Corporate mentoring in action: Building a happier, more productive workplace through a youth mentoring program partnership:

• How much does your department or company spend annually on corporate professional development?
• How often does your church or union lament declining member engagement or employee satisfaction at work?
• How often have you wanted to “give back” to the community at work beyond a charitable donation?

What if the answer to these and other challenges was engaging children and youth in your community?

ZCL Composites found that a mentoring partnership with a local mentoring agency accomplished far more than they expected. In addition to giving back to children in Edmonton, they received improved productivity, satisfaction, team building, active listening and training skills, and most of all, had a lot of FUN!

“In a lot of communities that ZCL operates in around 40% of boys don’t have a male role model” – Loren Jacula

We sat down with Loren Jacula, the Director, Talent Development with ZCL Composites to discuss how his company ZCL | Xerxes partnered with Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area. He is a true mentoring champion, and his enthusiasm for community development is infectious.

Our discussion touched on many important questions, the logistics of getting started, and other benefits they experienced.

• How they started mentoring, overcoming barriers, and getting started, including examples of fun activities.
• The immense corporate benefits realized such as improved productivity, enjoyment while sharpening the saw for employees in many soft skills such as active listening, communicating, and soft skills
• Why corporate partnerships are key to put MEN in MENtoring.

After listening to Loren, we expect you’ll shelve the generic team building personality tests and call up one of our fantastic AMP Partner agencies located across Alberta.

“There is no reason (in Edmonton for example), that there are 800 kids that are waiting for a mentor…that seems silly to me!” – Loren Jacula

We know that corporate partnerships are critical to our programs to keep the lights on and hire the staff we need to operate, but what ZCL highlights is how they can be so much more for all parties involved! Corporate mentoring partnerships can be a great source of new volunteer mentors for your program, staff can be ambassadors in the broader community for your program needs, and youth get to have fun with a caring adult while learning more about the world of work.

“I see almost all of my colleagues working through lunch, no one is taking that break. But when mentoring time comes and the littles are on their way everyone just stops what they are doing because of how positive it is”. – Loren Jacula

With the AMP Corporate Mentoring Toolkit, we have two main resources to assist you. The first is for the mentoring organizations. It details how to get started, and it helps you frame your mentoring program to the corporate partner.

The second is for businesses – this is the corporate toolkit for the potential partner. Think of it as your PITCH document.

Please feel free to add your own images, logos, and personality to the document. For example, here is the customized booklet that Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Edmonton used to approach ZCL and secure them as a corporate partner. If you are an AMP partner and you need help with the design customization, email us at mentor.support@albertamentors.ca and we’ll help you out!

“(With regards to soft skills)..those are the things that are making and braking careers. Everyone that comes through the door has the technical skills you are looking for, but it is those people that can work with other people well from other departments and functions, that can lead other people, avoid sticky situations without getting into conflict…those are the people that are successful. If you are looking to develop those skills, then this is for you”. – Loren Jacula