Innlegg

Publisert

Mentor one person – change two lives

Searching the web and you will find a lot of interesting stuff and not least you find mentoring used in different ways. Some of the best ways to read about is when itś used for young people, like Volunteer Match, here are their video: «Volunteers are beautiful people».

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are bringing people together and they also strengthens communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect. The organization offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit,volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. Our popular service welcomes millions of visitors a year and has become the preferred internet recruiting tool for more than 97,000 nonprofit organizations.

There are different ways to work, and here are two ways to do it:

Lunch Buddy

Spend 30 minutes each week during the school year with an elementary school student during their lunchtime. Mentors can share stories, play games, or just enjoy lunch with friends. All mentors are provided with a week-to-week guide of optional activities and conversation starters. A mentor coordinator is available to help or answer questions at any time. Lunch Buddies is conveniently offered at all Covington elementary schools. For adults, 18 years and older.

After -School Buddy

Spend 30-60 minutes each week with an elementary school student after school (between 3:00 and 6:00pm). This program is especially flexible and will work around schedules, as mentors can vary the time they show up each week. Mentors can share stories, play games, participate in after-school programming with their mentee, and more! All mentors are provided with a week-to-week guide of optional activities and conversation starters. A mentor coordinator is available to help or answer questions at any time. The After-School Buddy program is offered at Ninth District Elementary and John G. Carlisle Elementary School. For adults, 18 years and older.

They started back in 1994, four MBA’s – Mark Benning, Joanne Ernst, Steve Glikbarg, and Cindy Shove – draft plans to launch an online nonprofit to promote community involvement and already in 1995, they were on Netscape’s «What’s Cool» list.

I found this on Youtube also about this topic, «Mentor one person, change two lives 
Publisert

Best mentoring blog 2013

Same procedure as last year, I will reveal the best mentoring blog for 2013. The work of finding the best blog is difficult because a lot of them are hiding within the page of the business, but I will continue and the list his soon to be revealed.

Publisert

The Mentor´s way Rule #6 – Foster Accountability

By Rik Nemanick, Ph.D.

Up until this point, most of the Rules of Mentoring have focused on building trust with a protégé and exploring Hands, Head, and Heart issues. As you saw in the last post (Rule #5: Balance Empathy and Action), the power of mentoring is realized when the protégé begins to take action based on the mentoring conversations. This step, however, can be a stumbling block for many protégés, as the challenges they are facing begin to go from conceptual to concrete. They are moving from talking about an issue to doing something about it. At this point, reality sets in for many protégés, and you see many taking only tentative steps toward change, while others fail to act at all.

Not every protégé struggles taking action, and not for every issue. Hands issues, ones that have a clear course of action and that post little risk to the protégé, do not present the hurdle that many Head and Heart issues do. There are many things that keep a protégé from taking action on the plans crafted with a mentor:

  • Habit. If the protégé is trying to change a situation, it should be presumed that the protégé already has some established pattern of acting that needs to change. For instance, if a protégé needs to speak up more in meetings to have her voice heard, she already has an established habit of not doing so. While a great conversation with a mentor can generate enthusiasm and confidence in the safe confines of a mentoring conversation, it may have a harder time overcoming a well worn habit of not doing so. It is just easier to continue with the existing pattern than to try to break it and establish a new one.
  • Fear. Beyond that habit of continuing a pattern, many protégés are held back by fear of the unknown. By speaking up more in the meetings, the protégé is not sure how others will react. Will they take her seriously? Will more dominant members of the group shut her back down? Will she speak up and come across as ridiculous? These fears can start to well up when the protégé is in the situation, away from the safe conversation with a mentor, and become new stumbling blocks.
  • Confidence. Beyond the fear of changing the situation, the protégé may also lack the confidence to make the change. This confidence can be about the new strategy itself or about the protégé’s ability to execute the strategy. If the protégé is frustrated by not having her voice heard, is speaking up in meetings the right way to go? Nagging doubts about the strategy may undermine the protégé’s efforts and cause them to derail. Further, even if speaking up is the right way to go, does the protégé feel confident in her ability to do so effectively? If confidence in either the strategy or the protégé’s skills falters, the attempt may fall apart the first time she tries to make the change.

