Mentoring, Coaching, & Facilitating Business Growth

Entrepreneurship is a journey - one that takes us along a pathway that can be both exciting and challenging.

And while it may seem like we are travelling this path alone at times, help is often available ... we just need to look around and ask! 

Some may discover the value that can be provided through a Mentor as they launch and grow their business. For others, help may come from a Business Coach who works with them on specific aspects of setting up, expanding or improving their business operation. And still others may find themselves in a group learning environment - something like the "Business START-UP Seminar Series" that we've facilitated for the past decade with various Chambers of Commerce, Economic Development departments, and with the help of other supportive organizations and sponsors.

There are always success stories, but as with so many 'good things' it often takes time for that success to be realized. Success is both qualitative and it's quantitative! Success is frequently first recognized by the founders who originally believed in the potential of their business concepts. For others, success requires something more tangible - a product or a service that's delivered to a receptive target audience, willing to purchase from the entrepreneurial business.

One of the success stories that we're pleased to have been associated with, and is 'tasting' some 'sweet success' is Jacqueline Jacek, with her award-winning business, JACEK Chocolate Couture.

A few years ago, Jacqueline attended one of the "Business START-UP Seminar Series" that we facilitated in Strathcona County, just east of Edmonton. Since then, her business has grown and expanded from being home-based, to having multiple locations, and an eager distribution network selling her products.  

Jacqueline's learned a lot on her journey and has been quick to share some of those lessons along the way. 

Here are a few of her thoughts on the value entrepreneurs can gain through participating in something like our Business START-UP Seminar Series:

"Although I studied business at University, I attended a business seminar series while setting up JACEK Chocolate Couture as this was a great refresher on key elements of a successful business.  In addition, one of the great benefits of a business series is that it touches on all facets of a startup, which helped me understand which parts of business (eg. marketing & sales, R&D) I naturally migrate to.  In turn, this helped me understand where my weaknesses are so that I could determine areas where I would need support from the starting line (finance & accounting). Many thanks again Jim.

Jacqueline Jacek
Founder/Cocoanista
JACEK Chocolate Couture
www.jacekchocolate.com

As an extension of that, we were very pleased to video record an interview with
Jacqueline Jacek, and now have it available for viewing on our YouTube Channel.

CLICK HERE to view a video of Jacqueline's insights and comments on what it takes to build a successful business, as well as lessons learned on their entrepreneurial journey!

So whether it's been MENTORING, COACHING or having participated in a BUSINESS START-UP series, we've enjoyed assisting entrepreneurs in each of these capacities. We believe the important thing to remember is that we continue to learn, grow and share that with others we meet along the way, just as Jacqueline Jacek has done! 
(Thank you Jacqueline.)


In closing - we invite you to visit our NEW Website at www.pvs4u.ca which provides an overview of the range of services offered by Pro-Vision Solutions Inc.
 


We welcome your comments to the above and invite you to share them with those in your circle of contacts.

Testing Quality in Mentorship Relationships

Over the years I've had the opportunity to connect with many fine individuals and with some terrific organizations. Recently, a business client that I've been working with invited me to attend his Rotary Club meeting. Having attended a few Rotary meetings in the past, and presenting at a few of them as well, I was pleased to add this to my schedule for the day. 

For those who may not be familiar with Rotary International, as a part of each meeting, members recited what's known as "The Four-Way Test". The questions are also prominently displayed on a banner, as seen in this photo.

"The Four-Way Test" - Rotary International

"The Four-Way Test" asks members to evaluate their thoughts, words and actions against the following:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Let's consider this within the context of a Mentorship relationship. 

Mentorship is intended for developing the potential of others. HOW are our thoughts, word and actions making a positive impact on those around us?

Thank you Rotary International for the good work that you and your members do around the world. Let's consider "The Four-Way Test" as we work with others, and particularly as we work within Mentorship Relationships. 

For those interested in more information regarding Rotary International, please visit their Website at: https://www.rotary.org/

We welcome your comments to the above and invite you to share them with those in your circle of contacts. 

ALSO - please let us know if your organization would like to explore the potential benefits of a Mentorship Program for the development of those you serve. We'd be happy to speak with you at your convenience.

Stephen M.R. Covey on TRUST

WHO'S on the platform with Stephen M.R. Covey?  

Oh, I know ... it's ME! (Smile) 

Okay ... I'd better 'come clean' on that statement, because I really don't want to destroy any measure of TRUST that I may have built with you to this point.  

Here's what happened:
Stephen M.R. Covey was the first keynote speaker to address the audience on March 14, 2015 at DEXIO 2015 in Edmonton. 

