Celestica and MentorCity invite you to a Mentoring Conversation with Colleen Clarke on Developing a Successful Mindset. Colleen is a highly regarded corporate trainer, career specialist, workplace coach and author in the areas of career management, communication and networking. The ah ha moments you will experience in this session will bring more positiveness into all aspects of your life.

Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. (EST)

For more details and to register, visit: 

By special guest Doug Lawrence

I was giving a presentation on “Effective Mentoring” and was asked the question “What is the difference between mentoring and counseling?” I did provide an answer but you always do a self-assessment on your presentation afterwards and I thought I could have done better. I also obtained feedback from some valued colleagues that echoed my own thoughts that I could have responded better. What better way to address the question then by way of an article for our blog!

First off let’s agree that we will likely disagree on some of the definitions. I know that as I went through pages of research on the internet there was always the reference to mentoring being a senior person mentoring a more junior person. That definition is old news as “effective mentoring” is about the trusted relationship, it is about a two way relationship where both learn from each other, it is about the creation of a learning and development environment and it is about effective communication. The senior versus junior concept is what we call traditional mentoring and is fast becoming a thing of the past. Mentoring focuses on the building of a trusted relationship, personal and professional growth, effective communication and is typically a longer term relationship. I have some mentoring relationships that are 3-5 years in duration and still going strong. I must also mention that there is mentoring and then there is effective mentoring. The difference is whether or not the person that is the mentor can build a trusted relationship and has had some form of training. All too often I have people comment that after having had some training that we did not realize there was this much to mentoring!

Before we explore the definitions of each I want to comment on a couple of things. In a lot of the research that is out there that speaks to the “differences” between coaching, mentoring and counseling there is a common theme that you see. That common theme is that there are traces of each model in coaching, mentoring and counseling. What I mean by that is that within coaching there are some elements of mentoring and counseling and much the same applies if you were to look at any of these disciplines. What I did find though is that with counseling there is a path for more formal – higher education as it is a very specialized area. For example, an effective mentor would hand off to a professional counselor if they were dealing with a mentee that was experiencing depression. There are a number of situations where that rule would apply. In the case of coaching and mentoring there is a similar situation. There is a cross over that can take place where a coach may leverage some mentoring techniques and conversely a mentor may use some preliminary coaching techniques. What I strongly recommend though is that if you find yourself in that situation it is the ideal place to hand off to a mentor or a coach depending on the situation. There is a place for both in an organization and they actually work well together and complement each other. I recall a situation where a client had called and wanted me to come into their organization to do some mentoring. I had a discussion with them to better understand the opportunity. As it turns out, they were actually looking for a coach so I referred them to a colleague of mine that does professional coaching. The needs of the client were better met by ensuring that they had the right service and the right person to provide that service.

Here are some definitions for you to think about. Mentoring is a method of learning and development whereby the mentor uses his or her knowledge, expertise and experience to assist the mentee in developing critical thinking skills and to grow personally and professionally. This is a two way trusted relationship that is actually part of a learning and development environment where both parties grow from the relationship. It is not about telling the mentee what to do but more importantly it is about asking the right questions to guide them to the answers. The relationship is typically long term and will go through three phases (Trusting phase, learning and development phase and maintenance phase). The primary focus is on the personal growth and from that journey will be growth on the professional side. The mentee should not be a direct report.

Coaching, on the other hand, is a training method whereby an experienced or superior person transfers expertise to an employee by assigning various tasks to be completed while simultaneously giving advice and suggesting methods on how the task should be accomplished within the company or organization. Coaching involves skills development with a view to improving individual performance so as to achieve the organization’s performance objectives. Coaching relationships are typically shorter term relationships. Coaching is competence specific. In some coaching situations elements of mentoring are used in relation to the personal development of a client.

