The ISPE Canada Affiliate Mentoring Program
The ISPE Canada Affiliate Mentoring Program allows experienced professionals in the pharmaceutical industry to transfer their skills and knowledge to aspiring young professionals, recent graduates, and students. Mentoring is an important element in our personal and professional development. ISPE Canada Affiliate believes in the value of high-quality mentoring relationships that contributes to our professional development and career growth. All ISPE Canada Affiliate members are eligible to sign up for the Mentorship Program.
The program provides guidance on the following topics:
Career Counseling
Entrepreneurship
General Mentoring
Social/Communication Skills
Technical Counseling
Management Skills
Leadership Skills
Decision Making and Prioritization
Make a real difference to your community
Mutual Benefits for Mentors and Mentees
Mentors
- Develop Mentoring/coaching skills
- Gain a sense of fulfillment and growth
- Develop leadership and management skills
- Gain new perspectives
- Practice accepting feedback
- Skill & competency development
- Potential for Networking
- Boost confidence and communication skills
- Strengthen active listening skills
Mentees
- Enhance skill/competency development
- Identify and establish career goals
- Gain practical advice
- Increase self-awareness and motivation
- Identify gaps in skills and knowledge
- Intellectual stimulation and direction
- Support during career transitions
- Develop Networking Skills
- Improve social and academic confidence
- Improve interpersonal and decision-making skills
The ISPE Mentoring Program at a Glance
The ISPE mentors are …
- Are interested in improving supervisory or coaching experience
- Have project management experience
- Have effective interpersonal communication skills
- Are interested in improving your skills to develop or influence others
- Have worked with multidisciplinary teams
- Have ever gone through a career transition or taken on a new job
The ISPE mentees are …
- Going through a career transition or starting a new job
- Are struggling with work-life balance
- Need help to achieve professional development goals or develop SMART goals
- Need help to develop your cross-functional team skills
- Want to develop leadership and management skills
- Improve work relationships or adjust to a new work culture
- Want to learn how to build effective teams
And we expect all ISPE mentors …
- Commit the necessary time and effort
- Create a positive relationship with open communication
- Be an active listener
- Provide advice to mentee’s career plans and aspirations
- Be open to learning from the mentee
- Establish trust and rapport
- Be willing to share knowledge, experience, and perspectives
- Maintain regular communication
- Provide open and candid feedback and coaching
- Stimulate thoughts, discussion, and insights while mentoring
- Respect your mentee’s time as much as your own
And we expect all ISPE mentees …
- Take the initiative to drive the relationship
- Dedicate time and energy to the relationship
- Identify competencies you would like to develop
- Be an active learner
- Seek and be open to feedback from mentors
- Maintain confidentiality and frequent communication
- Be open to learning and actively consider advice from mentors
- Follow through on commitments
- Respect mentor’s time and prepare in advance
- Assume the mentoring relationship to be strictly professional
ISPE Canada Affiliate’s Mentorship Program
Mentor and Mentee Code of Conduct
ISPE Canada Affiliate has identified the need for an established mentorship program to assist students, recent graduates, and young professionals in being paired with experienced professionals to assist them in their career development and professionalism. This program pairs students, recent graduates, and young professionals with experienced pharmaceutical professionals for up to a twelve-month period.
Mentor/Mentee Responsibilities
- The anticipated time commitment for the Mentor/Mentee relationship is approximately 4 hours per month.
- Mentors will be matched with Mentees looking for guidance on the topics of their expertise or interests.
- Mentors and Mentees will be required to sign an Agreement to participate in this Program.
- Mentors will provide substantive mentoring on all aspects of professional and career development including communication, management, and leadership skills
- Mentors and Mentees will meet a minimum of 1 hour per month.
- The primary goal will be for the Mentor to provide open, honest and constructive feedback to the Mentee in an open non-judgmental environment.
- Mentors and Mentees should treat each other with respect and dignity.
- Mentors and Mentees agree to be respectful of each other’s time commitments.
- The Mentor’s role is not to secure employment for the Mentee, but instead to assist with the Mentee’s career development.
