Stikkord: Mentoring

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My dream mentor

I post a question on www.linkedin.com in a group for the entrepreneurs, because I want them to talk about «How should your dream mentor be»?

And if you should find a mentor for yourself, how would that mentor be?

A lot of people had applied and I just want to share some with you.

Here is one: «Someone who wants to see me succeed and is willing to hold me accountable to my growth and success. Someone who is reliable and available to communicate with me when times are difficult. An inspiration. Patient. Consistent. Committed. One who connects me to the appropriate contacts».

I will put out more in weeks to come…watch out…

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The Modern Face of Mentoring

How Young Entrepreneurs are inspiring their predecessors and peers

This was an article in www.successmagazine.com and written by Amy Anderson.

The meaning of mentorship has changed. No longer does the concept of master and apprentice rule the mentorship road. Unless you want to be a cobbler or a carpenter, it’s likely that the traditional roles will be a lot fuzzier than they used to be. “We tend to think of a traditional mentor as someone who is older and therefore more experienced than we are,” says Tory Johnson, best-selling author and founder and CEO of Women for Hire. But today, mentorship reaches beyond age or education, embodying the simple idea of one person with experience passing on what he or she has learned to someone with less experience.

Of course, if each person has valuable experience, knowledge can be exchanged, not just funneled down in a one-way flow. Think of it this way: Who has more experience with managing personal finance—you or your teenager? Obviously it’s the one who can actually remember how to balance a checkbook. (What’s a checkbook?)

But who has more experience with social media, streaming content and link sharing? Yep, the younger “digital natives” of this techno-savvy world, who have many in older generations beat because they grew up speaking the language of fast bits of information, multiple platforms and webs of digital socializing. This technological fluency means they read differently, see ads differently and make purchasing decisions differently.

 

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.successmagazine.com/article?articleId=1526&taxonomyId=21#

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Comic strip

 

As Issac Newton said,

«If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.»
– and while you don’t need to be a giant to pass on your wisdom and experience,
what you can achieve in helping develop another person is gigantic in its effect.

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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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What can be at the leaders to-do list?

John C. Maxwell says leadership is just as much about developing your team’s talents as it is about nurturing your own leadership skills. The best-selling author of Talent Is Never Enough reminds us that growth is modeled after and expected from leaders. As a successful leader, you must do eight things.

1. Find your own personal strength zone.
A successful leader is a person who knows what they do well and does it, but they also know what their people know well and help them practice it.

2. Help others find their strength zone.
What is their special ability? You can’t make others good at something you are bad at. You can only increase a person’s giftedness by helping them answer important questions of themselves. What is their temperament? What is their passion? What choices are they making in their life? Help them with these things and there’s no limit to how much someone can improve in these areas.

3. Help them define success.
Success is hugely subjective. Knowing your purpose in life, growing to your maximum potential or sowing seeds that benefit others are all great definitions of success.

4. Help them understand how to be successful.
The secret of our success is determined by our daily agenda. Decision-making is important and the management of the decision-making is even more important. Do the right thing today to be in a good place for tomorrow.

5. Teach and practice the four pillars of success.
• Relationships
• Attitude/Tenacity
• Leadership/Influencing people
• Equipping and developing other people

6. Teach your team the 20/80 principle, or the Pareto principle.
Within this, prioritize life. What is required of me? What gives the greatest return? What give me the greatest reward? When these three line up, then life becomes wonderful.

7. Provide resources for them.
There are only three times when people change. When they’ve heard enough that they have to change; they learn enough that they want to change; or receive enough that they are able to change. Put those resources of change in their hand.

8. Require them to reproduce themselves.
They have to teach someone else what they learn. Don’t spend valuable time with people who want to consume but not share. Share the knowledge. Share the wealth.

As I can see is number 1-6 about mentoring, either yourself or other. So I can say that Maxwell have 6 very good points on the leaders to-do list.

Do you have some other things on your to-do list?

 

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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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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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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).