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Len Polsky: Well, hello, and welcome to today's webinar on Mentoring That Matters, Skills, Stories, and Strategies.

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Len Polsky: Presented by the Law Society of Alberta.

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Len Polsky: First, some introductions. I'm Len Polsky, the Manager of Legal Technology and Mentorship at the Law Society of Alberta, and I'll be your host today. Also joining us is Beth Verhalst and Rachel Provenchet from the Law Society's communications team.

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Len Polsky: Our presentation today will be led by Allison Wolf.

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Len Polsky: Allison will be joined by two special guests appearing by Cameo Recordings, lawyers Max Blitt, Casey, and Diane Ridley.

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Len Polsky: Who'll share their knowledge and experiences with mentorship in the legal context.

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Len Polsky: Allison?

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Len Polsky: is a certified executive coach and founder of the legal… of the Lawyer Coach and the Flourishing Law Center, which is a national program dedicated to supporting the well-being, leadership, and sustainable growth of small and medium-sized Canadian law firms.

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Len Polsky: Drawing on two decades of experience in law firm practice management and coaching, Allison's work combines insight into the unique challenges of legal work with a deep commitment to resilience, communication, and professional fulfillment.

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Len Polsky: Max Flitt was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1975.

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Len Polsky: He practices primarily in family law, real estate, and wills and estates.

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Len Polsky: He has extensive experience dealing with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions, in addition to international property and support issues.

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Len Polsky: He's been a senior lawyer with Spear Harbin in Calgary since 1993, has been involved in litigation involving all courts, court levels up to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

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Len Polsky: Diane Ridley has been a resident of the County of Watascuin for 30 years, having moved there with her young family in 1990.

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Len Polsky: She became aware of a shortage of lawyers in the area, and made the decision to return to school with the goal of becoming a lawyer and providing service to her rural community members.

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Len Polsky: She articulated and practiced in the city of Watasquin.

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Len Polsky: And in January 2016, she opened up her own practice in Calamar, Alberta, where she too does mainly family, real estate, and wills and estates.

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Len Polsky: Together, Allison, Max, and Diane will explore what makes mentorship truly meaningful for both mentors and mentees.

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Len Polsky: grounded in neuroscience and enriched with some real-world stories. This session will offer key skills for building trust.

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Len Polsky: asking… excuse me, asking powerful questions and navigating the phases of mentorship with intention. We are very pleased and excited to have all three of them join us today.

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Len Polsky: Before we get going, I do want to pause to offer this land acknowledgement.

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Len Polsky: We acknowledge the traditional lands and territories of the Indigenous peoples who have lived on these lands and taken care of them since time immemorial. We are on Treaty 7 territory, as well as the historical regional homeland of the Metis, which includes the Battle River Territory.

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Len Polsky: We acknowledge and respect the histories, languages, and diverse cultures of the First Nations, Metis, and all First Peoples that have taken care of this land. We are grateful for their contributions that continue to enrich our communities.

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Len Polsky: Now, today's session will be conducted through Zoom webinar. I want to briefly take you through a few features of the software.

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Len Polsky: At the bottom of your Zoom window, you should see the Zoom taskbar, which gives you a few options to interact with today's session.

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Len Polsky: If you open the Q&A window, you'll see an area where you can type questions throughout the webinar.

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Len Polsky: During the session, we will also be posing questions to attendees via various polls.

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Len Polsky: The polls should automatically open on screen at the appropriate times.

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Len Polsky: But if you accidentally close the polling window, you can access the polls via the polls button.

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Len Polsky: You'll also see a resources section on the side panel, where you can find links to additional resources related to today's session.

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Len Polsky: Live transcription of this event is enabled.

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Len Polsky: If you want to turn closed captioning on or off.

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Len Polsky: Select the closed captioning button on your Zoom taskbar.

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Len Polsky: At the end of the webinar, when you close out the window, a brief 2-minute survey will pop up. We'd very much appreciate your completion of the survey, because it'll allow us to refine this presentation and determine future webinar and educational offerings.

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Len Polsky: Last but not least, a version of this webinar will be recorded and posted to the Law Society website in just a few days.

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Len Polsky: With that, let's get started.

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Len Polsky: Allison, over to you.

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Allison Wolf: Thank you so much, Len.

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Allison Wolf: It is such a pleasure to be here today, talking about this very important topic, and I want to welcome everyone who's taken a break in their day.

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Allison Wolf: To join me here to talk about or listen to me present on mentoring. I welcome chat. You're going to see that there is a chat button. If you want to offer a comment.

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Allison Wolf: At any point, or I may throw out some questions. If you feel like answering some of those questions, by all means, put it in the chat. The chat will just go to us, the hosts of this event, and we can share it with, I can verbally speak out your chats and share your contributions.

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Allison Wolf: But welcome. And I want to acknowledge that this is an interesting topic for me as a speaker, because I know if I was, like, standing in front of the room and looking out at all of you live and in person.

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Allison Wolf: I would see a lot of people with

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Allison Wolf: probably, when I'm looking, we've got, you know, 40 people in the room.

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Allison Wolf: we would have probably hundreds of years of experience, like a good 100-plus years of experience with mentorship in the room. I'm sure that most of you have had experiences being mentored, or I hope you have.

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Allison Wolf: And I am also certain that we probably have

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Allison Wolf: some experienced mentors in the room as well, whether that's just a little bit of experience, or whether that's decades of experience. So, I recognize that, and I welcome that, and that's what makes this discussion and what we're doing today, I think, so… so rich and valuable, because you come to it already with, some good knowledge to build on.

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Allison Wolf: A quick look at the agenda. I am taking questions throughout, and the folks at the Law Society are going to help me by flagging those questions when they come in.

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Allison Wolf: And just… just to give you an outline of our path today for the next 90 minutes, we're going to start with an introduction. There's going to be some, talk about what are the benefits of mentorship. I'm going to introduce a concept called brain-aligned mentorship.

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Allison Wolf: And talk about what that is, and that's the neuroscience that was referred to by Lynn. Guiding principles and skills, the sponsorship continuum. What is the sponsorship mentorship continuum? We're going to talk about that.

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Allison Wolf: And then we're going to get into the stages of mentorship and some possible, like, agenda items you might want to bring to your mentoring conversations, and then we'll wrap up. I've got my eye on the clock, there's a lot to do in our time together. One more thing to say, we're going to have some poll questions, so watch for those as well. Great.

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Allison Wolf: So…

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Allison Wolf: I've got a quote here from Ida Abbott, who wrote one of the, you know, one of the well-known books, in The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring, and it's now out as a second edition that she's done a second, a revised edition recently. And I can say that mentor relationships, they take many forms. There's formal mentoring programs.

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Allison Wolf: There's the mentoring that's done by supervising lawyers working with juniors. There's informal mentor relationships, and I see that a lot. I see senior associates serving as informal mentors to junior associates, for instance.

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Allison Wolf: And then there is the mentoring skills that play an important part of leadership.

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Allison Wolf: And so, if you have any kind of role as a leader, and actually everybody in this room will, whether that's leading your very small team of you and your legal assistant, or you leading a practice group, or you working in teams with other people, be it in litigation, be it in, in solicitor practice.

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Allison Wolf: Then that, too, can be enhanced with the kind of… having a mentor mindset, but bringing that to the work that you do in teams.

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Allison Wolf: At its best, I think leadership… mentorship is leadership in action.

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Allison Wolf: A mentor just doesn't transfer knowledge, but they also model really important skills, such as curiosity, Courage and care.

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Allison Wolf: They help newer lawyers move from uncertainty towards confidence, and from rote execution to independent judgment.

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Allison Wolf: So today is an opportunity to listen for a number of things. I want you to listen for what you're already doing well and want to keep doing.

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Allison Wolf: I want you to listen for, hey, what skill or approach maybe I can strengthen?

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Allison Wolf: I'm good at it, but maybe I can bring it up a notch.

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Allison Wolf: And maybe there's something that you're doing that you're gonna just let go of.

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Allison Wolf: So this is an opportunity to take where you are now, and to think about, how do I want to better this following this program?

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Allison Wolf: Mentorship is one of the most powerful and enduring forces that shapes our profession.

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Allison Wolf: And has for, oh, Hundreds of years.

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Allison Wolf: Every lawyer carries stories of being mentored.

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Allison Wolf: Now, there may be some exceptions to that, but most lawyers carry a story of being mentored.

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Allison Wolf: Some of these stories are inspiring, some are cautionary.

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Allison Wolf: And these experiences ripple forward in how we all support others.

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Allison Wolf: So I want to think about your experience of being mentored.

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Allison Wolf: Think for a moment about who helped you?

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Allison Wolf: And how did that make a difference for you?

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Allison Wolf: And we're going to start now with a cameo from Max BlitKC, who kindly offered to share a snapshot of his experience as a mentor with us. So I'm going to stop the share and pass it to the Law Society to bring up the cameo, and I'll be right back.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Thank you very much for allowing me to provide some comments about the mentorship role with the Law Society.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: In terms of why I became involved, I believe it's important to give back. I was very fortunate when I started off 50 years ago that there were mentors that were available to me.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: And I never… Forgot the benefit that that provided to me.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: And as I got more experienced, I wanted to give back.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: My experience with the mentorship program has really been excellent. I have

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Audio shared by Communications Support: continued with some of the mentees well beyond the 6 months. There is one gentleman originally from India. He and his wife, my wife and I, have continued to go out socially together, and in fact, we went on a cruise together.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: We still get together, periodically for dinners, and I find that, He has really…

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Matured in terms of his practice, and…

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Audio shared by Communications Support: I hope that I made a difference for him in terms of dealing with his professional career.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: In terms of…

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Involving some of the mentees. I've also involved one gentleman in one of my trials, and

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Audio shared by Communications Support: He found that he was not keen on doing family law after doing the trial, but it was great experience, he said, and he was a great help to me. It was a relocation case involving a mom, our client that wanted to take the children back to Florida.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: I also try to involve active listening when I am involved with the mentee. I try to understand as much about them as a person.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Inasmuch as their professional needs.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: I find that knowing more about the individual really helps direct, you know, my comments as to where I can help them.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: So, I also encourage them to give me feedback along the way.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: In terms of, have I made a difference? Is there something that maybe I missed?

