No need to go it alone: the mentor’s gift

Though North Americans often adhere to the tenets of rugged individualism, women in business who appreciate a helping hand are availing themselves of mentors and coaches.

The slew of obligations encumbering women off the job “can become overwhelming,” says Sherry LeBlanc, certified executive coach and program chair with The Minerva Foundation in Victoria. “Women tend to put themselves on the back burner, and they wonder if they can have it all without doing it all.”

While coaches provide encouragement, support, trust and inspiration, says LeBlanc, mentors supply information about career paths they’ve trod.

The experience is useful for both men and women, and at various stages of a career, says Sheila Brandsema, marketing manager with KPMG. She also works with a committee of the local branch of the Minerva Foundation, which offers a mentoring program for women as one of its primary raisons d’etre.

Maggie Winters, chair of the Victoria branch of the Minerva Foundation, agrees. “Mentoring is very powerful,” she says. “Yet men seem to have an informal support network that works for them. Until women make up 50 per cent of leadership positions, we need to be doing more to ensure that they are equally represented in government and business.”

The numbers bear out the paucity of females in leadership posts. According to the 2004 Catalyst Census of Women Board Directors of Canada, women chair but three of the 243 publicly-traded companies on the Financial Post 500.

But all that may change as support becomes more accessible. To aid those who’ve been on hiatus from the work world, The Minerva Foundation offers its “Minerva Helping Women Work” (MHWW) program. Subsidized by the Ministry of Community Development, the program addresses the unique difficulties these returnees encounter: outdated skills and connections, lower earning potential and the insecurities of an updated job market. It debuted in Victoria this year and has already graduated the initial cohort of 18 “job-ready” women, says program manager Kathy Scott. “When they finished, they were armed with the tools they needed to look for work.”

To achieve that goal, each woman was paired with a mentor. “The protégée was able to ask the mentor about his or her career path in a one-on-one information interview,” she says. “That person also suggested the names of others to talk to in order to establish a network.”

Networking seems particularly pivotal in the digital age, where connections really do mean business. Realtor Kelly Leach, a recent participant in The Minerva Foundation’s Follow a Leader program, learned the technique from her mentor. “When I became a protégée, the idea of networking, of meeting people and of being vulnerable was really scary. But I jumped in with both feet. I see financial rewards as one result of my experience in the program, but it was more about building relationships with other emerging leaders.”

Mentor Tanya Sterling, senior manager in KPMG private client advisory services and co-chair of the program, touts the benefits of marketing and networking for women in business. “It’s all about a brand called you,” she says. “Mentors help protégées to discover their strengths and to coach them through the process.”

Though they work pro bono in their role, mentors note that the perks are not one-sided. “While protégées enjoy speaking to people who are experienced in the fields they want to explore, I enjoyed the developmental work that’s involved,” says Annette Wall, partner in Foremost Solutions Consulting and a mentor for MHWW. “It was really creative. I thought about my own experiences while starting my business.”

Mentoring programs bring strong, independent women together,” says Sterling, and she feels inspired by her mentoring experience. “It excites me.” The federally-funded, Kelowna-based Women’s Business Enterprise Program offers mentoring at various locations on Vancouver Island.BE