"No PAIN - No GAIN" - Are WE Ready Now?

You may have heard that the western-Canadian economy has taken a real 'kicking' over the past year, with a number of indicators pointing to challenging times. A low Canadian Dollar, oil prices around $30 per barrel, energy and construction job losses, and higher unemployment levels, are just a few that we could name.  
 
There's no denying that many sectors have experienced significant pain. But as they say: "No PAIN - No GAIN".  

Pain has a way of getting our attention! And as a result, we become increasingly motivated to find new and creative ways to transform that 'pain' into some sort of beneficial 'gain' - finding new opportunities for people to realize their Hopes, their Dreams, and their Aspirations.  Many of these individuals will be very interested in exploring the potential of building a business of their own.  And that's the exciting type of work that we enjoy doing at Pro-Vision Solutions Inc. as we assist those looking at starting, growing and developing their business potential.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

One of the key moments in a speech by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was when he pressed the "RESET BUTTON" - moving everyone beyond our reputation as a provider of raw materials and resources, to a new vision, saying: "... I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness."  It's a bold statement that was “put out” to the world, but it's also one that I believe Canadians are ready to embrace as we adapt to our changing realities.

See the related articles, photos and videos on the World Economic Forum at: http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/leadership-lessons-from-canada-s-prime-minister-justin-trudeau

Having said that, it needs to be recognized that not only will we need to become more innovative and entrepreneurial, we also need to better prepare those looking down the entrepreneurial career pathway. We recognize that not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Historically, about 15% to 18% of the Canadian workforce has been self-employed. We also know that after 5 years of having been in business, about 60% of those businesses have ceased operations, and about 80% have disappeared within 10 years. These are sobering statistics, so we ask: Is there a way to improve the prospects for business success?
 
We believe that Mentorship can provide entrepreneurs with a valuable support structure to assist them through their growth and development. The choice is ours to make.  

We can choose to learn things the hard way and experience all of the painful lessons taught in the ‘School of Hard Knocks’. Or we can take advantage of learning from the insights provided by an experienced Business Mentor – someone who can fast-track their Mentee towards a more successful future. 

We believe that the SMARTER choice is to look into what a Mentorship Program can do.  We'd be pleased to further discuss how this valuable business development resource can assist business owners as well as those who work with entrepreneurs.

Let us know if you'd like to further explore Mentorship. 

We'd be more than happy to bring well planned Mentorship Programs to other organizations and industry sectors. 

We welcome your comments to this Post.

FYI: If you’re also interested in business, you may wish to access the FREE information on our Business Success BLOG and tap into some of the many FREE videos on our YouTube Channel where you'll find a wealth of helpful suggestions on both Mentorship and Business Success.  These can all be accessed from the "Resources" tab on our website at: www.pvs4u.ca

Mentorship = Capacity Building

When it comes to Building Capacity, what is the right direction for growth? 

How does one increase their skills, abilities, and potential to advance in their career? 

Education and experience within previous workplace settings are certainly helpful. But what happens while the individual is working within a workplace environment?

It’s an important question that touches the public sector, not-for-profit organizations, as well as those in the private sector. Having worked with entrepreneurs over the past 30 years, the ability of a business and those within it to improve their efficiency and productivity has been top of mind for entrepreneurs at every scale of operation! And every organization needs to find ways to effectively pass knowledge and skills on to those who work there today, while building improvements into the organization for the future. In a competitive environment, a failure to develop the capacity of your people, could very well lead to the failure of your venture. So how can we build the capacity of our people and our organizations?

One of the things I frequently hear from entrepreneurs is their desire to have someone Mentor them. Personally, I think that’s great, and here’s why. Perhaps you’ve noticed ... Entrepreneurs thrive on change! They’re constantly looking for new ways of doing things, making improvements - coming up with better products or services that match an opportunity in the marketplace. Entrepreneurs are open to learning, and what better way to learn, than from the experiences of those who’ve been down a similar road! Mentorship provides an ideal opportunity to learn from others - others who are willing to invest their time into the development of another entrepreneur.

In my personal experience, I’ve found that a Mentor can tremendously add to the breadth and depth of our business and life experience. As I reflect over my years of working with entrepreneurs, whether that’s as a facilitator, an instructor, a business coach, or as a mentor, I recognize that I've also grown from the input of those in my circle of contacts. Needless to say, there is a vast and deep ‘pool’ of valuable expertise available, and I’ve been most fortunate to have benefitted from tapping into some of that expertise on my journey.

