The best projects can not be checked off from your to-do list. These are the projects that help you take your skills to the next level and those that make your product and services even better. These projects are the best investment that you can make. 

It's okay to say sorry sometimes - but not all the time. Sorry should be a sacred word that is used when you have made a mistake or when you were inconsiderate. When you apologize for an action that you took - it should be followed by how you are going to make things better moving forward.

Write down what you would like to achieve from a meeting. You may want to set smaller goals if this is a new relationship such as a referral to the right person at an organization or setting up a face-to-face meeting.  Setting a goal makes measuring the success of every interaction easier.

   Believe that there may be a problem. Then explore the issue from every possible angle. Try not to let the problem consume you. If you are struggling, talk it through with others to gain a fresh perspective.

The key ingredients to a successful mentoring relationship are: a solid commitment, a high level of trust, the ability to challenge assumptions, reflection, and inspiration to take action.

In 2014, the Institute for Performance and Learning (formerly Canadian Society for Training and Development) sought to offer its members a new professional development opportunity. The MentorCity program was the ideal solution.

“All of our members are professionals so they have valuable experiences and expertise that they can share,” said Melissa Korn, Specialist, Programs & Volunteers at the Institute for Performance and Learning. “By introducing a mentoring program, we could facilitate connections between our members and help them enhance their skills and boost their career developments.”

The association, which has members across the country, asked 150 people to participate in the six-month pilot program. Each person used the MentorCity™ platform to create profiles, find a match and manage their mentoring relationship.

“After the initial set-up, the MentorCity software made the program completely hands off for us,” said Melissa. “I’ve worked on mentoring programs at other organizations in the past and they can be labour intensive. The MentorCity platform is such an amazing tool – it did all of the work of connecting mentors and mentees with each other and maintaining the flow of the relationships.”

Betty Jo McCabe, an independent consultant in Ontario, registered to be a mentee as she was in search of guidance and leadership on a specific issue. She was matched with a mentor in Alberta and the two scheduled monthly phone calls.

“My mentor had great advice and feedback and I got way more out of the mentoring relationship than I ever thought I would,” said Betty Jo. “I’ve had mentors in the past but those experiences were people simply offering advice; this was a structured approach that really promoted learning.”

Mentoring isn’t simply about a mentor nurturing talent and offering guidance to a mentee, it’s also about creating networking and growth opportunities for that mentor.

“I expected mentoring would be about being matched with someone more junior; someone who was looking for learning opportunities but what I got was a seasoned professional looking for expertise based on my experience,” said Julie Sullivan, who took on the role of the mentor. “It was a great learning experience. The relationship turned out to be more of a partnership than a mentorship.”

Once this MentorCity pilot program ended, Melissa said the outstanding feedback the association received has encouraged them to run the program again in the future.

“There are definitely benefits to being in either role and many participants – both mentors and mentees – have told us that their mentoring relationship helped them tremendously in their professional growth.”

MentorCity offers comprehensive, easy-to-use and cost-effective online mentoring software for companies, schools and associations. The ROI is Priceless™.