Today we’d like to introduce you to Doug Lawrence

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?

I am a Saskatchewan, Canada born farm boy. I lived on a farm for the first 18 years of my life.I left the farm in 1972 to work as a security officer at a shopping mall in Saskatoon, Sask. I always had an admiration for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police(RCMP) so joined them in 1974. I actually had two options, join the RCMP or the Prince Albert City Police and chose the RCMP. My first posting with the RCMP was to Prince Rupert, British Columbia. I ended up being posted to 11 different locations. Some of my postings were locations where I was the only police officer and had to rely on back-up that was 30 minutes away – sometimes by air.

One of the postings that I had was Dease Lake in northern British Columbia. This was a special spot as it was where I met my wife to be. Debra was staying with her Aunt and Uncle who I had a great relationship with. We were engaged in 1977 and married in 1978.

We had two children, Brandy (1982) and Mathew (1985). Our children had a very unique opportunity that most don’t get and that was living in the far north.

We were transferred out of the Northwest Territories in 1989 to Langley, British Columbia. I eventually got transferred back to my home province of Saskatchewan and was promoted twice (Sgt. and S/Sgt.). I oversaw a team of 140 personnel for a period of time. I retired from the RCMP in 1998 to take a leadership role in the private sector. Over the course of the next few years I did some management consulting and then back into leadership roles in the Provincial Government at one point managing a team of 160 people. I was a key resource in the consolidation of 21 IT departments into a single shared service model. We had to create 140 position descriptions.

By 2009 I had developed the ability to work with people with what I came to understand as “mentoring”. I did some research and found that there was a market niche for mentoring and mentor certification. I partnered with an organization in the US to provide mentor certification and mentor training based on knowledge.

This eventually evolved into a certification based on Competence. This was the result of a partnership with a colleague who is an expert in ISO standards. That partnership exists today. We had co-founded the (International Mentoring Community –
IMC). I currently am the only person to hold the Certificate of Practice – Journey Mentor from the IMC.

I have been responsible for creating a number of mentoring services that has benefited organizations and people. My “Termination vs Mentoring” has resulted in employees who were targeted for termination becoming meaningful contributors again as a result of the mentoring process.

I continue to work on having mentoring recognized as a key element in the support structure for mental health.

I have written and published two books:

The Gift of Mentoring in 2014 and “You Are Not Alone” in 2022 (Amazon #1 Best Seller, North America and UK and Global Book Awards – Bronze Medal. I have a third book in the editing phase at this time.

I am also an International Best Selling Author.

In 2021 I lost my wife, Debra to cancer and have been dealing with the grief of her loss since then. I share my story via podcasts and have co-hosted or been a guest on approximately 150 podcasts.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

My biggest challenge was the loss of my wife in 2021.

There were other challenges but none that compare with that.

Dealing with PTSD as a result of my service in the RCMP did present some issues. Battling alcohol was one of them. I thought that it was the solution when in fact it only made things worse.

Finding sponsors/investors to work with and getting them to see the value of what I was doing was a challenge as well.

Finding funding to further evolve the services that I could bring to the business community was a challenge as well.

As you know, we’re big fans of TalentC – People Services Inc.. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?

The best way to describe who or what is TalentC is that it is all things mentoring. Mentor certification, mentor training, mentor consulting, one on one and group mentoring and now mentoring as a part of the mental health support structure.

I have implemented mentoring in a number of organizations and have now evolved this to include mentoring as part of the organizations support structure.

I provide mentoring in person and virtually on an international stage as I am a volunteer mentor for the Sir Richard Branson Entrepreneur program in the Caribbean and the American Corporate Partners in the US.

My Termination vs Mentoring provides employees with a chance to become that productive employee that just needed some mentoring support to help them get back on track again.

TalentC has evolved and we have been recognized as a thought leader in the mentoring space on an international platform.

Our approach is that we will not engage with your organization unless we can bring value. Value is the most important thing. This is what our clients tell us that sets us apart from all the others.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?

Baling hay/straw with my Mom on the farm. She would accidentally pop the clutch on the old WD9 tractor sending me off the back of the stacker (slip). I would have to run to catch up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.talentc.ca
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doug.lawrence.1610/
• Twitter: @DougLawrenceJM
• Youtube: @TalentcDougLawrence