If it’s helpful, here are a few thoughts for your consideration, drawn from my past experiences, and those relayed to me by others:

Mentors have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their sincere interest in a business Mentee through the sharing of relevant aspects of their personal business experience. This seems to be more beneficial for the Mentee after the Mentor has taken some time to get to know the Mentee and their priorities for the mentoring relationship.

For me, this speaks to the importance of building a positive foundation for the mentoring relationship in the very early stages. Gaining a better understanding of why both parties feel that mentorship is of value, what each can contribute, their respective priorities, and the basis of the working relationship can all be established during this time period. For both the Mentor and the Mentee to say that their mentoring relationship was a worthwhile ‘investment’ of their time, the mentorship experience must be positive, with evidence of progress having been made in their growth and development.

A Mentorship Agreement can serve as a guide over the duration of the mentoring relationship, and is very important to have in place. With this, the Business Plan might be viewed as being both a ‘map and a compass’, keeping the entrepreneur on track and headed in the right direction. A business plan shouldn’t be seen as an added weight that holds you back! Rather it should be a valuable tool to help you identify important targets that you set for yourself. It should serve as a place where you ‘zero-in’ on your priorities, and contain useful notes on how you will achieve the goals you’ve set for yourself. Does it take a little work? To be honest - Yes, but it doesn’t need to be overwhelming either!

(BTW - We’ve helped many business owners with our simplified approach to exploring their business planning. Let us know if you’d like to make business planning easier for your business!)

Mentors add value ... by sharing their experiences and expertise, and by asking some very good questions for the Mentee to consider. Mentors will find that their ability to communicate with their Mentee improves as they better understand what the Mentee hopes to achieve, the Mentee’s current strengths and weaknesses, and use their personal experiences to help the Mentee look at the road ahead.

Just in case you’re wondering, we’ve not found it critical for the Mentor to have been in the exact same business or industry sector as their Mentee.  Mentors typically have a broad-base of business knowledge and experience that provides a valuable depth of helpful insights for growing entrepreneurs.

Openness, caring and listening will go a long way towards building mutual understanding, confidentiality and trust in a mentoring relationship. Get to know each other by sharing some of your experiences – things you’ve seen along your career path or in business. Mentors could talk about the challenges they’ve faced and overcome, 'sticky' situations that required finesse and tactful negotiation. Mentees could share some of their previous experiences, things they’ve learned as a result, and how that may be helpful in the future!

Mentorship – it won’t solve all of the problems that you’ll encounter in your career or in your business, but it will definitely help you to build the capacity that’s needed to move you forward with your business, and continuing in your personal development and growth!

We’re currently working with ... a number of groups, organizations and individuals in various aspect of Mentorship and Mentorship Program development. 


We’d be pleased to speak with you regarding your interest in using Mentorship as a "Capacity Building" tool in your Workplace!  

Please let us know if you’d like to explore that further.

We welcome your comments to this Post.

FYI: If you’re also interested in business, you may wish to access the FREE information on our Business Success BLOG and tap into some of the many FREE videos on our YouTube Channel where you'll find a wealth of helpful suggestions on both Mentorship and Business Success.  These can all be accessed from the "Resources" tab on our website at: www.pvs4u.ca

Passing Along the 'Lessons Learned'

IF you’ve been in business for some time, it wouldn’t surprise us to hear that you’ve learned a number of great lessons - business lessons, and life lessons as a result of your many experiences.

It was Winston Churchill who said: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."  So with that thought in mind, here’s an easy way to share a small piece of valuable information that others could find very helpful on their business journey!

With this post, we’ll try to replicate one of the valuable aspects that we’ve had in the live “Business START-UP” events we’ve facilitated over the past decade. Attendees routinely comment on how they’ve enjoyed hearing from the experienced business owners we’ve brought into our sessions, and the numerous insights, tips and suggestions they’ve provided for new entrepreneurs.

HERE are a couple of the questions we’ve typically suggested to these seasoned entrepreneurs. Pick one, a couple, or all ... and please share some of your valuable insights with a larger audience.

Questions for Business Owners:


1) What was the biggest business challenge you’ve faced, and how did you address it?

