January 2007 ISSUE
Mentor And Be Mentored
APEGGA Hosts First Annual National Mentoring ConferenceBY GEORGE LEE
The PEGG
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Let’s Talk Mentoring |
Even mentors need mentoring. That was the philosophy behind APEGGA’s first-ever National Mentoring Conference, Mentoring the Mentor, held Nov. 6 and 7 in Edmonton.
Speakers from academia, the private sector, the non-profit sector, the APEGGA professions and other professions brought a range of messages on formal and informal mentoring to 135 people. From every source, one theme was clear: everyone benefits from mentoring.
“See how lucky I have been?” said Margaret-Ann Armour, an associate dean in the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta. “The mentors I have had have been remarkable people.”
Dr. Armour, in charge of diversity for her department, listed off her mentors past and present, going back to when she grew up and went to university in Scotland. She detailed their attributes and the lasting ways they’ve affected her life and career.
Good mentors understand the value of people in the economy and in life, Dr. Armour said, and they always demonstrate that people matter. “These are easy words to say, but they are hard to live by, because we represent a whole range of philosophies and different ways of doing things.”
Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., and Katharine Bondy, both certified human resources
professionals, brought practical approaches to the seminar. The principals of
Western Leadership Centre Inc. covered off everything from generational issues
and thinking styles to starting and evaluating mentoring programs.
Speaker Dr. June Anonson, RN, opened the conference with her speech on the gift
of a mentor. To mentor properly, you must “give up a piece of yourself,” said
the assistant dean of the University of Saskatchewan College of Nursing, and
that can be a challenging and frightening thing to do.
“I believe today’s largest, biggest, most humungous sin is our busy-ness. Mentors must take a piece out of their day to give away some of that busy-ness,” Dr. Anonson said.
Protégés are pushed closer to their dreams, because their mentors help them build a better tomorrow. “Mentoring is all about tomorrow,” said Dr. Anonson.