Katalina (00:01.09)
Hello and welcome to Career Path. I am your host, Catalina. In this podcast, we cover a variety of different topics, some very industry specific, and other more broad explorations on how to grow, level up and build your own career. Today, we will be discussing the topic of the power of mentorship, how to both find and be a great mentor. And today to discuss that with me, I have Marion Sangling. Now Marion Sangling.

is currently the vice president at the bureaus. She also is a past president of RMAI and receivables management certified. Marianne, thank you so much for coming on with me today. It is a pleasure to have you. Would you like to tell us a little bit about yourself, how you got to where you are today and what you do?

Marian (00:43.76)
That was a lot. Thanks, Catalina. Thanks for having me. I genuinely appreciate you ask. A little bit about me, okay? I've been in the receivables management industry since 1985. So a very long time. And I have done just about every job that there is to do in our industry from being an actual agent on the phone collecting debt.

Katalina (00:47.57)
My pleasure.

Marian (01:12.668)
to my role that I am today. And again, my role as president of RMAI, it's board of directors representing the industry and the membership. So lots, again, there's a whole story, but it's a lot of years. So I probably will just end it with that.

Katalina (01:24.138)
Yeah.

Katalina (01:32.854)
That's a great introduction. Thank you. So I'm so glad to have you on talking about mentorship today. And what I want to start with is for somebody who's newer in the industry, like myself, how would you go about finding a mentor? I kind of fell into finding mentors myself. I wasn't really seeking it, but for somebody who is seeking that kind of mentorship within the industry, how would they go about that? What steps would they need to take?

Marian (02:01.193)
I feel that.

If the, whomever it is that you're looking for to mentor you should be someone that has similar interest in what you're doing. And when I say similar interest, because not just the career path, but similar interest, because then you have topics that you can discuss, things that are not necessarily work related. But understanding your...

Marian (02:34.26)
mentors personality and habits and all around life is in my opinion important because then you have you build a mutual respect with each other and you build an understanding you have things in common you find bonds that you have and it's not just always all about um correct

Katalina (02:57.682)
Work, work, work. So it's not seeking out somebody necessarily in a specific position just because they're in that position, but finding somebody that you can connect with and that can help you grow through mutual interests and passions, it sounds like.

Marian (03:15.492)
That's what I would recommend, yes. I think that it makes a huge difference. Otherwise, you miss out on building that relationship and in most cases, probably finding yourself a lifelong friend, whether you stay in the industry or not.

Katalina (03:28.286)
Yeah. So then would you say that most mentorships are mutually beneficial? Mm-hmm. That's what I would think. I've heard before that some people say, well, the mentee gets everything out of it and it's work for the mentor. What would you say the mentor gets out of it?

Marian (03:35.045)
Absolutely, yes.

Marian (03:50.616)
revived. I think that someone who has been in our industry or in any industry for that matter for a lengthy period of time can have a tendency to become rigid and structured and maybe forget about what it was like to be that person coming up and learning. So the mentor

Katalina (03:52.336)
Oh, okay, I love that.

Katalina (04:15.834)
Absolutely.

Marian (04:20.036)
has an opportunity to reflect and remember what it was like and also learn new things because technology is changing. Everything is changing. So for example, Catalina, if you and I were to sit down and have a one-on-one conversation, a lot of the things that you might be doing may be the same type or same tasks that I was doing, but you do it in a very different way. So I think both parties can gain from the mentor mentee relationship.

Katalina (04:47.582)
I love that. So not only do we both have something to learn from one another, and we could both be lifelong friends, like you said earlier, but there is that revival in that passion for whatever you're doing. I haven't heard that before. That's very cool. I like that. So how would you recommend going about getting the most out of a mentor-mentee relationship? Is that like setting up constant meetings? Is that just kind of going with the flow, making sure you're working on

Marian (05:01.92)
Yes.

Katalina (05:17.666)
what makes you get the most out of it.

Marian (05:21.724)
Well, all of that, but it really, for example, if your mentor of choice is someone that you work directly with in your same organization, there's much more one-on-one time. If your mentor of choice is someone that's in the industry, but yet with a different organization, you may only have one-on-one time at conferences and maybe the occasional Zoom call. Like I have a group of

Marian (05:50.972)
in the industry that we all do completely different things, but we're all in the industry, but we all make it a point to meet at every conference that we're all attending so that we can talk and understand what's going on. Don't get me wrong, there's a little bit of socializing in there, yes, but we really spend time talking about what's going on in.