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Audio shared by Communications Support: And I like that to have that feedback and that reflection from them. I also try to involve technology, because I find some of the younger lawyers are not utilizing it as much as they could, and one of the reasons is cost. But I've indicated if you can save time and money.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: You'll recoup the cost.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Just in closing, mentorship is a two-way street. I get as much out of it as I hope the mentees do, because I learn from them.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: As much as I hope they learned from me.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: And I want to thank the Law Society for giving me an opportunity to share these comments. Thank you very much.

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Allison Wolf: Thank you so much.

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Allison Wolf: Max, that was wonderful.

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Allison Wolf: Quick question, is my screen showing? Could someone just speak up from the Law Society?

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Rachel Provencher: Yep, you're good, Allison.

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Allison Wolf: Thank you. So thank you so much, Max, for sharing those comments, and I… I just love so much of what you've talked. It's sort of this thread of what you talked about, including, the long-term relationship, you know, giving someone actually a practical experience to try something out, active listening, this two-way feedback.

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Allison Wolf: And you know, the two-way street, so much of this is going to be touched on, in our discussion today.

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Allison Wolf: So, you heard Max talk about the benefits of mentoring, right? Mentoring relationships creates so much tangible, benefit that goes far beyond just straight-out goodwill, and I've got a list here of some of the benefits you'll see for firms and for mentors.

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Allison Wolf: You know, I think that mentorship builds trust and connection across generations, right? It creates, you know, kind of a cohesion and morale that no policy in a firm or process or manual can replicate.

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Allison Wolf: I think that when you see mentorship programs in firms, whether informal or formal, this helps associates feel seen, supported, and developed. And when that happens, they have more likelihood of staying. I think for this reason, mentorship can be a contributor to retention.

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Allison Wolf: There's… it's very useful for practical knowledge transfer. As we heard from Max, giving an experience in family law to someone, and him and the mentee getting clarity quickly that this was not the practice area for him, right?

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Allison Wolf: So as experienced lawyers can explain complex issues or, you know, revisit first principles, you know, this often improves their own clarity and communication in the process.

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Allison Wolf: You know, there's often, leadership and skill development. I think that mentoring develops empathy, feedback skills, and perspective. And these are all essential for leading people effectively.

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Allison Wolf: And then there's this piece of legacy and meaning, deep meaning. Many mentors describe mentoring as a way to honor those who supported them and to leave a lasting imprint on their profession. And I know that in…

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Allison Wolf: I'd say…

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Allison Wolf: 100 plus of my coaching calls over the years, I've had lawyers from every kind of practice area in every part of Canada tell me that mentoring, for them, is one of the most meaningful parts of their jobs and their careers.

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Allison Wolf: I want to just share, a couple of stories. Well, first, a quote. I was speaking with a partner the other day about mentorship, and he said this, and I got the quote. He says, it takes me out of my current mindset and reconnects me with how it feels to be anxious and unsure.

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Allison Wolf: He said, in remembering that feeling, you know, and offering, you know, offering that re… offers him that clarity about what the experience is like. He remembers what that experience is like, is for his… for associates, and being in that learning curve.

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Allison Wolf: And having that point of reference makes him a stronger leader.

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Allison Wolf: I also have a story about, a really great mid-level associate who I highly, highly, respect.

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Allison Wolf: And she was… had the benefit in her firm of having two mentors, both supervising lawyers, who've taken a mentorship approach to their work with her.

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Allison Wolf: And…

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Allison Wolf: the cornerstone of that approach has been a sense of trust, that she trusts them. She knows that she can be open and share questions and ask, and that they will be there and they will answer. You know, over the years, she's developed such a great, strong working relationship, and they in two have benefited from having a very capable, quick-learning, dedicated associate on their teams.

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Allison Wolf: She's approached by recruiters all the time, and she always tells them she doesn't want to move. But there had been a shift at her firm.

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Allison Wolf: a change. And…

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Allison Wolf: For the first time, she found herself taking one of those recruiter calls. And being the insightful person she was, after that call, when she said she would get back to them, she thought to herself, wait a second, I've never done this, what has changed? And it made her aware of something that had happened within the practice group that was deeply disturbing to her, and it changed how she felt about being in the group and with the firm.

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Allison Wolf: So because she had that trusted relationship with her mentors, she went to both of them to talk about it. And they had a really good discussion, and they thanked her for her candid comments, and they were able to make some switches and changes that resolved the matter

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Allison Wolf: Very, very well, and took that piece out of the equation for her, so that she was able to continue to work in the way she had with the people that she was working with.

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Allison Wolf: And that recruiter didn't get, you know, got no further with her. And I attribute the success of that to those two partners who, over the years, really,

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Allison Wolf: saw, you know, saw the potential of this young associate and created a great place and space, and relationship that she could depend on with open communication and feedback. And she's told me, they've given her really tough feedback over the years, but she… she needed it to get better.

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Allison Wolf: But because of that relationship, when the time came, she was able to speak, and they were able to retain her, and she didn't go to another firm.

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Allison Wolf: something to think about. So now, I have another poll question for you, because I want you to think about, for you.

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Allison Wolf: What's the benefit of mentoring for you personally, right? We can see that there's benefits for firms, there's benefits for mentees, of course, but for you, the mentor, what's the benefit? Now, we can't put all these benefits in a poll question.

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Allison Wolf: So, I've just taken four of those polls, those four, bullets, and we've put them in a poll question, and I want you just now to reflect for a moment about

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Allison Wolf: Which of these is your top one?

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Allison Wolf: And if it's something that is not here, like, if you really don't want to choose any of these, put it in the chat. I've got the chat open, and I can see which one it is for you.

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Allison Wolf: So, please hop in now, mouse, take your mouse over and select one of these, one of these, benefits.

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Allison Wolf: You just get one choice, and we'll see, kind of, what… what you in the room… what resonates with you.

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Allison Wolf: And I'm watching the chat, and I don't see anybody putting anything in there, so I would expect you're answering the poll question.

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Allison Wolf: And I think we're gonna get the results. Here we go!

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Allison Wolf: So, oh, it's pretty close. Learning and growth is one of the biggest ones for our mentors in the room.

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Allison Wolf: Meaning and purpose. Second, we have enhanced leadership skills, and we've got Honor Own Mentors and Leave a Legacy, too, as another one. And I've heard that one, too. It wasn't the top runner here, but I've certainly heard people speak about it. Thank you for participating in this poll.

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Allison Wolf: So I want to talk for a moment about brain-aligned mentorship. Now.

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Allison Wolf: I could do an hour on this, so this is going to be a 5-minute quick introduction to something, but if you don't mind, I would bookmark this as a notion.

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Allison Wolf: And come back to it. Because it has… what I'm telling you today has implications for a lot of what you do in your leadership and in your roles in law firms and with clients.

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Allison Wolf: It's called Brain-Aligned Mentorship, and it comes from the work, it's very much based on two things. It's based on the work of David Rock.

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Allison Wolf: At the Neuro Leadership Institute, which is an international institute where he combines, like, findings in neuroscience with leadership principles.

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Allison Wolf: And then it comes from the work from Positive Psychology and Dr. Martin Seligman and his many books on positive psychology.

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Allison Wolf: And what this represents is that our brains, at this moment, at every moment of the day and night, as we sleep, as we wake, our brains are constantly scanning the environment. Constantly scanning the environment for what's coming in, both from interoception from within us and from without.

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Allison Wolf: And making decisions about how they need to balance what's happening in the body, right? And telling stories about what's happening, and then creating outputs. Outputs being felt experiences, outputs being more cortisol, more dopamine, outputs being emotions, outputs being feelings of motivation, or of depletion.

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Allison Wolf: etc.

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Allison Wolf: Right?

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Allison Wolf: And we scan the environment for danger and reward, for threat and reward, and social… Cues are… are…

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Allison Wolf: are taken in by the brain, and the brain responds to them exactly as they would environmental cues, okay?

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Allison Wolf: So, very interestingly, here's the brain-aligned model.

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Allison Wolf: Our brains are supercharged to certain cues in the environment. One is respect and recognition, or, in the words of David Rock, status.

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Allison Wolf: Right? Where am I at in the picking order with other people? Am I being recognized? Am I being respected?

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Allison Wolf: You know, this is a very… it's gonna be a very positive, positive and brain-enhancing and encouraging

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Allison Wolf: A cue, or when it's absent, it can be a stressor.

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Allison Wolf: Connection and belonging. This is really about, do I feel safe with this person? Do I feel safe with this group of people? You know, am I part of a group? Am I, you know, am I supported? Am I on my own and alone?

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Allison Wolf: Right? Connection and belonging. Again, it will have positive rewards in the brain.

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Allison Wolf: Or it will have negative. These are the things that spiral up motivation and spiral them down.

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Allison Wolf: Autonomy.

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Allison Wolf: Having control over my life, over my choices, over my work.

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Allison Wolf: This is a huge one, and this is why micromanagement can be such a demotivator for people. Autonomy.

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Allison Wolf: Certainty, right? We all like to know what's going on. Predictability. These things make us feel much calmer. They're very rewarding. Uncertainty.

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Allison Wolf: is extremely stressful.

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Allison Wolf: And then there's fairness, right?

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Allison Wolf: Then we've got growth and meaning.

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Allison Wolf: Growth is that positive sense of, I'm achieving something, I have an opportunity to learn, I have an opportunity to develop. This is one of the core motivators that all human beings and, you know, around the world.

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Allison Wolf: When we have enough food, water, when our basic needs are met, this is what we lean in towards. And the other is meaning, right? Impact.

