Mentorship programs can boost a companys productivity, enhance morale, improve employee retention, contribute to leadership development and

aid in succession planning

The Mentoring Advantage

MORE THAN 3,000 YEARS HAVE PASSED since Odysseus, the legendary King of Ithaca, embarked on the Trojan War and spent 10 years finding his way home. Before leaving for battle, he placed his son, Telemachus, into the care of Mentor, his older and trusted counsellor. Mentors mandate was to guide and instruct Telemachus in the art of statecraft and the values of adulthood to prepare him for eventual rule. Today, the principles of mentorship remain the same and, if anything, its value has grown. Experts agree that among the key challenges facing businesses today and in the foreseeable future, especially fast-growth small and medium enterprises, are obtaining and retaining the best quality employees. As discussed in our last report in the Leading Growth Firm Series on the topic of Shifting Demographics: The Search for Talent, demographic trends indicate that the number of North Americans in the prime age group of the workforce (i.e., between the ages of 25 and 40) is going to decline by 15 per cent by 2020. That means the predicted war for talent is going to heat up as the labour balance shifts to a sellers market. As well, for the first time, there are four demographic groups in todays workplace veterans, baby boomers, baby bust and echo boomers, each with its own values and expectations. Finding and winning the right employees, protecting knowledge assets, plugging your companys brain drain and keeping up with trends will require new and different strategies.

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Companies that practise mentorship, as the profiles in this report show, say that mentoring has a clear, bottom-line impact and is an ingredient of their recipe for success. According to MENTTIUM Corporation, a U.S.-based mentoring consulting firm, half of the top 500 U.S. firms have formal mentoring programs, up from about 10 per cent five years ago. That sort of phenomenal growth represents more than just a trend. It is a clear indication that mentoring is essential to staying competitive. Nearly all (96 per cent) of the executives of Fortune 500 companies surveyed say mentoring is an important developmental tool; 75 per cent say it helped them achieve success. Among those companies with formal mentoring programs, more than three-quarters (77 per cent) say mentoring has improved their retention rates and employee productivity. In short, mentoring results in greater job satisfaction. This leads to higher retention rates and cost savings because fewer employees need to be replaced. There is, therefore, a greater return on the initial hiring investment. The longer employees remain with a company, the more experience they gain, the more productive they become and the better the company performs as a result. Another major mentoring payback is that new hires become more productive sooner. Other business benefits of mentoring include: Leadership development, as mentors broaden their management skills, develop new skills and reduce stress. More effective succession planning by grooming future leaders internally. Incentive to attract outside talent. Enhanced knowledge management, as learning and the benefits of experience are transferred.
WHAT IS MENTORING?

DRIVERS FOR IMPLEMENTING A MENTORING PROGRAM IN AN ORGANIZATION

DRIVER Enhancing career development Promoting knowledge sharing Improving retention Transferring knowledge from retiring employees Other reasons (including leadership development, learning facilitation, succession planning) PERCENTAGE 76% 70% 60% 42% 31%

Percentages total more than 100 because of multiple responses given within the question categories. Source: The Conference Board of Canada

University, provide a classic mentoring definition in The Elements of Mentoring (2004). Mentoring relationships, they write, are dynamic, reciprocal, personal relationships in which a more experienced person acts as a guide, role model, teacher and sponsor of a less experienced person. Mentors provide protgs with knowledge, advice, counsel, support and opportunity in the protgs pursuit of full membership in a particular profession.
GIVING RELATIONSHIPS

W. Brad Johnson, a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins Graduate School of Business and Education, and Charles R. Ridley, a counselling psychology professor at Indiana

EMPLOYEE PROMOTION RATES

Both protgs and mentors were at least five times more likely than non-mentoring or -mentored employees to be promoted Mentors Six times more likely to receive a promotion than non-mentoring employees Protgs Five times more
likely to receive a promotion than non-mentored employees

