Volunteering, mentoring and coaching

Episode Transcript

Julianna: Hello and welcome to the Daring to Succeed podcast. I’m so excited today because I have with me Samir Lal, who is a distinguished professional holding multiple credentials, including Certified Management accountant and project management professional. He currently serves as a highly accomplished risk management professional for one of Canada’s largest financial institutions. Beyond his professional career Sameer is also a best-selling author keynote speaker and influential community leader. Most recently he founded Community Canada a not-for-profit organization with a mission to empower and equip young professionals and newcomers who are coming to Canada and in their successful transition into the Canadian job market. Welcome Samir.

Sameer: Thank you very much Julianna for inviting me here. It is a pleasure.

Julianna: Absolutely and let’s get things kicked off with a fun little question. Do you consider yourself more introverted, extroverted or bit of both?

Sameer: I would say bit of both. At times I want to be alone, at times I want to be in the public. So it’s mix of both here.

Julianna: Yeah, I find a lot of people are a mix of both. You sound like you’re you’re closer to the middle of both.

Sameer: Yeah, more more introvert then extrovert, but I enjoy meeting people I enjoy talking to people but at the same time I enjoy myself, so…

Julianna: Nice.

Sameer: Yeah.

Julianna: It’s a good balance. So you’re very active in your community while still holding senior roles in corporate. Why is it so important for you to give back to your community?

Sameer: You know whenever I’m going out and trying to serve anybody else or serve my community. I always think it from the other side that if I needed help what happens if nobody comes to help me and that gives me a motivation to go out and help people because I have taken so much from Canada in last 20 years 25 years.

Sameer: It is my responsibility to give back to connect to the people here to my community living here. And that sense of responsibility takes me out all the time and it could be as small as possible help to smallest possible contribution I can make. It always gives me a pleasure to get out and help people in our community.

Julianna: That’s so beautiful. And so generous of you and I found myself in the same situation as well when I have the opportunity to give back. It’s a really nice feeling to be able to help others.

Sameer: Absolutely. Absolutely and you see the happiness when they get the help. And when you see the happiness on their face that gives you immense happiness. So you do it for your happiness, fot for the their happiness.

Julianna: Everybody’s happy.

Sameer: Yeah

Julianna: So you recently started Community to empower students and newcomers so that they can reach their full potential and achieve their career goals. Can you tell us a little bit more about what you hope to achieve with the not-for-profit and how you envision helping them?

Sameer: Yeah, again, this is 20 years back when I came here and I didn’t know that there is anything exists like mentor or anything like networking. Nobody told me I came from a different cultural background. So I still got all the way on my own and after many years, I realized that what is the power of Mento, what is the power of networking, what is the power of relationship into your career, and even in your life goals.

Sameer: So I started thinking that if if I can help newcomers, those who are coming from the same cultural background or from the current cultural background, if I can help them–if I can show them the path which I have walked–if I can give them those steps, what is the power of networking, of relationship. So with my experience I can always tell them that this is the path to take this is the path not to take and if they can be they can get benefited by that and they don’t have to reinvent the whole wheel which I have already done so they can get much faster results and what they can reach much higher in their careers and that initiated this Community Canada. So it’s not a recent thing. We started a few years back but it was started by me alone. And then one of my mentee, Akash, he came and joined me as a founder of this not-for-profit organization. Yeah and just in a short period of time now, we have 15 mentors there and we have a couple of community brand ambassadors.

Sameer: Because if anybody coming from Iran wants to meet some person there first, they want somebody with their cultural background. So we have Community brand ambassador there so they first talk to them and then they divert them to us and then we talked to them and it’s so totally not for profit. We don’t charge anything. We don’t pay anything to anybody. And the growth is tremendous people need help all the newcomers need help and we have met more than a thousand people so far in this organization and that is 1-on-1 meetings. But collectively when we go and speak into the universities and colleges about our mentorship, that number will be like multiple thousand. Yea it is helping out big-time the way people are connecting with us. The people are passionate about it. So that gives us a reason to do it more and more and get more volunteers there.

Julianna: Yeah, but that’s so exciting that you’ve been able to expand so much in reach further into the community. Because I’ve worked with newcomers to Canada as well myself through other organizations and it’s really tough out there.

Sameer: Yeah, but we have getting big-time support from all these colleges and universities and they invite us and when we talk to people collectively there and then they come to our platform and then they connect with us 1-on-1. So it is making a difference and we see the people are getting jobs, people are finding their career.

Sameer: path and that’s the question that is what we are all aiming from and for its really helping people and it is helping us to gain more and more insight on what problems they faced and what are their challenges. And at times when we are telling them our path and they tell us their path, we also learn every single day something new. So it is a personal development for me, too.

Julianna: Yeah, but that’s always really good. And a lot of people wonder what the difference is between mentorship and coaching. How would you describe maybe the similarities and the differences between both?

Sameer: A mentorship is I would think that mentorship is more of a telling my experiences to the people and showing them the path. So the person who is mentor to me the that person is more experienced and then that person can guide, irrespective of what path you want to take. I can show you what path I took and I can pass on my wisdom. Where as in coaching, I personally feel you already have the skill set and just watching it and I’m trying to tell you where the shortcomings are.

Sameer: What more you can improve right here. You can bring break the belief system which you have and you’re not able to see yourself in a bigger picture which I can see for you, right? I can guide you through what it is all the parts which is done by you in coaching. Coach can only guide you. But in mentorship, it’s a probably partnership kind of a thing. So I guide you and then you tell me your problems, then I guide you and, you tell me your problems

Sameer: And I keep on seeing your part. So there is a big time difference between mentorship and coaching, but it is often used as people think that is one of the same thing but it is not like yeah.

Julianna: Yeah, it definitely is a very different experience whether you’re looking for a mentor who has walked a particular path and can help you with that versus a coach who can almost help you forge your own path.

Sameer: Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

Julianna: Yeah now and we’re just about to wrap up the the podcast episode. Do you have any final tips or suggestions for people who are wanting to reach their full potential and achieve their career goals?

Sameer: Oh, yeah. Lots of them. The very important is don’t have limiting beliefs. People think that “I’m not meant for that. It is not for me.” Always have a big big dreams. If you have Big Dreams then only you can achieve the big things. If you don’t dream about it you could never achieve it.

Sameer: So just get away from all your limiting belief. Get away from your…go out and meet people, the successful people–people those who have done what you want to do talk to them. Everybody’s sitting there to talk to you. They are ready to help you as long as you go out and ask for the help. What limiting belief we have? “Why somebody will help me?” and that’s why we don’t go out and ask for the help. So my suggest always think big and get out and try to meet people.

Sameer: The more people you meet, the more guidance you have, the more you’ll help the more help you get. So always go out with the helping attitude and you’ll get lots of help from outside and you can progress in your career.

Julianna: That’s such great advice. I really love that because it’s true–if you if you don’t ask for the help, you will never get it.

Sameer: Exactly exactly. Yeah.

Julianna: Great! Well, thank you so much for your time, Sameer. We will be sharing a link out to CommUnity so that you can learn more about that organization and what they do and thank you again.