He had just finished giving a terrific presentation titled: "Leading at the Speed of Trust" and a transition was taking place on the stage during a short break in the program.  That's when I asked if I could take a photo of him and he invited me to jump into the picture with him! (And as they say, 'the rest is history.')

Stephen M.R. Covey is the author of "The Speed of Trust - The One Thing That Changes Everything". In his presentation, he made a strong business argument for the importance of building trust within high–performing, successful organizations.

In a compelling business case, he made the following three points very clear:
     1) Trust is an economic driver, not merely a social virtue.
     2) Trust is the #1 competency of leadership needed today.
     3) Trust is a learnable competency.

The impact of having trust, or not having trust within an organization is both measurable and quantifiable.  

Lower levels of trust lead to longer time lines to compete projects, higher costs, as well as lower levels of energy and satisfaction within an organization's workforce. 

Higher levels of trust lead to the quicker completion of projects, lower delivery costs, while producing higher levels of energy and satisfaction within an organization's workforce.

So, imagine for a moment that you're a shareholder or a worker within one of the organizations just described. Which of the two scenarios would you rather be in - Low Trust or High Trust?


NOW - let's bring TRUST back to the topic of Mentorship ... 

If the intent of a mentorship relationship is to build the capacity of the individual (and by extension, the organization), at some point the process requires delegating an assignment to competent, trained employees and trusting them with the assigned task.  

As leaders, we benefit from developing our people to their fullest potential.  While it's been said that 'trust must be earned', if we want our businesses and organizations to grow, we need to allow for TRUST to develop. As trust grows, we can confidently focus our attention to the many other issues and opportunities we face, knowing that we have developed trustworthy individuals within our team.


HOW are you developing TRUST within your organization?

Please leave a comment, and let's share the conversation within our circle of contacts!
 

 

What Type of Mentoring Works for You?

For us at Pro-Vision Solutions Inc. we've found One-to-One Mentorship to be a valuable process for entrepreneurs who are starting and growing their business ventures. In our experience, the mentoring relationship is increasingly more effective when developed over time. Many formal mentoring programs use one year as a standard for the matching of mentoring pairs. This seems to be reasonable in our experience, as it takes time for mentoring relationships to develop. Both Mentees and Mentors will likely gain benefit from the relationship and in some cases, the mentoring relationship continues into subsequent years. Having said that, it's not unusual for the changing needs of the Mentee and experience of their Mentor to bring both to a realization that further development of the Mentee warrants a change. That's where a transition in the relationship is beneficial. We still recommend a formalized mentorship program, but recognize that other forms of mentorship can add some value.

Dr. William A. Gray, President - Corporate Mentoring Solutions Inc.

Types of Mentoring:

• Informal Mentoring
• Mentoring Initiatives
• Formalized Mentoring
• Institutionalized Mentoring
• Mentoring Culture

To talk further on this, we're pleased to introduce Dr. William A. Gray, President of Corporate Mentoring Solutions Inc. We had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Gray and his wife (Marilynne) on one of our trips to Victoria, BC a few years ago. They warmly welcomed us into their home when we were on the Island. Both of them have done a tremendous amount of research in areas of mentorship.

Dr. Gray has a BA (psychology), a Med (educational psychology) from the University of Virginia and PhD (educational psychology) from the University of Texas. He has taught educational psychology courses at the University of British Columbia (1970-85), where he first began developing Formalized Mentoring Programs. Through research and development, he discovered how to define, design, align and deliver essential Program components to produce intended Outcomes that benefit individual proteges, their mentors, and the sponsoring organization. 

 
OUR VIDEO:  Dr. Gray provides some additional insights on this topic and his personal introduction to Mentorship.
  To view the video ... Please Click Here.
 
 
We welcome your comments to the above and invite you to share them with those in your circle of contacts.

FIVE Reasons for Mentorship in Your Organization

It was a pleasure for me to get together for coffee with Bruce Baker, the Founder and President of HR ALL-IN Inc. Mentorship is but one of the many topics we touched on during our conversation. With his permission, we're pleased to provide you with some of the valuable insights Bruce shared with his audience in his blog post on Dec. 16, 2014.

"Why a Mentorship Program Is Fantastic For a Company"

Many organizations have a hard and fast work culture. Employees come in, work hard, complete the work quickly and leave. Much of the training is on the job with various colleagues and managers instructing employees to learn as much as possible. Very few organizations bother with a Mentorship Program, and those that do, reap the benefits of better trained employees.
 
A Mentorship Program is nothing like a Buddy Program. Many organizations have a Buddy Program, but its aims are quite different. The Buddy Program works towards a new employee acquainted with the roles and responsibilities in the organization. It’s a way to ensure that new employees do not make mistakes. But employees are subjected to a ‘sink or swim’ system.
 
A Mentorship Program aims to achieve more than that.
 
