Kategori: Mentoring

Articles about mentoring.

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Five Benefits of Working with a Coach or Mentor

Being a leader can be a really lonely existence.  Expectations are high and it can often be a real struggle to stay on top of your game and continually deliver great results.  Continuing to develop as a leader has never been so vital not least because of the major challenges facing many organisations right now.

For those at a more senior level working with a coach or mentor is often a great way of continuing to develop.  So what are the benefits?

Benefit 1: Thinking time

The pace at which leaders operate in organisations is often relentless and means that there is little or no time to stand back and take stock.  Being able to stand back from issues and challenges allows you to clearly think through the choices, look at challenges in different ways and ultimately to take better decisions.  And if you are taking better decisions it means better results for you personally and the organisation.

Benefit 2: Ongoing support

Training is great and I have been to many great training courses over the years.  Trouble is most training courses are a one shot opportunity.  What I mean by that is that you go along to the course, leave enthusiastic and an few months later find you are back where you started.  If you are a leader looking to be more effective over the long term you know that it is going to take time.  Having that ongoing support can help you make that sustained change in performance.

Benefit 3: Personal attention

In my experience of working with clients there are often some very specific areas of focus that leaders and managers want to work on.  Sometimes it might be about strategies and tactics that they can apply and other times it might be tackling areas of self doubt or misconceptions.  I also notice that they rarely need to work on all aspects of a particular topic but more on one or two areas.   The nature of the relationship means that it is much easier to tailor the programme to meet specific needs.

Benefit 4: Highly time efficient

I know that when I was in leadership and management roles, creating the time to attend a 2 or 3 day course was often a real challenge.  By comparison finding a couple of hours a month to work with a coach was much more time efficient and effective.

Benefit 5: Return on Investment

Ultimately if you are investing time, money and energy into something the return on what you have invested will be important.  Research into the benefits of coaching indicates that the return on investment is in the region of 500-700%.  Now these numbers might well look huge but let’s take a look at an example.  Imagine you are a senior manager who aspires to be a Director.  Ask yourself what’s the difference in salary and benefits?  In a field like accountancy, the differential between a number one and number two can easily be in the £30-50,000 per annum range.  If you are in the number one job for say 10 years, that could mean an extra £300-£500,000 to your earnings.  So look at your investment in terms of the lifetime value.

Bottom Line – Continuing to develop as a leader is no longer an optional extra.  If you are serious about realising your professional and personal potential, working with a coach or mentor might just be the catalyst.

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How To Maintain The Momentum Of Mentoring

Mentoring program coordinators need to have ongoing communication with participants to stimulate engagement, motivation and answer questions or concerns. But how do you keep up the contact in a useful and interesting way? Many successful programs send regular Mentoring Works Tips.

Mentoring Tips could be one page, easy to read and practical. They should be designed for mentors and suitable for mentorees and managers. Consistently delivering Mentoring Tips:

  • Provides mentors with information, tools and motivation
  • Keeps mentorees engaged in the process
  • Informs managers of mentoring techniques and benefits

 

The author of this article is Ann Rolfe, and was first published 10. november 2010 on www.mentoring-works.com.

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Working book for the mentee

Last week my latest book for the mentee was finished and came from print. I use «print on demand» and www.lulu.com

The book looked very god in the new design, and I have started on translate it to english. I have a good friend in the US who will do it for me. As a lawyer, writer and trainer he knows what to do.

For now the book is in norwegian, just send me an email if you want to order.

The price is Euro 16,25 + shipping.

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Is Your Mentoring Strategy Working?

I got this article in a newsletter, and had to bring it on my blog.

Mentoring aims to deliver strategic value for the organisation as well as personal benefits for individuals. How can you ensure that your mentoring strategy achieves these outcomes?

The critical first step is to clarify the strategic purpose of mentoring – why is mentoring important? Without clear, and meaningful goals, you may find it hard to gain support for mentoring, difficult to promote the value of mentoring and challenging to make it a priority for people.

To ensure your mentoring strategy works you have to answer the question «why mentoring?» First, you need to uncover the needs, wants and issues that mentoring will address from the perspective of the organisation and the people you want involved. Then, you can plan your mentoring strategy to deliver specific outcomes; and finally, you’ll be able to communicate the reasons for mentoring in a language that make sense to each group of stakeholders.

What Does The Organisation Need?

Most often, mentoring is used by organisations striving for:

  • Employee engagement – to attract, retain and develop people for increased productivity;
  • Knowledge management/skill building – to prevent the loss of both tacit and implicit information and develop skills, for improved capability; or
  • Culture change to influence behaviour based on values, assumptions, and common practice, for enhanced organisational performance.

You’ll need to find out exactly what the pressing needs are and be able to clearly show the impact mentoring could make. This might mean presenting a business case and/or linking to the organisational mission and values.

Why Should People Prioritise Mentoring?

You may be targeting a specific group with your mentoring strategy such as: graduates, women, emerging leaders, innovators, young professionals or indigenous people, however you need people who are not directly involved, as well as those who are, to prioritise mentoring. If they don’t it may be derailed by obstruction, competing demands or lack of support.