Jim Roche, president and CEO of CMC Microsystems in Kingston, Ontario, offers a less academic definition that emphasizes the generosity of the relationship. A mentor, says Roche, is someone who has been where I am, or wish to be, and is motivated to help me achieve my goals. Roche and other successful CEOs of Ontario firms profiled in this report understand that giving aspect of mentoring. For Larry Rosen, chairman and CEO of the Toronto-based retailer Harry Rosen Inc. (page 12), a mentor is someone whose primary concern is not what he or she gets from a situation, but what he or she leaves with you. Frank McCrea, president of Procom Consultants Group Ltd., a Toronto IT consulting company (page 14), emphasizes mentoring as a powerful tool that helps both the employer and employee. Mentoring unleashes peoples creativity that will distinguish your business from the competition, McCrea says. One recent Procom protg, Peter Carr, says: Its great for personal growth and makes you more productive. Brian Hackbart, operations manager and part-owner of the award-winning crossbow manufacturer Excalibur Crossbow Inc., in Kitchener, Ontario, has an even broader definition. Mentoring is leadership by example, Hackbart says. Its a philosophy, not a formal program.
MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL

Non-mentoring employees
Source: Mentorings Impact on Mentors: Doubling the ROI of Mentoring, Triple Creek Associates, Inc., 2007

Mentoring can have a positive, symbiotic quality. The firm gains as does the protg and the protgs gains are

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usually translated into loyalty to the organization. Recent studies show that mentoring has tangible benefits for the protg in two related areas. Protgs get promoted more quickly and reach higher salary levels sooner than employees who have not been mentored. While mentorship has been around for millennia, formal

research into its impact is relatively new. The international management consulting and recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles was the first to seriously examine the relationship 30 years ago with a survey of executives and their protgs. Its 1977 study of more than 1,000 people found that executives who have had a mentor earn more money at a younger age,

MENTORING MODELS
ONE DAY IN 1999, THE LEGENDARY Jack Welch, then the 64-year-old CEO of General Electric, realized that despite his experience, achievements and knowledge, he still had much to learn, especially about the Internet and how it was transforming traditional business models. That day, Welch became a mentoring revolutionary. Welch decided he needed a mentor and chose the 37-year-old woman who managed the companys Web site. He was so pleased with the results that he encouraged his top 600 managers to find younger high-tech mentors as well. Today, the voluntary program continues at General Electric, with twenty- and thirty-somethings offering insights and tutelage to much older executives. Such an undertaking, in which the young counsel those senior to them, has become know as reverse mentoring. As well as imparting technical know-how, reverse mentoring pays off in other ways. Younger employees provide a different, often valuable perspective on how their generation perceives both the marketplace and the company for which they work. They can also help in resolving generational conflicts and keeping more senior people in touch with relevant cultural developments, from fashion to popular TV programs. BROADEN PERSPECTIVES Reverse mentoring is an example of how mentoring can result in a two-way knowledge transfer, benefitting both parties. A 2001 survey by the U.S.-based Center of Coaching and Mentoring found that 41 per cent of its business respondents use reverse mentoring to spread technical expertise and onequarter employ it to help executives broaden their perspectives. The traditional mentoring model of

No longer limited to the traditional senior mentor-junior protg archetype, mentoring today takes many forms

a senior person guiding a junior is still the most common form. But, in addition to reverse mentoring, other versions of mentoring are developing. Among them are peer mentoring, group mentoring and e-mentoring. Peer mentoring is based on the premise that co-workers can learn from each other. Peers often face the same challenges and experiences, and that leads to empathy and mutual support. POTENTIAL LEADERS Group mentoring may arise for two reasons: a shortage of available mentors or as part of a corporate objective. In the first instance, a mentor works with as many as three or four protgs who might also learn from each other, as in peer mentoring. In the second case, a company may identify a group of potential leaders from different areas and bring them together as a group to receive guidance and training from a senior executive. E-mentoring, or virtual mentoring, is becoming more common, particularly for organizations with more than one location. It allows for a wider selection of potential mentors as the process is conducted electronically by e-mail or through a confidential discussion board. Bell Canada introduced its awardwinning e-mentoring program, Mentor Match, in response to several challenges. First, the company wanted to ensure that its aging management population transferred its knowledge before retirement. Bell also realized that its employees had a thirst for learning and recognized that in todays highly competitive environment, workers need to undergo continuous education. Mentor Match is open to all employees, both as protgs and mentors. But mentors must demonstrate

