Governance, Strategy and Leadership

‘Tell your story. Please tell your story.’

For the past year that’s what we’ve been encouraging one of our clients – The Canadian Hearing Society – to do.

Canadian Hearing Society is the undisputed leader removing barriers to participation for Canada’s Deaf and hard of hearing. Brilliant, dedicated and forward thinking, CHS was formed almost a century ago. Their momentum just keeps growing.

For the past three years, CHS has gone through a dramatic transformation. Lead by the Board of Directors, key governance risks have been identified and eliminated; a bold strategic vision for the future has been set; and, all-star senior management has been recruited to make things happen. Along the way there have been all sorts of challenges. Kind of what any organization going through a transformation might expect to face – and perhaps a few they might not!

Impact on the Deaf and hard of hearing community

I hope you will read their story. If you are interested in governance, Deaf, hard of hearing and corporate transformations there is lots of neat insight here. We’re happy that Canadian Hearing Society decided (finally!) to write it all down! We’re proud of what they have achieved. Here’s a quick sample of the kind of amazing impact that’s included:

  • Counselling Services at CHS are comprised of three distinct and highly unique services: CONNECT Counselling, General Support Services and Hearing Care Counselling. In 2016/17, Counselling Services saw more than 6,000 clients, conducted more than 44,000 visits and provided more than 57,000 hours of service.
  • More than 3,800 Deaf and hard of hearing clients have been supported by CHS Employment Services since 2014, with approximately 845 of those being between ages of 17-29.
  • For fiscal 2016/17, there were 28,731 requests for interpreting services, a 25% increase from two years ago at an average fill rate of 92-93% annually.
  • In May 2017, CHS launched a National Scholarship Program designed to support Deaf and hard of hearing students and their families in their pursuit of higher education. In September, scholarships were awarded to 11 post-secondary students, the highest value and number of scholarships awarded to students in CHS history.

 You can follow this link to the story on the Canadian Hearing Society website.