Counseling is defined as: 1) Counseling is the skilled and principled use of relationship to facilitate self- knowledge, emotional acceptance and growth and the optimal development of personal resources. The overall aim is to provide an opportunity to work towards living more satisfyingly and resourcefully. Counseling relationships will vary according to need but may be concerned with developmental issues, addressing and resolving specific problems, making decisions, coping with crisis, developing personal insights and knowledge, working through feelings of inner conflict or improving relationships with others, 2) Counseling is the application of mental health, psychological or human development principles, through cognitive, affective, behavioral or systemic interventions, strategies that address wellness, personal growth, or career development, as well as pathology, and 3) Counseling is a principled relationship characterized by the application of one or more psychological theories and a recognized set of communication skills, modified by experience, intuition and other interpersonal factors, to clients’ intimate concerns, problems or aspirations. Its predominant ethos is one of facilitation rather than of advice-giving or coercion. It may be of very brief or long duration, take place in an organizational or private practice setting and may or may not overlap with practical, medical and other matters of personal welfare. It is both a distinctive activity undertaken by people agreeing to occupy the roles of counselor and client and it is an emergent profession…. It is a service sought by people in distress or in some degree of confusion who wish to discuss and resolve these in a relationship which is more disciplined and confidential than friendship, and perhaps less stigmatizing than helping relationships offered in traditional medical or psychiatric settings.

There are some similarities as you can see but there is also some uniqueness to what each discipline provides. Mentoring is evolving as the business value it provides is recognized in a lot of organizations no matter their size. Mentoring is seen as being a solution that can address business challenges such as; aging workforce, talent shortages, succession planning/succession development, leadership talent shortages, mobile workforce, and disengaged employees to name a few. Organizations that are looking at diversity initiatives also look at how mentoring can play a role in diversity implementations. Effective mentoring is now taking the mentoring process to a higher level and is creating the paradigm that is long overdue.When you look in your organization and are looking at which discipline you should explore, consider the fact there is likely a place for all three whether it be delivered internally or though external sources. Enable and empower your employees through a mentoring program and move your organization towards a mentoring culture – after all, “can you afford not to?”

Doug Lawrence is the founder of TalentC® a Human Resources solution provider. He has over 30 years of mentoring and leadership experience in both federal and provincial environments as well as the private sector. He has developed the world's only International Accredited Mentoring Training program. TalentC® was recently recognized by HR.com in the 2014 Leadership 500 Excellence Awards and was ranked 4th in the International Leadership Partner and Provider category.

References:
1. http://www.brefigroup.co.uk/coaching/coaching_and_mentoring.html
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaching
3. http://www.ccpa-accp.ca/_documents/NotebookEthics/What%20is%20Counselling%20A%20Search%20for%20a%20Definition.pdf

You are probably well versed on social networking; millions of people log into some of the popular social networking sites every day and some companies have even set up their own social networking sites for their employees. People are checking out who is viewing their profiles and who is connected to whom, as well as sharing status updates, liking things, commenting and finding out what their network is doing.  But, when it comes to social mentoring, there are a lot of uncertainties about what it is and how it all works. Let’s look back to the time before social networking sites. People networked by attending events and functions. They also asked friends, family and colleagues for referrals. Before social mentoring sites, you would try to figure out who your ideal mentor was and reach out to them by giving them a call. You may have even dropped by the Human Resources department and asked for a mentor. Some HR managers would have taken out an Excel spreadsheet and matched you to a mentor and others may have provided materials on how to approach a mentor in the workplace. These approaches still happen and still work today. But it’s more effective to integrate some new strategies while continuing to use some of the old ones.   Social mentoring sites have made it easier to find a mentor/mentee -- think of these sites as the eHarmony of mentoring. Like eHarmony, you can quickly build a profile that outlines who you are and what you do and then you can search for someone and ask for an initial meeting. In the case of eHarmony, you would be asking for a date, which can be a lot more intimidating than social mentoring.    Who to invite to a mentoring relationship On social networking sites, you generally reach out to the people that you know. There are some exceptions to this rule; open networkers, for example, invite everyone to their network and accept all invitations. For social mentoring, sometimes you are reaching out to a total stranger, however, sometimes you may be joining a specific mentoring community which brings people together with a commonality such as working at the same company, belonging to the same association and/or graduating from the same college or university. The neat thing about this is that everyone is connected because of an organization that they are passionate about and committed to and therefore they will be more likely to pay-it-forward.  Before you invite someone to be your mentor, think about what you are focussed on developing.  Also, you may want to determine who your ideal mentor is, what they do, which city they live in and other things that are important to you. Most social mentoring sites will make it easier for you by recommending your top mentors/mentees. Read through their profiles carefully and determine if they are the right fit. How to meet your mentor/mentee On a social networking site, you ask someone to join your network or be your friend. For social mentoring, you will arrange an actual meeting. Many believe that everything will be online and that you will only be meeting by video conferencing, live text chat, texting and email. But, that is actually not the case; you may also be meeting in-person and over-the-phone. Actually, if you are thinking about establishing a longer-term, formal mentoring relationship, I recommend that the first conversation be over-the-phone, because then you can get a feeling as the whether there is good chemistry between the two of you and you can get a better sense as to whether this person will be able to help you or not. The advantages of social mentoring sites ·         You can start mentoring relationships with people from around the world and gain diverse insights and perspectives. ·         They make it easier for you to determine your ideal mentor/mentee. ·         You can keep track of all your mentoring relationships online and even the goals that you have achieved. ·         The people on a social mentoring site are generally committed to giving back and participating in a series of give-and-take relationships. The disadvantages of social mentoring sites ·         You may need to follow up and show your excitement for a mentor/mentee to accept your request. ·         You may not have an opportunity to meet your mentor in-person. ·         You may need to play it safe and only meet in-person once you have established trust. ·         The relationship may start to fizzle out. But that can also happen with mentoring relationships established in traditional ways. As you can see, we are just scratching the surface here; social mentoring sites open the door to amazing possibilities – things you may have never imagined for yourself and/or your organization. They can help you to learn anything, grow and develop one conversation at a time. With the expertise that you are looking to gain, you can get connected to people from all over the world. It’s pretty exciting, just go into it with an open mind, build meaningful mentoring relationships, stay engaged, and nothing will be able to hold you back from achieving your goals.  

