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Organizational Goal
Qualico is one of the largest privately-owned, fully integrated real estate companies in Western Canada and the United States. Established in Winnipeg in 1951, Qualico has expanded its operations to include single-family and multi-family homebuilding, community and commercial development, property management, and building materials supply and services. The company operates across eight locations, including Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Metro Vancouver, Austin, and Dallas–Fort Worth. With over 40 business units, Qualico leverages its vertically and regionally integrated structure to provide comprehensive real estate solutions, aiming to build better cities and communities.
As one of Canada’s largest integrated real estate companies, Qualico’s rapid growth and regional expansion created fragmented leadership practices and capability gaps. Leaders often advanced based on technical expertise, without a unified standard for strategic thinking or collaboration. To address this, Qualico partnered with The Ivey Academy to build a leadership development program that would introduce a formalized competency framework, close leadership gaps, and create organizational cohesion across business units—while aligning leadership behaviour with the company’s mission to build better, more sustainable communities.
Solution
Through a deep co-design process involving executive input and focus groups, Qualico and Ivey developed the Qualico Leadership Development Program—a suite of four custom tracks tailored to emerging leaders, managers, senior leaders, and executives. The program integrated case-based learning, virtual and in-person sessions, coaching, and a personalized development plan. A custom version of the Leadership Skill Profile (LSP-R) helped participants benchmark their strengths and areas for growth within Qualico’s unique context. Over eight months, 213 leaders completed the program, all guided by the shared Qualico Leadership Competency Framework, also developed in collaboration with Ivey.
Impact
Post-program surveys and mid-term evaluations show QLDP significantly elevated leadership performance, strategic alignment, and retention—establishing a unified, high-performing leadership culture at Qualico.
Result |
Data Point |
Voice of the Business |
| Skill Application | 98.7% actively applying what they learned | “I’ve used the SWOT analysis multiple times to guide better decisions.” — Qualico Program Participant |
| Organizational Impact | 96.1% retention among participants vs. 83.3% company-wide | “The program helped break silos and align teams with shared goals.” — Qualico Program Participant |
| Career Growth | 12.6% of alumni promoted | “I’ve developed two new teams and was promoted—this course helped me get there.” — Qualico Program Participant |
| Business Impact | 93.9% reported increased confidence | “I now lead more decisively and communicate better during change.” — Qualico Program Participant |
| Program Experience | 6.7/7 overall satisfaction; NPS of 87 | “It made me think about how to better collaborate across departments.” — Qualico Program Participant |
The Qualico Leadership Development Program now serves as a cornerstone of Qualico’s talent strategy, positioning the company for sustained growth and innovation—while equipping its leaders to build the future of Canadian housing with confidence and purpose. To learn more about the learning partnership between Ivey and Qualico, download the full case and enter your information to get in contact with our team.
- Strategy
- Leadership
- Performance Management