2) How did you recognize your business opportunity, and was there a significant event that motivated you to act on it?

3) Looking back, what do you wish you’d have known prior to starting your business?

Thank you for sharing your comments and suggestions with our audience.

Note: While having a formal business Mentor may be seen as the ideal, we know that many business owners haven’t yet incorporated a formalized process into their routines.  For the moment, they’re relying on their networks of business associates, professionals and various gleanings they’ve gathered along the way. Your suggestions may be very valuable as a part of that learning process.

PLEASE, leave your comments for others viewing this Post.

FYI: If you’re also interested in business, you may wish to access the FREE information on our Business Success BLOG and tap into some of the many FREE videos on our YouTube Channel where you'll find a wealth of helpful suggestions on both Mentorship and Business Success.  These can all be accessed from the "Resources" tab on our website at: www.pvs4u.ca

* AND, if you would like to have another perspective to help you with your business development, let’s discuss your situation in more detail. Chances are, we can help you!

Finding Balance with a Mentor

Life, and sustaining life, is all about balance ... balancing all of the areas of our lives. 

We’ve enjoyed speaking with a number of groups in more detail on this topic.  


Why?  Maybe it’s because so many of us (myself included) can so easily find ourselves ‘investing’ in only a few areas of our lives, to the detriment of other areas and the important people around us.

For those of us who’ve travelled for some time down the ‘road of life’ – I believe there’s a growing appreciation and valuing of the positive input provided by others, particularly from someone we’ve viewed as being a Mentor. 

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that even with the best of intentions, it’s easy to made 'mistakes' along the way.  Hopefully, these were ‘few and far’ between, and more-so, that we’ve used them as learning opportunities, becoming better as a result!

Reflecting back, there have been times where we’ve been able to invest some of our time and energy towards the sharing of our experiences with others. Hopefully these valued individuals found that beneficial to them, in some meaningful way. Perhaps time will reveal that more clearly. 

* What we recognize and perhaps you've also experienced, is that by having been involved in the process of mentorship, in having shared our mutual experiences, challenges, and the overcoming of what seemed to have been 'huge obstacles' in our way ... both of us (Mentee and Mentor) have become better for having walked down this path together.

Mentorship changes lives. It helps the one who is mentored to grow and develop into more of their potential. At the same time, and while it may have seemed insignificant at the time, for the one who Mentors others, it can also be very profound.

Dr. Carson Pue, Quadrant Leadership Inc.

On that note, it was a pleasure and privilege to meet and interview Dr. Carson Pue, Executive Mentor Coach with Quadrant Leadership Inc. on a recent trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. 

Dr. Pue says that Mentoring is about sharing life ... encouraging and fostering growth based on your experiences. In our interview, he recommends that younger leaders find a mentor to help them develop for a number of outstanding reasons which he shared in our discussion. He also encourages more of us to become Mentors, citing the immense sense of satisfaction that Mentors can receive through the process. In his observation, “Mentors who are engaged in the process with their Mentees tend to stay fresh and vibrant!”

Carson Pue is recognized as a ‘leader of leaders’ who has an ability to identify leaders and invest wisdom into their development through mentoring, teaching and spiritual guidance.

He is the best selling author of “Mentoring Leaders: Wisdom for Developing Calling, Character, and Competency” and has also authored “Mentoring Wisdom: Living and Leading Well.”
For fourteen years he was the President and CEO of Arrow Leadership Ministries regarded as a premier leadership development mentoring process for emerging and executive leaders.
Today Carson is the Executive Advisor for a multi-million dollar city building project of First Baptist Church Vancouver called “Heart for the City.” He also heads up Quadrant Leadership Inc. doing executive mentoring, speaking and writing. With his encouraging style, creative ideas, engaging humor and years of experience, Carson is well fitted for this role. In his straightforward manner Carson shares both from success and failures, believing that leaders learn from both.

CLICK HERE to view the video comments from Dr. Carson Pue on Mentorship on our YouTube Channel.



PLEASE, leave your comments for others viewing this Post.

FYI – If you’re also interested in business, you may wish to access the FREE information on our Business Success BLOG and tap into some of the many FREE videos on our YouTube Channel where you'll find a wealth of helpful suggestions on both Mentorship and Business Success.  

All can be accessed from the "Resources" tab on our website at: www.pvs4u.ca

Parents as Mentors - the Facilitated Option

There are so many great reasons for having or being a Mentor. What about parents playing the role of Mentor?