- Mentors and Mentees will participate in a quarterly Program check-in meeting with an ISPE Canada Affiliate representative.
- The Mentor and Mentee shall guard against the potential for conflict by conducting a conflict check in advance of any mentorship session.
Good Communications between Mentor and Mentee
ISPE Canada Affiliate will support good communications between mentors and mentees. In the event that there is a breakdown in the relationship between the Mentor and Mentee, ISPE Canada Affiliate will make best efforts to assist with identifying and matching the Mentor and Mentee with a new Mentee and Mentor, respectively.
Mentoring Program – FAQs
General
Yes, an individual can sign up for becoming both—a mentee and a mentor.
To participate in our mentoring program, you need to sign up for the ISPE membership—https://ispe.org/membership/join.
For maximum benefit, the mentor and mentee are recommended to communicate on a monthly basis.
A match is based mainly on the industry, expertise, and geographic location of the mentor and mentee.
It is encouraged that you invest at least one hour per month into the program.
The program will be run on an annual cycle.
No. It is important that you feel comfortable with the person you are matched with, so please feel free to let us know your concerns, and we will initiate another potential match for you.
After you sign up for the mentorship program on our website, you will hear back from us within 4-8 weeks. You will receive an invitation to attend the mentorship program kick-off meeting, including your mentor-mentee match.
Based on most of the existing mentoring programs, one year has been suggested to ensure sufficient time to set and achieve goals. If a mentee or mentor wants to extend the relationship beyond one year, you are encouraged to openly discuss this with your mentor or mentee while being sensitive to their needs. Once the mentor or mentee agrees to the extension of the match, please let us know at our next year’s mentor-mentee sign-up deadline.
We will make every effort to match you to a great mentor or mentee, but sometimes these relationships may not work out as you envision them. During the relationship, it is important that both mentor and mentee give each other open and honest feedback. If the partners discuss the issues and are unable to find a resolution, the relationship can be terminated and new relationships can be sought.
Mentor
Mentors are not expected to drive the relationship or do any work for the mentee. This mentoring relationship is not expected to be developed into a close personal friendship (although sometimes they can). Mentors are not expected to play a role of a manager, be an expert in every development area, or expect the mentee to behave as they think the mentee should. Lastly, do not expect the mentee to follow your advice.
Absolutely. One of the benefits of mentoring relationships is the two-way developmental experience. An enriching mentorship relationship can provide an opportunity for the mentors to identify their areas of improvement. While the main purpose of the relationship is to assist with the mentee’s specified goal(s), a mentor can also set a goal of improving his or her “support career growth.” More specifically, the mentor could seek to improve skills in providing constructive feedback and open communication. The development of all of these competencies can help in the mentor’s advancement into a management role.
If you’re new to mentoring or have limited time in your schedule, we recommend caution and not to enter into too many relationships. The quality of each relationship is more important than the quantity. However, if you’re an experienced mentor and would like to inspire more than one (1) mentee, you are welcome to choose the number of mentees while signing up for the program.
During your introduction meeting with your mentee, it is beneficial to establish mutually agreeable boundaries for the relationship. If the mentee’s problems are outside your realm of expertise and/or comfort, genuinely share that with your mentee. However, if this persists and you are uncomfortable proceeding with the relationship, please reach out to us. We will help to terminate the relationship and try our best to match you with another mentee.
Mentee
Currently, we are offering only one (1) mentor for every mentee.
If you feel that you have gained what you need from your mentor, consider establishing new goals. You can discuss it with your mentor and choose to terminate the relationship prior to one year. If you do wish to terminate the relationship, please let us know immediately.
The benefits are many, including obtaining career guidance and counseling, improving critical competencies, identifying areas of improvement, developing both personally and professionally, and expanding your general level of business knowledge. Mentees are not expected to fit all the learning into one mentoring relationship and have all the questions to be asked. A mentoring relationship is assumed to be a professional relationship and mentees are not expected to develop a close personal friendship with their mentor. Please respect your mentor’s time and do not expect them to be available to you at all times. Do not use the mentoring relationship to get all the answers about your work, be mindful of your mentor’s needs.