Kategori: Mentoring

Articles about mentoring.

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You have to have empathy

As a mentor you always have to be on top, and you can´t have a «bad» day. If you do, pretend you don´t. One of the best tools for a mentor is to show empathy with the mentee. It is one of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone, the gift of attention.

The more you care, the stronger you can be. Don’t operate on the heart with a hatchet. Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the mentee.

Be sensitive to the plight of others. You have to know about the tragedies as well as the triumphs, the failures as well as the success.

How do you build a bridge between age 12 and age 40? By remembering.

Some small techniques and  afterthought.

You have to have empathy…

 

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How to find the right mentor

The topic is still very important, how do you find the right one. The question isn´t IF you should have a mentor or not, but how to find the right mentor.

But it is not that easy… 

Here is the crash course from Leslie Rapp the director of training and development at Menttium, a provider of corporate mentoring services and research metrics on business mentoring based in Minneapolis.

 

  • First, think about you. Exactly why do you need a mentor? What do you hope to learn? Then figure out the kind of person who can best inspire you. For example, if you’re starting from scratch, look for a mentor who did, too.
  • Do you actually need a mentor? If you have a specific problem to solve, you may want a consultant. If you’re stuck in a rut, a professional coach could be a better choice.
  • Start with small talk. You meet potential mentors every day, not that they go around introducing themselves that way. Ask them about their work and their life, and see where it leads. Rapp particularly likes to ask how they came to do the work they do: «I never get a straight-line answer, and the story tells me a lot.»
  • Then spell out what you want. Asking «Will you be my mentor?» is a pretty sure way to make potential mentors flee. Instead, say you want to learn more about what they do and that they would be a great resource. Suggest meeting every quarter, or having coffee once a month. Be specific.
  • The answer may be no, and that’s OK. Keep searching, and know that you’re a good judge of character: Great mentors don’t say yes to things they can’t commit to.

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    What is your experience, tell us here at www.mentorguru.info about how you will find the right mentor for you.

    Good luck!

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    Character

    “Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.”

    How a leader deals with the circumstances of life tells you many things about his character.  Crisis doesn’t necessarily make character, but it certainly does reveal it. We choose our character.  In fact, we create it every time we make choices. The respect that leadership must have requires that one’s ethics be without question.  A leader not only stays above the line, between right & wrong, he stays well clear of the “gray-areas.”

    What must everyone know about character?

    • Actions are the Real Indicator of Character
    • Talent is a Gift, but Character is a Choice
    • Character Brings Lasting Success with People
    • Strong Character is the Foundation on which to Build Success

     

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    Demystifying Mentoring

    Amy Gallo writes an long article in Harvard Business Journal about mentoring and she wants to demystifying mentoring for us all. The article is good and therefor I want to put some of it on my blog and also a link to the rest of the article.

    When people think of mentoring, they often think of an older executive counseling a young upstart. The senior leader advises the junior employee on his career, how to navigate the world of work, and what he needs to do to get ahead. But mentoring has changed a lot in the last few decades. Just as the notion of a 50-year linear career with a single company or in one industry is outdated, so is the idea that career advice must come from a wise old sage. The traditional mentor-mentee relationship is not necessarily a thing of the past, but it’s no longer the standard. Now, there are many ways to get the information and guidance you need.

    To read more, click here: http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2011/02/demystifying-mentoring.html

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    Ask yourself

    • Where do I want to be at the completion of my mentoring voyage?
    • What opportunities do you want a mentoring experience to give you?
    • What will be different for you then?
    • Do you really want that?
    • Will you  be ready for it?
    • What does your gut say?
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    How to make mentoring a success

    Mentoring begins when a person strategically affects the professional life of someone else by fostering insight, identifying needed knowledge, and expanding the other person´s horizones.
    (A Mentor´s Companion)

    Guiding principles of Mentor Success.

    1. People learn best through self-discovery. Help your mentee reflect on and learn from their experiences.
    2. You cannot mentor someone unless you understand the person. What is important to your mentee? What does he/she value
    3. In mentoring, askin a question is often the answer. You don´t have to have all the answers… help your mentee find her or his own answers by asking the right questions.
    4. Most signifikant learning occurs outside our comfort zone and we allow those we are comfortable with to push us beyond our zone. Support and then challenge.
    5. Mentoring is about growth, empowering and risk taking. The goal of every mentor is to act in such a way that the mentee is better able to do for him or her self.

    From Perrone-Ambrose

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    January is official National Mentoring Month

    NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2010 as National Mentoring Month. I call upon public officials, business and community leaders, educators, and Americans across the country to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

    Well, President Barack Obama decided this last year and I hope that he ment it to be every year, so also 2011.

    SO, HAPPY MENTORING MONTH ( and thank you Mr. President Barack Obama).

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    Life responds to deserve, not need

    The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.

    We must learn to help those who deserve it, not just those who need it. Life responds to deserve, not need.

    My mentor said, “Let’s go do it,” not “You go do it”. How powerful when someone says, “Let’s!”

    Good people are found, not changed. Recently I read a headline that said, “We don’t teach people to be nice. We simply hire nice people.” Wow! What a clever shortcut.

    Managers help people see themselves as they are; leaders help people see themselves better than they are.

    Learn to help people with more than just their jobs; help them with their lives.

    by Jim Rohn
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    Giving is better than receiving

    Giving/Sharing/Generosity

    It’s best to start the discipline of generosity when the amounts are small. It’s easy to give ten cents out of a dollar; it’s a little harder to give a hundred thousand out of a million.

    Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.

    Here’s what is exciting about sharing ideas with others: If you share a new idea with ten people, they get to hear it once and you get to hear it ten times.

    Sharing makes you bigger than you are. The more you pour out, the more life will be able to pour in.

    Somebody says, “Well, I can’t be concerned about other people. About the best I can do is to take care of myself.” Well, then you will always be poor.

    What you give becomes an investment that will return to you multiplied at some point in the future.

    Only by giving are you able to receive more than you already have.

    «Vitamins for the Mind» is a weekly sampling of original quotes on a specific topic taken from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn.