Kategori: Mentoring

Articles about mentoring.

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Powerful and cost-effective

Mentoring is arguably one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways of helping people expand and achieve their aspirations. There is also strong evidence that it is a very effective means to retaining talent in organisations, and to create and sustain desired corporate culture. It also offers one of the highest returns on investment in supporting entrepreneurs, addressing societal disaffection amongst the young, and building bridges between cultures and communities.

The conference is open to members and non-members, so please let your colleagues and networks know about this event.

26. of October is the date and Barcelona in Spain is the place

Book her: 1 st International Mentoring Conference

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1 st International Mentoring Conference

This first EMCC International Mentoring Conference brings together a wide range of expertise from multiple sectors and across countries. Its aim is to showcase good practice, along with emerging themes and applications, with a view to making mentoring programmes and relationships even more impactful. The conference will also be a great place to explore the ISMCP (International Standards for Mentoring and Coaching Programmes) accreditation offered by EMCC.

Whether you are already engaged in mentoring, or are planning to use mentoring in support of change, you will find the conference a unique opportunity to explore what works well, and less well, and to acquire new ideas and approaches.

 

The conference is open to members and non-members, so please let your colleagues and networks know about this event.

26. of October is the date and Barcelona in Spain is the place

Book her: 1 st International Mentoring Conference

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4 Ways to Succeed (part 2)

1. Develop a coherence of mentoring practice within your organization. Whether it is informal or formal mentoring, group or individual mentoring, on site or virtual mentoring, clarify and agree on a robust definition. Communicate and reinforce that definition so it cascades down into the organization. No matter what form mentoring takes in your organization, it is your definition of mentoring that will ultimately guide its success. 

2. Encourage mentoring partners to explore their assumptions about mentoring. This is especially important at the beginning of a mentoring relationship when mentors and mentees discuss their past mentoring experiences and how they are similar or different, what has worked for them in the past, and how those similarities and differences might play out in their current relationship.

3. Acknowledge the uniqueness of each participant and relationship. We all bring who we are to what we do. The individuals that enter into a mentoring relationship are each unique and therefore each and every partnership is unique. Each partnership needs to make mentoring work for them.  A mentoring relationship is a work in progress.

4. Provide multiple mentoring opportunities in your organization. New configurations of mentoring continue to emerge, i.e., mosaic mentoring; flash mentoring, quad mentoring, along with the demand for mentoring. Be open to DIY (do it yourself) mentoring.

Fifty Shades 

While mentoringrelationships vary by the nature of the diversity of the individuals engaged in them, there must be coherence of practice within each organization. Coherence of mentoring practice projects a standard and expectation to which everyone within your organization can aspire. A clear definition of mentoring provides the benchmarks for measuring your success.

Suddenly, the sky turned from pitch black to fifty shades of grey.

 

This is part 2 of a blogpost from Lois Zachary and written in the blog “Center for mentoring excellence” (called Fifty Shades of Mentoring and 4 Ways to Succeed)and she is the President of Leadership Development Services, LLC. and an international expert on mentoring and leadership development. She has written several books on mentoring. The newest one is The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships .

Other books include Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s Guide, and The Mentee’s Guide: Making Mentoring Work for You.

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Fifty Shades of Mentoring and 4 Ways to Succeed

It was a dark and stormy night. Secretly, she wanted to cancel their mentoring meeting. She was scared. Scared about driving during the storm and also that if she didn’t meet with her mentor this evening she would miss the opportunity to get timely feedback and support regarding a strategic assignment she had been given by the CEO. It had taken weeks to agree on a date for this meeting. Her mentor’s time was precious. She pushed her chair back from the desk, stood up, looked around and took three deep cleansing breaths. Suddenly…

Do I have your attention? I hope so because I want to discuss the various shades of mentoring. By that, I mean the variation and differences when it comes to defining the term itself.

The fact is that there are not just 50 shades of mentoring but over 500 shades of mentoring (and still counting). These definitions are based on assumptions about the purpose and outcomes of mentoring, and the role of the mentor and mentee.

The term “mentoring” covers the panoply of development activities that go on in the workplace. It is often overused, misused, and underutilized. There is sometimes resistance to label any new mentoring program when previous mentoring initiatives have been unsuccessful. So, mentoring is presented under the banner of “coaching” or “advising” or “learning.”

The result might be a very low-level of mentoring where mentoring becomes a series of transactions rather than a dynamic continuum of conversation. The mentee, having never been in a mentoring relationship, comes to it looking for advice about how to solve day-to-day problems. The mentor, who has little time to spare, sees the need and looks to fill it quickly by giving the right answers. Both mentor and mentee are participating in the relationship with differing assumptions driving their interaction.

Clarify Assumptions

Since we all act on our assumptions it is important to clarify and check them out to make sure they are valid. If they are not, they will compromise the trust in a relationship, erode communication and upend it.