leadership skills, professional experience and organizational knowledge before being accepted into the program. Protgs select mentors from online listings. Whether these forms of mentoring are effective or not depends on the same factors that determine the success of traditional mentoring: trust, honesty, a commitment to meet regularly, a sincere interest in the protg and ensuring an appropriate match. The idea of mentoring continues to evolve as more and more people appreciate its importance. At York Universitys Schulich School of Business in Toronto, for instance, students are matched with Schulich graduates from the business world, based on the individual students needs and the mentors experiences. The two are expected to meet at least monthly for two school terms, but many have continued the relationship for years afterward. Our graduate mentors keep coming back into the program, telling us how much they have learned, says Pamela Shanks, the schools executive director of development and alumni relations. For them, its not just about giving, but about getting, too. A great outcome. And the desired result from mentorship, regardless of the structure.

WHAT TYPES OF MENTORING WILL WORK FOR YOUR FIRM?

Traditional mentoring (a senior person guiding a junior) Peer mentoring Group mentoring Reverse mentoring E-mentoring (a.k.a. virtual mentoring)

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are better educated, are more likely to follow a career plan and, in turn, sponsor more protgs than executives who have not had a mentor. The study concluded that those who have had a mentor are happier with their career progress and derive somewhat greater pleasure from their work. Those findings in 1977 have been replicated in a more recent study by Triple Creek Associates, which confirmed that both mentors and protgs are more likely to experience a change in salary grade, to be promoted and to remain with an organization than non-mentoring or -mentored employees. Some of the results of the study are illustrated in charts accompanying this article. Other benefits to employees include greater professional competence, greater acceptance within their organization and decreased job stress. Again, their employers are also beneficiaries of these changes in status.
SEEKING OUT MENTORS

SALARY CHANGE RATES

Both protgs and mentors were about 20 per cent more likely to experience a change in salary grade than non-mentoring or -mentored employees
Percentage 50 40 30 20 10

Mentors 28% Non-mentors 5%

Protgs 25% Non-protgs 5.3%

0 Source: Mentorings Impact on Mentors: Doubling the ROI of Mentoring, Triple Creek Associates, Inc., 2007

Jim Roche is an excellent illustration of his credo that everyone needs a mentor. A successful entrepreneur who was involved in the start-up of both Newbridge Networks Corporation and Tundra Semiconductor Corporation before heading up CMC Microsystems, Roche has systematically sought out mentors at every stage of his career. An engineering graduate when he joined Newbridge, Roche felt he needed to learn about the business world from an experienced practitioner. He sought out a senior executive he barely knew and persuaded the man to meet with him every two to four weeks. Roche would pepper the executive with questions and ask for feedback. It went on for about five years, and I learned a ton, he says. When he co-founded Tundra, Roche developed a job description for his mentor, showed it to colleagues in the industry and asked them who might be familiar with such a position. I wanted to develop a skill set in semiconductor management, he recalls. One name kept popping up, someone Roche had never met. Nevertheless, Roche called him and convinced him to become his mentor. They have maintained their relationship for more than 10 years. Says Roche: Im always looking for someone way beyond me, with more experience. Someone to help me develop practices to overcome my weaknesses and leverage my strengths. I cant imagine a time when I will say, Im full. I no longer need a mentor. These days, Roche is working with yet another mentor, one of two he has invited to join his board of directors. Mentoring is for everyone, Roche contends, especially for the CEO who is too busy with the day-to-day operations of his or her business. When he speaks publicly on the importance of mentoring, Roche likes to tell the story of the busy woodcutter. The woodcutter gets paid by the tree and cuts them as fast as he can. But every once in a while he realizes that he has to stop to sharpen his axe. Says Roche: The woodcutter tale is a good metaphor