Matching Mentors The new way to connect mentors and protégées Alyson Nyiri, CHRP   In the dating world, finding a compatible mate can be hit or miss. There are plenty of websites boasting their method results in better matches and possibly true love. For those looking to find an ideal mentor, however, true love isn’t the goal but a better match certainly is. MentorCity is an online mentoring matching solution, connecting people to meaningful mentoring relationships.   MentorCity’s early beginnings   Shawn Mintz is the creator and president of MentorCity. Before launching MentorCity in 2011, he spent 13 years in the career and employment services sector. As the senior manager of marketing and communications for ACCESS Employment in Toronto, he worked with new Canadians to link them to employers. During his tenure at ACCESS, he was impressed by the energy and excitement generated by mentee and mentor conversations and became inspired about the many possibilities of mentoring.   “Throughout your life and career, there are times when you can benefit from the advice, guidance and support of a mentor,” said Mintz. “There are also times when you can share your expertise and experiences to guide mentees in the right direction. MentorCity creates a mentoring community that enables you to engage in a series of give-and-take relationships.”   Simple and straightforward   For both mentees and mentors, the mentorship program is easy and straightforward; simply create a profile in the automated profile builder. A user’s LinkedIn profile can be uploaded to the system. The criteria are the same as for LinkedIn: industry, job function, experience, gender, location and language. Soft skills are matched using algorithms in the background and are not displayed to potential mentors or mentees.   Once complete, the system provides a list of possible matches based on the criteria entered in the profile, giving a compatibility rating with potential mentors. Mentees can send a request directly if the self-serve option is available or have the administrator make the match. An initial conversation and evaluation is set up where both parties determine the type of relationship they want.   The program eases the administrative burden by automating initial meetings, progress updates and evaluations with data easily exported into Excel. The reporting features of the platform are simple and customizable, allowing administrators to pull data they want from information uploaded on training or recognition and incentives, for example. An administrator dashboard tracks the number of hours completed, the status of the relationship and the number of searches and invitations sent out by users.   How is mentoring being revolutionized?   MentorCity can be used across the entire organization, regardless of geographical location, for member engagement, succession planning, leadership development and diversity and inclusion strategies. An organization can develop and use its own training tools or speaker series, better utilizing in-house expertise.   “MentorCity was launched in September 2013 to our global employee base; re-affirming our value proposition to provide meaningful and impactful development, tailored to meet each employees individual needs,” said Rebecca Nemaric, senior director of Global Talent Management, Development and Strategic Acquisition at Celestica, one of the program’s largest clients, having successfully implemented the platform across the entire global organization of over 30,000. “The MentorCity rollout was synchronized across the company to capitalize on cross business and cross geographical knowledge sharing and enterprise-wide collaboration.”   For Celestica, choosing MentorCity complemented their existing mentoring strategy.   “Mentoring has always been a key part of Celestica’s talent strategy and critical for the development of our employees. Given the global nature of our business, MentorCity is an integral component to rounding out our well established mentoring program – providing the flexibility to match our employees across the 13 countries in which we operate,” said Nemaric.   Employees can seek their own mentors through a structured and guided communications process that matches people based on mentor strengths and mentee development needs.     Benefits for HR professionals   The Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) decided to standardize the MentorCity platform in the fall of 2013, making it available to all 28 chapters across Ontario. The previous mentoring platform, Mentor Scout, will be phased out by August 2014. HRPA, in its 2010 annual member survey, discovered that soft skills were a common concern among its membership. With the introduction of Mentor Scout, and now MentorCity, the number of HRPA members enrolled in chapter-based mentoring programs has increased from less than 300 in 2011 to over 1,400 by the end of 2013, according to Chris Larsen, HRPA’s vice president of Marketing, Membership & Professional Development. HRPA members also expressed a need for help advancing their careers, and access to senior professionals with experience and skills to offer is crucial for a junior HR professional. Mentors, Larsen says, can help junior professionals accelerate their “promotability” and get the necessary experience faster. Mentees can search for mentors specializing in their own areas of practice, such as health and safety, recruitment, compensation or training and development, allowing mentees access to members who can help advance their careers.   “Mentorship is a way to stay passionate about the amazing work you’re doing with your company,” said Mintz.   This article was originally published in the May/June 2014 edition of HR Professional magazine, the official publication of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA). To view the full issue, visit hrpatoday.ca. Reprinted with permission.        