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Allison Wolf: What's the… what are we doing what we're doing? What's the impact? How are we helping? And again, I have so many lawyers tell me, when I ask them what they enjoy about their work, it comes down to helping other people.

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Allison Wolf: So, in the coaching… sorry, in the mentoring conversations, there's so much opportunity to be really positively weaving in these cues. You know, let's just talk about connection and belonging, right? The mentorship relationship becomes a trusted relationship where people can feel secure, and what you want to do as a mentor is to be able to create that sense of security.

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Allison Wolf: Right? That place where people can feel seen.

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Allison Wolf: and heard, and… and have… and feel that they can talk openly, right? You're creating a sense of respect, a respect for that person. You're recognizing them, right?

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Allison Wolf: It also makes more autonomy possible, because when you're there to provide information or insights, they may be trying to do something on their own, and maybe it's going to be their first discovery, or maybe it's going to be their first Chambers application.

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Allison Wolf: Or maybe it's their first time sitting down with a client to, to do the wills intake meeting.

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Allison Wolf: But meeting with their mentor, they can talk through things beforehand, and they can get some of that help with preparation that will give them some of that confidence, right? To help allay the fear, the uncertainty, and give them a little bit more of a sense of their feet underneath them, right?

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Allison Wolf: And…

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Allison Wolf: Mentorship is all about growth, right? It's all about helping to… helping the mentee and the mentor both to learn and grow together, right? Which is hugely motivating.

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Allison Wolf: And then, of course, meaning, right? There's… it adds meaning for the mentor in terms of what you're doing, and in terms of your, you know, it's a… it's a dose of meaning in your professional workday, but you can also help draw the line of meaning in the work that they're doing, right? And the ends that it's making, or the impact that they're having, and they're developing, or the route that they're heading towards.

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Allison Wolf: So… This is the way that mentorship

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Allison Wolf: Goes right into what's happening at the deepest level of our brains to provide all these positive cues that

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Allison Wolf: serve to spiral up motivation in the person being mentored and in the mentor, which is wonderful because, of course, there's many negative cues that come in from the environment. Law is not an easy profession, I'm sure you all know that.

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Allison Wolf: And there's stressors, there's challenges, so when you can bring in actively, in mentorship relationships, all these positive cues, it helps balance out what's happening for each person in the relationship. So that's a little

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Allison Wolf: snapshot of brain-aligned mentorship. I encourage you go to go check out David Rock.

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Allison Wolf: at the Neuro Leadership Institute, and he's got something called the SCARF model, and have a little look at that, because I think you'll find it interesting. It's useful not only in mentorship, but with dealing with your clients, dealing with your colleagues, and other situations.

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Allison Wolf: So now, we move into the guiding principles of mentorship.

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Allison Wolf: So, you want to bring genuine interest to your mentee's experience.

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Allison Wolf: Curiosity is the skill that opens space for discovery, And signals respect.

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Allison Wolf: You know? Encourage stretch opportunities for growth, While you offer steadiness.

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Allison Wolf: You know, meet your mentees where they are, not where you think they should be, right? Judgment closes doors, and acceptance builds trust.

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Allison Wolf: Mentoring conversations, like coaching conversations, are opportunities to be fully present. I think it's one of the gifts. You know, as you step into a conversation, a mentorship conversation, it can become all about your protege.

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Allison Wolf: Let the noise of your practice recede for a moment, right?

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Allison Wolf: The challenges of the day, and you can lean in and give that person your full attention.

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Allison Wolf: This simple act is so powerful.

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Allison Wolf: be focused.

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Allison Wolf: I find mentorship can be a restorative pause in a busy practice, and it's a time to focus wholly on another person's development, leaving aside the clamor of clients and email for a while.

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Allison Wolf: Watch out for

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Allison Wolf: For the impact of stress, if you're having a very stressful day, and you feel like your stress bucket is quite high.

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Allison Wolf: If you can, if you have a mentorship meeting scheduled that day, you might want to do something like just take

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Allison Wolf: 30 seconds, even, or 1 minute of slow, regular breathing.

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Allison Wolf: Just to bring yourself down, because when we're heightened like that, it's harder to be focused, it's harder to be curious, it's harder to be supportive and accepting.

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Allison Wolf: So if you can bring yourself down a little bit before your mentoring conversations, that will help you to lean in to all of these principles and bring this to the forefront.

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Allison Wolf: And now I'm going to look in detail at a list of what I think are some of the key skills.

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Allison Wolf: Listening?

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Allison Wolf: Questioning?

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Allison Wolf: Encouraging?

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Allison Wolf: Sharing. Action planning.

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Allison Wolf: So we're gonna dig into each of these in turn.

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Allison Wolf: Now, listening.

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Allison Wolf: Listening might seem passive.

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Allison Wolf: But it's one of the most demanding skills in mentoring.

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Allison Wolf: Max, I liked what you talked… when you talked about active listening.

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Allison Wolf: He talked about the importance of that, of really understanding what's happening with your… with your mentee, really understanding so that you are able to, discern what's really happening for them.

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Allison Wolf: Our brains are noisy prediction machines. We finish each other's sentences, we jump to conclusions, we're all… our brains are constantly guessing what's coming next, what's coming next, and we will filter what we're hearing through our own experience.

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Allison Wolf: So, true listening means trying to quiet that inner commentary and kind of focus in very directly to what you're hearing.

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Allison Wolf: You might be noticing tone. You might be noticing maybe some emotional undertone. Body language.

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Allison Wolf: You can reflect back what I… what you're hearing. This is what I hear you say. Is that… have I got that right? And asking clarifying questions, such as, what's underneath this? You're asking me this, but what's underneath that question?

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Allison Wolf: I learned a really valuable acronym that I'm pleased to share with you, and this comes from lawyer coach Amy Binder.

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Allison Wolf: With Nudgeable Coaching in Calgary.

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Allison Wolf: And the acronym is WAIT.

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Allison Wolf: Why? Am. I. Talking?

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Allison Wolf: Just remember that. Wait, why am I talking? The more you listen, The more your mentee learns.

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Allison Wolf: And I have a story for you. This one comes from a young lawyer, first year call. She moved from where she articuled to a new firm, and she has been overjoyed by her choice at this family law firm. And I asked her.

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Allison Wolf: active listening, I asked her to tell me, you know, she's… it's going really well, she feels really supported. And I said to her, like, what is it about what's happening there that makes you feel supported? And so she said this, you know, one of the partners came to her for an informal mentoring conversation and simply asked her, what's giving you the most stress right now?

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Allison Wolf: And then listened.

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Allison Wolf: And she talked and talked about what was going on in the file, and what, you know, what had happened, and why she was stressed, and the mentor gently asked.

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Allison Wolf: What was the process that you were following there?

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Allison Wolf: And then from there, they had some conversation, and the mentor offered practical guidance and a structure for kind of handling that kind of file.

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Allison Wolf: But she started with deep listening, and she conveyed trust and respect, and the mentee said to me, and I quote, even though I'm a junior, she made me feel like my thoughts mattered.

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Allison Wolf: I felt like I mattered.

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Allison Wolf: That's the power of listening well.

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Allison Wolf: So, you could think for a moment about

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Allison Wolf: some of the bullets that I have up here on screen. You know, how is your listening? You might think for a moment, if you scale yourself on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being

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Allison Wolf: you can possibly not listen better. One being, you have a hard time even catching half of what they say. Where would you put yourself in that? And then think to yourself about.

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Allison Wolf: If you want to move the needle a little bit, what might you do?

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Allison Wolf: How could questions maybe help you?

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Allison Wolf: How could some active listening help?

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Allison Wolf: Here's something else that can be helpful.

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Allison Wolf: I love… this is… when I do mentoring presentations, I draw from my coaching practice, because there's some great things that we learn as coaches that we can integrate into mentoring. The two are quite similar, right? So, I love holding the mirror, and this is where

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Allison Wolf: Because people hear by making their own connections, and what happens is a mentee will talk to you about what's going on, and what their thoughts are, and what their ideas are. And then by holding up the mirror and giving it back to them, this is what I hear you saying.

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Allison Wolf: They hear it, and they hear it, and they take in their own words, and they start to make connections they may not have made before.

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Allison Wolf: So that's one way of holding up the mirror. The other way is to kind of hold up what you are seeing, what they are showing you, that may not be… maybe more than their words. So I like to catch people's strengths.

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Allison Wolf: And reflect their strengths back, because if there's one thing we know, lawyers see their faults in high def, and see your strengths

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Allison Wolf: in grayscale.

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Allison Wolf: So catch their strengths and reflect them back. Catch their improvements, and reflect them back.

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Allison Wolf: Hold up the version of the person, the lawyer they're becoming.

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Allison Wolf: Or help them explore who that lawyer is that they're becoming.

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Allison Wolf: Or the values that are meaningful to them in their practice. Or the values, you can see them coming out of what they're telling you, you can reflect that back to them.

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Allison Wolf: Remind them of who they have told you they are.

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Allison Wolf: And what they have told you matters to them.

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Allison Wolf: A small example of this is, talking with a,

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Allison Wolf: An associate, junior associate, and we were talking about what, you know, what he'd been doing over the summer, and the different things.

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Allison Wolf: And I kept hearing, like, you know.

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Allison Wolf: he'd raised his hand to join a CBA committee. In the end, they didn't choose him, but he'd volunteered. And then he went and raised his hand and joined a board, because something came up, and he grabbed the opportunity and went for it. And then there was, he was in a… he was helping out in an event, he was… had a role helping the firm's involvement, but there was a misunderstanding. He got roped into another task as well, and he just went for it and ended up doing… having a bigger part to play

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Allison Wolf: the event.

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Allison Wolf: And so, hearing all this, and, you know, him reporting to me on what he'd done, I held up the mirror and I said, you know something? I can really see that you've got this strength as a hand-raiser and a go-getter.

