Book · Tools · Reference
Resources
Things worth having whether or not you ever work with me — the book behind the practice, free tools for both sides of it, and the reference material I keep going back to.
The framework behind every engagement · Paperback & Kindle
Eight Dimensions of Leadership Excellence
Building organizations where people thrive while achieving excellence
Eight dimensions that measure what an organization does rather than what it believes about itself. Four Leadership Dimensions — Clear Direction, Leadership Commitment, Awareness of Environment, Planning. Four Performance Dimensions — Support & Resources, Daily Work, Checking Progress, Improving Together.
Every CivicShift assessment — municipal or contractor — is measured against this framework. Each dimension is set out in full, with examples and practical improvement strategies.
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Free handbook
One System. Not Many.
Most municipalities don't have an information problem. They have a reconciliation problem — four departments answering the same question four different ways, none of them wrong, and none of them addable together.
This handbook works through what running on one system actually requires: who owns a piece of information, what it means, who may change it, and what happens when it turns out to be wrong.
Download the handbook (PDF)Free, instant, no email required. Share it freely — it was written to be passed along.
Free tool
POPA & ATIA Readiness Check
Eighteen questions across six areas — privacy governance, breach readiness, records and audit trail, access requests, active disclosure, and staff awareness — set against the Protection of Privacy Act and the Access to Information Act now in force. Two minutes, and your results and a short action list appear as you go. Nothing to install and no email required.
Take the Readiness CheckOne-page briefing · Free download
Before & After: A Town of 3,500
One town, eighteen months apart, side by side. What changes when scattered obligations become one working system — COR through AMHSA, the WCB rebate, and the new Protection of Privacy Act requirements every Alberta municipality now carries. Print it, table it at council, pass it along.
Download the one-pager (PDF)- Alberta Municipalities Member services, advocacy and policy research, including the Future of Municipal Government series. The primary association for Alberta's urban municipalities.
- Rural Municipalities of Alberta The association for Alberta's counties and municipal districts: advocacy, member services and the Elected Officials Education Program.
- Lonely at the Top (2023) Alberta Municipalities and the University of Calgary School of Public Policy on CAO tenure and council–CAO dynamics. Essential reading for any council hiring a CAO.
- Working Well Together The joint RMA and Alberta Municipalities toolkit on council, CAO and administration relationships.
- Municipal World Canada's municipal government magazine — useful for seeing how other provinces handle the same problems.
- Alberta Municipal Affairs Provincial guidance, legislation, funding programs, and municipal governance resources.
- Municipal Government Act The statutory foundation for everything a municipality does in Alberta.
- Protection of Privacy Act In force June 2025, replacing FOIP's privacy provisions.
- Access to Information Act The access side of the FOIP replacement, also in force June 2025.
- Information and Privacy Commissioner Guidance documents, orders, and investigation reports. Worth reading before you need to.
Free sample
Sample Findings Report
What a CivicShift Program Review actually delivers, shown here for a contractor's HR & Safety program — the complete findings report, with the element scoreboard, ranked priority list and evidence citations exactly as you'd receive them. The company and its data are invented; the structure is not. Read it before you spend a dollar.
Download the sample (PDF)One-page briefing · Free download
Before & After: A 14-Person Trades Contractor
The safety binder from 2019, the one person who knows the portals, the bid that went out a day late — and what the same shop looks like eighteen months on: COR earned, WCB rebate landing, portal submissions in hours instead of days.
Download the one-pager (PDF)- Alberta Occupational Health & Safety The OHS Act, Regulation, and Code, plus employer guidance. The obligations behind every safety program.
- Alberta Employment Standards Hours, overtime, leaves, and termination — the rules underneath most HR questions an owner fields.
- WCB Alberta Accounts, clearances, premium rates, and claims — the standing your prequalification networks check.
- Alberta Construction Safety Association COR and SECOR certification, audit tools, and training for construction employers.
- Energy Safety Canada The certifying partner for oil and gas — COR auditing standards and industry safety resources.
- AMHSA The Alberta Municipal Health & Safety Association — the certifying partner where municipal and contractor worlds meet.
If something here raises a question
That's usually the point at which it's worth a conversation. Twenty minutes, no presentation — you tell me what you're dealing with and I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.