It was a day of highs and lows yesterday.
I facilitated the final session of a very
successful mentoring program and was delighted to hear the results and positive
outcomes for mentorees, mentors and the organization. That was great!
Then I met with a person from yet another
organization that wants the benefits of mentoring but cannot, or will not, put
the resources into proper planning and preparation, let alone program support!
It really upset me.
I know times are tough. So I gave as many
tips as I could to try and help raise the possibility that a well-intentioned
but probably fatally flawed attempt at mentoring might produce some good
outcomes.
Upon reflection, I may have done the wrong
thing because, as I often say: A poor mentoring program is worse than nomentoring program at all. I hope that the person charged with this unenviable
project is able convince senior management to reconsider their approach!
Why did I do it?
Well, I provide lots of free
resources designed to educate people that mentoring is an investment to produce
strategic outcomes and individual benefits. But, these objectives are achieved
only when organizations take a strategic approach.
I work with organizations that meet the challenges
of the current economy, with mentoring seen as an investment in strategic
advantage.
These organizations know that mentoring
delivers strategic outcomes and individual benefits that increase capability. We
collaboratively plan, prepare and support their mentoring strategy using a
combination of internal resources and external expertise and experience, as
required.
I’m offering another free webinar next
week. I facilitate a free online Mentoring Network that has a Resource Centre
packed with complimentary materials.
The aim of my complimentary webinars,
articles, ebooks newsletter etc., is to prevent poor quality mentoring and provide
leverage to those who want to do it well.
But I’m worried that my strategy is wrong.
Instead of educating for success maybe I’m feeding failure.
What do you think?
I’d sure like to hear
your thoughts on this, so leave a comment below.
2 comments:
Your comments could be perceived as a rant but IMO you have responded to the fact that on reflection your intrinsic values have been comprimised.
One thing I learned fom going to uni late in life that something I had done for years which I found was integral to being an "educator" was the ability to reflect on practice.
Times are tough but as I have never been given high marks for tact then I would have told the client that what they proposed was wasting their time and yours.
And then you would not have comprimised your intrinsic values IMO
Thanks for your feedback. As you say, it comes down to values. I think I had several conflicting ones and in the moment made a choice :-)
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