for the person who is overwhelmed while starting or growing a business. Thats when you need a mentor who has been there and knows what you are going through. The time that you spend with a mentor will more than pay for itself in what you learn. When Procom president Frank McCrea started his own business in his early 30s, he fell in with a client, a senior executive who was 25 years his senior. The man became McCreas mentor for a decade. When youre on your own, explains McCrea, you have no one to talk to, so you talk to your clients. Adds Margaret Hachey, co-founder of the audio-visual presentation company Duocom Canada (page 20), Its lonely at the top. Entrepreneurs who create flourishing companies must also establish a mentoring atmosphere as a path to future growth. Speaking proudly of his legendary father, Harry Rosen, Larry Rosen says, An entrepreneur can take things to a certain stage through passion, enthusiasm and drive. But then you need a culture and strategy that encourages employee loyalty and achievement to get you to the next stage. While being mentored, the CEO also needs to make time to establish a mentoring culture in the workplace. As noted, the competition for a diminishing workforce makes it critical to develop internal policies that nurture employee growth, both to enhance productivity and identify future leaders. The job is too important to be left to the Human Resources department alone. Writing in the Harvard Business Review (October 2005), Jeffrey Cohn, Rakesh Khurana and Laura Reeves argue managers must mentor emerging leaders, from their own and other departments, passing on important knowledge and providing helpful evaluations and feedback.
WHATS IN IT FOR THE MENTOR?

Although the protg and the employer have the most to gain from a mentoring relationship, there are also personal benefits for the mentor. All mentors value the satisfaction they receive from advising others. Its a nice feeling being able to help someone, says Hachey. Echoes Roche: It feels good to watch someone grow.

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EMPLOYEE RETENTION RATES

Both protgs and mentors were about 20 per cent less likely to leave an organization than non-mentoring or -mentored employees
Percentage 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Source: Mentorings Impact on Mentors: Doubling the ROI of Mentoring, Triple Creek Associates, Inc. , 2007

Protgs 72%

Mentors 69% Nonparticipants 49%

insensitivity and poor communication, which can derail an otherwise promising career. Most experts say it is best for a protg to have a mentor outside a direct reporting relationship, but some companies have employees mentored by their supervisors and do so successfully. And while formalized programs are highly effective for most organizations, informal mentoring, where the protg chooses his or her mentor, also works well. However, one thing is clear: both parties must be committed to the process to make it work. And while most mentoring relationships take place within a workplace, they need not. The mentor whose experience a protg values may be outside the office. This is almost always true in the case of CEOs.
MEASURING RESULTS

There are other pluses for the mentor. The relationship is frequently a learning experience for the mentor as well as the protg. You can learn from young people, too, says Procoms McCrea. Maybe you dont realize it, but you could be working from yesterdays book. Mentoring helps the mentor develop or refine leadership skills. Indeed, that is a stated objective of Dofascos ambitious mentoring program for new hires (page 24). For others who participate in a mentoring program, the experience can provide career and personal rejuvenation.
MENTORSHIP MATCHMAKING

Not everyone is suited to being a mentor; similarly, not everyone is cut out to be a protg. The mentor should be nurturing, patient and empathetic. The protg must want to learn. He or she has to have a will to succeed, says McCrea. Roche states the obvious as another essential requirement for a successful mentoring relationship: The mentor must be able to provide guidance, must have been there, done that. The mentor and protg need not become friends for the relationship to work, although this is often the outcome. However, they must respect each other. The relationship should make sense. The protgs desire to acquire certain knowledge must be relevant to the mentors experience. Honesty is critical. Mentoring requires protgs to expose a part of themselves that is usually hidden, says Roche. It can be terrifying and is the biggest challenge to the relationship. Adds McCrae: There has to be a willingness to communicate honestly and directly. At the same time, the relationship has to be strong enough for the mentor and the protg to feel comfortable being objective. A mentor is someone you can approach with those questions you are too embarrassed to ask others, says Larry Rosen. The answers, to be helpful, have to be frank, especially when it comes to personal matters such as interpersonal skills, including perceived arrogance,

For companies such as Procom, mentoring is an essential part of their business plans, with measurable results. Its not enough to hire really good people, says McCrea. You have to mentor them, too. Procoms comprehensive mentoring program for new employees pays off in the second year, according to McCrea. In the short term, you get an accelerated contribution, he says.They are already providing added value that is more than their salaries. In the long term, if the employees buy in, they will stay and they will be successful. Big or small, the object is to have policies that show that you care about the growth of your employees, that you want them to develop to their potential and that they will be constantly challenged. Says Al Lambert, a partner of Toronto-based business transformation company PSTG Consulting Inc.: When people start saying, Im really learning something, Im challenged and I really like going to work, then youre going to have a productive workforce with minimal retention issues. Everyone can afford to implement mentoring. After all, how much does it cost to arrange for two people to meet on a regular basis to share ideas and concerns?

