Let’s say you are getting ready to make a big presentation or you are interested in climbing the corporate ladder. Then you may want to find a mentor, because they will be able to guide you in the right direction. Here are a few ways mentors can help you achieve greater success:

• By sharing their experiences, knowledge and insights, and the lessons they learned. This will help you develop your skills at a quicker pace than even attending a course will. The reason mentoring is so effective is that you are receiving advice based on your needs at that moment.

• By providing feedback. Let’s say you would like to ask your employer for a raise or that you would like to bring forth a new idea that will help you company’s bottom line. You can role play this scenario with your mentor and receive their constructive feedback.

• By providing you with encouragement, support and inspiration. A mentor can help you open your mind to new opportunities and ideas, and provide you with a boost of inspiration.

The first step to finding the right mentor is writing down what you would like to achieve, and then start to think about the type of mentor who can help you get to where you want to go. Ask yourself: Which skills do they have? Which industry do they have experience in? What do they do? Where do they live (if it’s important for you to meet them in-person)? Now, you are ready to start searching for a mentor—here are a few ideas on where to look:

• Join discussion groups on social media sites and/or conduct a Google search. Contact someone who is providing valuable advice.

• Check in with you company’s Human Resources department, the college/university that you graduated from and the associations you belong to because they may have a mentoring program established.

• Identify mentors through your network. Think about your family members, friends and business contacts. If they aren’t the mentor you need, they will probably know someone they could recommend.

• Visit MentorCity.com, a website for matching people with appropriate mentors.

When you contact potential mentors, remember that it is an honour to be asked by someone for advice and guidance, that everyone has a few minutes to spare, and that people generally like to support others. Take the mentoring relationship slow—if there is a good fit, you may want to establish a more formal mentoring relationship. Or, you can keep things informal and reach out to them on an as-needed basis.

MentorCity and Celestica invite you to... Mentoring Conversations An innovative and dynamic speaker series on topics related to MentorCity members' mentoring objectives and goals. Engage with the Mentor of Mentors Doug Lawrence who will talk about how to become an effective mentor. Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2014 Time: 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. (EST) Webinar instructions to be provided closer to the event. About Doug Lawrence 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. 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. Doug is a Saskatchewan farm boy that joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police very early in his career and spent close to 25 years providing policing services in a variety of geographical locations. It was during this time frame that Doug began to hone his leadership and mentoring skills. A large percentage of the communities that Doug worked in were small which required a unique ability to build trusted relationships and communicate effective. After retiring from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Doug continued to hone his leadership and mentoring skills in the private and public sector in roles as an employee and as an independent consultant. After being prompted by a number of professionals to launch a business where mentoring was the solution, Doug’s journey began. After doing extensive market research, Doug realized that there was a need for mentors to be trained. There were a lot of solution providers that claimed to be accredited or certified but when you did the research on their organization you found that it was self-accredited. There was no Governance in place and they did not have any standards to follow. There was not any professional designation for mentoring. Doug worked with Certified Subject Matter Experts out of the United States to become accredited and to develop the International Certification for Mentoring. The curriculum and the certification are International Standards Organization (ISO) compliant. The certification has been created under ISO 17024. The curriculum has been recognized by human resources associations across Canada. Doug's passion is contagious. He is committed to helping organizations and people be successful and has dedicated his life to the coaching and mentoring of others. About the Series Hand-picked expert mentors will engage participants from across MentorCity's local and global communities in high-impact and energetic mentoring conversations. Speakers will share their experiences and stories in response to participants' mentoring objectives and goals. We are providing these events as a way to help engage our members more fully in their mentoring communities, to highlight the benefits of mentoring, and to evolve a mentoring culture among us all. Click on the following link to register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mentoring-conversation-with-doug-lawrence-on-effective-mentoring-skills-webinar-tickets-11584512589

