Tim Meyer joined TRIUMF in 2007. The Vancouver particle and nuclear physics lab relies on operating grants from the federal government, and Meyer’s new role as head of strategic planning and communications involved revitalizing the organization’s strategic planning process.
He was responsible for developing a proposal for funding to cover the next five years, which involved explaining and justifying what resources would be required over the period.
“I put together a team,” he recalled, “but I was continuing to think about it as me having to carry out the work.”
Meyer started the process with the mindset that he alone was responsible for getting the job done and that he would have to direct the work at every step of the process.
His team picked up on this, he said. “We’d have these meetings, and people wouldn’t know what they were doing. They’d be like, ‘What’s on the agenda today, what are we supposed to do now, how are we going to do this?’”
Meyer said that if his team had continued in that direction, the proposal would have been done the same way it had been done before. “And one of the reasons I’d been hired was to not do it like we did last time.”
But in January 2008 he had a revelation of just how talented the people on his team were. “I realized all that was needed was to turn this group loose and give them a direction.”
It struck him that his role was to provide direction. Immediately, the group developed the planning schedule. He said that it also went from being confused and apprehensive to having a clear direction and sense of teamwork.
The deadline was in August 2008. The team went full speed ahead and had most of the plan prepared by April and spent the remaining few months editing and perfecting it.
The team ended up with a 1,000-page manuscript that won editorial prizes across Canada, competing against non-fiction. Meyer said the document impressed the government and resulted in a five-year program for their laboratory.
“It’s my job to provide direction,” he said. “The group will figure out the details and course-correct along the way.”
On a steep learning curve | “I’m a U.S. citizen, so I was learning how Canada works, I was learning what TRIUMF does, I was learning nuclear physics and medical isotopes. I was accountable for repairing this strategic plan to re-energize the laboratory and attract investment. It was a bit confronting, but it was also a bit exciting.” •
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