Is this something that you've encountered?

Both my wife and I have had the privilege of raising two children of our own - “wonderful” children we’d quickly add ... just in case they're reading this! But seriously, they're terrific young adults now, building their own lives and following career paths of their own. In addition to helping our children through their ‘formative years’ we’ve also been fortunate to have, perhaps in some small way, played roll minor in helping a few other young people learn and acquire new skills.

Occationally, I’m asked whether or not parents can be good Mentors for their children. To respond, I think the answer is a very definite, “That depends!”  And of course, it all hinges on the quality of the relationship between the parties involved - something that's guaranteed to be "fluid". And taking that a little further, perhaps a high probability of a few tears being shed on both sides.  If you're a parent, you already know that this is a challenging position - and that's due in part to the close familial relationship. Nurturing and developing our young people is definitely a key responsibility of parents. The reality, as we’ve likely also experienced, is that these most important relationships can also be laced with potential landmines. Any one of which has the potential to derail even the most well-intended learning objectives. So is there a solution?

As with most challenges we face in life, there are likely a number of options that could be explored. And it could be that a combination of methods will provide the optimal solution. One of those options could involve parents taking a facilitative role and engaging others in specific aspects of the learning process.

Recently, I’ve been collaborating with Dr. William A. Gray from Victoria, B.C. on a couple of projects related to Mentorship. One of them has been focussed toward those involved in Home Schooling. In this post, Dr. Gray describes a valuable process he’s used that can improve both the learning outcomes and the health of the family relationship for those involved. Thank you Dr. Gray for sharing this post with our readers.

Here are the comments from Dr. William A. Gray:

For eight years my wife (Marilynne) and I did R&D on Mentor-Assisted Enrichment Projects carried out by 300 of my undergrads with more than 1,000 youth in grades 4-12. Most of these MAEPs focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics (STEAM), often in an interdisciplinary manner. When my undergrads wanted to carry out a MAEP with their own children, I encouraged this for many reasons.

Families have difficulty spending “quantity” time together when parents go off to work while their children go off to school. Parents and children seldom learn about each other’s abilities and gain respect for each other by working together in the family “business” as often occurred in years past. Youth seldom answer two very important questions: “What are my aptitudes, talents and career aspirations? What vocation matches my avocation?”

When parents implement a MAEP with their children, they spend “quality” time together while systematically sharing an expertise for 2-3 hours per week for 6-10 weeks. As Mentors, parents ensure their proteges learn about some aspect of STEAM that interests them, learn why this is important to know, and learn how STEAM concepts and skills solve real world problems. Involving other STEAM Professionals enables children to explore potential careers that match their aptitudes, talents and career aspirations, and then take courses to further develop this identified person-career fit. This is important so youth stay motivated to graduate, pursue the right academic major as undergrads, and enter a vocation that matches their avocation so they love the work they do each day. Employers also like this because the right person-career fit reduces costly employee turnover and improves work performance.

You are probably wondering: why does a parent need to think and act like a Mentor while implementing a Mentor-Assisted Enrichment Project? As a Mentor, parents perceive their children more objectively as Proteges and thus interact differently with them as they share an expertise that interests the Proteges. Assistance from Mentors occurs in two main ways: equipping Proteges with specific knowledge, practical know-how and wisdom. And, empowering Proteges to use their talents and creativity, and to learn and do what interests them. Enrichment is provided directly by Mentors while doing scheduled activities with Proteges, and indirectly when Mentors arrange for other professionals to share expertise. All of this occurs during a carefully planned Project that has a beginning, middle and end as illustrated below.

Photography example: A parent wanted to share an expertise in photography with her daughter – taking black and white photos using film, developing the film, framing the pictures, and entering them in Fine Arts Shows where she won awards. To equip the Protege, this Mentor taught and demonstrated these competencies and helped the Protege prepare good interview questions to ask when they visited other photography labs and met photographers at two Shows. The Mentor empowered the Protege to apply this new knowledge to digital photography the Protege was already doing – to enhance photo- taking (angles, lighting, contrasts, etc.) and produce digital images requiring less digital editing. The result: the Protege learned how to do all aspects of B&W photography and used this to enhance digital photography. Mentor and Protege gained respect for each other’s expertise, and for one another.