The lines are often blurred as mentors jump into the coach and sponsor role. One of the top questions that I’m often asked is: What is the difference between mentoring, coaching and sponsorship? Honestly, it a tough question because the answer is not always in black and white. This is because, the roles are interchangeable and they cross over all time. This means that your mentor can be your coach and your coach can be your sponsor. I recently met one of my mentors who helped me to further enhance my public speaking skills. He listened to my concerns and shared his experiences starting out as a public speaker and how his skills have evolved over time. We brainstormed ideas on how I could achieve my goals and we came up with a plan. He jumped into the coaching role by providing me with an exercise on how to get ready for presentations which has helped me to better connect with my audience. Then he became my sponsor by recommending me to a couple of his contacts who were looking for speakers – I ended up getting both gigs! To understand what mentoring, coaching and sponsorship are, how they are similar and how they are different, let’s relate them to a baseball team and/or game: The Mentor They have a skill set and a level of expertise in an area that you would like to develop such as how to steal a base or hit a home run. Let’s say you are the left fielder and that you have always dreamed about being a pitcher. You can start a mentoring relationship with the pitcher to learn how they got to where they are, some of the lessons they have learned along the way and their experiences. This will help you to see if you have what it takes to be a great pitcher. Your mentor will help you get to where you want to be by sharing his/her experiences, advice, guidance and support. The Coach They are always pumping you up and inspiring you to win the game by providing you with the tools, techniques and exercises that will help you further develop your skills. Your coach will have a good understanding of what it will take for you reach your full potential. They will also help you to set goals and ensure that you are on track in reaching them. The Sponsor This could be anyone on your team, who will literally go to bat for you. They believe in you, your abilities and they are going to let others know that you are ready for another opportunity whether it’s on the field or off the field. Many sponsors may start off as mentors – as this provides them with an opportunity to get to know you, your potential and provides them with the confidence to discuss your strengths with others.

How many people have you met who have the ability to bring the best out in everyone they meet? One person who can do just that is Randy Taylor. Randy recently joined us for a Mentoring Conversation which was broadcast around the world. He inspired us to Stop Stopping by not listening to our inner voice when it is telling us to quit. I know that I have done this many times. I will be working towards a goal and I let my inner voice convince me that it’s not worth pursuing. It could be a silly reason, an excuse and then all of a sudden, I have stopped trying to achieve that goal. Before the presentation, I was grabbing a cup of coffee with Randy and we were chatting about staying focused on our goals and that if we do this, then we will achieve them. He said that we don’t really know when we will achieve it, but it will happen. Right after that conversation, I was speaking with one of the attendees and she was asking me about how MentorCity is doing. She then gave me an amazing idea and mentioned a company that I could approach. I got so excited about the company that she mentioned, because a couple of months ago, I was taking a look at that company’s website and I was thinking that they would be the perfect strategic alliance for MentorCity. So, even though I haven't achieved the goal yet, I feel that I am a little closer because she may be able to introduce me to someone there and that is an amazing feeling. One of the other takeaways for me was the idea of Inspired Thought. Let’s say you have a thought or an idea, well if you don’t take action within 12 to 24 hours, you may never will. It’s really about starting something, about going for it and about not having any regrets because you haven’t tried moving forward. What are your Mentoring Takeaways from Randy’s presentation? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpVmBWVHG_M&feature=share Let us know @MentorCity / info@MentorCity.com Happy Mentoring! Shawn Mintz, President, MentorCity

Celestica and MentorCity would like to invite you to our next Mentoring Conversation with Randy Taylor who will speak about the Power of Why on Tuesday, April 15th at 9:00 a.m. (EST). Here are all the webinar details: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mentoring-conversation-with-randy-taylor-on-the-power-of-why-tickets-10615506265. We hope that you can make it!

I am Canadian, but never really got the hockey bug. Or at least until I had the pleasure of hearing Sami Jo Small speak at a George Brown College Alumni event. I don't necessarily think it was the sport that I fell in love with. It was more about how someone realizes their dreams, stays focused and doesn't let anyone or anything stop them. Sami is a 3 time Olympian and two-time member of a gold medal winning team. The neatest part of her talk was when she passed around her gold medal to everyone and told us to think of our biggest dream. Now that was powerful stuff! What I also found to be quite remarkable is that when she heard disappointing news from her coaches - she took it hard, but then she thought of her team and the role that she needed to play. She showed up every day, smiled and gave it her all as a valued team member. Another take away message was that it's not about the reward. It's about constantly pushing yourself further and to be proud of what you do every day. Happy Mentoring! Shawn Mintz, President, MentorCity