Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

February 21, 2018 Published weekly by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. CUSTOMER SERVICE Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 customersupport.legaltaxcanada@tr.com www.thomsonreuters.ca One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Media Solutions, Canada: Karen Lorimer Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor/Supervisor: Sarah Dobson sarah.dobson@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7896 News Editor: Marcel Vander Wier marcel.vanderwier@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-7837 Sales Manager: Paul Burton paul.burton@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9928 Circulation Co-ordinator: Keith Fulford keith.fulford@thomsonreuters.com (416) 649-9585 ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Thomson Reuters, Media Solutions, Canada). Few CFOs acting as mentors: Survey BY LISA CUMMING It may come as a surprise to some to hear many Canadian CFOs haven't been mentors at any point in their careers. In surveying more than 270 CFOs, Robert Half Management Resources found 61 per cent had never taken on the mentorship role. ese executives may not be acting as men- tors because "they might not recognize the posi- tive impact it can have on their career, and their business," said David King, Canadian president of Robert Half Management Resources. "ey may think mentorship is too time-con- suming, and they're already busy enough." "However, something as simple as a monthly call or coffee coupled with email exchanges for as-needed advice on current trends, professional concerns or obstacles, can be incredibly beneficial for both the mentor and the mentee." It's also possible a lot of CFOs have been men- tors over the years and they just don't know it, ac- cording to Alysia Carter, an independent consul- tant in Toronto and former senior vice-president and CFO at Kenaidan Contracting. "ey don't understand the impacts they've had on those people." Dominique Grégoire, vice-president and CFO at Alberta Blue Cross in Calgary, also questioned the survey results. "Anybody who's been in a supervisory role would have been informally involved in mentor- ship because you're training people all the time and the mentoring is part of that," she said. "ey look up to you because you have the ex- perience and the knowledge." It's important for CFOs to have mentorship ex- perience because of the breadth of their responsi- bilities, said Carter. "e mentee learns from you (and) you learn from them," she said. "e responsibility of the CFO is to understand all aspects of the organiza- tion, and when you can understand the organi- zation from other people's point of view, it only makes you that much stronger when you're guid- ing the company." CFOs really should be informally mentoring all their employees because it is important people en- joy what they do, said Nancy Lala, CFO of About Communications in Toronto, who has mentored senior executive women with the Women's Execu- tive Network. "People are so much more productive and add- ing so much more value when they enjoy what they do." Christina Cheung, CFO of Procon Mining and Tunnelling in Vancouver, said her experience as a mentee is what made her want to become a men- tor later in her career. But while she did go through formal mentor- ship programs, that's not where she found the most value. "e (relationships) that helped me the most were all the informal relationships," she said. "(It) was encouraging to think someone actually believes in you, despite the short time that you have together." ose experiences early on in her career helped Cheung understand what junior employees need from a mentor, she said, in helping her and en- couraging her to see her capabilities. "I learned in my career that there's no one right way to tackle an issue," she says. "I tried to do the same things: Encourage (and) help them find strengths in themselves, trying to get them to have confidence in themselves, and then they can flour- ish from having that encouragement." Being a good listener is key, said Cheung. "You need to listen and then don't just dictate what you think is right — you need to see what the circumstances are and what the person is like before you jump in with your own set of rules or suggestions," she said. "I'm still learning a lot about how to be a good listener; it's hard at times, but it's critical if you want to be a good mentor." While formal mentorship may not be for everyone, it's important for CFOs to keep up informal relationships with employees to ensure the development of future leaders at a company, said Grégoire. "What I have come to realize is that people do look up to me," she said. "And sharing experi- ences and mistakes we've made in the past, and decisions we've made and why we made those decisions, is the best form of mentoring, because people learn when they listen to you. If your title is CFO and you're willing to share your experience, people will listen." Lisa Cumming is an intern from Ryerson University in Toronto working at omson Reuters. The greatest benefits of being a mentor The internal satisfaction of helping someone else 32% Improving your leadership skills 27% Building your professional network 23% Staying current on industry trends 17% Source: Robert Half Management Resources

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