Architecture example: Two boys had a beloved grandmother living in a Seniors Residence. Each time they visited, they heard many complaints. The mother knew her sons were interested in architecture as a potential career, so she offered to be their Mentor on this project: Design an Ideal Senior’s Residence that meets their needs. This Mentor taught her Proteges how to prepare questions and facilitate a focus group, took them to do this at the grandmother’s residence, helped them translate responses into a draft design, got a professional architect (friend) to enhance it, helped them build a scale model based on the revised design with input from the architect, took them to facilitate another focus group to get feedback on the scale model, helped them modify the design using this feedback, took them to present their final scale model for “The Ideal Senior’s Residence.” The Mentor personally equipped the Proteges with needed knowledge and skills, and also arranged for professional assistance. This was necessary to empower the Proteges’ interest in possibly becoming architects. The seniors were more than pleased with the scale model and the presentation explaining its design, because they had been listened to and their needs had been understood. The two boys, the mother and grandmother had spent quality time together. And, the architect (and two would-be architects) learned the value of listening to focus groups at the front end of this project (to solicit input) and at the back end (to get it right).

Dr. William A. Gray is President of Corporate Mentoring Solutions Inc. He is a former Education professor at the University of British Columbia where he’s helped prepare more than 3,000 future teachers at UBC (1970-85). Dr. Gray has a BA (psychology), a Med (educational psychology) from the University of Virginia, and PhD (educational psychology) from the University of Texas.  Dr. Gray has undertaken a considerable amount of research to improvements to “STEM” and/or “STEAM” education. He can be reached by Email at: wgray@mentoring-solutions.com

PLEASE, leave your comments for others viewing this Post.

FYI – If you’re interested in business, you may wish to access the FREE information on our Business Success BLOG and tap into some of the many FREE videos on our YouTube Channel where you'll find a wealth of helpful suggestions on Mentorship and Business Success.  

All can be accessed from the "Resources" tab on our website at: www.pvs4u.ca

Mentorship and Finding Business Funding

What do you do when you need mentorship and one of your biggest challenges is finding the capital your venture requires to grow? That’s a very good question!

Helping entrepreneurs locate funding and prepare to ‘pitch’ their business opportunity is one of the areas I’ve really enjoyed over the years. The experience and expertise of every Mentor will vary, yet many will find creative ways to help you through the preparation process.

Most of my personal financial experience has been on the ‘debt side’ of the ledger – working as an Account Manager responsible for the business and personal banking requirements of more than a hundred independent business clients. Having said that, I’ve also had some exposure to those seeking equity from Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. There have been several wonderful occasions where I’ve helped participants ready themselves to face the demanding panel of judges in various ‘Business Plan’ and ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ competitions! (They can be tough, but remember - it is their money that's being requested! Let your mind go back to some of the past episodes of, “Shark Tank” and “Dragon’s Den”.)


 
So when Kristina Milke of K-Gar Consulting Inc. introduced herself, mentioned her activities in the funding space, and that she’d heard my presentation at a dinner meeting of Project Managers ... she had my full attention!  We both happened to be at one of the Fundica Funding Road Show events and we were both kept very busy – although I’ll admit, Kristina was actually much busier. She was between ‘Pitch Sessions’ - evaluating presentations made by hopeful entrepreneurs trying to attract funding for their new and growing ventures. 

While our conversation was brief, it was a starting point, and allow us to get together several weeks later to record a few of her thoughts on some importance aspects of Mentorship.


 
Background information for Kristina Milke:

Kristina is a Chartered Accountant with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Alberta whose career has spanned over various industries. In 2012 she completed her role as General Manager of Investopedia where she oversaw all of its operations for 4 years. Kristina originally joined Investopedia in 2008 when it was still under the management of the original co-founders but owned by Forbes out of NY. Six months into her tenure with Investopedia, she accepted the role of general manager and then transitioned the organization towards focused growth. Kristina also assisted with the efforts in the marketing and sale of Investopedia to ValueClick in 2010. Prior to joining Investopedia, Kristina was the Corporate Divisional Controller for Intuit, Canada as well as the Divisional Controller and Ethics Officer for Spar Aerospace.