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Allison Wolf: That's a terrific strength to have!

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Allison Wolf: And then we talked about it. That's what I mean by holding up the mirror.

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Allison Wolf: Which goes now hand-in-hand with encouraging.

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Allison Wolf: Encouragement isn't cheerleading.

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Allison Wolf: It's seeing…

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Allison Wolf: potential, and naming it, right? Again, this comes back to that, you know, strengths and weaknesses, but helping people see their strengths.

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Allison Wolf: You know, as a mentor, you can help rebalance the perspective.

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Allison Wolf: You know, they may only see what they… what their failures are, and you can help bring to the forefront, right, what's possible.

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Allison Wolf: When your mentee shares a challenge, you can notice their resourcefulness and their perseverance as much as their mistakes.

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Allison Wolf: You can reflect it back. I'm hearing the persistence in how you approach this.

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Allison Wolf: my mentor, because I have a mentor, too. The other day, this is what happened to me. I was sharing something, a very big challenge that I'm undertaking.

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Allison Wolf: And I… I was feeling a lack of confidence. And my mentor looked at me, and in all honesty, said to me.

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Allison Wolf: I 100% know that you can do this.

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Allison Wolf: And that you will be a success. I know you can do this.

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Allison Wolf: And the… the… seeing that confidence and seeing that given back to me, Was a huge gift.

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Allison Wolf: That encouragement really helped me

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Allison Wolf: find my feet under me, help me access strength. That's powerful mentoring, and you all can do that in your mentoring conversations that I'm sure you probably already are.

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Allison Wolf: There's this thing where mentees might come, and this happens in coaching, it happens in mentorship, where they're like.

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Allison Wolf: Can you just tell me how I need to do this? Can you just give me the answer, right?

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Allison Wolf: And I think it's great. Yes, we all have a backpack of answers, and we want to provide that. That's important.

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Allison Wolf: But resist the impulse to dive right in with the advice. Sometimes I'll say, you know, I'm going to give you some advice. I'd like to just have a conversation and ask some questions first. Is that okay? Right? So, this is where you can start to explore. What approaches have you considered?

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Allison Wolf: What do you think might be getting in the way?

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Allison Wolf: Where do you see an opportunity, potentially, here?

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Allison Wolf: What's keeping you from acting on this? What's holding you back?

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Allison Wolf: Right?

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Allison Wolf: And active listening and engagement, you know, exploring, can you tell me more about why this is a challenge? Can you tell me more about what you're concerned about?

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Allison Wolf: I call this unpacking, unpacking, unpacking, right? And then after you've had some dialogue, and they've kind of shared what they have, maybe they've started to make some conclusions, maybe they've already started to connect the dots for themselves, it's so wonderful. If not, you can say, okay, well, I can tell you how I've handled something similarly.

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Allison Wolf: For, here's an idea, right? It may fit you, it may not, But, you know.

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Allison Wolf: Take it, you know, take it and do what you want with it.

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Allison Wolf: And that language preserves their autonomy and signals collaboration, not command. It's not, this is what I think you should do.

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Allison Wolf: it's, here's something I've tried, or here's something I've seen done, or I think this is a… you know, except in… if you're really talking about, this is actually the process, or this is the standard of practice, or in which case you don't need to be so, so,

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Allison Wolf: soft, right? It depends, of course, on the situation. But, you know, really, the point of sharing and requesting, though, is to really help promote people to do their own thinking.

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Allison Wolf: And then stepping in with insight and guidance at the end of the, kind of, the loop and exploration.

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Allison Wolf: Or just to kind of finish off, or complete, or share anything that they've missed.

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Allison Wolf: I'm just reminding you that the questions are open, and you can question and comment as much as you like. Please just bring them in as you… as they come up for you. No need to wait till the end.

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Allison Wolf: And then we get into action planning. Now, I get it, some of you… some of your coaching conversations may not end in action planning.

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Allison Wolf: But I think that if you're really…

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Allison Wolf: want to. I think they all could.

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Allison Wolf: Each mentoring conversation could end with, so, okay, after what we've talked about and what we've discussed and everything, like, what's the small action you're going to move forward? Or what are the things that you want to… what are the steps you're going to take?

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Allison Wolf: And this is a really nice question. What could get in the way?

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Allison Wolf: This is a good one, because when we can kind of look at what the action is we plan to take.

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Allison Wolf: and then we can kind of think about what could get in the way. We can problem solve before it happens. So we've already solved the problem, which means that we're much, much more likely to carry it through. So, you can support your mentees that way.

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Allison Wolf: What can get in the way, and what are you going to do about that? Let's talk about that. And how can I support you?

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Allison Wolf: well, actually, maybe, could you send me an email in 3 weeks just to check in that I did it? Okay, maybe you want to do that as a mentee, or a mentor.

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Allison Wolf: But anyway, the action planning converts the insights of the coaching conversation into progress, into action, and builds accountability. And over time, each of these small actions starts to compound into real development.

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Allison Wolf: Which brings us to our next poll question.

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Allison Wolf: We've heard a whole bunch of coaching skills.

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Allison Wolf: Which is one you would like to strengthen?

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Allison Wolf: And here's our poll question. Which is… which of all these… these four key skills.

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Allison Wolf: Which one would you like to?

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Allison Wolf: Strengthening.

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Allison Wolf: I'm gonna drink some water while you reflect.

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Allison Wolf: And the results are in!

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Allison Wolf: Listening and questioning, which I think kind of go hand in hand, don't they? Right? Because questioning triggers more listening, right? So listening and questioning, not surprised that they're the top

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Allison Wolf: sharing and action planning and encouraging is the… in, you know, the final place. So, yeah, listening and questioning, I mean, that's a… that's a skill we can spend our whole lives honing.

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Allison Wolf: So think about what you…

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Allison Wolf: what you might want to take away from our conversation today and in this presentation that you might focus in on. Great, thanks for everybody for participating in that. Now, I have a quick mindset alert for mentors. You may have heard about fixed mindset growth mindset.

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Allison Wolf: this is really about how we contemplate, how we think about performance, how we think about ability, right? Fixed mindset is.

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Allison Wolf: I suck. I'm just like this. It's fixed.

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Rachel Provencher: Allison.

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Allison Wolf: Is? Yep.

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Rachel Provencher: Sorry, I'm just gonna interrupt you because we have a question that's.

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Allison Wolf: Oh, great!

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Rachel Provencher: Yes, a question, from Lauren. So, in action planning, how should a mentor provide versus having mentor find solutions themselves?

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Rachel Provencher: I'll answer live, so you can see that.

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Allison Wolf: Yeah, and someone else can't hear me after the poll, and I'm not sure what happened. They might have accidentally hit

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Allison Wolf: I don't know what they may have done, but if you could troubleshoot with them, that came in on the chat.

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Rachel Provencher: Yep, will do.

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Allison Wolf: If, anybody else is having trouble hearing me.

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Allison Wolf: Do you want to explore that?

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Allison Wolf: Okay, so action planning… this is tricky. This is tricky, right? Because this is where you kind of almost have to sit on your hands a little bit with somebody and say, okay,

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Allison Wolf: You know, what have you, you know, how have you thought about handling this question? Have you seen, you know, this problem? Have you seen anyone try anything that you thought could be workable?

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Allison Wolf: Do you have, like, any ideas?

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Allison Wolf: Right? If you had to make a guess, what would it be, right? I mean, as much as you can, there's a lot… there are those people out there who are like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

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Allison Wolf: Right? Okay, if you get one of those, alright, then…

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Allison Wolf: you can say, okay, well, here's something that, from my experience, that I can share with you, or here's a practice tip that I can share with you, and you can go into that. Then it comes into, okay, so what do you want to do with that?

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Allison Wolf: How does that, like, how does that land with you?

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Allison Wolf: Do you have more questions?

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Allison Wolf: How do you want to put it in… like, how do you think you could put that into practice?

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Allison Wolf: Are you gonna take… what's the next step on that?

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Allison Wolf: Do you want to commit to doing that?

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Allison Wolf: Please let me know if I've sufficiently answered that question.

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Allison Wolf: Okay.

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Allison Wolf: Are we everything fine with the… with this? Okay, the sound looks like it's good. So, going back to Mindset Alert,

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Allison Wolf: What you want to do here is there's… there's two kinds of mindset. One is the… around performance and ability. One is that I'm just no good at it.

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Allison Wolf: I don't know how to do this. Or comparing myself to… you know, I look at them, they know they're so good at this, I'm just not as good at… I'm not as good at my feet. I'm, you know, I just keep missing, details. I don't know what's wrong with me. You know, it's that kind of thought, versus, growth mindset is.

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Allison Wolf: I haven't got it… I'm not good at this yet, right? I know that I'm, you know, I don't have a lot of experience, but I'm… I will get better, right? Comparing self today to self yesterday, versus comparing self to all the people around, or comparing self to a partner.

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Allison Wolf: So…

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Allison Wolf: What you really want to do when you're in your mentorship conversations is listen to how people are talking about themselves, and about how they're talking about their performance and their ability, right? And encourage them to kind of adopt some of that language, which is.

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Allison Wolf: You know, you may not have

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Allison Wolf: Fully developed your presentation skills yet, but let's talk about how you can better them.

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Allison Wolf: Right? So, shift the focus. When it's really on proving, when you've got that focus on proving, or being good, or comparing self to self, instead encourage improving.

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Allison Wolf: Getting better.

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Allison Wolf: watching one's own performance develop, right, and learning from success and mistakes, and for you as a mentor to talk about the biggest learnings you've had from errors and mistakes is a great way of modeling growth, right? A great way of modeling a learning mindset.

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Allison Wolf: Because mentorship is that learning experience for both parties, but when you can talk about your own… come at your own

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Allison Wolf: mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth and honing performance, and model that, that's very powerful for your associates, right? And this goes back to, again, the neuroscience that I talked about, those tips, right? And that growth.

