Stikkord: business mentoring programs

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When running a mentoring program, it is important to…

When having a running program it is important to have contact with all the participants. And especially in the start of a program. A short phone call or maybe an email to both the mentee and the mentor, just to get information about the first mentee/mentor meeting and the match. It is important for the participants because they feel taken care of and we can lure out if it´s something wrong.

Not wrong maybe but if it´s a good or bad match or maybe if the mentee isn´t prepared or maybe the mentor is talking to much. Maybe the mentors isn´t that clear as a mentor and the meeting is almost as an information meeting.

I have no been sitting for two days and having those calls. And I am loving it!!!

They have all sort of feedback, but they all are saying something like: I love my mentor, the mentor is great, It is great meetings and very useful discussions. And the mentor is telling me about their great mentee and how they are running the meetings and using case.

In these two days I have only experienced one mentee who was not that satisfied with the mentor. But through the conversation we concluded two important things for the mentee for the next meeting. Number one: Be prepared and number two: have some concrete to talk about before the meeting. It could be the leader role, budgeting, new as a leader or other things. And when we said goodbye the mentee the mentee thanked me for the feedback and the little mentoring I have done.

As a coordinator for mentoring programs this is important, you can´t have your mentees and mentors living their own lives between the start and the ending of a program.

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How to enter a room

The Magazine Entrepreneur have an article in their latest issue about how to enter a room. This is not only for networking or meetings but also for us mentors. When you say yes to be a mentor in a mentoring program you will the first time come in this situation. You are new as a mentor (or new year, new mentee), all the mentee are new and you go into the room for the opening assembly.

Watch the video and get tips.

(This video has been removed by the user.)

 

The tips from the video:

1. WHEN people introduce themselves, say their names back to them or take a mental note. But try to keep their names in your head. Saying a person’s name back to them 20 or 30 minutes after you’ve met them suggests graciousness and respect, and it will endear you to them.

2. DO NOT give out business cards before the meeting begins. Because it makes you look like a blackjack dealer.

3. LOOK everyone in the eye for, like, a millisecond longer than is comfortable.

4. Don’t carry yourself in a way that could be described as «jaunty.»

5. IF there are fewer than six other people in the room, shake everyone’s hand. If there are six or more, shake approximately five hands, and then nod amiably to the rest. The shaking of hands can get out of hand.

6. At no time say, «Let’s do this!»

7. NO fist bumps.

8. DON’T talk about anything that isn’t pleasant, such as how much traffic you were just in or how hot it is or how you have a cold.

 

Good luck!

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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.

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Achieving Success by Expecting Success

When you plan and prepare carefully, you can legitimately expect to have success in your efforts. When you recognize and develop the winning qualities that you were born with, the winner you were born to be emerges.

 

When you plan and prepare to make a sale, for example, you can legitimately expect to make a sale. Although not all your expectations are going to come to pass, you give yourself an infinitely better chance of succeeding by taking the proper steps.

 

Regardless of your goal—losing weight, making more sales, furthering your education, earning a promotion, saving money for a new home or an exotic vacation—you can expect to achieve your goal if you plan and prepare for it.

Also understand that the path from where you are to where you want to be is not always smooth and straight. The reason for the twists and bumps is simple, and it has nothing to do with you. It has more to do with the fact that not everyone is as interested in your success as you are.

Some people may accidentally hinder your efforts; others who are in competition with you and have little or no integrity may try to sabotage your efforts.

Keep in mind, though, that when you hit those roadblocks, your character, commitment and attitude are the determining factors in your success. Carefully review your plan of action, seek wise counsel, and be particularly careful to feed your mind good information.

An optimistic, positive mind is far more likely to come up with creative solutions than a mind that dwells on setbacks and difficulties.

Bottom line: expect success and you can achieve it!

These wise words are from Zig Ziglar
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Would you like to be a child again – Do you need to?

Learn to think like a kid again and unlock your hidden potential.

Have you heard about those fun offices where play is encouraged? They’re not just cubicle legend. Companies like Google and 3M have crafted colorful, dynamic workspaces where employees play with toys and video games, take nap breaks and go outside for recess. If it sounds a little childish, that’s exactly the point.

Over the past couple of decades, industry leaders have tapped into an idea that philosophers (like Nietzsche) and scientists (like Einstein) have long championed: that it is useful and sometimes necessary for people to think like children to achieve success as adults.

People tend to get stuck in mental ruts, approaching everything from their jobs to their marriages from the same tired perspective. But taking cues from children can jolt us out of complacency and view the world from a whole-new angle—if only for moments at a time. Officials at Google and 3M found fashioning offices akin to kindergarten classrooms resulted in creative, energetic environments where innovative ideas are born every day. “

When people start to think like a child, they begin to see things from a fresh perspective,” says Jack Uldrich, global futurist, business speaker and bestselling author. “They learn to step back and view problems, people and things from a completely different point of view.”