The mentor’s best tool to helping a protégé overcome the inertia of habit or the barriers fear or lack of confidence present is to foster supportive accountability to act. By asking about the steps the protégé is taking and showing support, the mentor can help the protégé climb over many of these barriers. There are several ways mentors can go about fostering accountability:

  • Articulate the steps. In a mentoring conversation, the protégé may discuss what he needs to do differently to effect a different outcome. However, this discussion may fail to yield any concrete actions, instead staying at the conceptual level of what the protégé “ought to do.” Before you finish a meeting with a protégé, ask the question, “What do you think you can do between now and when we meet next to make progress?” Listing out concrete steps increases the likelihood that the protégé takes action.
  • Ask about the steps. The often subtle accountability of a mentor often has its power when a mentor asks about the steps at the next meeting. Doing so signals to the protégé that he has made a commitment not just to himself but to his mentor. Such social pressure can create a subtle but strong impetus to take action and spur a protégé to overcome inertia.
  • Explore unstated barriers. Fear and lack of confidence often have at their heart unexplored barriers that lie deep in the Heart conversation. The protégé may not have surfaced the deeper concerns he has about the issue upon the initial discussion. If a protégé fails to act several times, it can be useful to go back to asking the Heart questions to help unearth them.
  • Praise progress. If a change is truly difficult, the protégé may not be successful the first time trying a new behavior. The protégé who wants to speak up more in meetings may not have success the first time. Instead of focusing on what went wrong initially, praise the attempt. Acknowledge that the attempt may have been difficult and that you are proud of the steps that had been taken. Some issues may require several runs a them before the protégé makes progress.
  • Show patience. Progress on difficult issues rarely goes smoothly. It can take several attempts to break through barriers that a protégé has erected. Recognize that part of being a supportive mentor is showing patience while encouraging a protégé. Giving up early may miss a big opportunity.
  • Plan for setbacks. Finally, it can be useful to plan for eventual setbacks. Recognize that speaking up in one meeting won’t change things overnight for a protégé who has been silent for years. She is just as likely to return to old habits when stress goes up. Recognize that and talk about what to do when they occur. And, when they have occurred, show support and encouragement to get going again.

Making progress on difficult Head and Heart issues can be slow. If it were easy, the protégé would have already done it and you wouldn’t be discussing it. Fostering supportive accountability can help a protégé make progress and really harness the power of mentoring.

Look here for the original blogpost, and to Rik Nemanick´s homepage

Publisert

10 Body Language Tips Every Speaker Must Know

A lot of my time I use teaching, giving lectures, doing workshops or giving speeches. Maybe as much as 20-25 hours every week I spend on ”the stage”.

And I, as Kristin Piombino (author of the article in www.entrepreneur.com from december 2013) knows that when giving a presentation or speak in front of a group, not only are our words important, but the body language that accompanies them. In the academic world they are speaking about “class management”.

Your words may give the audience one message while your body sends quite another.

As if getting the words out wasn’t hard enough, right?

This infographic from SOAP Presentations lists 10 body language tips to employ during your next presentation. These tips range from how to get the audience to like you, to how to make sure the audience remembers your key points.

 

For example:

1. To get the audience to like you, make eye contact. People tend to pay more attention to and like those who look them in the eye.

2. To boost your confidence, open your chest and arms, and keep your back straight.

3. To demonstrate authority, be calm and use small, stiff gestures.

4. To draw the audience’s attention to something, point directly at it and look at it yourself. The audience will follow your lead.

5. To convince the audience of something, use positive gestures — smiling, nodding, open movements, etc. — throughout the presentation.

 

Publisert

Is mentoring for 2014?

Yes indeed, we live in a fast-changing world, with, at times, chaotic and unexpected events. For example the long-term financial repercussions for companies and individuals in the global financial crisis. In that times wisdom from experienced people both on individual and organization level is crucial. And through life experience you gain wisdom…

Organizations recruit graduates hoping they will be the leaders of tomorrow, but studies show there is a gap that needs adressing. And this is why we need mentoring in organizations today. Mentoring is a powerful process for making sustainable progress based on the positive partnership of two people.

I have being coordinating mentoring programs for over 10 years and most of the programs has been between academia and business life, between students and leaders. And it is a great pleasure to see the students starting the program, the one year process and what they have developed to in the end of a program. Itś a remarkable journey for the participants and wonderful to be a part of.

I see mentoring as an effective way to develop people both on personal and professionel level. And so also for the future.

This «Money tree» is designer Morgaine Ford-Workman and was used as a logo for a 3-week series focusing on business mentors for students. 

Publisert

Presentation of you in the first meeting with mentor

People I talk to are always anxious for their first meeting with their new mentor. Here is a «check list» that you can use:

  • Expectations for Mentoring 
  • Work Experience 
  • Views on Leadership 
  • Personal qualities and skills 
  • Interests 
  • What you need to learn and develop 
  • What you want help 
  • What you can contribute 
  • Future plans
Publisert

What to do before you got a mentor

People who had used a mentor says that it was difficult to exact know what they want out of a mentor. One way is to try to find out what kind of experience and what you want to learn, once itś over. And during the first meeting things use to get clearer.

