About Watson Board Advisors
At Watson, we help Boards be more effective so they can positively shape the future of their organizations. In partnership with our clients, we are tailored and practical in helping recruit and select the right Directors and CEO, strengthen governance, and navigate strategy and risk in a rapidly changing world.
We support clients in the following ways:
- Building a Strong Board - A Board is at its best when every member adds value. From supporting clients in identifying its needs, to recruiting and selecting new Directors, to succession planning for its leadership, to ensuring the Board’s composition is right for the next phase of its business, we help clients ensure they have the team they need to shape the future.
- Finding and Supporting Your CEO - Boards need the right leader to work in close partnership with their Board and take the organization to the next level. From crafting the right success profile for their incoming CEO, to helping them find and evaluate highly qualified candidates, to assessing and supporting their performance and leadership, to planning for succession, we help Boards find and support the most important partner in the Board’s work.
- Understanding the Board’s Performance - Improving as a Board starts with understanding where Boards are strong and what would make them even more effective. From conducting Board Evaluations to designing respectful processes for Director Feedback, we give the Board and its members a more objective and insightful view of their performance, along with practical ways to improve.
- Evolving Governance - Good governance evolves with an organization. From comprehensive Governance Reviews to the design and implementation of structures and practices, we equip Boards with the governance frameworks and tools it needs to support the next phase of its organizational journey.
- Achieving Alignment and Engagement - A Board is most effective when it engages the right issues at the right level at the right time. From facilitation to education and coaching, we help Boards align at the highest level, and optimize how, where, and when it tackles the most strategic issues facing its organization.
Why Work at Watson
Founded in 2005, Watson is the most experienced board advisory firm in Canada. We do this work because we believe that high-performing, well-governed organizations create a stronger world, with their boards holding a critical and complex leadership role. People who work at Watson have a unique opportunity to have a positive impact on Boards of Directors and CEOs, the senior-most decision makers, at organizations throughout our country. Over the last 20 years, we have supported more than 500 Boards across the full spectrum of sectors, ownership structures, and stages of evolution.
We are a fully independent Canadian Benefit Company that is female owned and led. Each year, we publish our benefit report, available on our website, demonstrating our commitment to operating responsibly with consideration for our interest holder groups.
At Watson, our core values are:
- Purpose-driven – We lead with purpose and impact
- Always learning – We are open, curious, innovative and insightful
- Human-centred – We take care with everything we do
- Authentic – We are intentional, transparent and bold
- Collaborative – Achieve more together
These values influence the type of workplace we strive to create and maintain, and the resulting experience for our people:
- The workplace we strive to create and maintain:
- Attracts and retains talent who will deliver exceptional client experiences
- Cultivates a culture of learning, growth, and knowledge sharing
- Demonstrates our care for each other and empowers others to act
- Embeds diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging in our business decisions
The experience we seek for our employees:
- A sense of purpose and contribution to healthy communities
- An environment of continuous learning and development
- Exposure to meaningful, unique work that guides and influences the ultimate authority (the Board) in most organizations
- Flexibility in how you structure your week to manage and deliver on your commitments
The Role – Consulting Analyst (Governance Advisory)
This role contributes to all aspects of Watson’s Advisory work, including board, director and CEO evaluations; comprehensive governance reviews; policy/process development; governance education sessions; CEO performance, CEO succession, and broader leadership and performance work. An Analyst may focus more on one type of work than others, depending on their background and Watson’s client’s need, but in general our Analysts work across our offerings and have the opportunity to learn and be challenged by a range of work. The Analyst is deeply involved in all phases of the project life cycle, from business development and client interface to survey and interview design, research, analysis, report writing, and client meetings.
Key Responsibilities
- Manage multiple project timelines and milestones using project management tools and processes
- Arrange internal project meetings, including project kickoff, regular check-ins, and debrief meetings
- Keep team on track for timelines, bringing any project delivery timeline variances to the attention of the team
- Implement project budgets and proactively monitor project progress relative to budget; identify and alert the team to any fee variances; generate invoices based on project milestones
- Analyze efficiencies and learnings at the end of each project and provide recommendations
- With direction from Consultant/Associate, assist or lead on project deliverables including but not limited to:
- Surveys (drafting, launching, response analysis)
- Drafting/contributing to interview guides
- Sitting in on client interviews
- Identifying key themes, issues, and recommendations
- Preparing first drafts of reports
- Supporting RFP responses and client presentations for prospective engagements
- Maintaining accuracy of data in CRM
- Contributing to marketing initiatives (thought leadership, marketing activities, webinars, etc.)
- Contributing to internal initiatives (process improvement, creating templates, research & knowledge transfer, etc.)
Qualifications, Skills, Experience
- Post-secondary education in business or communications, or other related discipline; and/or 1 – 3 years of relevant experience, preferably in a fast-paced professional services firm or similar type of environment. We encourage candidates to apply if they believe they are a good fit for the role, even if their professional experience and formal education doesn’t meet these exact requirements as we recognize that education and comparable experience may be obtained in other ways.
- Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), including the ability to analyse survey data in excel and develop client-ready materials in Word and PowerPoint
- Experience with Qualtrics and Salesforce would be preferred, but not required
- Ability to synthesize information from multiple data sources (surveys, interviews, research, client documents) in a clear, concise way
- Strong verbal and written communication skills to summarize interview notes, draft reports or presentations, and provide project status updates
- Strong organizational and time management skills, along with a keen attention to detail to manage multiple priorities
- Experience influencing a broad project team to deliver high quality project outcomes on time and on budget
- Demonstrate curiosity and interest in governance principles, practices, and trends
Compensation
The salary range for the Analyst role is $60,000 - $80,000. The lower end of the range is typically indicative of individuals with limited work experience in a similar setting. The upper end of the range is typically indicative of individuals who have worked in the role for more than two years and consistently meeting or exceeding expectations for the role.
Additional compensation includes an annual bonus, three weeks of annual vacation plus additional office closures, group health benefits on Day 1, and a $500 personal spending allowance.
Accessibility
Watson is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible work environment for all individuals. We strive to ensure that our hiring process and workplace accommodate the diverse needs of candidates and employees with disabilities.
If you require accommodations during the application or interview process, please contact us at [email protected]. We will work with you to meet your accessibility needs.
