What are the roles and responsibilities of the staff in the Executive Office of the President?

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Primary Duties or Responsibilities
Maintaining fluid communications in between the President’s Office and all Centre’s Units as well as actors external to the Centre
Planning, Coordination and Participation in Strategic Activities
Coordination of policy/programming requests and opportunities
Management of the President’s Office
Supervision

The incumbent provides and ensures the provision of the best possible information and advice to the President on any aspect of his responsibilities, from the management of his immediate office, to the Board, to the Centre as a whole and communications with external actors. The incumbent adjusts to a rapidly changing agenda and responds to the President’s needs - being at times seen as a member of Centre management. The incumbent has the following responsibilities:

Maintaining fluid communications in between the President’s Office and all of the Centre’s units as well as actors external to the Centre;
Actively planning, coordinating and participating in strategic activities involving the President;
Coordinating rapid action on policy and programming requests/opportunities arising for the Centre; and
Managing the President’s Office.

Primary Duties or Responsibilities

Maintaining fluid communications in between the President’s Office and all Centre’s Units as well as actors external to the Centre

Provide information, analysis and advice to the President on any aspect of his responsibilities and act as a conduit for pertinent and often confidential information within and outside the Centre, from the Board of Governors, and throughout the Centre as a whole. More specifically: • Keeps the President apprised of pertinent and sensitive matters that arise within the Centre and key information regarding IDRC’s role in Canada’s international efforts. The incumbent also provides advice on how to deal with these situations after analysing options and potential impact. • Plays a ‘gate keeper’ role by acting as the first point of contact for most of the requests coming to the President’s Office. Clarifies needs, analyses requests by gathering all relevant information, redirecting requests when required and preparing briefings on these requests to the President.

• Working with the Corporate Secretary and General Counsel, advises the President on formulation of his own objectives; assists the President to monitor and improve his performance and to respond effectively to the Board of Governors and central agencies (Privy Council Office, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Department of Finance), including the timely submission of required documents.

• Disseminates corporate information to targeted internal and/or external audiences at the request of the President by either preparing various communication products (Echonet messages, memos, communiques, speeches, etc.) by him/herself or in cooperation with communications experts.
• Prepares the President for important meetings and events. Seeks relevant facts and information by contacting various internal and external stakeholders, analyses the information by identifying options and priorities and provides verbal or written briefings to the President.

Planning, Coordination and Participation in Strategic Activities

Play a key role in planning, coordinating and participating in various strategic activities involving the President within IDRC and also with external actors. More specifically: • Plans, coordinates and participates in executive-level management meetings at IDRC such as the weekly meetings of the President with VPs and the Secretary and General Counsel, etc... Plans dates and agendas, identifies priorities based on organizational intelligence, prepares briefing materials, and ensures follow-up on decisions or action plans from these meetings. • Works in cooperation with Corporate Secretary and General Counsel in the preparation of Board of Governors meetings including participation in dry-run presentations, being consulted on the agenda, discussing various issues, preparing materials such as the President’s report to the Board, briefing material for orientation of new governors, presentations of the President and other senior managers as needed. • Is actively involved in issue management on a range of topics brought to the attention of the President. Defines the issues and assesses associated risks, identifies and assesses options, searches and selects external experts that could help (as required) and defines mandates and concludes contractual agreements, follows-up on the issue in order to facilitate the best solution. Could also create and participate in or facilitate, at the request of the President, ad-hoc working groups of staff as needed to solve any internal issues. • Identifies and recommends activities and interactions with actors external to the Centre (federal government departments, international dignitaries, research funders, etc.). Plans and coordinates the President’s participation by gathering all relevant information, preparing speaking notes / speeches including liaising with communication experts and ensuring any follow-ups on these meetings.

• Accompanies the President to various fora, meetings with distinguished visitors, and represents the President on occasions when he is unable to attend in person. Could also meet some visitors in the absence of the President or at his request, and then brief him on these meetings and required follow-ups.

Coordination of policy/programming requests and opportunities

Support the President by keeping him abreast and coordinating activities around policy and/or programming requests and opportunities arising for the Centre. More specifically:

• Keeps abreast of current and new knowledge on Canadian government priorities, development research, and IDRC’s programming in order to play an efficient advisory role to the President.

• Conducts high-level analysis of programming and policy issues that could impact on IDRC’s mandate and activities in consultation with senior staff and policy experts in IDRC and outside the organization. Informs and advices the President on any trends or policy that could currently or in the future influence the Centre through verbal or written briefings. • Drafts, reviews or edits briefing materials for the President and/or information material for various external audiences (ministerial/officials in Canada and in other countries) aiming at informing them of IDRC’s mandate, orientations, actions or decisions while using tact and diplomacy. Could also coordinate works done by communications experts in developing such material.

• Liaises with staff and management from all branches of IDRC in preparing responses to requests/opportunities related to IDRC’s business. Gathers relevant information, summarizes information and proposes response to the President in order to react rapidly and efficiently to these requests or opportunities.

Management of the President’s Office

Manage the President’s Office by coordinating all activities including the supervision of the staff, oversee of the budget and ensuring priorities and requests are addressed efficiently and in a reasonable time. More specifically: • Identifies priorities based on organizational intelligence, assigns and supervises the work of the Executive Assistants and any other temporary staff, follow-ups on delegated activities to ensure that President’s agenda, travel and correspondence are kept up-to-date and internal and external requests are processed in time and with professionalism. • As supervisor of the President’s Office, staffs all vacant positions (indeterminate and temporary), provides support to all staff and orientation to new staff, provides on-going feedback, supports their professional development, and assesses their performance in consultation with the President. Discusses any performance issues with the President. • Determines budget requirements, monitors expenditures and analyses reallocation requirements. Makes recommendations to the President on the budget management for his approval.

• Supports the President in his responsibilities by taking any actions that would help in managing the high workload. Maintains open and on-going communications with the president in order to identify priorities and sharing of responsibilities in the President’s Office.

Supervision

Direct supervision: 2 Executive Assistants to the President, Temporary staff – e.g.: Casuals Workers, Students or Awards Receipients (occasionaly) Indirect supervision: Consultants (occasionaly)

Job Scope

This is a unique position that provides information, analysis and advice to the President on sundry aspects of the President’s responsibilities and has a direct influence on the decisions taken by the President and management at the corporate level. The President relies on the incumbent for the planning, coordination and participation of several strategic activities including those related to policy and programming. In order to play this advisory role to the President, the incumbent must stay abreast on Canadian government priorities, trends in research for development, as well as on the functioning and pressing issues of the organization. In preparing many briefings and communication material, participating in various fora and meetings, being in contact with many internal and external stakeholders, the incumbent influences the way in which others see the Centre as an important part of Canada’s international efforts and in the world of development research more widely. Finally, the incumbent supports the President in managing his workload by taking on the day-to-day operational work of the President’s Office and mitigating risks by managing various issues brought to his attention.