"Accidental" Mentoring Moments With Impact

The movie, Accidental Tourist, stars William Hurt as Macon Leary, who writes travel guides for reluctant business travelers. His tips emphasize how to travel with the minimum of disruption to the business person's life.
By contrast there are "accidental" mentoring moments that for the eager learner can provide tips that impact significantly one's life. Recently I requested to meet with a business owner, turned business consultant and educator. Expecting a brief interchange about how I might more effectively engage business owners in coaching services, this "accidental" mentoring moment lasted two hours and had major impact on how I approach my work. His tips for my business development, generously shared in a uniquely creative and compelling way, resulted in a welcome disruption in how I have to date, approached this topic.
The lesson learned here is that any encounter can become an "accidental" mentoring moment, creating a potential breakthrough that significantly impacts business and/or career success.

Mentoring expectations

For relationships to be strong, individuals need to know what expectations they have of each other. This step is often skipped, leading to disappointment and disengagement when one or both parties inevitably fails to meet the "unstated" expectations. Assuming that we know what the other wants in a relationship is far less reliable than clearly stating expectations. The place to clarify expectations in mentoring pairs is in the orientation phase. While common expectations for proteges may be for the mentor to share any suggestions they have, be a sounding board for proteges ideas, or simply to stay in touch, there may be other more specific requests that the protege or the mentor has. There may be unique ways in which the protege best learns or experiences new things that only an intentional conversation will uncover. There may be talents and skills that the mentor can bring to bear, but isnt sure if sharing these at this time is in best service to the protege. In the fast paced world we live in, and in our desire to be helpful, we may miss this most crucial element to building strong relationships for any purpose; that is to clearly articulate expectations for the mentoring process, from both the proteges and the mentor's perspective. From these expectations then, the quality of the mentoring process can be continually measured by how well mentoring has met the stated expectations. Share your experiences about the impact of clarifying expectations on the quality of the mentoring process.
For more information on mentoring and coaching, visit www.lighthousePSI.com

Mentoring Across Generations

For the most satisfying mentoring relationships, mentor and protege "pairings" may consider many factors beyond elements of work experience or expertise in a field or industry. In fact diversity within mentoring relationships lends itself to richness in the experience that can be shared in the ongoing mentoring process. With regard to age matching in mentoring pairs, it is very likely that an older mentor will be paired with a younger protege, though not required. Mentoring is predicated on the mentor having more experience in an area than the junior colleague; that additional experience does not necessarily predict an older age. In any case, the likelihood is strong that mentoring will occur across generations. As such, mentors and proteges would do well to learn what their own generational cultural influences and core work values tend to be. In so doing, relationships can become strengthened vs. polarized by the distinct difference in perspectives that the generations bring to the table. For example, just on the basis of how different generations prefer to learn, mentoring pairs may be interested to know the following:

Veterans (born 1922-1946) prefer structured learning environments, with content delivered by authoritarian experts. Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964) also like formal organized education, but unlike younger generations, tend to be highly motivated as lifelong learners just for the sake of learning. In contrast, Generation Xers (born 1964-1980) tend to learn on a "need to know" basis, and learn better by demonstration than by reading. Generation Yers (born 1980-2000) prefer learning through discovery, trial and error, and in highly interactive challenging "point- counter-point" discussions. (1) (NB)

Given these brief descriptions, let me know what you have discovered in mentoring others or being mentored, when generational differences have created great results, or where they differences may have backfired in the mentoring process.



(1) Coates, J. Generational Learning Styles, River Falls, WI LERN Books: 2007

(NB) These are intended to be guides for understanding generational learning preferences, not stereotypes- there are individual variations within generations based on personality and behavioral style.

Master "Minding" as a Mentoring Technique

As I am soon to launch a new Master Mind Group for Mentoring, it is clear that the master mind technique first coined by Napoleon Hill in the book Think and Grow Rich, is in itself, a mentoring technique. Structured as a group of individuals who commit to create a climate of trust and respect, they offer encouragement, support, advice and feedback for each other's endeavors extending typically over six to twelve months. This time frame mirrors formal mentoring programs where mentors and proteges are paired for purposes of career and leadership development. Techniques embodied in master mind groups are often those that are promoted within mentoring/protege pairs. Stay tuned for an upcoming informational session where the new Mentoring Master Mind group will be described for interested applicants. http://www.lighthousepsi.com/

Mentoring Energizes Engagement

Twenty-nine (29%) of employees are engaged at their workplaces and 19% are actually disengaged. (1) Without engagement, employees do not bring their full selves to the job. Also known as discretionary effort, employees can choose how much to apply themselves at work; the less effort, the more likely a crisis in productivity. A critical driver of employee engagement is in providing employees with ongoing career development and helping them see their direct contribution to the achievement of the organization's mission and goals. Active mentoring catalyzes career development. Companies would be wise to create more mentoring opportunites which will in turn energize engagement.
Post your comments on how you have seen this work in your experience to keep the conversation going.

(1) Seijts, Gerard H. and Dan Grim (2006) "The Ten C's of Employee Engagement" Ivey Business Journal (Retrieved 11-09-06

Who Mentors Mentors?

No one would argue that mentoring is a good thing, no matter what the age or stage of the "protege". Yet mentoring is not leveraged as often as it could be to help people grow and develop. Potential mentors sometimes hold back from mentoring others. One cause for this may be that mentors need their own skill development to grow and develop as mentors. Identifying a mentoring skillset and teaching mentors based on this skillset, forms the core of good mentoring programs. A key skill that mentors can build on is to adopt a coach-approach to mentoring.
If you are interested in a new Mentoring Master Mind group, go to: www.lighthousePSI.com
to register for a free informational session on the group.

Welcome to the Mentoring Master Mind Blog

Welcome to the new blog called the Mentoring Master Mind...


This is a journey, and all journeys start at the beginning.


The beginning for this blog will be defined by you.


Answer this question: What does mentoring mean to you?