ISL Wins Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Excellence Award

ISL’s SHIFT leadership program has been recognized for measurable impact and innovation in leadership development, developed in partnership with Incito Executive & Leadership Development

ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. (ISL) has received the Brandon Hall Group Gold HCM Excellence Award in the Best Leadership Development Program category for SHIFT: Leadership Growth at ISL, developed in partnership with Incito Executive & Leadership Development (Incito). The HCM Excellence Awards recognize organizations that successfully develop and deploy programs, strategies and solutions that deliver measurable business results and advance excellence in human capital management. 

A Program Built for Culture Change 

SHIFT was born out of a clear organizational commitment: to build people-centred leadership at every level of ISL, across all 16 offices and throughout Western Canada and the Yukon. As a multidisciplinary consulting engineering firm, ISL recognized that the skills that make an exceptional engineer or project manager are not the same skills that make an exceptional people leader. SHIFT was designed to develop both, giving ISL’s leadership the tools, language, and community to lead their teams with intention. 

Developed in partnership with Incito Executive and Leadership Development and anchored by the Leadership Circle Profile 360 degree assessment, SHIFT delivers yearlong cohort based learning through in person workshops, individual coaching, and peer triad sessions. Now in its fifth cohort, the program has engaged more than 65 ISL leaders, with the shared frameworks and common leadership language now woven into everyday conversations, team meetings, and performance discussions across the organization.

What sets SHIFT apart is not a single workshop or a week of training. It is time. Leaders learn, apply, are held accountable, reflect, and return. That cycle, repeated over twelve months within a cohort of peers who challenge and support one another, creates the conditions for lasting behaviour change that one-off programs simply cannot replicate.

SHIFT is named in ISL’s Vision 2030 Strategic Plan as a foundational mechanism for leadership development, succession planning, and organizational growth, affirming that this is not a program with an end date. It is a permanent feature of how ISL develops its people.

“SHIFT represents one of the most meaningful investments ISL has made in its people. From the very beginning, the vision was to build a common leadership language across our entire organization, one that would outlast any single program cycle and become part of who we are as a firm. Receiving this recognition from Brandon Hall Group is a testament to the commitment of every leader who has participated, the partnership we built with Incito, and the belief that great leadership is something you develop intentionally over time, not something that happens by chance.” Randy Heaps, ISL’s Chief People and Administrative Officer

About the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards 

Founded in 1993, the Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards recognize organizations that have successfully developed and deployed programs, strategies and solutions that deliver measurable results in human capital management. Each submission is evaluated by an independent panel of Brandon Hall Group analysts, industry experts and practitioners against criteria including business alignment, program design, innovation and measurable organizational impact. 

About ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. 

ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd. (ISL) is a full-service engineering and land services consulting firm with offices across Western Canada. ISL works with municipal, provincial and local governments, transportation authorities, utilities and developers, offering integrated services spanning transportation infrastructure, municipal engineering, community planning and development, bridge engineering, buildings and structures, landscape architecture and urban design, community engagement, archaeology, hydrogeology and environmental management. Guided by a commitment to its clients, communities, people and culture, ISL builds nimble, multidisciplinary teams to deliver innovative and cost-effective infrastructure solutions from planning through construction and commissioning. Learn more at islengineering.com. 

About Incito Executive & Leadership Development 

Incito Executive & Leadership Development pairs a human-centred approach with validated, evidence-based tools to elevate executive and leadership team mindsets. Delivering across the United States and Canada in more than 70 cities, Incito partners with individual leaders, teams and organizations to build stronger leadership, healthier relationships and better business outcomes through individual executive development, collective leadership team development and strategy development. Learn more at incito.ca.