Mentorship: How the City of Kelowna’s mentorship program brought Axelle Bazett and Shayne Dyrdal closer together

Seeking out mentors can be a difficult thing. You can find articles and lists and how-tos on the subject in media outlets like NPR and the Harvard Business Review. These pieces often touch on things like establishing connections with people in your industry, being clear about what you want and doing your own research. Forbes even refers to the “mentor shortage,” something it mostly blames on remote work. Today, especially outside of educational institutions, it can be difficult to establish that mentorship relationship.

For that reason, it’s easy to appreciate the City of Kelowna for creating a formal mentor program for its employees. Axelle Bazett sure does.

In 2018, the city decided to prioritize retaining local talent and fostering internal development within its organization, explains Bazett, a former sales manager and communications consultant who joined the City of Kelowna in 2017 and now serves as intergovernmental relations manager.

“There are so many strong leaders at the city who have been there for a number of years,” says Bazett. “And we have younger, emergent leaders who are keen to stay with the organization and learn and grow within it.”

Since 2018, some 50 staff at the city have been mentored through the year-long program. “It’s really to foster a learning culture and develop the talent pool,” says Bazett. “And it strengthens the leadership within the organization as well.”

Bazett would know—she went through the program last year. She was paired with Shayne Dyrdal, director of finance and corporate services at the Kelowna International Airport. (Another thing that Kelowna does differently: it’s home to the country’s largest municipally owned airport. It’s Canada’s 10th busiest.)

“Shayne is an inspiring woman leader in the traditionally male-dominated aviation sector,” says Bazett. “She’s earned the respect of a lot of her peers nationally and even internationally for the work she does. It’s been incredible for me to see her willingness to offer mentorship to emerging women leaders.”

The two already knew each other, as Bazett would occasionally help with the airport’s communications efforts. But the program brought on a new level of closeness. “You’re supposed to meet approximately eight times throughout the year,” says Dyrdal. “You set up the time together, how you want to meet and what you’re most comfortable with.”

For Bazett, the program embodied key parts of the organization’s principles. “One of our corporate values is to work as one team,” she says of the municipality. “The airport is a completely different department than I’m located in—Shayne is at YLW, I’m at city hall. And yet, it’s brought us closer together.”

Dyrdal, who describes Bazett as “a star before we started working together,” offers rave reviews for her ability to elevate her leadership skills. “It was an honour to be able to work with her on some of the things she was finding challenging and really wanted to grow and develop in,” says Dyrdal. “Before Axelle was in the position she is, it didn’t even exist within the organization. She’s built it up fully.”

That includes a recent hire for Bazett’s team that she thinks will help boost her department. “There’s a desire for innovation and new ideas, which has allowed me a path to create a niche in local government,” Bazett says. “Capacity developing was a big struggle for me; it helped to work with a mentor in terms of developing a business case for a new staff hire. We’re accountable to taxpayers—hiring new staff isn’t something the mayor and council take lightly. It’s about showing the benefit to our residents.”

Bazett and Dyrdal still meet up often since the end of the program, but the tone is much more casual. “I still very much reach out to Shayne,” says Bazett. “The importance of being an active listener and approaching opportunities with curiosity—that’s definitely something I learned from her. And just generally levelling up. To have an inspiring leader in the organization, someone to look up to, to bounce ideas off, it really helps grow myself and the organization I work in.”