CCAL’s BMO Mentorship Program: learning leadership development

The Canadian Centre for Advanced Leadership in Business (CCAL) hosted its Mentor Connection event on January 22, 2020. Mentor Connection is a function held mid-way through the academic year where mentor and mentee pairs have the chance to connect with others in the program and share their experiences. Duygu Gulseren, senior research associate with CCAL, presented on the evolution of leadership theories in organizational behaviour literature and discussed how mentoring can be used as a tool for leadership development. Gulseren shared that Paul Lester and his colleagues found that mentoring can be an effective tool in developing leadership efficacy and performance  and is a specific area of leadership research for CCAL Through the mentorship relationship, mentors model how a leader should act and also provide suggestions to mentees on how to navigate leadership challenges. Through her presentation, Gulseren shared recommendations on how to strengthen mentorship relationships and provided a focus on leadership development rather than career advancement.

Having leadership as a main focus of the BMO Mentorship Program is what makes it unique. The mentorship program at Haskayne has provided students and community members the space to develop this essential relationship for over 15 years. For mentors, this relationship can help them refine their leadership and management abilities as well as help develop the next generation of business leaders. This program also provides mentors the opportunity to get direct feedback on the effectiveness of their leaderships skills. For mentees, mentorship can be a crucial tool in helping them transition from the academic to the business world.

Mentee Rachel Hughes was motivated to join the mentorship program because she valued learning from experienced individuals and wanted help identifying her strengths and weaknesses. After being in the program for two years, Rachel says she has, “received invaluable advice on how to be an effective leader, including how to create a strategic plan for a team, how to help a team member overcome their weaknesses and how to manage poor performance.” 

“The benefit of having a leadership-focused program as opposed to a career-focused program is that the leadership skills and knowledge that I have acquired from my mentor are transferrable to any career,” adds Hughes.  The benefit of a leadership focused program for mentee Jessica Vu is, “being able to apply the leadership lessons that I learn from my mentor on a day-to-day basis in my work. I truly feel like I am actively learning in the mentorship program.”

Through the BMO Mentorship Program, CCAL is shaping the next generation of leaders. Vu adds, the most valuable thing she gained out of the mentorship program was, “understanding which direction I want to take myself in my undergrad experience and also having a better understanding of the opportunities open to me both now and in the future.”

The BMO Mentorship program, with its focus on leadership, challenges participants to step out of their career-focused comfort zone and dive deeper into what it means to be a leader in every aspect of life.