Mary-Ann Massad Johnson has always had the perseverance to succeed, so much in fact that she sold her beautiful home and sacrificed the safety net of financial security for her company - all at the advice of her mentor. In 1995 Mary-Ann founded Knowsys Group, a multi-million dollar success story that focuses on strategic IT and management consulting services. As CEO and founder, the firm continues to grow under Mary-Ann leadership. As a motivational speaker who routinely inspires others, Mary-Ann offers a great deal of advice on the role that mentoring has played in her career.
"I think it's very important to cultivate mentors early on. I remember feeling very isolated and alone when I was starting out. It's important to feel like you belong, to feel supported and have someone to reach out to when you have questions or doubt yourself," says Mary-Ann.
Men as Mentors
Mary-Ann's older colleagues proved to be both mentors and friends throughout her career, offering her open access to both career and personal advice. Harvey Gellman, founder of Gellman Hayward and Partners, was one such mentor who provided Mary-Ann with guidance and honest advice to sky-rocket her career. "Harvey told me that prior to starting his own business he had a beautiful home with his wife, but in order for his company to succeed he needed to sacrifice that security and take a risk. He sold his house to put money into his company so it could flourish. Very simply, he told me to let go of any ego I may have, because success is not defined by a flashy car and a big house."
Join a Network
Another aspect of mentorship where the support provided by peers can be found outside of work is through professional associations like CATA WIT and Women President's Organization, notes Mary-Ann. Women linked together in like situations can leverage each other's knowledge, and associations are an effective resource for that necessary support.
"Mentorship is really about people just talking to people, that's the heart of the issue. Choose a good communicator when choosing a mentor. People want to talk to someone they can trust and feel safe with," says Mary-Ann. "Mentoring should be done at a grassroots level. It should be informal, and provide you with an open environment. "
Know Yourself
As a mentor herself, Mary-Ann emphasizes the necessary traits and solid skill-sets required to advance a career. Mary-Ann's ability to understand the risky world of business correlates to how well she knows herself. She recognizes that "knowing yourself" is a unique strength that allows an individual to develop the power of faith in his/herself. Confidence and an optimistic attitude have allowed her to get through the tough times unscathed.
"A lot of my professional achievements are based on my innate business skills, and sometimes it simply comes down to knowing how to make money. To make money you need perseverance, if you keep pounding at the wall eventually you'll get through it. I know who I am and what I can do."
Expect to hear of Mary-Ann's continued success with the upcoming release of her second book,
Intrapreneurship - Harnessing the Entrepreneurial Spirit within the Corporation. For more information on Mary-Ann's exciting career please visit
http://www.knowsysinc.com/ourteam.php.
Women managers need to be better informed about the benefits of mentoring
Dr. Barbara Orser & Dr. Joanne Leck
University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management
Research undertaken in 2007 by the CATAWIT Forum and the University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management showed that the majority of women managers in the advanced technology sector perceive gender-specific career challenges. Mentoring was one of the most frequent suggested solutions. However, few women managers talked about organizational or industry support for mentoring. In response, CATAWIT has established the Circle of Wisdom series. The series entails periodic, informal events to facilitate peer-to-peer mentoring. Events are often hosted in the home of local chapter members. To maximize the potential benefits of the Circle of Wisdom, it is useful to reflect on what research tells us about mentoring.
A multi-year research program about mentoring that is spearheaded by Dr. Joanne Leck and Dr. Barbara Orser of the University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management is examining factors that influence protégé and mentor relationships. The good news is that compared to non-mentored counterparts, protégés report that mentoring is associated with positive career outcomes such as increased compensation, promotion, and career satisfaction. Mentoring helps individuals to overcome career obstacles, gain insight about organizational politics, provides protégés with information and feedback, facilitates opportunities to gain access to resources; and can expose protégés to powerful networks. These benefits explain why Canadian women managers and executives have reported mentoring as the most "effective" gender-based program out of approximately 10 programs examined and that mentorship programs are also among the most frequently-cited organizational practices offered to address gender differences in advancement (Orser, 2000).
Unfortunately, the Telfer study also reveals that most managers may not be familiar with the benefits of mentoring. Fewer than 2 in 10 managers reported being mentored at the time of the survey. Of those who were mentored, the majority indicated a high level of satisfaction, with 94% reporting that they trusted their mentor and 91% indicated that the mentoring that they received was "successful. Mentorship outcomes deemed the most important included: career satisfaction, job satisfaction, being trusted, having someone to trust, independence, access to resources, receiving information, and receiving feedback. The most important resources were need for face-to-face meetings, the availability of a suitable mentor, and time during work to meet with a mentor.
There are many reasons why women may be reluctant to enter into a mentoring relationship. Some respondents who were not mentored and had no intention of being mentored perceived negative outcomes of mentoring (e.g. -, believe it is of little or no value). Others were simply not interested in being a protégé or lacked faith in the mentor. Some did not seek career advancement while others saw mentoring as invasive. About a quarter of the respondents argued that they did not need help and preferred to learn on their own. Finally, resources constraints such as a lack of time and organizational support (e.g., lack of leadership, not sure of process, lack of mentors, opportunities not provided) were reported.
The Telfer study also revealed the primary motive of men and women for seeking a mentor is to acquire psychosocial support, (outcomes such as personal support, acceptance, having a confidant and friendship) and that men and women were impartial to a male or female mentor. These are important observations because related studies suggest that mentoring is most effective when female protégés are mentored by female mentors (Tharenou, 2005). However, this is problematic for women in the advanced technology sectors given the shortage of senior female managers. Furthermore, career development support versus psychosocial support of women by women was most useful, perhaps because women protégés gain from being sponsored, challenged and coached by someone like themselves (Tharenou, 2005). As such, the mere presence of a mentor does not fully explain the positive association between mentoring and career advancement.
How can employers better support women's advancement?
Given the under-representation of women managers in the advanced technology sector and research indicating that mentoring can bolster women's career advancement, employers are encouraged to provide executive support and resources to facilitate mentoring opportunities (e.g., time, administrative support, visible executive support for internal and external mentoring initiatives). Women managers are encouraged to consider seeking a mentor. Senior women are also encouraged to become mentors to help address the special needs of female employees, especially in the advanced technology sectors. Finally, an industry strategy to develop gender-based mentoring relationships and share information about best practices is recommended.
Dr. Barbara Orser is a Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises at the University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management. Dr. Joanne Leck is the Associate Dean of Research at the Telfer School of Management. The research program is supported by Social Science Humanities Research Council funding.
