Event Recap: Brown Bag Feb 25 – Mentorship
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Putting Principles into Practice: Mentoring Coaching and Skills Workshop with Gwen Gnazdowsky & Cheryl Kristiansen
Date of Event: Feb 25, 2015
Speakers: Cheryl Kristiansen and Gwen Gnazdowsky
In the latest Brown Bags Lunch Series, participants not only talked the talk, but learned how to walk the walk when it comes to mentorship. Cheryl Kristiansen from SCWIST presented the Make Possible Program, featuring a novel Canadian platform for identifying mentors and matching skill sets. In a matter of minutes, one can register, create a profile and browse participants representing a spectrum of careers. Mentorship interactions can vary in level of formality as well as format, according to your preferences and requirements. If you’re in the market for mentoring or workshops on negotiating, politics or leadership, this is definitely a one-stop-shop.
After Cheryl’s dynamic presentation on Make Possible, Brown Bags participants worked with One Conversation coach Gwen Gnazdowsky to tackle their fears regarding engaging mentors, identifying goals and ambitions, cultural communication and initiating conversations. In round table discussions, small group work and task lists, attendees worked on “elevator pitches” and crafted “asks” for introductions and effective networking. The ability to summarize what you do, what you want and how you’re unique in a few sentences is a tool everyone needs to hone. Take home messages from the event would include remembering that even the most successful individuals still get nervous, and that a little preparation and self reflection are crucial to “declare your ambitions”, which is the first step in realizing them.
Resources and future workshops hosted by Gwen can be found here.
– by Emma Griffiths
For more details on this workshop, read Cheryl’s post.