Most recently, Kristina has set up K-Gar Consulting Inc. - her own consulting practice so that she can focus on helping smaller organizations who need Finance and Business Advisory bench strength but are not yet ready for a full time CFO. She is a member of VA Angels, one of the largest gatherings of business angels in Western Canada where she has invested in several start-ups over the last six years and formally guides the deal intake process for the entire membership.

INTERESTED IN VIEWING OUR VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH KRISTINA MILKE?

CLICK HERE.

In closing, we invite you to consider Pro-Vision Solutions Inc. as a resource partner to assist you and your organizataion in moving forward with Mentorship.

Please add your comments to this post and let us know if we may be able to help with something you require.  Let's start that Mentorship journey by having a conversation!

NOTE: For more information on the services provided by Pro-Vision Solutions Inc. and how we can assist ... please visit our Website: www.pvs4u.ca
 

Champion of Mentoring - A Conversation with Norm Grey

Are you searching for a competitive advantage? Or ... maybe your organization is looking for better ways of transferring valuable information and knowledge to others. Have you looked at setting up a structured Mentorship Program? READ ON because this POST and the links provided should be very helpful to you!

Mentorship truly does provide participants with a terrific advantage over those who haven't yet tapped into this type of supportive developmental relationship. In our experience, we've seen that there can be great value gained, not only by the Mentees and the Mentors within the Mentorship Program (something that you might expect), but also for the Organizations that host or sponsor. In having worked with entrepreneurs and those who are growing their businesses, we've found that Mentorship can be an outstanding vehicle to improve the potential success of those ventures. Why wouldn't someone seeking success, tap into the experience of others who have faced and overcome similar challenges in the past!

When researching various Mentorship programs a number of years ago, we didn't have to go far in my search to discover one of the very BEST Mentorship programs for young entrepreneurs in Canada! Since then, it's been one that we've been very pleased to recommend to those who qualify for their various program offerings.

Futurpreneur Canada, previously known as Canadian Youth Business Foundation, is recognized as the only Canadian, non-profit organization that makes financing, mentoring and additional support tools available to aspiring young entrepreneurs. With an impressive menu of programs for business owners between the ages of 18-39, they've evolved over time to meet the challenges and changes of their target audience.

Their internationally recognized mentoring program matches young entrepreneurs from a pool of more than 2,800 business experts who volunteer from the business community. And while Mentorship and Funding frequently work hand-in-hand within their programs, we've known of participants who've said that for them, the mentorship component proved to be of even greater value to them over time. (For more details on Futurpreneur Canada, please visit their website that we've listed below.)

Norm Grey

More recently, we had opportunity to speak with Norm Grey, one of the pioneers who helped establish this program. Norm has an impressive career and provided his biography which can be seen at the end of this post. We enjoyed our telephone conversation with Norm, and with his permission, we're pleased to make that interview available for you on our YouTube Channel. A link is provided below.

Starting and growing a business can be a real challenge. Having a Mentor as a part of your circle of professionals to help guide you can save endless frustration and help you safely navigate your way to success!

* To hear the Interview we had with Norm Grey, CLICK HERE.

For those interested, here's the link to the Futurpreneur Canada website: http://www.futurpreneur.ca

Biography, W. Norman Grey 

Norm is a retired banker, spanning a 35 year career with CIBC, retiring in 2000 as GM, Ontario Southwest Region. 

He has held several volunteer positions with the Canadian Cancer Society. He became Regional President and a Director of the Ontario Division Board of the Canadian Cancer Society in 2006, serving in this capacity until April 2009. In 2012, Norm was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for his leadership volunteer work with the Canadian Cancer Society. 

Norm played a key role in building the Canadian Youth Business Foundation's Mentorship program from August 2004 – April 2013. Today it is one of the most extensive business mentorship programs in the world. A significant success factor was leading the mentoring team through progressive growth in recruiting and matching mentors, which resulted in reaching and exceeding organizational objectives year over year. 

Norm owns W Norman Grey Consulting and his objective is to offer Business Coaching and mentoring. Norm's passion today is to mentor and coach business leaders to grow and develop their organizations. Providing one on one mentoring and business coaching, and consulting on growing a business through relationship-based sales management, are some of his key interests today. 

Norm is also active in his church and is a lay minister of the Dawn Christadelphians.

Norm lives in Hamilton with his wife Donna and has two adult children Rachel and her husband Dave Green living in Mississauga and Paul in Victoria. 

(Provided by Norm Grey - July 14, 2015)