Better Training

A Mentorship Program does not just apply to a newcomer, it can apply to everyone. Senior managers, who act as mentors, have more experience can train employees better than a colleague.
 
You probably have employees who are talented, whose skill needs to be polished. An attentive mentor is able to do just that. Employees will be fed the right information to deal with various crises instead of trying new things before settling on the right method.
 
Improved Productivity
 
A mentor does not just watch over the employee, but the work and projects he handles too. He reviews the employee’s working style and suggests changes to improve them. Hence, work submitted by the employee will be done faster and have better quality.
 
Leaders in Training
 
Any large organization needs effective leaders who can manage and lead their employees well. Many organizations look at their own workforce to find them, but fail because their employees lack the skills to qualify as leaders.
 
A Mentorship Program solves this problem. Mentors have leadership and management skills that will transfer down to their mentees (mentor’s students). This way your organization has competent employees who can step up to management positions. Additionally, you don’t have to look outside the organization and save on hiring costs.
 
Increase Synergy
 
As the relationship between a mentor and his mentees increase, they develop a synergy. Because of a mentor’s special attention and teaching, they develop a good rapport that allows them to accomplish more than others. There is a great level of understanding between a mentor and his mentees that allows this.

Employee Retention
 
Employees with mentors have a higher level of satisfaction, better opportunities for career growth and have a good relationship with their mentors. For these three reasons, employees are willing to stay in the organization rather than drop out.
 
A mentorship program will give your organization a capable workforce that can effectively handle small-scale daily problems and those once in a blue moon, major crises. If you want to build an organization with well trained employees who can rise up the ranks and provide competent leadership in the future, it is then that you should implement a Mentorship Program.

About the author - Bruce Baker

An accomplished Certified Human Resources Professional – experienced in both union and non-unionized working environments, who has held the position/s of increasing responsibility in dynamic Fortune 50 companies. Respected leader, business partner and change agent – builds highly motivated; high performing teams through organized, strategic and tactical methodology. Deeply knowledgeable – able to translate external business trends successfully into internal organization decisions and actions.

Pro-Vision Solutions Inc. is looking forward to future opportunities to help our audience in various aspects of their growth and development. Thank you for sharing these great perspectives with our audience Bruce!

Bruce Baker, is the Founder and President of HR ALL-IN Inc. 
Please visit his website at: http://www.hrallin.ca




Question: 
How would a Mentorship Program help your organization?

Leaders who Coach are Leaders who Mentor (continued)

What is the relationship between ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’?

As mentioned in our Post of November 30, 2014, my friend Dan Gaynor kindly allowed me to share some of his insights, and I'm pleased to do so in this Post. Thank you Dan for making this available to our circle of contacts!

Dan Gaynor, is the President of Gaynor Consulting Inc. The following excerpt is from his book, “The Heart And Hands Of Leadership: The Twelve Timeless Practices Of Effective Leaders”. 

A link is provided below for more information regarding his book, as well as another link to a video available on my YouTube Channel, where Dan provides some additional insights on the topic of Mentorship.

We trust you'll enjoy Dan's comments that touch on themes of coaching, leadership and mentorship.
 
Coach for Skills and Relationships
 
In an earlier post on this BLOG, Dan Gaynor said: Leaders who coach are the very leaders we describe as mentors. A mentor is someone who takes an interest in you and wants to pass on what he has learned. The good mentors want to see you succeed. They are delighted when you do and to have played a role in your success. And while “mentor” can be an overused and often meaningless title, genuine mentoring is powerful. Mentors care about the people they lead. It’s personal. The office does not have to be so different from the arena. All the same benefits - improved performance and more satisfying relationships - can be realized at work when leaders take the time to pass on what they have learned to others.

The next time figure skating is on television take a few minutes to watch. Focus on the relationship between coaches and athletes. Watch them at the boards during warm-up or as the scores are being released. For a closer look, visit your local rink. You will be surprised how much there is to learn when you know what to look for.

Skating intensifies coaching because it is such a technically demanding sport. Even the smallest error can spell disaster. My amateur sport years included hockey and lacrosse. I had a few good coaches, and one who was exceptional, but most were good volunteers who got us to the ice on time. They were organizers but didn’t really know how to develop our talents or our understanding of the game. They were like many of the leaders I see today.

Over the years, I watched several skating coaches guide young skaters from their first tentative steps onto a hard and slippery surface to executing difficult jumps and spins with confidence and grace. Sure, the best athletes had some talent (and this is true at work as well), but virtually all learned new skills, provided they stayed at it long enough. Today, as a ski coach, I see the same things in the young athletes I work with, and I get as much or more from the relationships as they do. There is something really satisfying about helping someone else develop new skills and confidence.
 
