The ECC Mentorship Program will connect new [graduates from Atlantic Canada] who have secured employment in Toronto, with business leaders in Toronto who have roots on the East Coast. Many of our East Coast Connected members living and working in Toronto agree that having a mentor in Toronto earlier on in their career would have been very beneficial to their success. East Coast Connected is committed to supporting mentorship and will facilitate the introduction of mentor to mentee.

Become a Mentor or Become a Mentee

East Coast Connected on Mentorship

Mentoring is essentially about helping people to assume more responsibility for more effective career management. It is a relationship designed to build confidence and help a mentee to take increasing initiative for personal development. Mentoring differs from other forms of help, such as “instructing”, “training”, or “tutoring”. It helps both partners learn, enjoy the learning and apply the learning.

Mentoring should be:

• a balanced partnership requiring equal commitment and investment from both partners
• a career accelerator for those who have already demonstrated the ability to invest in personal career achievement
• a process to encourage mutual respect for the perspective of others

Mentoring should not be:

• a one-way coaching initiative
• a process to encourage unmotivated people to take responsibility for self-directed career management
• a means of obtaining a job

Mentoring requires commitment from both partners. While it is an informal alliance, it is nevertheless, a professional undertaking.

Assumptions

Deliberate learning is the cornerstone. The mentor's job is to promote intentional learning, which includes capacity building through methods such as instructing, coaching, providing experiences, modeling and advising.

Both failure and success are powerful teachers. Mentors, as leaders of a learning experience, certainly need to share their "how to do it so it comes out right" stories. They also need to share their experiences of failure, i.e., "how I did it wrong". Both types of stories are powerful lessons that provide valuable opportunities for analyzing individual and organizational realities.
Leaders need to tell their stories. Personal scenarios, anecdotes and case examples, because they offer valuable, often unforgettable insight, must be shared. Mentors who can talk about themselves and their experiences establish a rapport that makes them "learning leaders."

Development matures over time. Mentoring -- when it works -- taps into continuous learning that is not an event, or even a string of discrete events. Rather, it is the synthesis of ongoing event, experiences, observation, studies, and thoughtful analyses.

Mentoring is a joint venture. Successful mentoring means sharing responsibility for learning. Regardless of the facilities, the subject matter, the timing, and all other variables.

Successful mentoring begins with setting a contract for learning around which the mentor and the mentee are aligned.

Characteristics of a good mentor

The qualities that are essential in an effective mentor include:

• A DESIRE TO HELP - Individuals who are interested in and willing to help others.
• HAVE HAD POSITIVE EXPERIENCES - Individuals who have had positive formal or informal experiences with a mentor tend to be good mentors themselves.
• GOOD REPUTATION FOR DEVELOPING OTHERS - Experienced people who have a good reputation for helping others develop their skills.
• TIME & ENERGY - People who have the time and mental energy to devote to the relationship.
• UP-TO-DATE KNOWLEDGE - Individuals who have maintained current, up-to-date technological knowledge and/or skills.
• LEARNING ATTITUDE - Individuals who are still willing and able to learn and who see the potential benefits of a mentoring relationship.
• DEMONSTRATED EFFECTIVE MANAGERIAL (MENTORING) SKILLS - Individuals who have demonstrated effective coaching, counseling, facilitating and networking skills.

The mentoring program...the components

• Identify Career Goals & Expectations
• Research The Mentor’s Organization
• Plan the Meetings
• Conduct Partner Meetings
• Identify Additional Mentoring Activities
• Debrief Mentoring Activities And Meeting Follow-Up
• Network With Other Mentees
• Create A Long-Term Action Plan For Success
• Acknowledge the Mentor’s Contribution