Marian (06:18.52)
each other's world and provide guidance. And, you know, if there's an obstacle, we, um, assist each other in finding ways to overcome the obstacle. So the one-on-one time with someone that works directly with you. It would be great, but don't let that stop you from seeking out someone who is not working in your organization. Cause there's lots of wonderful people out there that you could have as a mentor.

Marian (06:48.624)
that works across the country. Technology is great. You have Zoom calls, you have conferences, you have, I mean, they know phone calls, but people that you'll find common ground with. I have so many wonderful people in my life that I can pick up the phone and call when I'm struggling with something and they help me figure out the best way to approach it. So I love that. Technology's great for that.

Katalina (07:12.734)
Absolutely. And something else you mentioned in there that I thought was great to highlight is you said a group of you get together. It wasn't just like a mentor and a mentee relationship. It was a whole group of you who were like doing a mutual mentoring and support. So I guess then mentorship relationships can come in all different site types, not just a one-on-one. So that's very

Marian (07:29.797)
Yes.

Marian (07:39.153)
Yes.

Katalina (07:42.578)
If you are looking to be a mentor for somebody, how do you be the most impactful mentor that you can be? What are some things you can do to make sure that you are giving value to somebody who is trying to learn from you?

Marian (07:58.296)
Respect the person's value and opinions. I think that's probably the most important thing. Be discreet about things that are shared with you as a mentor because trust is vital in that type of relationship, whether it's a mentor, mentor friends or whatever, and be open to different views and opinions. Again, like I said a second ago, as a mentor, somebody who's been in a role for a lengthy period of time, they

Katalina (08:12.627)
Absolutely.

Marian (08:27.108)
may have a tendency to become rigid or have a tendency to be like, well, my way is the best way. And in reality, that's one of the benefits of being a mentor because you gain a perspective of someone who is newer to the industry that can actually enhance something that you have been doing for years. It's a mutually beneficial process, the mentor-mentee thing, because both of you will gain from that aspect. But finding that person.

Katalina (08:34.694)
Oh, yeah.

Marian (08:57.172)
Um, to mentor, um, same thing, you know, it takes you, it takes a, it would take a mentor type person, um, to really look inside of themselves and realize that, you know what, I'm not the best at everything. Maybe I, um, can offer a lot of insight, but I can also gain a lot of insight. So let me talk to.

this person and see how they're doing. I do that all the time, not just with people that I have internally, but I seek out people like at the conferences because I want to understand where they're coming from. Things are very different than when I started in this industry way too many years ago. So it's important for me to gain a different perspective and understand not just technology, but actual philosophy on and their perspective on

Marian (09:52.772)
what they see happening in the industry. That was a lot of words.

Katalina (09:55.318)
Yeah, and I think our industry is a very human-based industry. So understanding other people, different views, how everything is working together. And there's so many different companies working towards the same goal and like working intertwined with one another. So having that understanding of different people through seeking out mentorship, whether that's the one-on-one or in group.

That's huge that yeah, it could really catapult you in different directions, whether you ignore it or use it.

Marian (10:20.464)
Yep.

Marian (10:25.44)
In our industry, we're full of many type A personalities. So it can tend to be a struggle if you're not a type A personality, or if you are a type A personality, because all type A people don't always click. They don't always find that relationship. So that's why it's important to find someone who has common things. For example, are you a dog lover?

Katalina (10:41.719)
Yeah.

Marian (10:53.08)
Are you, do you have children? You know, do you like to go to the beach? You learn that by getting to know someone first and.

Marian (11:03.596)
I mean, it doesn't mean that you have to be the best of friends, but it certainly does help provide a perspective as to what's going on. You know, whenever I'm talking to new people within the industry, you know, I talk about where do you see yourself in five years, you know, 10 years, 15 years, to get an understanding as to what they want to be when they grow up, you know. In our industry, you know, people didn't...

Katalina (11:21.958)
Great question, yeah.

Marian (11:32.52)
go to high school and college to be in the debt collection industry. They somehow, we all just kind of fell into the industry, whether it's um, being some sort of a vendor or being in collections, whatever the circumstances are, understanding your mentor or mentee, both of, both parties should seek to understand what the end of it, what the other individual's goals are for the future, you know, five, 10 years so that

Katalina (11:41.034)
Absolutely.

Marian (12:00.496)
you're aligning yourselves with someone that has similar goals and aspirations in life.

