What to Do When Your Mentoring Meetings Keep Changing
Did you ever have a mentor who didn’t quite make it to your scheduled mentoring meetings?
Where you were going weeks without getting together because of their shifting schedule, or because they were going a hundred directions at once?
Or maybe they’d cut short the meetings you did have because of countless interruptions.
What do you think is the #1 reason people give for not being in a mentoring relationship?
If you said, “I’m too busy.” you are spot on. With work deadlines, home commitments, kids’ extracurricular events, community sign-ups, how can you find the time?
Here’s one thing to Stop Doing and one thing to Start Doing to make mentoring easy for you, save you time, and make it feel like a desirable investment, not a “have to do.”
To start the New Year off well, here are FIVE TIPS that will get you ready to “get mentored”…and successfully!
Before you approach a potential mentor, learn about them. What makes them strong as a mentor and leader? Who have they mentored well previously? Speak to one of their mentees to learn about their experience. A mentor will be impressed that you have done your due diligence on where they shine.
You want:
Employee Retention.
Your employees want:
Personal Ascension.
Boredom Prevention.
Career Extension.
They’re thinking, “Offer me these things, then I’ll talk employee retention with you.”
Leaders, if you’re not proactive, what happens? Your treasured employees hop on LinkedIn, post their resumes, and check them every few hours.
Ancient History Quiz Question #1:
Q: Who was the way smart philosopher born in Greece, circa 470 B.C., wearer of fashion-forward long robes, unfortunate consumer of hemlock tea, who likely drove his parents to run for the closest carafe of juice of the vine with his constant barrage of questions?
A: You guessed it! Socrates himself.
Besides laying down the fundamentals of Western logic and critical thinking, Socrates had a few memorable mentees in his day, Plato and Xenophon to name a couple of his high pots.
(GET JAZZED! It’s National Jazz Appreciation Month!) Legendary jazz trumpeter, Clark Terry, 90-plus years old, lies in a hospital bed and appears near death. At his side, Clark’s student, apprentice, admirer and friend, Justin Kauflin, in his early twenties, sits ready with his keyboard. Justin’s seeing eye dog, Candy, also keeps company with the two.
Clark Terry and Justin Kauflin share a powerful bond — a common love for music and a common challenge with losing their eyesight. Justin has been blind since he was eleven years old. Clark Terry is losing his sight and legs to advanced diabetes.
“Would you go with me if we rolled down streets of fire?”
Josh Turner, country singer
“With.”
It’s the simplest little word in the world.
When it comes to mentoring, it is often the most forgotten word in the world.
The word “with” might be short, simple and one of a 150 everyday prepositions in the English language, but it has enormous power to change you and most every relationship you have.
Maya Angelou said, “In order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care.”
We lost a powerful voice in the past week when Maya Angelou passed, but her voice will continue on. Ms. Angelou had a life of mentoring and touched the lives of millions who have had joy in reading her works. In the fuller quote below, she speaks to the role of a mentor in her relatable yet eloquent way:
“In order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care.
“Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
– Warren Buffett
“Lori, I’m so excited! My company is starting a mentoring program and my boss has asked me to be a mentor.”
Ryan, an up-and-coming 30-something IT analyst, approached me at a recent speaking engagement and couldn’t wait to tell me his good news.
“Really? That’s great, Ryan. Did your management let you know what’s expected of you?”
His brow wrinkled slightly. “Not really, they just said they’d matched me with someone that needed mentoring. She’s just down the hall from me and new to the company.”
By now, you’ve lost that pesky five holiday pounds, made it to the gym a respectable number of times .