One of my own tip is to try to put together a plan for the next 3 month and for the next year, a sort of life plan. You can f.ex. read and listen to Michael Hyatt and what he means about the subject: Michael Hyatt

«With Creating Your Personal Life Plan, Michael Hyatt has fired A LASER BEAM OF FOCUS into a world of uncertainty. Finally, a brightly lit, well-marked pathway for the person who desires true and lasting success!”

– ANDY ANDREWS
New York Times Bestselling Author
The Traveler’s Gift, The Noticer, and The Final Summit
Publisert

Using Newsletter

To find out whats new and doś and don’t`s I use newsletters, I subscribe to a lot of newsletters. I like to share some of them with you here in this article.

 

Michael Hyatt
He is the author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World (Thomas Nelson). It is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller. Recently, Forbes magazine named he one of the Top 50 Social Media Influencers of 2013.

This is his personal blog. It is focused on “intentional leadership.” And his mission is to help leaders leverage their influence. As a result, he writes on personal development, leadership, productivity, platform, and publishing. On occasion, he also write about stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories.

His goal is to create insightful, relevant content that you can put to work in your personal and professional life. If you are in a position of leadership—or aspire to be—then this blog is for you.

He typically post three times a week.

Subscribe
Mentoring Works
This is Ann Rolfe, Australia’s most published author on mentoring, Ann Rolfe has thirty years experience in learning and development. For the last sixteen years, she has specialised in helping organisations and individuals enjoy the benefits of mentoring. Widely respected as a consultant and presenter, her training programs and resources are used internationally to develop and support mentoring. In 2011, a program she helped design and deliver within the NSW Department of Community and Family Services won the LearnX Asia Pacific Platinum Award for Best Coach/Mentoring Training Program.

She is also the winner of «Best Mentoring Blog» 2011 and 2012, futured at this site.

Subscribe

 

Radical Mentoring
Radical Mentoring is produced by the Next Generation Mentoring Foundation. After years of mentoring younger men individually, Regi Campbell heard a speaker say “More time, with fewer people, equals greater kingdom impact”, and he set off to mentor a group of men for the first time. Since 2001, he’s mentored nearly 100 men personally in what he calls “Radical Mentoring Groups” and his model for mentoring has been embraced by many other Christian leaders.

Subscribe

 

Bryan Tracy
Brian’s goal is to help you achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you ever imagined. Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 5,000,000 people in 5,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 55 other countries worldwide. As a Keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year. He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is the top selling author of over 45 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Subscribe

 

John Maxwell

He has written over 70 books and speak to millions of people who, like us, value what it takes to become a great leader. As you browse this site he trust we will find the resources you need to make your leadership experience not only memorable but influential. His leadership philosophy is simple: “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”

With so much hinging upon this philosophy his made it my his passion to develop leaders at all levels. He believe in us and the power of your influence to create a legacy within your sphere of influence that will leave behind an army of leaders who get the importance of strong leadership.

Subscribe

 

Solution Box
David Wood is a personal and business coach, and a founder of the International Coach Academy – now training coaches globally. He is a Professional Certified Coach with the International Coach Federation (ICF).  David has now coached clients in 13 countries, and has personally mentored over 60 coaches.»

Subscribe

 

Publisert

A life in balance

Every year I put together my own life plan for that year, and maybe the most important thing is to also have balance. I can´t just put up there all I want in one specific area, but I have to use the whole “wheel of Life”.

“Wheel of Life” is a tool used in coaching and mentoring and is just to help you find balance in your life.

 Balance is many things, but first and foremost its to generate profits in our lives and enable us to handle everything that comes our way. If I were in balance, I could be completely sure I immediately could feel it in myself and in my surroundings. 

But what is balance?

-You are coming from a long workday, and sit in the armchair, perfectly flat and very tired – and when someone asks you a question, you snap back because you simply cannot relate to more now?

If so, I can tell you a secret: You are NOT in balance!

Balance is, very simply said to be present right where you are and know that you are exactly where you should be.

If you ask yourself this question: “If you had only one more year to live, what would you do”?

No one says they want to spend more time at the office or with the to-do list.

Most people say they want to spend more time with family and friends or travel more.

I try to prioritize “ME” first, to take charge in my own life. Only then can I be present for my family and friends.

My belief is that when I prioritize myself first, I am also more present for all those I love. What do you think for example that your loved ones would choose? To have a happy and balanced father, mother, girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife or friend, son, daughter etc. that are present and attentive and have chosen to be there! Or one that runs around confused like a hamster in a wheel, trying to satisfy everyone else and be ‘perfect’?

Here are two example of «Wheel of life» you can use for planning your life in balance.