Delana McKinsley
Head of People Strategy • The Art of Strategy Inc.
- Calgary, Canada (MST)
- theartofstrategy.ca
- Mon–Fri, 8am–5pm MST
“Delana McKinsley is a senior People & Culture executive and strategic advisor with 15+ years of experience transforming how organizations align strategy, structure, and talent — impacting workforces of 13,000+ employees at major Canadian enterprises.”
3
Major Canadian Enterprises
MBA
I-O Psychology & HRM
“Delana McKinsley is a senior People & Culture executive and strategic advisor with 15+ years of experience transforming how organizations align strategy, structure, and talent. She has led workforce modernization at major Canadian companies including Wawanesa Insurance, Cenovus Energy, and Shaw Communications, impacting workforces of 13,000+ employees. Delana specializes in turning business strategy into executable operating models and leadership systems that drive real, measurable results.”
Delana McKinsley is a senior People & Culture executive and strategic advisor specializing in workplace modernization, organizational design, and enterprise transformation. She works closely with CEOs, Boards, and executive teams to translate business strategy into executable operating models, workforce capability, and leadership systems that drive sustained performance.
With more than 15 years of executive leadership and advisory experience across Canada and the United States, she is recognized as an architect of enterprise workforce transformation — aligning strategy, structure, systems, and talent to enable organizations to operate effectively in complex environments.
At Wawanesa Insurance, she led enterprise-wide workforce modernization across a 3,500+ employee organization, delivering an integrated People, Talent, and Workforce strategy, operating model redesign, performance transformation, and capability frameworks that strengthened leadership effectiveness and accountability. At Cenovus Energy, she partnered with the C-suite during post-merger integration impacting 13,000+ employees, aligning ERP, workforce, and change strategy while establishing value realization metrics tied to productivity and cost synergies. At Shaw Communications, she led organizational design, culture, and leadership transformation across a 13,000+ workforce, building enterprise capability systems, leadership programs, and career frameworks that improved engagement, adoption, and leadership alignment.
Delana holds an MBA with a focus in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management and applies a design-led approach integrating strategy, operating model, capability, and culture to build future-ready organizations.
I train hard so I can eat harder — my workout schedule is basically just permission to order two desserts.
- Building the people infrastructure makes business outcomes achievable — not just aspirational.
- Most transformation stalls because strategy, structure, and capability aren't aligned. That's a solvable problem.
- Moving from strategic planning to sustained execution requires designing the workforce systems that carry strategy forward.
CEOs and C-suite executives
CHROs and HR leaders
Senior executives and board members
Organizational design practitioners
Entrepreneurs scaling their teams
- What your audience will gain from this episode:
- What does it mean to treat people strategy as 'execution infrastructure' — and why do so many organizations get this wrong?
- What are the most common misalignments you see between business strategy and workforce capability?
- How do you approach operating model redesign during post-merger integration?
- What separates organizations that successfully transform from those that stall?
- What your audience will gain from this episode:
Strategy & People Systems Alignment
- Practical frameworks for aligning business strategy with people infrastructure — so execution becomes achievable, not aspirational.
Why Transformation Fails
- Understanding the root causes behind organizational transformation stalls — and how to systematically address misalignment.
Workforce Planning in Practice
- Actionable approaches to workforce planning and operating model design drawn from leading 13,000+ employee integrations.
Leadership Capability That Sticks
- Insight into building leadership development systems that create lasting accountability and performance — not just training events.
- Led enterprise workforce modernization at Wawanesa Insurance (3,500+ employees) — integrated People, Talent & Workforce strategy and operating model redesign
- Post-merger integration partner at Cenovus Energy (13,000+ employees) — aligned ERP, workforce, and change strategy with value realization metrics
- Organizational transformation at Shaw Communications (13,000+ workforce) — built enterprise capability systems and career frameworks
- MBA — Industrial & Organizational Psychology and Human Resource Management
- Recognized architect of enterprise workforce transformation across Canada and the United States
Contact us to book Delana — free for hosts. We handle all scheduling and coordination.
We never charge podcast hosts.
Title
Head of People Strategy, The Art of Strategy Inc.
Location
Calgary, Canada (MST)
Reach
2,500 reach
Availability
Mon–Fri, 8am–5pm MST (flexible)
website
theartofstrategy.ca
Follow Delana’s insights on people strategy, organizational design, and workforce transformation on LinkedIn.