For example, suppose I come to a mentoring relationship assuming that my mentor will “take me under his wing,” get me more exposure in my company, and pave the way up the corporate ladder by giving me coveted special assignments, and make sure I am successful. My mentor may come into our relationship with a whole different set of assumptions about the ends and means of the relationship. He might be assuming that I am going to drive the relationship, bring issues to the table, and ask for what I need. This scenario is a recipe for disaster unless my mentor and I take the time to talk about what mentoring is and is not.

This is a blogpost from Lois Zachary and written in the blog «Center for mentoring excellence» and she is the President of Leadership Development Services, LLC. and an international expert on mentoring and leadership development. She has written several books on mentoring. The newest one is The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships .
Other books include Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s Guide, and The Mentee’s Guide: Making Mentoring Work for You.

So where are the 4 ways to succeed you may ask, well this blogpost has a «part 2», and there it will be, stay tuned.

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CONFERENCE: PROFESSIONAL CONVERSATIONS | EVIDENCE BASED COACHING AND MENTORING

EMCC Nordic conference 21.-22. Sept 2015 in Oslo

The event is managed by EMCC Norway with the support of EMCC in Denmark, Finland and Sweden: plus the Swedish Coaching Psychologists Group (Coachande Psykologer).

The program is geared towards practitioners (incl. psychologists) who are committed to evidence based practices and actively involved in mentoring and/or coaching. Our goal is to create an event with round tables and plenty of room for networking combined with state of the art presentations and discussions. We want an exclusive event but a fair price, therefore we have chosen a venue limited to 100 participants. We also expect the event to fill up quickly.

Fill in the form to get the conference flyer plus exclusive, early access to registration – this could in fact become your only chance to get on board.

When on the list we will keep you updated about the conference, speakers, networking opportunities, interest groups and bonuses. You shouldn’t hesitate – this is a rare opportunity to meet interesting colleagues from across the Nordic countries.

Confirmed speakers cover both mentoring, coaching and coaching psychology: Prof. David Clutterbuck (UK), Prof. Reinhard Stelter (Denmark), Prof. TK Lang (Norway), Dr Kristina Gyllensten (Sweden), Po Lindvall (Sweden, EMCC VP Research), Jennybeth Ekeland (Mentoring program manager, NHH AFF) and Dr Paul O Olson (Pres. EMCC Norway).

As said above, the venue is limited to 100 participants and we expect to fill the room early. Avoid missing out and register her

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Being a good coach is it the same as being a non-directive coach?

In my mentoring sessions I some time feel that giving advice or almost instructive, is the right way to go, but other feels that is wrong. And for coaching is also the same, when you are talking about directive and non-directive coaching.

Coach training programmes usually focus strongly on teaching the skills of non-directive coaching. This is a sensible approach, since people new to coaching and the helping professions typically see helping others as consisting of telling them what to do differently (or suggesting or advising, etc). Breaking this habit is difficult and so a relentless focus on helping the novice coach shift their attention away from telling the coachee what to do, to helping the coach learn how to surface and explore the coachee’s resources and resourcefulness is vital. The moment of breakthrough to non-directive coaching is a delight to observe and is signalled by the coach’s realisation that it is the coachee, not the coach, who has to do the hard work of discovering how to change! Indeed, one of the most reliable signs that a coach has «lost it» in a session is the feeling of trying hard!

Mike the mentor had a post on the subject some time back, here is the article, read it and make up your own mind.

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Speed Mentoring

 

 

 

 

In the search for mentoring stuff on internet I came across speed mentoring which is a method for individuals to receive information from one or more mentors in a time-controlled environment. Modeled after the ‘Speed Dating’ concept, both parties are provided the opportunity to share knowledge and experiences. Mentees benefit from the wisdom of their mentors, who in turn, benefit from the fresh perspectives their mentees bring.

The U.S. Coast Guard has even designed a special toolkit for speed mentoring, the link is broken so maybe its top secret…

But here is an example from «Heart Your Smile Mentoring programme»

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Flash Mentoring



In my over 25 years in business life and over 10 years


within mentoring I have had the opportunity to talk to


a lot of people. Sometimes itś for only one time and


sometimes more, but I never know that I was doing


Flash Mentoring…


Flash Mentoring is defined as a one-time meeting or discussion that enables an individual to learn and seek guidance from a more experienced person who can pass on relevant knowledge and experience. The purpose of flash mentoring is to provide a valuable learning opportunity for less experienced individuals while requiring a limited commitment of time and resources for more experienced individuals serving as mentors. While mentors and mentees can mutually decide to meet again after their flash mentoring session, the commitment is to participate only in the initial meeting.


The term flash mentoring was coined by K. Scott Derrick in his work with 13L, a group of mid-career federal employees passionate about leadership and leadership development. In recent years, some training professionals have used short-term mentoring approaches to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and experience, but there has not been a common language to distinguish short-term mentoring arrangements from traditional, long-term mentoring schemes.Flash mentoring was highlighted in an engaging article in Government Executive magazine.


To read more, click here

	


	





		

		
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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. 

	


	





		

		
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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
    •