Exploring Culture Change in Fort St John

Fort St John, Canada will be the host city for a presentation in May by the Proton Foundation on community transformation through culture change. The visit will include an opportunity for local leaders from all sectors to take part in a STEPS to Excellence fast track programme, a powerful training tool to help individuals and organisations move from potential to performance.

Jim Dunn, the Foundation's Education, Training and Development specialist will be in Fort St John from 8th - 12th May to deliver the fast track STEPS to Excellence Course and present the topic of culture change for community transformation.  Accompanied by Proton's Canadian TPI Facilitator, Harvey Trauter, the week long visit will give an opportunity to discuss with community leaders from across all sectors, including government, education, business and not-for-profit, the opportunity for a city-wide culture change initiative.

Change is mandatory

survival is optional

choose wisely!

Why do cities need to change?? Modern cities need to be increasingly creative, innovative and proactive in planning, problem solving and decision-making if they are to be successful in the new world economy.

This is a competitive environment where the only constant seems to be change. The pace of this change is accelerating and the diversity of issues that countries, regions, cities and communities face are becoming more complex.

The significance of this change and the staggering speed at which it is occurring is best demonstrated when put into the context of the amount of new knowledge being created.  Estimates are that:

• seven out of every ten children currently in the primary grades will work in a job that does not exist today.
• any science related degree or technical trade related certification is out of date by the time they graduate.
• the pace of technological change and advancement is so rapid that any new technology device is deemed obsolete in three to six months after it is released.
• the way society solved problems and applied its knowledge in the past will not be sufficient to be successful in this new environment.

Many look at a city’s and the community’s past successes and wonder why the existing model cannot serve them well going forward. Why is it that a city must change in order to be successful? The answer appears not from the accelerated change environment described above, but also from considering the array only of complex issues cities are facing.

• From an environmental perspective, many experts consider that alternative transportation modes, water, and urban sprawl are the most important issues facing us today.
• On the social front, affordable housing,homelessness, and poverty have become priorities for all orders of government.
• Economically, the lack of sustainable and predictable urban funding sources is considered paramount. New and innovative funding models are needed for the renewal and upgrade of community infrastructure in order to increase competitiveness in the new economy

Cities must change to remain competitive and ultimately successful in addressing this list of existing and emerging issues.

This environment of accelerated and complex change is creating an “expectation gap”. A gap is emerging because the expectations of the public are changing in such a way that the skills and abilities of governments and their employees are insufficient to meet the new demands. As the order of government that is closest to the people it serves, municipal governments must reorganize and retrain themselves to fill this gap and meet the public’s future expectations.

The Proton Foundation provides  consultation services and training programmes to assist communities, organisations, families and even individuals to bring about change in their world - if this is something you would like to explore further, contact the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information.  To register for the STEPS Course following the link below: