Since 1946, CMHC has worked to support housing affordability, accessibility, and stability across the country — today one of Canada’s central providers of mortgage loan insurance.
It works closely with lenders, brokers, industry partners, and every level of government, operating in a fast-moving, relationship-driven environment. The engagement coincided with a meaningful moment: a new CEO, shifting market conditions, and evolving national housing priorities had reshaped the landscape.
That backdrop is what makes this story notable: the people behind it weren’t reacting to a problem. They were proactively building leadership capacity at exactly the moment it mattered most.
A moment of opportunity
The catalyst came from CMHC’s Next Gen Leaders, one of several volunteer, employee-led Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). The group exists to foster leadership growth for current and aspiring people leaders — bringing education, awareness, and practical tools to employees across CMHC.
As the group planned its year, an opportunity became clear: with the organization undergoing change, there was real value in strengthening leadership alignment and creating greater consistency in how people showed up — regardless of whether they held a formal title.
“Our organization was coming out of a period of change: a new CEO, shifting market conditions, evolving priorities. It felt like a really good opportunity to strengthen leadership alignment and create more consistency in how we were all showing up.”
There was also a practical engagement challenge. Capacity was stretched, and getting busy people leaders to carve out time for development was genuinely hard. Any solution had to be good enough for people to want to show up.
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