Coaching satisfies another important condition of leadership—fairness. When leaders assign work and don’t coach they are rightly seen as unfair. Without coaching we usually get more of the same thing harder and faster. There is little, if any, lasting improvement. Leaders who make demands and don’t coach often incite fear or frustration.

Coaching skills were a top priority at each newspaper I led. It’s not difficult to assign work and measure it. Many capable managers do this month after month. But coaching demands more of the leader. It is a key distinction between management and leadership.

DAN'S BOOK: This excerpt is taken from Chapter 17 of Dan Gaynor’s book, "The Heart and Hands of Leadership: The Twelve Timeless Practices of Effective Leaders", published in May of 2014 by Kingsley Publishing.

For more details on Dan's book go to: www.heartandhandsofleadership.com
 
OUR VIDEO: To view a short video where Dan Gaynor provides some of his insights on the topic of Mentorship Please Click Here.
 
We welcome your comments to the above and invite you to share them with those in your circle of contacts.

Leaders who Coach are Leaders who Mentor

What is the relationship between ‘coaching’ and ‘mentoring’? 

In a previous post to this BLOG on February 15, 2014 (Revisiting Coaching VS Mentoring), I provided some interesting comments on this from Professor David Clutterbuck which readers may want to review.

More recently, I had opportunity to speak with Dan Gaynor, President, Gaynor Consulting Inc. who kindly provided the following excerpt from his book, “The Heart And Hands Of Leadership: The Twelve Timeless Practices Of Effective Leaders”. 

 A link is provided for more information regarding his book at the end of this post, as well as another link to a video on my YouTube Channel where Dan provides some of his insights on the topic of Mentorship. 

Dan’s material will be shared in two posts - this one, and another in December 2014.

We trust that you will enjoy the perspective he’s provided, as it touches on coaching, leadership and mentorship. 

Coach for Skills and Relationships
 
In John Wooden’s book Wooden on Leadership, the legendary coach of the U.C.L.A men’s basketball team—the most successful coach in the history of the N.C.A.A.—wrote: “Every good leader is a natural and enthusiastic teacher.” I couldn’t agree more. Coaching turns raw talent into refined strength and builds relationships. It builds strong teams by building strong team members.

For good leaders, coaching is a joy not a burden. Athletes know how their relationships with skilled and dedicated coaches motivate them to do their best. They don’t want to disappoint the coach. We feel the same way about leaders who take the time to coach us. Leaders who coach build much more than skills. The best build relationships in which people don’t want to let them down. They have a genuine interest in how things turn out. Beyond becoming good personal coaches every senior leader has a responsibility to foster these skills throughout the entire leadership network.

My inspiration for workplace coaching got its start with my hockey and lacrosse coaches, but it really grew as a parent watching our daughters figure skate. It occurred to me that as important as coaching is to the development of strong organizations and healthy relationships, it is still not common in the workplace. Earlier, we looked at the way the best leaders focus on the needs of others rather than on their own needs. Coaching is a big part of this. As I watched our daughters, Paige and Hayley, work with their skating coach I was struck not only by the progress of their skills but more significantly by the relationships I saw developing. I think all great coaches know that if they cannot build a relationship they cannot teach. The right relationship brings out the best in every athlete. Good coaches have far more than technical expertise. They have relational expertise, founded in a genuine wish to help the athlete grow and the team succeed.

My daughters’ skating coach had a real interest in their success. Watching her alongside the boards as the girls competed, she was animated, her expressions rising and falling with every success and failure on the ice. Our daughters wanted to do their best for her. The relationships and skills I saw develop at those rinks were not so different from those between the best leaders and their followers.

Leaders who coach are the very leaders we describe as mentors. A mentor is someone who takes an interest in you and wants to pass on what he has learned. The good mentors want to see you succeed. They are delighted when you do and to have played a role in your success. And while “mentor” can be an overused and often meaningless title, genuine mentoring is powerful. Mentors care about the people they lead. It’s personal. The office does not have to be so different from the arena. All the same benefits—improved performance and more satisfying relationships—can be realized at work when leaders take the time to pass on what they have learned to others.


DAN'S BOOK: This excerpt is taken from Chapter 17 of Dan Gaynor’s book, "The Heart and Hands of Leadership: The Twelve Timeless Practices of Effective Leaders", published in May of 2014 by Kingsley Publishing.

For more details on Dan's book go to: www.heartandhandsofleadership.com
 
OUR VIDEO: To view a short video where Dan Gaynor provides some of his insights on the topic of Mentorship Please Click Here.
 
We welcome your comments to the above and invite you to share them with those in your circle of contacts. 

Please watch for 'Part 2' with a continuation of comments from Dan Gaynor.