October 2006 ISSUE
pd spotlight
Mentoring Boom Hits at Critical Time
BY ARLENE LACK, B.SC.N.
APEGGA Mentoring Coordinator
Mentoring has been growing dramatically in popularity in all professions and disciplines. There is an awakening realization that more-experienced persons can greatly influence and assist less-experienced persons, as they navigate the workplace and become more successful, professionally and personally.
Mentoring programs are needed today more than ever because new professionals have a great need for positive role models. All organizations are extremely busy and therefore mentoring becomes even more critical to employees and employers.
Mentoring can help new professionals get up-to-speed and become productive sooner. Mentors can help new hires fit into the organization more quickly.
APEGGA’s program is based on the planned pairing of a mentor and pro-tégé to assist with soft-skills development. The formalized nature of the program is consistent with data that show that this is the most successful way to mentor. Mentoring pairs are coached and assisted along the way and always have a coordinator to contact in the event of problems.
Our mentoring recognition and recruitment receptions in Edmonton and Calgary have given mentoring a higher profile among APEGGA members. On June 26 we held our reception in Edmonton, where we announced our Mentor of the Year award, which went to Champak Mistry, P.Eng. The Calgary reception Sept. 11 was also well attended by current and potential mentors.
Our program will grow as more professionals realize the benefits to themselves as well as protégés. Mentors benefit from the enthusiasm and energy of protégés. Mentors also review their soft skills and benefit from a diversity of perspectives.
APEGGA recently provided coaching sessions for both mentors and protégés. Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., CHRP, of Western Leadership Inc., conducted sessions in Edmonton on Aug. 16 and in Calgary on Aug. 23. He covered the topics of the mentor/protégé relationships, coaching skills for mentors, goal planning and understanding generational gaps.
Evaluation results show this was valuable to our mentors. It is important for them to be on the same page, and to network with their fellow mentors.
Coaching sessions for our protégés were held in Edmonton on Aug. 17 and in Calgary on Aug. 22. The sessions, which I provided as coordinator of the APEGGA Mentoring Program, assisted protégés in understanding the purpose of the program. The sessions explained the necessity for them to initiate contact with their mentors and to set achievable goals and objectives.
Templates for the Mentoring Agreement and Action Plan were reviewed, with an emphasis on the writing of effective goals. The characteristics of successful protégés, rules of conduct for protégés, and barriers to a successful partnership were also discussed.
We plan to continue these coaching sessions for those who were unable to attend and for new members to the program.
As part of the APEGGA Business Plan, we will be developing a mentoring program for Aboriginals. A focus group with five volunteers was held in the Lindberg Conference Centre, last month. This working group discussed ways in which we could best deliver a program for students from elementary through to high school, and at the university level.
It was decided that we should concentrate on university students, because they can then mentor students at the lower levels. We hope that once the preliminary information is gathered, we can begin the Aboriginal program by late fall.
We are also pursuing an on-going commitment to speak about mentoring at immigrant -serving agencies. In addition, we are making presentations at large engineering companies to offer assistance in beginning their programs or enhancing their internal mentoring programs.
A major part of our plans is the first annual National Mentoring Conference, at the Westin Hotel in Edmonton on Nov. 6 and 7. This conference has been opened to other professions — in fact, our keynote speaker on the first day is Dr. June Anonson, RN, the assistant dean of the University of Saskatchewan School of Nursing.
Dr. Anonson has been a strong advocate for mentoring and as she says, “If you can help a person be better than they were yesterday or give them something of value, then that’s wonderful. That’s the best.”
A full interview with Dr. Anonson appears on page 3 of this month’s PEGG.
There will be great value in hearing Alberta experts Rob Macdonald, P.Eng., CHRP, and Katharine Bondy, CHRP, of Western Leadership Centre, Inc., speaking about the benefits of mentoring, starting and enhancing your program, and best mentoring practices.
Expect to hear many exciting speakers and join with other professions in great networking. Yes — mentoring is high profile at APEGGA, as it is everywhere right now.