Mentoring = Growing
I have been working on a course about mentoring for our team. I am designing the course to assist our current team members in developing new employees and student workers, while increasing growth and engagement for our existing front-line employees and supervisors.
One staff member told me that he sees his mentoring role as his main contribution to our team. When asked “Why?” he said, “I may be training someone who goes on to change the world. You never know who you are training and where they may be in 5 years. In a small way I can assist them in being one the best at whatever they end up doing.” He is right. A few years ago, a student worker took the time to write me an email explaining how they had grown during their summer job with us because of this employee.
Today, I make every effort to meet with all my younger leaders one-on-one each month. I encourage them and thank them, but then I want to hear where they are in their personal growth and leadership journey. One of the best gifts I can give them is my time and empathy. Sometimes I need to challenge them, sometimes I just need to listen, but consistency in being there is the key to mentoring effectively.
If you are not mentoring someone, think about doing so. Here are three simple things you can do to start.
- Meetings: Take the person to your next meeting and let them shadow you. Afterwards, discuss the meeting and what was going on.
- Leadership Discussions: Schedule a time on the calendar. Watch a leadership video together or read an article or a few pages from a book. Then talk about it. Ask them questions such as: What did you find valuable about it? Can you apply anything about it to our workplace? What is your biggest take-away?
- Leader-to Leader: Ask the person to write down five questions for a leader they respect in the organization. Set up a meeting and let them interview the person. Discuss their take-aways after the meeting.
Having team members who want to help grow other team members is a big win for the organization. Mentoring is a great tool for individual growth, while equipping your team to maintain growth momentum. Mentoring keeps people engaged, adding more purpose to their work. It can lead to better job satisfaction and bring about a new level of commitment.
Write to me and let me know how you mentor or have been mentored.
Keep growing great leaders.
Jeff