This is a time for two-way, rather than one-way communication. We have to get out there and listen. We can’t simply impose mentoring on people because we think it’s a good idea. They won’t buy it unless there is a personal reason that overrides other priorities. So, you will have to discover the needs, concerns and issues of the people as well as the organisation.

Develop The Strategy – Design The Program

The bottom line is that you have to know specifically, what you want your mentoring strategy to do before you can figure out how you will know that it is working. This is the foundation for designing mentoring programs. Do this to ensure that your mentoring works.

From Ann Rolfe http://mentoring-works.com/

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A Good Mentor can be a Valuable Career Resource

Doris Appelbaum says in this article that a good mentor is a coach, always challenging you, inspiring you and demanding that you do your best.

Mentors can improve confidence and lead to job opportunities you had not considered. They are familiar with a range of professional opportunities and are guides who have put aside self-preoccupation to foster the growth of new professionals.

The best mentors help develop the insight and self-awareness that assist with integrating professional life, military life, personal concerns and core values.

To read the whole article,  click here: usmilitary.about.com/library/weekly/aa010603a.htm

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Training Weekend in the Archipelago of Gothenburg

 The day before the training in JCI Gothenburg we went over to the city of Gothenburg, my wife, Lina (from Syria) and I. We had booked us into a nice hotel in the center for relaxing, enjoy and to show Lina the town (since my wife is from Sweden). After the tour of the city, Lina and I had time to plan the next day’s training before it was time for dinner in a town restaurant. 

 

 After 1 hour’s drive against the norwegian border, the training could start. The training "The Big Five" with Lina as co trainer for the first time. The participants were quickly tested himself as a mentor and mentee. The training is specifically structured so that there is so little time as possible to the theory and explanations, but a lot of time to practice. The first exercise where the mentee will talk only and mentor to listen (and do not show any signs to follow, or say something) is a practice that creates an aha experience. Here is where the importance of body language and to follow and immerse themselves in conversation. 

 

 Then, we went on where the mentor in the next exercise could ask questions, and here things is starting to fall into places. And all are amazed at how quickly time passes. Last exercise is where the mentor can come with questions, feedback, and not least, the mentor should try to get the mentee to reach a deadline. "When are you going to…"

 

 The exercises and not least the number of exercises will allow participants to get tested as a mentor several times, and that is the meaning. Learn it and do it! 

 

 On the way, we had several discussions related to the exercises and how they think it was and if the mentee thought that the mentor did well or something that mentor could improve. But all the trainings come to an end and unfortunately this also did, after four hours it was over and the participants an experience richer. 

 

After a training people will always be discussing things or ask more questions, so also this time. And as trainers is Lina and I especially happy when the participants are telling us that this was a surprisingly practical training. And that was what made it special and good, namely that the tools they could now go out in life and use. Already the next day, they actually could start to be a mentor on the job or in their spare time, or perhaps in the marriage. 

 

 I hope that some of the interesting ideas that emerged in the training becomes a reality, that JCI Gothenburg start a mentor program. That way, more people could get even better personal development and achieve their goals. 

 

 THANK YOU, JCI Gothenburg, Thank you from Lina and Thor-Erik. 

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Reading about mentorship at Wikipedia

The first recorded modern usage of the term can be traced to a book entitled «Les Aventures de Telemaque», by the French writer François Fénelon In the book the lead character is that of Mentor. This book was published in 1699 and was very popular during the 18th century and the modern application of the term can be traced to this publication.

This is the source of the modern use of the word mentor: a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a more experienced person. Some professions have «mentor programs» in which newcomers are paired with more experienced people in order to obtain good examples and advice as they advance, and schools sometimes have mentoring programs for new students or students who are having difficulties.

Today mentors provide their expertise to less experienced individuals in order to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks. In many different arenas people have benefited from being part of a mentoring relationship, including:

Maybe you know some famous people using a mentor?

Read more her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mentor

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The New Style of Mentoring

 

In many ways, today’s mentoring relationships function quite differently from those of the past.
 
In the traditional style of mentoring, the primary goal was a one-way transfer of a broad range of knowledge or information. The mentor was the authoritarian source of this information, and directed all other aspects of the mentoring relationship. The mentee was a passive recipient and often had little say or control in the relationship. The relationship lasted for a set period of time, and a mentee would have only one mentor. Mentoring would only occur on a face-to-face basis.
 
Today many mentoring relationships have evolved to become more focused on learning. Unlike the traditional model, learner-centered mentoring is a dynamic and two-way relationship that involves critical reflection and full participation by both partners. The mentor assumes a role of a facilitator. The mentee becomes a proactive and equal partner, helping direct the relationship and set its goals. The mentee can also have multiple mentors over a lifetime, and even concurrently. There will still be face-to-face interaction, but mentoring can also occur by telephone, e-mail, or other means.
There is no right way to mentor. Every mentoring relationship is as unique as the individuals involved in it. However, no matter who the individuals or what shape the relationship takes, setting some goals and completing some groundwork can help create a stronger and more productive relationship.