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Allison Wolf: Growth and achievement being so important that when we are focused on how we're getting better and how we're turning this challenge, it's so hard, but it's going to help me become a better lawyer. That's a very resilient mindset. And you as a mentor, have an ability to help foster that.

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Allison Wolf: in your people. Now, this brings us to our second cameo, which is… Diane! Oh!

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Allison Wolf: Sorry, Rachel, you have to hop in, because I forgot to put Diane's last name in my notes. Apologies, Diane. I can't… No problem.

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Rachel Provencher: limits Diane Ridley.

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Allison Wolf: Diane Ridley, that's right. Diane, we have Diane's cameo now, so if you would bring that up, I will stop the share for a moment.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: In smaller communities like mine, mentorship isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. The traditional firm model, where new lawyers article and then move up inside a firm, is disappearing.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Increasingly, I see new lawyers start out on their own, sometimes right out of law school. This can be incredibly isolating. They don't have the support, the network, or the business know-how they need to succeed. And the truth is, law school doesn't teach you how to run a practice.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: That's why I put such an emphasis on the business of law when I'm a mentor. I start with building a real relationship with my mentees, finding out their story, and then asking practical questions. What does your practice look like? How many files are you carrying? What is your business plan? And are you billing correctly?

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Are you financially stable enough to sustain the work? Too often, I see new lawyers get into trouble because they're overextended, or they haven't put the right financial supports in place. That's when mistakes happen, and it can spiral quickly.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: I also try to be a truth teller. Mentorship isn't just cheerleading. Sometimes it means saying, this path isn't going to work. You need to rethink your approach before you get into trouble.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: This can be hard to hear, but it's essential if we want our profession to stay strong.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: What I get out of mentoring is twofold. There's a satisfaction of seeing a mentee gain confidence, build a solid practice, and flourish.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: But it also keeps me honest. It forces me to re-examine my own practice, and to notice where I may be falling back into old habits and to make changes. In that way, it's not just the mentees who grow from the process, I do too.

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Audio shared by Communications Support: Mentorship strengths the individual, the community, and the profession. When we make space for each other this way, we all rise together.

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Allison Wolf: What a fantastic cameo. She packed so much goodness into that cameo. We heard about, you know, her own learning, the two-way street. We heard about the importance of truth-telling, which is our next slide. We heard about the significance for… of mentoring to those who are having to go it alone from almost the beginning, if not the beginning of their careers.

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Allison Wolf: Thank you so much, Diane Ridley.

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Allison Wolf: And so now we're going to get into truth-telling.

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Allison Wolf: This is an important part of, of mentorship, right? And we heard it also from our mentor, Max, earlier.

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Allison Wolf: Truth-telling is central to mentoring, right? You want to offer the real story about what's happening, right? And speak candidly, even when it's something the mentee may not want to hear.

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Allison Wolf: Honesty builds trust and deepens the relationship, right?

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Allison Wolf: It's important with feedback, and for helping someone grow.

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Allison Wolf: And it helps mentees make informed decisions. So I want to just grab hold of something that we heard from Max earlier on. He emphasized that truth-telling is central to his mentoring style.

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Allison Wolf: He says that, just as Diane did, that one of the most valuable things he can do for a mentee is to be direct and candid.

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Allison Wolf: Even if it's not what they want to hear, because that honesty builds trust and makes the relationship worthwhile.

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Allison Wolf: Both Diane and Max come at mentorship with this very clear understanding of the benefits of being direct and candid.

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Allison Wolf: Both of them described it as giving truth-telling mentees the truth, the real story about their profession, their performance, the health of their firms, and their options, rather than sugarcoating.

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Allison Wolf: And ultimately, they both see it as an act of respect, an important part of their job as mentors, telling the truth, kindly but plainly, to help the mentee make better decisions and grow.

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Allison Wolf: So you can think about.

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Allison Wolf: You know, how you're doing in the truth-telling department as a mentee, and is that a skill that you want to focus on, strengthening?

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Allison Wolf: Now I just have a slide.

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Allison Wolf: from, that book I mentioned earlier by Ida Abbott, The Lawyer's Guide to Mentoring, she has this little graph in there of some of the things that we've been talking about that mentors do, that proteges, otherwise mentees, I use both words, do, and the shared practices.

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Allison Wolf: And you'll see that a lot of these themes have come up in our discussion today.

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Allison Wolf: I think that there is a very big, and we're going to hear this, big interest in facilitating learning and modeling.

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Allison Wolf: You know, Max invited his mentee to assist on a trial, so that really gave him a chance to, experience, practically experience, being in court.

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Allison Wolf: And that really taught that mentee that he didn't want to be a litigator. And then Diane talks about working with people who are setting up their practice, right, and providing practical advice from her experience, right? That very useful modeling and facilitated learning, which in turn really helps support confidence building.

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Allison Wolf: And where does the coaching come in? I think the coaching comes in when you're asking those questions, when you're helping people make their own connections. It comes in when you're holding up the mirror, when you're catching their strengths.

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Allison Wolf: It, you know, it comes in from the… the support.

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Allison Wolf: These are sort of some of the coaching elements. And counseling, I think here, I think about it not so much as a counselor, like a mental health counselor, but more like a counselor who is helping support and teach and guide.

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Allison Wolf: Len Polsky, And thank you, Len, for inviting me to speak today.

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Allison Wolf: while we were planning this presentation, shared with me this wonderful article, from the ABA by Susan George on how to mentor Gen Z lawyers. And… and so I added this information for you, just, this… this in the last few weeks.

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Allison Wolf: You know, Gen Z lawyers, Susan tells us, really crave practical exposure.

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Allison Wolf: You know, they crave that opportunity to, like.

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Allison Wolf: have someone with… to sit and watch someone doing the thing. Can I shadow you in a Chambers application? Can I shadow you in a client meeting, for instance, right?

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Allison Wolf: And what Susan George reflects on is that there are senior lawyers who've got a lot of expertise and a lot of experience who may not want to be engaged in a longer-term mentoring relationship.

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Allison Wolf: But they can be encouraged to take on short-term engagements around very, very specific, you know, elements of the practice. It can be very much on a training, right? Or giving someone exposure to a kind of piece of experience in law.

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Allison Wolf: So there could be short-term experiences. So, Susan George says, embrace short-term targeted mentorship.

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Allison Wolf: Online rosters, like, Gen Z love seeing a roster of all the different mentors and being able to pick one to engage with. Well, it just happens that the Law Society of Alberta seems to be ahead of the curve with your Mentor Express program and your online roster of mentors, right? It's laser, one-session mentoring program, right, where people can choose from a roster. It's very… Mentor Express, so…

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Allison Wolf: Mentor Express really is checking that Gen Z box.

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Allison Wolf: Make feedback.

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Allison Wolf: She says, a continuous loop. This is part of you for leadership, those of you who are doing some mentoring with your junior lawyers. Feedback should be something that doesn't happen in reviews. It should be something that happens every time they're doing work for you on a file.

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Allison Wolf: You know, going forward, you know, next time, have a look at, or if you want to take it up a level, take it this way, right? Giving them that feedback. You handled this piece very well, right?

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Allison Wolf: And leverage reverse mentoring. So this is interesting, and I heard it from a couple of… from both Diane, and I heard it from Max, right?

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Allison Wolf: You know, mentoring gives you, in turn, your own insights. You might, from these younger lawyers, you might get their own insights onto… into things like technology, or social trends, or changes in kind of… what they're experiencing with client expectation. Invite their perspectives.

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Allison Wolf: Right? The most meaningful mentoring relationships are two-way learning.

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Allison Wolf: Partnerships, right?

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Allison Wolf: And connect day-to-day if you're working with them, if they're working with you in a firm. But you can also connect your, the experiences that they're having on assignments and in work to their larger purpose as a lawyer in serving clients, advancing justice.

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Allison Wolf: And other impacts that they're having, as a lawyer in their community.

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Allison Wolf: as Diane has having with being… having brought, you know, legal into her small community, right? To make it more accessible.

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Allison Wolf: There's also a difference now, and…

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Allison Wolf: There's a difference. There's a lot of talk these days, has been for quite a while, about sponsorship. So, we have here from an article in the Harvard Business Review that my friend Amy Binder, I mentioned her before, the coach, brought to my attention.

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Allison Wolf: A mentor is someone who has knowledge and will share it with you. A sponsor is someone who has power and will use it for you.

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Allison Wolf: Monsorship… mentorship is very much about developing the person. Sponsorship is about advancing them.

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Allison Wolf: Both matter, and they often will intersect.

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Allison Wolf: A mentor can have knowledge and share it. A sponsor can have power and will use it. Mentors help you grow, sponsors help you move. So I have an interesting slide here based on this Harvard Business Review article.

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Allison Wolf: Which is the continuing of support. We don't have mentorship and sponsorship sitting in silos. They're more, like, on a continuum.

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Allison Wolf: Mentorship being more in the private sphere.

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Allison Wolf: And sponsorship being more in the public sphere.

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Allison Wolf: Right? And mentorship being more about that… that development.

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Allison Wolf: Sponsorship being more about advancement, right? So, take a look at this slide, and you can see how that continuum works. The mentor provides support, advice, coaching, guidance, experience, practical experience.

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Allison Wolf: They might serve as a strategizer with insights to help someone advance.

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Allison Wolf: You know, for instance, I might say, oh, you know, maybe it's time for you to think about, you know, joining that CBA subsection.

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Allison Wolf: Maybe you'd like to get on the board.

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Allison Wolf: being a connector, let me introduce you to someone who I think that you'd really find beneficial to know.

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Allison Wolf: being an opportunity giver. So, Max Blitt, when he gave his, his mentee that opportunity to sit on a trial, he, in on a trial, he'd stepped into this role as opportunity giver.

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Allison Wolf: And the very public side of it is the advocate, publicly advocate for this person, and support from behind the scenes, even when they cannot advocate for themselves.