START BEEING A KID!!!

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AND THE WINNER IS…

 The 1. place went to Aqua Systems for the best contribution. They won the Innovation Norway’s development price of EUR 12 000 (nok 100 000,-), Connect Norway to a value of EUR 12 000 (nok 100 000,-), a mentor from the Norwegian Mentor Program and EUR 6 000 (nok 50 000,-).

 

Aqua Systems has developed a solution which, among other things, makes it much easier to clean the fish cages, which have the potential to create a more efficient and economical production.

 

A BIG Congratulations from The Mentor Guru and good luck with the good and hard work with a mentor for the next year and of course also the prize money.

 

To read more and to see the runner up click at the link belove (in norwegian):

 

Aftenbladet:

www.aftenbladet.no/nytte/jobb/1269169/Oppdretts-prosjekt_ble_beste_student-grnder.html

 

Innovasjon Norge:

 

www.innovasjonnorge.no/Fylke/More-og-Romsdal/Nyheter/Stadt-Aqua-Systems-vant–Venture-Cup-2010/

 

Venture cup blog:

venturecup.wordpress.com/

 

Inno Design (Norwegian innovation and design):

www.innodesign.no/nor/FoU-Offentlig/AAlesund-studenter-vant-Venture-Cup

 

Høgskolen i Ålesund:

www.hials.no/hials/aktuelt/nyhetsarkiv/enda_en_prestisjetittel_til_hiaa_gruendere

 

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Venture cup 2010

 Entrepreneurship is very important for Norway and trough Venture Cup (in norwegian: venturecup.wordpress.com/) the participants get the opportunity to develop their business plans. Free advice and guidance of experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders, profesionell investors and consultants contribute to network, innovation and new ventures.

 

Venture Cup is being held by Start Norway for the tenth consecutive year. The competition started in Norway in 1999 and has since had several successful business plans that have created many new jobs.

 

There is a large potential market of entrepreneurs within academia and research institutions. Venture Cup Norway has a strong academic foundation in educational institutions and research units in the different regions it is held.

 

Venture Cup is much more than a competition, and the value for the participants is not only the potential rewards, but just as much the learning, the network of contacts and the experience that participants receive.

 

It is based on four main elements:

1. Education: It will be implemented practically oriented lectures by educational institutions, and students at some institutions may take Venture Cup as a separate subject. The lectures will cover the most important factors in establishing their own business.

 

2. Supervision: A network of advisers associated with Venture Cup. These guides participants in the process if desired. The advisers network will be able to give advice on specific issues related to patents, for example, tax, accounting, etc.

 

3. Inspiration: The kick-off and the two prize awards you will be able to come and be motivated and inspired by the lectures of experienced entrepreneurs and presentations of newly established businesses. The events are also good opportunities for mingling and networking.

 

4. Competition: The fourth element is the competition. The best business plans will be rewarded with cash prizes, and honorable mention.

 

This years prices are about EUR 36 000,- (nok 300 000,-) AND one year with a mentor for the CEO from The Norwegian Mentor Program, www.mentorprogrammet.no/english-info/

 

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Mentoring entrepreneurs

I just come a mentoring session today with 4 entrepreneurs within education. They are 4 girls and one guy (the last girl couldn´t make it today). I´m going to be their mentor, but in a formal mentoring program.

The business idea is to make training for small kids and sell it to schools and kindergardens. It is a lot fun to meet them because they are so enthusiastic and willing to do almost everything you suggest. So today we had a two hours session about their businessplan and a presentation they are going to have on the 22. of september.

I am really looking forward to meet them again and work more with this brilliant idea.

Go Phi, Wenche, Hanne and Erlend.

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Friends in Tunisia

When you are a member in Junior Chamber International (jci.cc) you have friends everywhere. I become a member in 1996 and a senator (Honorary life membership in JCI. The highest individual honor a member can receive)  in 2006.

 

All my time in JCI have I heard that I have friends everywhere and just an e-mail from a place to sleep or a friend in a new city. Well I did try on Malta for some years ago, and it was big fun. I got to be in a monthly meeting and then we took a beer in the hotel where the meeting was.

 

When I was visiting Tunisia on summer vacation for two weeks with my wife and some friends I did it again. I meet two JCI members from Tunisia. I wrote on my Facebook site about my trip to Tunisia and then we started e-mailing each other and finally meet at my hotel.

 

For me it was very fun to get to know more about Tunisia, their politics and people. And of course they learned something about Norway as well. We where talking for several hours and shake hands goodbye as close friends. Of course as close you can come after several hours talking.

 

I am very honored that Nawel Khelil and Wassef El Abed wanted to meet me. They spend some time getting to my hotel because I was staying in Hammamet and they where living in Sousse.

 

Thank you Nawell and Wassef, hope to see you again very soon!

 

And tomorrow I am leaving for Kiev in Ukraine, I wonder if there are some JCI members there…