Hello <<First Name>>,
Welcome to the Mentoring News.
Today’s feature article looks at something beyond techniques of mentoring that we may teach. It is as important as any skill, perhaps more so, yet it may be overlooked. It’s the mentoring mindset and it includes the essential attitudes, values or philosophy with which people approach their role as mentor.
Also, in this issue you’ll find …
You are welcome to contribute your story, comment or article to the Mentoring News. Just email newsletter@mentoring-works.com.
In the meantime, enjoy!
Ann Rolfe
Facebook Competition
We're excited to be running our first ever competition via our
Facebook page!
Simply visit and "LIKE" our page by 30 November 2011 to go into the draw to win a copy of our very popular webinar recording and flashbook combo, Evaluating Mentoring.
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Thought Of The Day
“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”
John Wooden (1910-2010) Basketball Coach US
Feature Article: The Mentoring Mindset
When you are clear about your values it’s easy to make your own decisions without a lot of rules or instructions. You develop a mindset – a philosophy of life, principles that guide your approach to any situation.
Over the years I’ve observed a mentoring mindset that helps people get the most from conversations and relationships. The mentoring mindset values:
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Positivity
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Courage
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Difference
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Dialogue
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Being Constructive, and
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Responsibility
Positivity
Scientific research has advanced what is known about the influence of states of mind. Positivity is not simply affirmations, positive thinking, or feel-good daydreams. Increasing heartfelt positive emotions such as joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe and love has been shown to transform people and help them become their best. Barbara L. Fredrickson, Ph.D. in her book
Positivity, shows that the difference between those who flourish and those who languish in life is their ratio of positivity to negativity. Mentors will improve their own lives, as well as those of their mentorees, by increasing positivity in conversations.
Courage
Mentoring is a unique relationship. It offers to open our mind, challenge our thinking, make us consider alternatives and choose. It invites us to step outside the comfort zone, change and grow. Mentoring can be an adventure into the unknown for both the mentor and the mentoree. It presents a challenge. Courage is the willingness to face that challenge.
Difference
Noreena Hertz, in
"How to use experts and when not to" on Ted.com, says that difference, dissent and discordant ideas actually make us smarter. If we can overcome our own discomfort and defensiveness and really hear a different perspective, we can bring more intelligence to decision-making. Mentoring builds the confidence to acknowledge differences of opinion and expand our world-view to accommodate them, or respectfully disagree. Mentoring is an opportunity to learn open-mindedness. It is the chance, not just to accept different views, but to welcome and value them.
Dialogue
Mentoring is a two-way relationship and it relies on a two-way conversation. Listening and questioning skills ensure real communication occurs rather than superficial talk. This involves being present, attentive and focussed on understanding each other, not just waiting for a turn to talk or dominating airtime with words.
Being Constructive
Mentoring empowers mentorees to think about what is important to them then set goals. It supports achievement. It builds toward outcomes. The four questions that provide that framework for a mentoring conversation are: “Where are you now?”, “Where do you want to be?”, “How will you get there?’, and once action is taken, “How is it going?”. Mentoring helps people learn from set-backs or mistakes. It uses feedback and feed-forward to fine-tune responses.
Responsibility
There is a paradox for mentors: they may offer ideas and experience and inspire the mentoree, yet they must encourage them to make their own decisions and choices. A mentor provides information and may express opinions however, it is always the mentoree that decides, acts and produces outcomes. The mentor exercises their “duty of care”, if the mentoree proposes a course of action that is dangerous, by helping them become aware of possible consequences. The mentoree is responsible for their actions and outcomes.
If these essential attitudes and values guide mentoring relationships and conversations and the mentoring mindset compliments skills and techniques, you’ll ensure mentoring works.
Contact me for assistance in training mentors and mentorees
Webinar Recording
If you missed the webinar:
Is Your Mentoring In Danger Of Fizzling Out? I covered 18 points and provided a tool to assess your current, or planned, mentoring strategy. You don’t have to miss out on this valuable information!
Because our webinars are very popular and cover a lot of ground in a short time, I do record them. This year, I also started putting together a concise written version of the topic along with the images in the slides. This is called a flashbook. The webinar recording and flashbook is available to anyone who didn’t attend, at a very tiny price of A$20.00.
Purchase now I think this is one our best webinars yet and the flashbook gives you a quick way of keeping all the information handy.
News & Events
9-11 November 2011
Australian Association Of Graduate Employers Conference and Exhibition, Sydney Hilton
Mentoring Works will be exhibiting, come and say hello, see our range of products and talk about your mentoring plans.
14-16 March 2012
International Mentoring Association, Orlando Florida USA
I’ll be attending and running my new workshop:
Mentoring Strategy - planning and implementing workplace mentoring for better outcomes.
Great Thank You Or Christmas Gift
As holidays and the end of the year rush towards us, you may be thinking about gifts for people you care about or want to acknowledge.
What if the gift you gave stayed in front of that special person and gave them pleasure all year? What if, it inspired them, was thought provoking, even moving?
That’s what people say Take A Minute To Mentor, the A5 flip-over book with 60 images, quotes and suggestions for conversations that build relationships, does for them.
Whether you are looking for a personal or corporate gift,
Take A Minute To Mentor is sure to delight – you’ll want to keep one for yourself!
Take A Minute To Mentor is great value at just A$25.00 (incl. GST) plus postage, or A$22.73 plus postage for international customers (10% will automatically be deducted from the A$25.00 purchase price).
It’s easy to
order the gift that keeps on giving right now and if you want more than one,
email us or phone 02 4342 2610 now and we’ll work out postage and a special price for you. Be quick, to ensure delivery before the holiday break!
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