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Allison Wolf: So, I had a litigator I knew, for many, many years. When she was a junior.

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Allison Wolf: She had a… an external mentor, external to her firm, and this was a mentorship program run through the Canadian Bar Association Women Lawyers Forum.

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Allison Wolf: And that's where she had the opportunity for this mentor. And that mentor relationship really went beyond that mentorship program and extended. This was a very, very, well-respected, highly regarded senior lawyer.

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Allison Wolf: And that senior lawyer was on a very prestigious board, in the community, and so she actually thought that it would be good for this… this junior lawyer, who now was starting to approach mid-career, like, mid-level.

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Allison Wolf: To get involved on a committee in that organization as a stepping stone to a board position. These are very hard positions to get, these committee positions, but with this person, this mentor.

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Allison Wolf: advocating for her, she was able to get a role in that committee. This is where that mentor really stepped into that full

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Allison Wolf: sponsorship,

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Allison Wolf: full-on sponsorship of advocating for their mentee, right? And that role really led to a significant board position down the road.

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Allison Wolf: This is the continuing of support, right? So more private is mentor, more public is now we're getting into what is known as sponsorship.

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Allison Wolf: And of course, sponsorship requires judgment, and I'm sure… I probably don't need to say this, right? It should be earned through demonstrated ability and not bestowed prematurely. The strongest relationships integrate both roles. The mentor helps a lawyer grow into readiness. The sponsor ensures that that readiness is recognized.

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Allison Wolf: And we have our third and last poll question.

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Allison Wolf: Now, this is an interesting one. For all of you in the room, thinking about your experience as mentors.

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Allison Wolf: How far in the continuum have you leaned in? Now, I'm just thinking, like, it doesn't have to be every time, but how far have you gone in the continuum, of mentorship? Has it… does it start and end with mentor? Have you kind of stepped into the strategizer, the connector?

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Allison Wolf: Opportunity giver, advocate. I'd love to see, you know, where everyone is sitting in that continuum.

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Allison Wolf: Interesting.

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Allison Wolf: We've got quite the split, don't we? So, mentor, providing support, advice, or coaching, we've got about 26%.

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Allison Wolf: Strategizer, people leaned in, providing insider insights to help advancement, 15%. The connector, making helpful introductions. 26%, that's kind of as far as they've leaned in.

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Allison Wolf: Opportunity giver, we got 7%, and then we kind of got another whole swath of people who have gone all the way in, 26%, into advocacy for their person, right? Really setting them up.

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Allison Wolf: speaking for them, like, speaking highly of them, helping advance them. So, really interesting split, right, of where people are at in the continuum. And here's the thing, there's no right or wrong.

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Allison Wolf: There's no right or wrong. You find… you find where you are comfortable in the… in the continuum. This is not a message that you need to stretch all the way towards sponsorship, but just be aware… just be aware that those roles are available to you, and you can think about whether you want to stretch into any of those, or not.

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Allison Wolf: So now we get out of the skills-based, and now we get into some really practical, practical nuts and bolts stuff.

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Allison Wolf: We're into the phases of the mentorship relationship. We've got that formation, and this is… this is obvious, right? Obviously, we're just meeting.

448
01:03:50.680 --> 01:04:01.210
Allison Wolf: First meetings, formation, we're getting to know each other. Then we've got a deepening relationship, getting to more… be more… more cohesion, more understanding, deepening trust.

449
01:04:01.600 --> 01:04:08.529
Allison Wolf: You know, deepening support. And then there's the relationship closure, right? Reflection, appreciation, next steps.

450
01:04:09.450 --> 01:04:25.529
Allison Wolf: And so, I've really thought about best practices at different phases, and I want to… the setting out, starting right, right? Starting well, to continue well, is quite important. So, I opt… obviously, meaning one, you want to get to know each other.

451
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Allison Wolf: And this is where, I think, as a mentor, you can really just…

452
01:04:30.590 --> 01:04:54.780
Allison Wolf: you can ask a ton of questions, right? And you can, you know, listen, listen, ask, unpack, right? Really, really get to know as much as you can about this person. You know, everything from why they went to law school to why are they interested in this topic, or why are they interested, what do they like about their practice area, their firm, what do they see their strengths as, what are their challenges, what's stressful? I mean, you can just go on and on, right?

453
01:04:55.430 --> 01:05:01.100
Allison Wolf: So really spend some time there, learning about their background, the current work situation.

454
01:05:01.890 --> 01:05:15.149
Allison Wolf: What… how do they perceive themselves? What are they seeking from the mentoring relationship? And just… just to let you know, my next slide is about aligning expectations. That's going to be a big one for your first one. That's the next slide.

455
01:05:15.430 --> 01:05:22.400
Allison Wolf: Have they any questions or challenges that they want to immediately explore? They may bring something to that first meeting that they want to explore right away.

456
01:05:22.460 --> 01:05:39.230
Allison Wolf: And then you really want to align around expectations. Now, this is, I think, so important. Let's face it, it's important in client relationships, right? The… when we're starting a new engagement with a client, we sure want to be managing expectations on the front end. The better we can do that, the better off we will be later on.

457
01:05:39.470 --> 01:05:44.940
Allison Wolf: Same thing for mentoring, right? It's good to have a conversation about what are the goals?

458
01:05:45.780 --> 01:05:48.399
Allison Wolf: What are they really seeking to get out of this mentorship?

459
01:05:48.820 --> 01:05:57.759
Allison Wolf: How frequently do you want to meet? Sometimes, if you're a part of a structured program, like Mentor Express, and I'm going to be talking about that in a moment.

460
01:05:57.880 --> 01:06:09.459
Allison Wolf: You know, it's really set, right? You know, it may be just a one-off meeting, or it may be that, you know, this mentorship… I ran a mentorship program for the Associate Mentoring Plus program.

461
01:06:09.460 --> 01:06:23.360
Allison Wolf: That run by Continuing Legal Education BC. In that program, we had quarterly meetings, right? If the mentors and the mentees decided they wanted to meet more often, fine, but the agreement was for a minimum of quarterly meetings, so frequency.

462
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Allison Wolf: And then scheduling, and talking about scheduling, and talking about what might get in the way of scheduling. Like, how can we remain committed to our meetings, right? And if you're dealing with a junior lawyer, and the junior lawyer is not from your firm, they're working at someone else's firm.

463
01:06:40.880 --> 01:06:47.660
Allison Wolf: you know, what do they need to communicate with their firm about mentorship? Are they comfortable letting their firm know that they have an external mentor?

464
01:06:48.150 --> 01:06:56.479
Allison Wolf: Because that might be important, so they can explain why, for one hour, on this Wednesday, they're going to be offline. They may need to do that, right?

465
01:06:56.740 --> 01:06:59.720
Allison Wolf: Talking through some of these details is really important.

466
01:07:00.020 --> 01:07:16.340
Allison Wolf: Commitment, being committed to the relationship, right? That barring… barring unforeseen emergencies and client emergencies, they come up, but we're committed to meeting with each other, and respecting each other's timelines, and reserving and protecting the times that we set aside as much as possible.

467
01:07:17.050 --> 01:07:21.450
Allison Wolf: Confidentiality is crucial. It has to be talked about in the first meeting.

468
01:07:21.610 --> 01:07:23.920
Allison Wolf: And it's tricky for an internal

469
01:07:24.190 --> 01:07:39.220
Allison Wolf: mentoring, it's a lot easier to handle confidentiality when you're an external mentor, but when you're a mentor in the firm, you need to have a real clarity about what are the boundaries, what are the barriers, and, like, where's the start and stop around confidentiality?

470
01:07:39.480 --> 01:07:47.840
Allison Wolf: So everyone is clear about that. Touch-based calls. Are you gonna have touch-based calls between meetings? Between, like, formal meetings?

471
01:07:48.260 --> 01:07:56.390
Allison Wolf: So thinking about what are some of the expectations you need to set, so you guys, both you and the mentee, know how it's going to play out.

472
01:07:57.290 --> 01:08:02.359
Allison Wolf: I always like to say, you know, stir well to avoid what are common challenges that come up, right?

473
01:08:02.720 --> 01:08:05.289
Allison Wolf: We can end up with…

474
01:08:05.390 --> 01:08:09.990
Allison Wolf: missed or last-minute rescheduled meetings. It happens.

475
01:08:10.080 --> 01:08:26.040
Allison Wolf: And having that conversation about scheduling and, you know, what they can do, or how you can help them protect their calendar so they can have the meeting, this is important. Broken trust. Talking about confidentiality can really help with the trust piece, which is

476
01:08:27.090 --> 01:08:30.830
Allison Wolf: critical, right? Just critical to mentoring relationships.

477
01:08:31.790 --> 01:08:42.980
Allison Wolf: Mentor mismatch sometimes can happen. So this happened… it was interesting. I had a, ment… an associate who was really interested in forestry law.

478
01:08:43.770 --> 01:08:49.930
Allison Wolf: And I was able to connect him with a senior forestry professional.

479
01:08:50.359 --> 01:08:54.460
Allison Wolf: Forestry lawyer who was kind of on the verge of retirement.

480
01:08:54.460 --> 01:09:18.429
Allison Wolf: But what I didn't know in setting up the program is that that mentor didn't actually have much time to mentor, but what he did in turn, and he didn't quite have the exact kind of focus or area of focus that the mentee was looking for, but what he did was he connected that mentee with a number of different people, so he ended up actually with a number of professional mentors through that engagement. So it was almost

481
01:09:18.430 --> 01:09:20.800
Allison Wolf: It was a mentor mismatch, but then it was resolved.

482
01:09:21.510 --> 01:09:26.589
Allison Wolf: You know, I think there's nothing wrong with it being a mentor mismatch. You can be sensitive to that.

483
01:09:28.779 --> 01:09:31.919
Allison Wolf: My nose is getting stuffed up as I talk.

