African Health Research Forum; and the Triple A Health Alliance of AMREF, AfriAfya and Action Africa Help International (AAH-I). Work in Canada included collaborations with Educating Future Physicians for Ontario (EFPO) and the Centre for Global Health at the University of Ottawa. In government, Simpson worked with the Alberta Agricultural Research Institute and Alberta Economic Development. In the corporate world, he was a mentor and facilitator in the transformation work of Canadian Oxy Occidental Petroleum Ltd; AVCO Financial Services of Canada and later its parent company, Textron; Bayer Pharmaceuticals (formerly Miles Canada); Alberta Science Research Authority (ASRA); Maple Leaf Foods; and AVAC Ltd, which represents Alberta's "agri-value industry." A significant portion of the records in the series pertain to Simpson's project with Textron: a Fortune 100 company with divisions in aircraft, finance, automotive and industrial products, Textron engaged IE from 1996 to 1998 with developing and running leadership forums, a professional development program for its Internal Consultants, mentoring Director of Change Pat Tod, and creating the Textron Global Operations Improvement Centre (GOIC). The records in the series are comprised of the contents of resource, planning and program binders, articles, notes, correspondence, reports, memoranda, presentation slides (print-outs of Microsoft PowerPoint), overhead transparencies, newsletters, workshop packages and support materials, business plans, challenge papers, critical issues documents, IE "travel guides," toolkits and backgrounders. There are also the contents of many project or client binders created over the course of a project. These project records may consist of any or all of the following: client information, work-tracking records, meeting notes, invoices, budget materials, contracts, correspondence, internal memoranda and background information. In addition the series contains four sound recordings from the Bayer Health Congress in 1996, and a CD-ROM presenting the continuous improvement vision for Textron.