Katalina (12:05.95)
Absolutely. And even when you and I first started talking, you asked me about just not five, 10 years, but this year, you're like, what are you doing this year? Are you going to events? How is career path going to pan out? And we ended up even talking about the fact that I'm moving back to Chicago, which is where you're located. So we connected just from that knowing that I grew up in Chicago, you're there, all of that. So.

Absolutely, learning about somebody can just immediately create such a stronger connection. And I would love to hear from you about a mentor, either when you were a mentee or when you were a mentor, a mentee-mentor relationship that impacted you personally.

Marian (12:37.576)
Absolutely.

Marian (12:53.8)
Well, let's see.

Katalina (12:54.222)
Do you have one in mind?

Marian (12:59.292)
Growing up in this industry the way that I did, again, it was a very different industry than it is today. And so finding a mentor wasn't really an option. I'm sure those that are part of our industry that lived through the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s in this industry would agree that it was much more of a cutthroat environment. And...

Marian (13:28.54)
very heavily male dominated. However, with that in mind, I have, you know, two, three, but two males who were significant in my career path, I guess is the best way to say it, you know? But it wasn't because I was able to sit down and talk to them about a problem per se. It was more, they had the faith in me that I could do a job.

Katalina (13:30.911)
I've heard that, yes.

Marian (13:58.636)
and the respect became mutual and they taught me things. So, and I'm really dumbing that down, I guess is the best way, they taught me things. And then, in my career today, I'm learning something new every day. I speak with our CEO on almost a daily basis and I'm learning more and more about

Katalina (14:10.298)
Yeah.

Marian (14:28.188)
different facets of our industry, more and more about all of that. So I wouldn't say that I had a mentor. I wish that I would have. I wish that, you know, I think that if I was coming up in this industry today, I would take the approach, my career path would be very different, I'll put it that way, because I would have people that I could reach out and talk to that genuinely were interested in my wellbeing. That wasn't always the case.

Marian (14:58.412)
long time ago, again, cut through. As for mentoring someone...

Katalina (15:00.595)
Yeah.

Marian (15:07.224)
Again, I wouldn't say that there's any one person, you know, before we had this, um, call today, you and I, I was speaking with a member of my direct team and I was asking her the same question. I'm like, I don't mentor anybody. She's like, you mentor everybody all the time. And I guess I don't look at it like that. That's just part of who I am and what I do. And I believe that, and, and that's kind of where I get to having that.

Katalina (15:27.035)
Yeah.

Marian (15:38.368)
understanding and mutual respect for each other. I wouldn't even have thought of it as being a mentor, other than just guidance. I mean, so I can't say that I've ever reached out to somebody and said, let me mentor you. So it just is kind of part of life. It's kind of part of what... Right.

Katalina (15:59.686)
Yeah, it doesn't have to have that title to it. Like we were saying before, it can look different than being like, all right, one-on-one, you're my mentor, I'm the mentee. So you could just mentor people day to day in everything that you do in your organization, outside.

Marian (16:06.29)
Yes.

Marian (16:14.044)
Well, and that's exactly right. Yep, but the important thing is, in my opinion, if you're looking for someone that's going to provide you guidance, ensure that you're aligning yourself with someone who has the same core values that you do in life, in business. Otherwise, you may not be getting the best advice. You want to ensure that you're surrounding yourself with smarter people than you are.

Never want to be, you never want to be the smartest person in the room. You want to be in a room full of people that you feel can constantly add value and provide you with insight on things that you may not be as familiar with. I seek out more. I seek out people that have more knowledge than I do because I want to learn something new every day.

Katalina (16:41.463)
Yeah.

Katalina (17:03.202)
Absolutely. Well, Marion, unfortunately, that is all the time we have for today, but I think that this was a great discussion. I really appreciate you sharing all of your expertise and insights. Thank you so much for joining me. It was a pleasure having you. And my pleasure. And to our listeners, if you have any questions, comments, or topics that you would like to see us discuss in future episodes, please just leave them in the comments and we will do our best to respond to all of them.

Marian (17:16.732)
Thank you so much for inviting me on.

Katalina (17:31.714)
Thank you everyone for joining us today and I look forward to seeing you again soon in our next episode. All right. How do you feel about that?

Marian (17:42.792)
I don't know, what do you think?

Katalina (17:44.458)
I think we did really well. We wrapped up at like 1740, cause I was thinking my wrap up was gonna take at least a minute or two and it didn't.

Marian (17:46.236)
Okay.

Marian (17:55.02)
Okay. So you think it was okay? Okay.

Katalina (17:56.078)
So I wrapped up a little early. Oh yeah, I'm gonna stop that.