Pollinate Networks Inc.

On February 26, Pollinate Networks Inc. hosted a webinar on?"Adapting to?Disruption: Navigating the Future of Learning in the Digital Age", where we tackled some of the biggest questions facing organizations today: ?? Why do senior executives still view learning and development as a necessary evil rather than a strategic asset for managing change? ?? What are the best practices for effectively transferring and retaining knowledge in times of?disruption? ?? Can AI truly replace human mentorship and coaching, or does it come with hidden risks? ?? How can organizations balance AI-driven learning with the critical thinking and adaptability needed for long-term success? We explored these pressing topics with industry experts (Christy Pettit, Chris Evans, & Giovanni Salas, PhD), and now, I'm bringing the insights to you! This article?captures the key takeaways.

Our latest newsletter just dropped! Catch up on all the highlights: ?? New Blog: Adapting to Disruption: Navigating the Future of Learning in the Digital Age—insights from our Feb 26 webinar. ?? ICYMI: Watch the full webinar recording on demand. ?? Case Study Spotlight: Cultivating Peer Groups Among Agriculture Producers—how peer mentoring is transforming the industry. ?? Mentoring Insight: Explore the role of Core Motivation in building stronger mentoring relationships. ?? Want to see our matching software in action? Book a free demo today! Check it out now! ??

10 YEARS! A decade of growth, innovation, and meaningful connections. Today, I’m celebrating 10 years with Pollinate Networks Inc., and I couldn’t be more grateful for the journey. Helping build something that makes a real impact—helping organizations foster mentorship, collaboration, and leadership—has been incredibly rewarding. I’ve had the opportunity to be creative, to push boundaries, and to work alongside amazing people who truly value the work we do. This morning, my team went above and beyond to mark the occasion. When I joined our Monday morning check-in, everyone had changed their virtual background to celebrate this milestone—and then they surprised me with a song they wrote just for me! It was thoughtful, hilarious, and honestly, one of the best ways I could imagine kicking off this day. To my colleagues, our clients, and to all of my contacts who have been part of this journey—thank you for making this such a meaningful and fulfilling experience. ?? ?? ??

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating the incredible leaders, mentors, and changemakers of the Nature Canada Women for Nature community—women who are shaping a more sustainable future through leadership, mentorship, and action. From the unwavering generosity of Meg Beckel, MBA, ICD D. to Andrea Koehle Jones’ dedication to environmental education, from Supriya Verma’s corporate sustainability leadership to Christy Pettit’s passion for mentorship, these women are making a lasting impact. And let’s not forget the Young Nature Leaders like Chevaun Toulouse, whose commitment to land-based cultural stewardship is inspiring the next generation. It’s an honour for Pollinate Networks Inc. to be connected to such amazing company. Supporting Nature Canada through the Women for Nature mentoring program over the past 8 years has been both a joy and a privilege! These young solution-finders are quite literally our future. ??? Join us in celebrating these changemakers and their efforts to protect nature and wildlife in Canada! ?? #InternationalWomensDay #WomenForNature #Mentorship #Leadership #Conservation #Sustainability #PollinateNetworks #NatureCanada

Jim Lemuel Wilson’s recent article in HRD Canada highlights an important trend—according to the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions (Jan–Feb 2025) by Statistics Canada | Statistique Canada, only 25% of Canadian businesses plan to use mentoring as a training tool. At Pollinate Networks Inc., we see #mentorship as a critical driver of employee #development, #engagement, and #retention. While it’s great to see self-directed #mentoring gaining traction, organizations have a huge opportunity to embed mentorship more intentionally. We’d love to see more companies invest in scalable, structured #mentoringprograms that empower employees at all levels to #grow and #connect! (see comments for reference article)

This is such a powerful insight! The sheer volume of information available today is staggering—but without context and application, it doesn’t translate into real learning. That’s why #mentorship is more critical than ever. When someone shares their lived experience, it’s not just knowledge—it’s wisdom in action. We naturally learn by mimicking, adapting, and applying insights from those who’ve been there before. This is what makes mentorship such a game-changer in navigating disruption.

My first "breakthrough" assignment as a young executive was in 2002 working for a $7B organization to help them improve processes to save some millions of dollars during a rough patch. While we did manage to save the money in the timeframe required, suffice it to say, mistakes were made. A number of them by me. While I stressed greatly about these mistakes, a mentor took me aside and said to me: "Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement." (The quote is attributed to Dr. Kerr White.) Experience cannot be replaced. In our modern times, reading and watching has become a massively popular way of knowing about things, but experience is still the most reliable teacher and makes the biggest imprint on the brain. A close second is to learn from someone else's experience, hence my focus on mentoring. It's a very brain-efficient way to learn. The release of Gabriel Garcia Marques' 100 Years of Solitude as a tv series has our Pollinate Networks Inc. CTO and I talking and dipping back into the original material. We've been comparing between the original work and it's on-screen iteration, and then the further interpretations through the show's translations (sometimes good, sometimes not so much). It's a good show, and yet experiencing the book first hand is another level for sure. Giovanni had lot to say about the value of learning from direct experience when we talked about it on our webinar last week, attached in the comments below. The webinar, and our impromptu "book club" has been an excellent reminder to be mindful of the experiences we are in and to derive the learning we can. Direct experience - yours or someone else's is the best teacher.

?????? ?????? ???? ?????????????????? ????????????????: ????’?? ?????? ???????? ?????????? ??????????????????????????—????’?? ?????????? ????????????. I absolutely loved this conversation from our webinar earlier this week—???????????????? ???? ????????????????????: ???????????????????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ???????????????? ???? ?????? ?????????????? ??????—so much that I had to share another piece today! In this clip, Giovanni Salas, PhD, CTO of Pollinate Networks Inc., shares some powerful wisdom on why knowledge transfer isn’t just about documentation—it’s about people sharing, collaborating, and learning from each other. For decades, organizations have been chasing the perfect knowledge management system, believing that if they could just capture and store information, knowledge transfer would take care of itself. But as Giovanni points out, history tells a different story. With remote and hybrid work reshaping the way we connect, it’s more important than ever to create environments where people can actively share and absorb knowledge—not just passively consume it. So, how do we do that? How do we ensure that what’s shared actually sticks and gets applied when people return to their daily work? Watch the video to hear more, and let’s discuss in the comments! How does your organization approach knowledge sharing? What’s working—and what’s not? #LIVideo #KnowledgeTransfer #Mentoring #Collaboration #FutureOfWork #LearningCulture Christy Pettit

In our Pollinate Networks Inc. webinar earlier today: "Adapting to Disruption: Navigating the Future of Learning in the Digital Age", Christy Pettit asked a great question: Why is Learning & Development often seen as a “necessary evil” rather than a powerful asset, especially in times of disruption, change, and ambiguity? In these challenging times, L&D should be one of our most important tools for adapting and thriving. Yet, it’s often one of the first things to be sidelined when things get tough. What are your thoughts? How can we shift the mindset to see L&D as a strategic resource during times of change? #LIVideo #LearningAndDevelopment #Adaptability #ChangeManagement #Disruption #Leadership

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