You may be running a mentoring program, but to start seeing real success and results, you will need to develop a mentoring culture at your organization. A mentoring culture which really supports sharing knowledge and a commitment of paying-it-forward to help others develop their skills and abilities. According to Doug Lawrence, president of TalentC, a human resources solution provider, he cites the following 4 reasons that mentoring programs fail – for each reason I have added some of the best practices that MentorCity clients are implementing:

• Lack of corporate support
  • Message from the CEO, leadership team and other ambassadors endorsing the program on an ongoing and consistent basis. The leadership team needs to be actively engaged as mentors in your program.
  • Program purpose and objectives to be clear.
• Lack of structure
  • Determine program length such as a 6-month relationship and to meet for 1-hour every month.
  • Provide general guidelines on how to structure meetings, discussion topics and mentoring activities.
• Lack of training
  • Host regular orientation sessions – discuss program objectives, benefits and set clear timelines (e.g. building a profile and inviting someone to be their mentor).
  • Train participants in effective mentoring skills, have check-in meetings and a wrap-up celebration.
• Culture will not support mentoring
• Companies can include mentoring in their performance review process. Mentoring doesn't have to be mandatory, but mentoring plans and activities should be discussed at each review, turning it into a corporate expectation and part of the culture.
• Post-secondary institutions can build mentoring into their curriculum and associations can use mentoring hours towards re-certification.
• Send out surveys and have conversations with participants to get their overall feedback about the mentoring program and the impact that is having on their career.

You may also like to read Lois Zachary’s 8 Hallmarks of a Mentoring Culture http://humanresources.about.com/od/coachingmentoring/a/mentor_culture.htm and the Globe and Mail’s article on How Companies Mess Up Mentoring http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/how-companies-mess-up-mentoring/article614274/

There are lots of benefits to building a mentoring culture. It will take time, but the effort will be worth it in the long run. It will be one of the most rewarding journeys that you embark on as your members reach their potential and your organization develops a strong competitive advantage.

It gives us great pleasure to announce some new and exciting changes at MentorCity. We have recently migrated our global mentoring community (the public site) to an updated version - this way you will always be experiencing the latest and greatest features and developments at MentorCity. Here are a few of the highlights: Searching for a mentor/mentee We have made the process easier and faster. You can now conduct a keyword search based on the areas you would like to develop and you can search based on multiple job functions, industries, languages and cities. Incentives and Recognition You can earn points for completing your profile, accepting a mentoring request and more. These points will turn into medals once you reach specific milestones and you will also receive badges along the way. Languages You can now experience MentorCity in both English and French. Let us know if you have any questions, feedback and if you experience any technical difficulties with the migration such as missing information by sending us a message to support@mentorcity.com. Happy mentoring! The MentorCity Team