Author: Mark S. Brown

Mentoring programs are sometimes offered by organizations, groups, or companies. These programs differ in their approach. If you are looking to become a mentor, there may be different options for you.

1. Formal mentoring: Check to see if your company or an organization you belong to has a formal mentoring program. Formal programs offer the benefit of usually having some training and coaching material you can use in your mentoring sessions. This can range from initial training to a detailed week by week plan for you and your mentee.

2. Informal mentoring: Many organizations set up mentoring relationships without providing any support and training. The only benefit you receive from this type of program is pairing between you and your mentee. Usually this match is selected based on the needs of the organization, or on providing mentors with specific backgrounds to targeted mentees.

3. Independent mentoring: If your organization does not offer mentoring, you can always go the independent path. With this scenario, you will need to find your own mentee. You are able to find a person that can benefit from your specific experiences, and also someone that is receptive to learning from you. Like the informal mentoring option, you will have to plan and develop your own mentoring curriculum.

These three processes vary greatly. In fact, you will find huge variation even within one of these categories. Ultimately your success will not be based on which type of mentoring program you are in, but on what you bring to the mentoring relationship.

Th first step in becoming a mentor is evaluating the types of programs available in your organization.

All mentors want to be good, but few people are really great mentors. What does is take? Before you decide to be a mentor, consider if you are ready. To be an exceptional mentor you should review the following:

1. Your desire to be a mentor is truly based on wanting to help someone grow. Don’t step into a mentoring role just because you want to add it to your resume, or to your work experience, or because you think your current position requires it. If your motivation does not come from your aspiration to add value to other people, then defer your mentorship.

2. You have relevant meaningful experiences to share. One key component in mentoring is sharing your experience with your mentee. The key is your experience should be relevant, and beneficial. For example, I have no artistic talent, and no formal training in painting. If I were to attempt to mentor an oil painter, I probably would not help them expand their potential in creating art..

3. You are able to dedicate the time needed. Time is one of our most precious resources. If you make a commitment to be a mentor, you need to understand the time commitment you are making. A mentoring relationship requires that you spend time as a coach, a trainer, a listener, a friend, and a teacher. Setting aside 30 minutes a month for a mentoring discussion will not be very successful.

Being a mentor can be a very rewarding experience. A successful mentoring relationship benefits both the mentee and the mentor. If you want to be a successful mentor, plan on being prepared.

 

This summer vacation plan to spend the week, not only enjoying time away from the day to day work, but increasing your effectiveness. In a short seven days you can rethink your current path and make sure you are making decisions that will benefit you beyond today.

Vacations are all about rejuvenation. Most people want to relax to get the spark back that drives them through their day to day routine. So this year, kick back, enjoy the beach, but take along this bit of homework.

Monday: Most of life’s memorable experiences are because of relationships. People are what make this life interesting and exciting. Who makes a difference in your life? Today, take time to define the important people in your life. Reflect on how much time you allow for those relationships, and write out your plan to improve yourself in the area of relationships.

Tuesday: How have you grown in the last year? What skills have you improved? Adding value to yourself, allows you to add value to others with your new knowledge. Don’t let growth happen by default. Today, take time to write out a plan for the next year. Focus on making your strengths stronger.

Wednesday: Today take time to evaluate your health and fitness plan. Obesity and lack of exercise is a big problem in most of the developed world. Health is not something you can put off. It is not something that you can fix later. Health and exercise is important everyday. In your new plan, contemplate how you can stay on track. If you miss a workout, how can you make it up later in the day.

Thursday: Today we are going to take time to think about finances. I like John Maxwell’s saying on money, “Money gives you options.” On the other hand, debt provides you no options. Write down your financial goal, and think about what changes you need to make in your life to achieve that goal. Money will provide you options for the future, but will also provide you options on how you can help others.

Friday: Every day your commitment is tested. Commitment requires being focused on the outcome, the future, the goal. Today, spend time reflecting on the inspiration in your life that will help you meet your objectives every day.

Saturday: This week we have covered a lot of topics. Some of these are very big subjects, and all are important. Today, reflect on how you set priorities. Do you ever make short term decisions that are not congruent with your long term plan? Making sure we are clear in our mind with the priorities that we need to achieve will help us be effective.

Sunday: Our values are what drive our actions. If we are not making good decisions, then we are either weak in our values, or we have not linked our actions to the values. Today’s exercise, before your vacation ends, is to reflect on those values that are strong within you. What values drive your decisions? What values do you need to clarify, and make your actions reflect? Find a sense of tranquility in reviewing your values, and how they can strengthen you as a person.

Enjoy that summer break, and feel re-energized toward your goals!

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Sally Berger

Do you ever feel like starting over? Sometimes we stall out. We take a wrong path. We can’t seem to find our way. Perhaps we just don’t feel the energy that we once felt about our goal.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

1) Take a Retreat:  Take a break from the day to day routine. Sometimes we just need a break from the normal day to spark us forward.

2) Review Your Purpose: Schedule some time to reflect on your purpose, your goals, and how they are connected to what you are trying to do everyday. Sometimes we need to realign our actions or our vision.

3) Review Your Short Term Plan: Are you taking the right steps daily? Sometimes it helps to think about the long term goal, and break it down into shorter views of that goal. For example if you have a goal to be the best public speaker you can be in 5 years, think about what that would look like in 4 years, 3 years, 2 years, and 1 year. Then what steps do you need to take daily to hit the one year vision.

 “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” – Maria Robinson

Good luck and enjoy a break when you need it!