484
01:09:32.060 --> 01:09:33.880
Allison Wolf: You can be sensitive to that.

485
01:09:34.310 --> 01:09:44.759
Allison Wolf: But, you can… you can talk about it. If you feel there's a mismatch, you can ask, you know, am I… do I have the kind of experience you're looking for? Would a different mentor be perhaps more useful to you? Let me know.

486
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Allison Wolf: Then there's over-reliance, and I think this comes to that question that we got, and this is a very common experience. I hear it a lot from partners these days, where we have associates, proteges, who are passive, who are seeking advice, right, and just want to be told what to do.

487
01:10:04.060 --> 01:10:14.530
Allison Wolf: Versus really sharing, possible solutions. And going back to setting expectations, this is kind of, I think, something to talk about, which is that

488
01:10:15.080 --> 01:10:22.579
Allison Wolf: First acknowledge, you know, thinking through tough legal challenges or trying to figure out what the next step is, this is hard.

489
01:10:22.950 --> 01:10:29.030
Allison Wolf: It's heavy lifting. It does feel like you're lifting a weight, and it's also really important.

490
01:10:29.330 --> 01:10:49.240
Allison Wolf: So, when you're coming to me with a question, or when you're coming to me with, you know, a question on a file, or a question about how to do something, I really want you to bring a possible solution with you. Do that work of bringing the possible solution, because then we can unpack it, we can discuss it. You don't have to be right, and you don't even have to worry about being right.

491
01:10:49.300 --> 01:10:53.420
Allison Wolf: That's not the point. The point is doing the work of thinking things through.

492
01:10:53.770 --> 01:11:06.560
Allison Wolf: If you can set that up in your initial intake meeting with them to kind of get them primed, for that is how to kind of come to the meeting with things and questions. Same thing if you're a senior lawyer mentoring a junior.

493
01:11:06.560 --> 01:11:14.319
Allison Wolf: If you've got to kind of set that up, then you can encourage them. They need to feel safe to come up with what is a completely unworkable solution.

494
01:11:14.320 --> 01:11:28.889
Allison Wolf: But at least, you know, know that they get the checkmark for having at least tried to think about it. So, that's how you get ahead of over-reliance. And then over-controlling comes when, frankly, for not being a very good listener.

495
01:11:29.730 --> 01:11:34.580
Allison Wolf: When you… if you and the… as the mentor, are doing more than half the talking.

496
01:11:34.890 --> 01:11:46.250
Allison Wolf: then there's probably an over-controlling element to what's happening here. And you're going to want to kind of get into that, wait, why am I talking? You're going to remind yourself of that. So,

497
01:11:46.660 --> 01:11:53.199
Allison Wolf: As the mentor, you can be the one who is, you know, Or the watch for that.

498
01:11:54.930 --> 01:12:02.359
Allison Wolf: And finally, I'll just, back to confidentiality, just be explicit about what stays private.

499
01:12:02.990 --> 01:12:04.650
Allison Wolf: And very careful with that.

500
01:12:05.990 --> 01:12:07.330
Allison Wolf: Okay.

501
01:12:08.070 --> 01:12:23.630
Allison Wolf: Now we're going to talk about Mentor Express. So Mentor Express is interesting, because obviously you've got a one meeting, so you're going to dive in quite quickly, and I'm told that there's often a pre-session communication from the mentee, or the protege.

502
01:12:23.850 --> 01:12:27.809
Allison Wolf: With a question or something, or an area of focus for the meeting.

503
01:12:27.960 --> 01:12:34.660
Allison Wolf: So, if you can get that, that's great, because you can kind of know where to direct your questions and where to go with things.

504
01:12:35.030 --> 01:12:49.000
Allison Wolf: I think you still want to have some time at the front end on introductions and their background, and some quick questions to find out where they're coming from, and their level of experience, and such. Then you want to open up the question.

505
01:12:49.060 --> 01:13:02.899
Allison Wolf: And explore together that challenge. Asking and listening to them and doing all those things that I talked about, holding up the mirror, encouraging, asking more questions, unpacking the question.

506
01:13:02.990 --> 01:13:16.189
Allison Wolf: You know, so you've got all the dimensions of it, which is, you know, Max mentioned that, really understanding what's going on for them, so that you can really kind of laser in with a… with a helpful piece of insight. And then share from your experience.

507
01:13:16.460 --> 01:13:25.379
Allison Wolf: by all means, and help them think through, you know, does that resonate with them? If not, why not? If not, what else, right?

508
01:13:25.670 --> 01:13:36.249
Allison Wolf: And then action planning, right? Okay, I need to get some more questioning, now let's encourage you. What do you want to be doing with this? How are you going to,

509
01:13:36.520 --> 01:13:39.990
Allison Wolf: How are you going to move forward? What will they commit to doing?

510
01:13:41.190 --> 01:14:01.400
Allison Wolf: And then I want to weave in something, again, from Max, where you said at the end, you like to say, you know, how was this helpful for you today? Is there something that was missing? Is there something that could be brought in next time? Like, have you got any feedback for me? I think that's a great, disembark after that question about what they're committed to doing.

511
01:14:01.400 --> 01:14:07.209
Allison Wolf: You can both learn about, you know, how did that conversation go, right? It's a nice wrap-up.

512
01:14:07.210 --> 01:14:22.439
Allison Wolf: So that's an approach to a Mentor Express conversation, but of course, I haven't had the opportunity of taking part in a Mentor Express program, so those who run that program might likely have other insights to share there.

513
01:14:23.020 --> 01:14:27.169
Allison Wolf: Now I'm going to get into… the next slide is a sample agenda.

514
01:14:27.700 --> 01:14:40.070
Allison Wolf: for, just your regular meetings. Now, you don't have to have a formal agenda, but this is more about different elements that you can weave in. It can help to have your agenda in your back pocket, right?

515
01:14:40.280 --> 01:14:55.410
Allison Wolf: I always like to start with this… I start my coaching questions with this, my coaching conversations with this question, and there's no reason why you can't do it in your mentoring. What's gone well, and what was there pertinent? I'll tell you why. This one can be a real stumper.

516
01:14:55.790 --> 01:15:02.029
Allison Wolf: Because, again, we're so focused on the problems, we're so focused on what's not going well, we're so focused on, like, what we're not good at.

517
01:15:02.210 --> 01:15:06.199
Allison Wolf: That it's… and particularly lawyers, as a profession.

518
01:15:06.900 --> 01:15:13.339
Allison Wolf: It really helps to just get them to pause for a moment and tell you what actually has gone well, and what was their part in that.

519
01:15:13.560 --> 01:15:19.580
Allison Wolf: And sit with them, because most… most associates or junior lawyers will need to sit there in silence for a while.

520
01:15:19.800 --> 01:15:24.080
Allison Wolf: To really think about that. But I find you get really great insights

521
01:15:24.270 --> 01:15:26.900
Allison Wolf: Opening up out of this kind of a question.

522
01:15:27.410 --> 01:15:30.330
Allison Wolf: Then you can dive into, like, what's something they'd like to discuss?

523
01:15:31.970 --> 01:15:43.110
Allison Wolf: You know, what's a challenge, or something that, you know, is there… and if there's not something they'd like to discuss, is there an area that they're focused on learning, or is there something they really are focused on getting better at, or is there… how are they doing?

524
01:15:43.260 --> 01:15:54.229
Allison Wolf: If they don't come to the… if you're a regular longer-term mentor, and you have regular meetings, and they don't come to the meeting with anything, that's okay. You can do what I call the stethoscope approach.

525
01:15:54.440 --> 01:16:07.979
Allison Wolf: You know, and apply it to, well, how's it going with your… how you're managing the practice? You know, I don't think you've ever told me how you stay organized. How do you keep on track of what you're doing, your to-dos? You can kind of monitor their, you know, their practice management.

526
01:16:08.560 --> 01:16:26.760
Allison Wolf: how much FaceTime are you getting with clients? How's that going? You know, have you… what have you been learning in that regard, right? You can just kind of use your questions to check out the various areas of their practice, and you will undoubtedly come up with some areas to discuss, and where there's some beneficial places to dig in and do some mentoring.

527
01:16:30.730 --> 01:16:38.260
Allison Wolf: share from experience, you know this already, offer ideas for consideration. This is all covered in what I, you know, what are the skills.

528
01:16:39.750 --> 01:16:46.959
Allison Wolf: And then as you kind of off-board from your conversation, you can have them reflect about what was most helpful from the conversation.

529
01:16:47.060 --> 01:16:48.860
Allison Wolf: For them, like, for them?

530
01:16:49.210 --> 01:16:58.929
Allison Wolf: A reflection from the mentor about key takeaways, and you… and then the mentee can be encouraged to talk about what are some next steps, right?

531
01:16:59.290 --> 01:17:07.619
Allison Wolf: You might, return to your office and take some notes. It's hard to, in the midst of the day-to-day and all the things that are happening, to remember

532
01:17:07.670 --> 01:17:20.219
Allison Wolf: some of the important stuff that takes place in these conversations. So, you can take your notes out, take… have an ongoing journal, maybe, or a file, and you just take some notes, so that you can, like, refer to those before your next conversation.

533
01:17:26.780 --> 01:17:30.920
Allison Wolf: And then closing, Closing the relationships, you know.

534
01:17:31.120 --> 01:17:34.489
Allison Wolf: If you're in a formal mentoring program, there will come an end.

535
01:17:34.610 --> 01:17:50.050
Allison Wolf: You can ask the protege, you can do your own reflection, both of you can do… can prepare for the final meeting by doing your own reflection about what you gained from it, what you learned, what may have developed or changed for you over that period, and what your takeaways are.

536
01:17:50.790 --> 01:18:03.900
Allison Wolf: As a mentor, you can also be thinking about how have you seen the mentee develop and grow over the period that you've been engaged with them? And then you can share these things with each other in the meeting.

