Haskayne's Professional Mentorship Program

Anyone who walked into the Saltik Restaurant on January 17 found himself or herself transported into a mentorship incubator. The Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership’s (CCAL) annual Mentor Connection event brings together the Haskayne Professional Mentorship Program’s (HPMP) mentors and mentees for an evening of conversation around the program’s research developments.

Irene Herremans, the principle investigator, presented on the role of research in the HPMP.  Herremans began by recognizing the contributions of her colleagues on the research team including Frances Donohue, Dongning Yu, Arturo Mariño, Darrin Ambrose and Norm Althouse.

The purpose of the research, Herremans explained, is to determine if the program is meeting its objectives. The research team formulated this purpose in four questions:

• What is the best way to fulfill mentorship objectives?
• What character traits are most important in role modelling?
• What benefits do mentors value most?
• Finally, how do we purposefully build leadership qualities? 

Each of these questions was, of course, further unpacked revealing a richly articulated understanding of the multi-layered mentee-mentor relationship. For example, the team’s research revealed that benefits to mentors are far more complex than simply the obvious opportunity to give back.

Participating in the HPMP provides mentors with significant assorted paybacks. Drawing on Eby and Lockwood (2005), Herremans classified these rewards into five categories. The HPMP is an occasion for learning (for example, better understanding current industry and business trends), self-reflection (such as reconsidering one’s own goals and motivations), psychosocial support (e.g. gaining a deeper appreciation for younger colleagues’ perspectives), personal gratification (seeing one’s mentee grow professionally and personally) and finally, the highest scoring benefit, personal relationships (creating a personal friendship with one’s mentee).

It comes with no surprise that the experience of mentees and mentors mirror the research.  Celina Pablo, a fourth year Bachelor of Commerce student and program veteran, attended the event with her mentor. “My relationship with my mentor is more of a friendship.” Pablo shared, “She gives me incredibly honest feedback. I even text her when I have really great news and when I need some extra support.” 

alumna Faith Jean’s observations were particularly insightful and powerful coming as they do from someone who experienced both the mentee and mentor sides of the program. “As a mentee in the graduate program I benefited greatly from my mentor asking questions that prompted me to think critically,” Jean explains. “As a mentor I’m learning to be more self-aware which includes knowing who I am while understanding the other person, and to ask the right questions of my mentee so as to enable her to find her own path.”

Herremans kept the audiences’ attention with captivating metaphors. She also thanked those who provided the research data, and shared the research team’s focus on better understanding how mentorship can more purposefully build leadership qualities.

Interested in learning more about this research or about the HPMP?  Please contact Frances Donohue at mentorship@haskayne.ucalgary.ca.