EFFECTIVENESS OF MENTORING PROGRAMS IN ORGANIZATIONS WITH FORMAL PROGRAMS

Highly effective 10% 13% Dont know Very effective Somewhat effective

44%

33%

Survey respondents: 200-plus Canadian organizations operating in all major regions and industry sectors. Source: The Conference Board of Canada

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PROFILE

P RO CO M CO N S U LTA N TS G RO U P LT D .

Choosing their own career paths

Toronto executive Frank McCrea has created a unique mentoring program in which new recruits rotate at prescribed times through different departments in his company
But McCrea does, indeed, have his eye AT A GLANCE on the bottom line. In fact, he credits his his brothers wedding in Toronto who In business since 1978 foundation mentoring program with completely changed my life. Carr, then 25, 50% propelling Procoms revenues from $220 was just three months away from graduating Three-year growth rate 175 million to $330 million in just two years. from the University of Ottawa with a business Number of employees Two of the original group of protgs have degree. He was planning to take an MBA and Employee growth rate 250% left the company, but McCrea says the rest go into the financial services industry. Then past three years are already making contributions that more he met Frank McCrea, the president of Age range of employees 21-71 than pay for their salaries. Not only are Procom Consultants Group Ltd. and a Employee retention rate 94% they bringing in new business, he says, but friend of the brides father. we can learn from their different perspectives. One thing led to another, and a few months later Carr For McCrea, mentoring is not only something that comes found himself in Toronto working for McCrea at Procom, naturally to him, but something that makes good business an award-winning consulting company best known for sense. One of the biggest challenges facing fast-growth meeting clients IT needs, particularly in the staffing area. companies, he says, is talent acquisition and retention. Some 14 months later, Carr is about to graduate from a When compensation and location are equal, you have to unique mentoring program developed by McCrea. create an environment that provides an opportunity for growth and rewards loyalty. You have to unleash peoples LEARNING HOW THE COMPANY WORKS creativity to distinguish yourself from the competition. Along with two dozen other new hires, Carr has rotated When McCrea started his business in 1978, one of his first through four Procom departments, starting with recruiting clients, a vice-president at Toyota, became his mentor. We and ending up in strategic planning. The new employees got together about once a month, and it went on for 10 years. spend three to four months in each area, learning more and When youre on your own, you have no one to talk to. He more about how the company works. The rotation is to help was about 25 years older than me, so he had a lot of wisdom the recruits decide where they want to work because Procom to impart. The experience taught me that for mentorship to does not hire people to fill an opening or fulfill a function; work, you have to be honest with yourself. And its best if the it mentors new employees and lets them choose their mentor is outside of a formal reporting relationship. positions. Procom feels that what is right for me is also best for the company, says an appreciative Carr. Frank [McCrea] has the courage to move you out of a position even if you EXPOSED TO DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES are making a contribution there. Another thing McCrea learned was that Toyota shifted its In each rotation, a manager has taken responsibility for executives every five years. Years later, McCrea met with some mentoring Carr and other rookies. At first, there were formal Dalhousie University undergraduates who told him about weekly meetings, then more informal discussions about their academic foundation program in which students are Procom job opportunities and career guidance. If Carr exposed to a variety of disciplines before choosing a major. wanted a view that was different from his managers, he was That sparked him to institute Procoms mentorship program. encouraged to talk to other senior people in the company. In the short term, McCrea says, mentoring pays off with And McCreas office is always open to any staff member. an accelerated contribution from new hires. In the long term, The mentors were great and very patient, Carr says. ongoing mentoring will engender loyalty and keep people Mentoring at Procom is all about the growth of the with the company and keep them contributing. His individual rather than the companys bottom line. bottom line: Mentoring is not a program, its an attitude.
IN 2005, PETER CARR MET SOMEONE AT

194

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One of the biggest challenges facing fast-growth companies is talent acquisition and retention. When compensation and location are equal, you have to create an environment that provides an opportunity for growth and rewards loyalty. You have to unleash peoples creativity to distinguish yourself from the competition
FRANK McCREA, President Procom Consultants Group Ltd., Toronto Procoms Frank McCrea, left, with protg Peter Carr T H E M E N TO R I N G A DVA N TAG E

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