537
01:18:05.390 --> 01:18:12.530
Allison Wolf: I have a very simple final meeting agenda, right? Which is an opportunity to

538
01:18:12.920 --> 01:18:14.330
Allison Wolf: Catch up with each other.

539
01:18:15.620 --> 01:18:25.859
Allison Wolf: you know, invite these top tech takeaways, right? Really lean into, you know, what was useful for that protege, right? What was helpful to them?

540
01:18:27.060 --> 01:18:33.260
Allison Wolf: The mentor, as you… you can share a perspective on how you saw them develop, and the challenges they overcame, and the strengths.

541
01:18:33.460 --> 01:18:36.979
Allison Wolf: That will help them to continue and to grow and develop.

542
01:18:37.980 --> 01:18:41.289
Allison Wolf: The mentor can share personal takeaways from the experience.

543
01:18:41.800 --> 01:18:48.209
Allison Wolf: And the mentor can ask for feedback about what was most helpful, what was less helpful, any recommendations on what they might do differently.

544
01:18:49.060 --> 01:19:06.130
Allison Wolf: And in some cases, if it's a formal, you might invite that the relationship can continue in a different format now, that the formal mentoring relationship is coming to a close, that you'll stay in touch with each other, well, you'll… you might go for lunch on occasion, right? But you'll continue to be engaged with one another.

545
01:19:06.300 --> 01:19:12.130
Allison Wolf: Right? That's up to you. It all depends on the nature of the relationship that is formed.

546
01:19:12.200 --> 01:19:28.569
Allison Wolf: It depends on the individual and the kind of program, mentoring program, that you are in. And whether it's a firm pro… if it's in the firm, you're of course going to see them. You're going to see them all the time, versus an external program. So, a lot of this has to do with, you know, where you're at.

547
01:19:30.980 --> 01:19:33.879
Allison Wolf: And finally, what I'd like to say, too, is that

548
01:19:34.750 --> 01:19:37.259
Allison Wolf: You know, more mentors is better.

549
01:19:37.770 --> 01:19:43.870
Allison Wolf: Encourage your mentee, if you're in a longer-term mentor relationship, to try out Mentor Express.

550
01:19:44.610 --> 01:20:02.149
Allison Wolf: You know, encourage, if you're in a firm that, you know, encourage informal mentoring programs, encourage senior associates mentoring junior associates. You know, encourage junior associates mentoring, you know, article students and summer students.

551
01:20:03.460 --> 01:20:05.449
Allison Wolf: You can even have

552
01:20:05.800 --> 01:20:12.040
Allison Wolf: Maybe less… it's a little bit of an informal mentoring, but you can even have programs within your partnership.

553
01:20:12.720 --> 01:20:17.840
Allison Wolf: You can have senior mentor… partners Mentoring new partners.

554
01:20:18.600 --> 01:20:31.239
Allison Wolf: You know, one firm I know, and I just did a LinkedIn post about this, one Alberta firm I know, they have 3 partners. In their partnership, they've grouped all the partners together, and they're a mid-sized firm, and 3 or 4 partners meet each week.

555
01:20:31.240 --> 01:20:38.699
Allison Wolf: To talk about what's happening in their practice, what their priorities are, for, like, a little bit of a, you know, a group mentoring session.

556
01:20:39.020 --> 01:20:55.659
Allison Wolf: each week, and it puts a little bounce in their steps, keeps them accountable, and they, they, they help troubleshoot things for each other, right? What a wonderful kind of, engaging, trust-building, culture-building, initiative to have at a firm.

557
01:20:55.970 --> 01:21:09.190
Allison Wolf: So, more mentors is better, and you can get creative about how you do that within your firm. For you as a mentor, if you're in a small firm, how you're engaging with the community. Yeah, there's so much possibility.

558
01:21:09.970 --> 01:21:22.949
Allison Wolf: So, even though I didn't get many questions, I do have time for questions now. You have my contact information here. If we're not connected on LinkedIn, you can find me, Allison Wolf, you just put my name in, I'll pop up.

559
01:21:22.970 --> 01:21:39.870
Allison Wolf: I go by the handle The Lawyer Coach. You can go to my website and take a look there. I've got some resources. I have a Flourishing Law Center Starter Kit, which has stuff all about the brain-aligned model for firms. It's not

560
01:21:39.870 --> 01:21:51.910
Allison Wolf: ready yet. I'm working some magic behind the scenes to get that ready, but that starter kit will be ready. Certainly, if you come to my website in November, you'll be able to download that, it's free.

561
01:21:52.470 --> 01:22:02.049
Allison Wolf: And, it's been a pleasure. So, let me know if you have any questions. If you could take a moment, and in the chat, if you don't have a question.

562
01:22:02.050 --> 01:22:13.019
Allison Wolf: Let me know about something that you're taking away from today. I'd love to see it. It's a little gift you can give me for, the time that I've spent with you. If you want to put a few words in the chat.

563
01:22:13.060 --> 01:22:17.330
Allison Wolf: About just one thing that maybe stood out for you, or maybe it's just a word.

564
01:22:17.410 --> 01:22:31.150
Allison Wolf: You know, it won't be seen by everybody else, but… but we here at the Law Society and me, will see it, so why don't you just take a moment and put something in the chat, and then I'll wait and see, too, if we get any questions.

565
01:22:32.750 --> 01:22:40.430
Allison Wolf: Thank you very much, importance of modeling behavior you want to see. That's a good one. Thank you.

566
01:22:41.490 --> 01:22:42.590
Allison Wolf: Anybody else?

567
01:22:43.810 --> 01:22:45.470
Allison Wolf: Oh, here's one, great!

568
01:22:45.670 --> 01:22:47.059
Allison Wolf: Thank you so much!

569
01:22:47.220 --> 01:22:49.360
Allison Wolf: You like the stethoscope approach.

570
01:22:49.830 --> 01:22:52.920
Allison Wolf: I… I use it regularly. I'm glad you like it.

571
01:22:53.430 --> 01:22:56.550
Allison Wolf: Sponsorship. Yeah, great.

572
01:22:56.740 --> 01:23:04.559
Allison Wolf: Oh, good, you like the structure, yeah. It's cool having those cameos dropped in, and I thought that was really, a good…

573
01:23:05.520 --> 01:23:08.549
Allison Wolf: Yeah, a good structure, too, I agree.

574
01:23:08.870 --> 01:23:19.660
Allison Wolf: Guidance on structure in the meetings, how to focus, the conversations. Oh, structures of the meetings. Sorry, I was thinking about structure of the presentation.

575
01:23:19.810 --> 01:23:25.589
Allison Wolf: Oh, yeah, wait! Yeah, such a classic. I just am forever grateful to Amy for that.

576
01:23:25.910 --> 01:23:30.810
Allison Wolf: Yeah, structure of the… of the mentoring meetings, yes.

577
01:23:31.220 --> 01:23:34.540
Allison Wolf: Great. Anybody else? This is really… I appreciate this.

578
01:23:35.950 --> 01:23:53.149
Rachel Provencher: Alison, there is just a question that came through as well, just about sharing your slides, so I just wanted to let that person know that those are available in the resources on Zoom, and we will also be posting a recording of this to our website following… along with the slides.

579
01:23:53.150 --> 01:23:54.730
Allison Wolf: Yes, absolutely.

580
01:23:57.670 --> 01:24:06.929
Allison Wolf: And, the resources, closely matches what I've said today, so, I think you'll find the resource helpful. Oh, we've got more, more votes for weight.

581
01:24:10.070 --> 01:24:13.990
Allison Wolf: Oh, the brain-aligned Mentorship… okay, yeah, so…

582
01:24:14.430 --> 01:24:21.839
Allison Wolf: David Rock Scarf Model, S-C-A-R-F model. I highly recommend you look into that. It is…

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Allison Wolf: dynamite. Just a little anecdote. One of them is, you know, the S in the scarf model is status, right? Some people are highly attuned to where they're sitting at in the, in the pecking order, and I have seen lawyers use it very successfully with their clients, right? To get their clients in an open and receptive state.

584
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Allison Wolf: to taking advice, it can be very helpful. So, yeah, it's a little bit of a nice… it's a nice resource to have, so you'll… you'll find there's tons in SCARF on the web.

585
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Allison Wolf: And I've got more votes for weight, that's wonderful. Well, I think I'm going to pass the baton back to our friends at the Law Society of Alberta, unless there's any other questions.

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Allison Wolf: Well, hopefully, you know,

587
01:25:10.720 --> 01:25:27.899
Allison Wolf: hopefully there's an opportunity. I see a friend here, I hope that, there'll be an opportunity for, you know, to share this presentation if it's beneficial with others. I don't know if, if, you know, the Law Society, can you tell me, will people be available to listen to the recording if they weren't able to attend live?

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Rachel Provencher: Yes, we will be posting the recording on our website following this, so anybody can, yeah, they can go and watch that presentation.

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Allison Wolf: Oh, super, that's great, thank you.

590
01:25:43.580 --> 01:25:44.690
Allison Wolf: Well, great!

591
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Len Polsky: Okay, good.

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Len Polsky: Allison, thank you so much for an absolutely wonderful presentation today. It was just filled with ideas and recommendations and nuggets and takeaways. I learned so much from what you had to say today. For everyone else, that is all the time we have today. We appreciate you joining us, and we hope that you'll be able to take away some valuable information.

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Len Polsky: As I mentioned earlier, and it was just mentioned a moment ago, a version of this webinar has been recorded and will be posted to the Law Society's website.

594
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Len Polsky: This might be valuable for you if you want to review anything, or if you know anybody interested in what we presented today who wasn't able to join us.

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Len Polsky: Before we sign off, just a quick reminder to take a couple of minutes, if you would please, to complete the exit survey that you'll be getting. It will help us improve today's presentation and determine future topics. Thank you again for joining us, and I hope you have a great day.

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Len Polsky: Take care.