Mentoring at Intervia: A Natural Synergy

As an SME, Intervia wishes to promote the professional development of its employees through continuous training, but also by developing an organic and informal advisory networks for all employees.

An integral part of our corporate culture, knowledge sharing is an essential component that strengthens the expertise of our teams and improves the quality of deliverables for our clients. While formal and codified mentoring programs are already in place in many companies, our system takes different forms and adapts to our growth. Initially based on an informal method that allows mentor-mentee pairs to form naturally through reciprocal affinities and in an unofficial way, mentoring at Intervia evolves over the years based on needs.

To foster these essential and beneficial exchanges for all employees, Intervia is currently developing its own internal mentoring and coaching program, tailor-made for our corporate culture. Led by Sylvain Felton, Engineer and Project Manager, this program is designed to preserve the authenticity of the exchanges that are the strength of our teams while offering a framework to facilitate meetings between mentor and mentee, on a voluntary basis.

“Above all, we want to encourage contacts and offer all employees the opportunity to develop professionally through a relationship of trust between mentor and mentee established on a voluntary and natural basis. For me, mentoring is a very good way to pass on know-how and interpersonal skills. In my opinion, this goes beyond answering questions. I seek to push my mentees to question themselves and walk on their own to find within them the means and resources necessary to achieve their goals.”

More than just training, mentoring is based above all on good understanding between the individuals concerned. If the individuals do not get along, knowledge-sharing cannot take place. It is therefore essential to maintain this spontaneity in exchanges in order to unleash all the expected potential. At Intervia, we appreciate the flexibility of SMEs to let everyone evolve naturally among their peers thanks to adapted supervision.

This is the opinion of our Operations Manager, Marie-Michèle Bussières-Dicaire, Eng., DESS, PMP. For her, forced mentoring is nonsense. Because of her experience as a mentee and then as a mentor at Intervia, she explains that it is these informal exchanges over coffee or during lunch that promote dialogue, create connections, and a conducive environment for effective knowledge sharing.

“I have never learned as much from my mentor as during these coffee breaks where we were all together and my colleagues freely spoke about their projects and experiences. These exchanges were a wealth of information for me when I was a junior engineer. Today as a mentor, I never force dialogue, I want above all to create a strong and natural bond with the person who wants to learn from my experience.”

As for Alanna Chalifour, P.Eng., our team leader in traffic control and impact management, mentoring takes on another dimension. A former mentee with a passion for knowledge sharing, Alanna naturally took on the role of mentor without really wanting to put a label on herself. For her, sharing her experience with others comes naturally, and she is always available to answer her colleagues' questions.

“I don't think I really realize that I'm seen as a mentor, but I know that the expertise I've gained over the years puts me in a position where my colleagues naturally come to me with questions. I like to share my experience and support my team in their professional development without formalizing this position. I believe that it is a role that is acquired naturally over time and through lived experiences, but also thanks to this desire to share with others what has contributed to our professional journey. Without this desire for exchange, there is no mentoring.”

For our mentees, the benefits of these exchanges are felt very quickly, because they also accelerate their integration within the company by allowing them to easily appropriate the corporate culture. Young recruits, on the other hand, feel very quickly considered and valued thanks to the knowledge they have acquired from their mentor. This is the case of Étienne Léger, Eng., who arrived at Intervia as a candidate for the engineering profession (CPI), and successfully obtained his engineering permit thanks to the personalized support offered to him by his mentors throughout his career.

“At Intervia, the involvement of senior engineers and their mentorship were essential for me to quickly feel valued and integrated in projects. I felt this as soon as I joined the mobility planning team. Their support has allowed me to develop my skills and contribute fully to projects, which fosters a work environment that promotes versatility.”

Finally, what we remember from this system is that it occurs naturally, it is an old process that will go on as long as we preserve the essence that keeps social relations authentic. By maintaining and developing it through company-specific programs, we maintain the essential driving force of our company: knowledge transmission.