Complimentary Mentoring Videos For Your Phone

A Minute on Mentoring App

Here’s some really exciting news ... we’ve created a phone “app” for our A Minute On Mentoring series of videos and it’s yours absolutely free!

This is my gift to you, and you can share it with all those you want to reach with mentoring.

This is genuinely free, there’s no catch, no strings, nothing to sign up for and nothing you have to do in return. Read through the details below and I’ll explain:

What an “app” is;

Benefits of using the “app”;

Why I’m giving it to you, free; and

How to get it, now.

What is an “app”?

“App” is short for application. Typically, you would download an App to your phone to give you special functions on your phone, or access to information streamed to your phone’s screen.

You need an iPhone or Android phone with web capability, to get an app. Usually you download an app for free, or as a purchase, from Apple’s iTunes Store.

Our “app” is a bit different. You can’t get it from the iTunes Store but you can get it right here (technically, our “app” is a mobile website not an iPhone app but it runs equally well on iPhones, or Google-based phones).

Benefits of using this “app”

This “app” streams the “A Minute On Mentoring” series of videos right to your phone for viewing.

As the name suggests, each “A Minute On Mentoring” is a very short video. They are designed to promote an understanding of mentoring. There are six in the series and more on the way: 

1. Conversations That Create Insight
2. What Mentoring Can Do For You
3. Benefits Of Mentoring
4. How To Mentor
5. What To Look For In A Mentor
6. How To Approach A Mentor

You can share the “app” with others. So you can use it to communicate with people you’d like influence and involve in mentoring:

• Promote mentoring to busy people – they’ll appreciate the quick, succinct messages in the videos;

• Give participants a fast and user-friendly overview of mentoring; and

• Get the mentoring message to young professionals – they enjoy cool technology that they can share with their friends.

Why am I giving you this for free?

Mentoring Works is a commercial enterprise but we do give some valuable free resources, as well as sell products and services. I want to play a part in educating the whole world about mentoring and support people like you who are doing that too. Complimentary resources help spread the message, as well as build awareness of Mentoring Works.

I started making the A Minute On Mentoring series to help my clients and support their mentoring programs. Now there’s a way to put these videos in the hands of many, many more people. So I hope you will enjoy using the app and share it with as many other people as you wish.

How do you get the “app”?

Enjoy!
Ann Rolfe
Founder, Mentoring Works

Delivering Mentoring Remotely

Here is a question asked by a webinar participant recently. It was beyond the scope of the webinar on The Role Of The Mentor (you can view the recording here http://mentoring-works.com/webinars.html) so I promised to answer here in the blog.

“My question was around the issue of the capacity to deliver the mentoring process over time 'remotely' ie not face to face (even if some sessions were face to face)...can you reliably deliver the training to a group that may be in different locations simultaneously (much like you are doing in the webinar now) and also for those mentors and mentorees to sustain and support a mentoring process remotely, over a period of say 12 months.”

Martin

Yes Martin, the technology available now makes remote delivery easy, reliable and very cost-effective.  While nothing beats face-to-face, we certainly can do both mentoring and training online and provide ongoing support in a number of ways.

In 2009, I facilitated an e-Mentoring program for ninety participants throughout NSW, some in fairly remote areas. About half of them attended a workshop at the beginning of the program but most never met their partner face-to-face.

The features of the program included:

·      An online community – where they could interact with each other (a bit like a members-only Facebook)

·      Online discussions and Q&A

·      Online audio-visual learning modules, supported by downloadable worksheets

·      Access to ebooks and articles, guides and checklists

·      Teleseminars – now we have webinars and this is a much better option

·      Bi-weekly emails describing what to do next and on the alternate week, an emailed Mentoring Tip

·      Personal support from the program coordinator and myself

I was particularly delighted to see the level of interaction between participants as they started their own discussions online and shared resources and ideas. They “met” people, with whom they had a lot in common, that they would never have met otherwise. It was a real network of support.

This year I’m launching Mentor-the-mentor, a multi-media, interactive remotely delivered program. It will be available very soon but if you want to know more now, give me a call.

InternationaL Mentoring Association - Australia & New Zealand Chapter

I have made a vow that next time I go to a conference, I'll stay in my hotel room (or by the pool) for two days afterwards to review all the great material and ideas and follow-up all the people I met! It's too easy to lose the value if you don't capture and act on it quickly. Just as well I made a list that I am working though.

So, the first steps toward launching the Australian and New Zealand Chapter of the International Mentoring Association have begun. Dina Fyffe, of Griffith University and I teleconferenced this week and began a plan of action. Our planning horizon is 18-24 months for a major event and we will find various ways of connecting with all of you who are interested in the meantime.

So watch this space  - I mean that literally! Add your comments, suggestions and ideas for getting the ball rolling. Love to hear from you.

Why You Need To Train People For Mentoring

The purpose of training is to enable mentors and mentorees to establish effective relationships. Some programs simply introduce people and leave them to "get on with it". Occasionally, this works. But people need to know what is expected of them, how to go about it and why it is important and you need to be confident they have the skills for mentoring.

Why Train?

• Building a relationship of rapport and trust can be tricky when there are many individual differences;
• Managing people is different from mentoring people; and 
• Motivation will be critical to success.

Mentoring is different from other workplace relationships. It is professional and personal, it deals with rational and emotional motivation and it non-directive but offers guidance and advice! The paradoxical nature of mentoring needs to be understood and the key skills developed.
In addition, participants usually need ongoing personal support and reassurance. Establishing an interactive network of participants will add value. This is most likely to happen when participants meet and work together in training sessions.

Training Mentors and Mentorees

The role of the mentor, communication styles, strategies and practical techniques for applying the mentoring process can be explored in workshops. It is usually beneficial to provide mentors with an initial session separately from the mentorees so that they are able to discuss any issues candidly.

Mentorees need to be primed to make the most of the mentoring experience. Their responsibilities, communication and goal setting are topics you want to cover in their training.

Bringing mentors and mentorees together for a workshop is highly desirable. This way you can enable them to identify expectations of each other in a non-threatening group process. You can also ensure that they have a common understanding of mentoring etiquette, procedures and reporting. Being part of a group reduces the feeling of isolation and you can set up a mechanism for ongoing group contact. Within this workshop mentoring pairs can have a structured first meeting to break the ice. Debriefing the meeting as a group, you can draw out do's and don'ts for effective future meetings.

The Training Process

The process of the training is as important as the content and several issues are likely to impact on your mentoring program:

• Current management styles;
• Seniority of the mentors; and
• Introducing the mentoring role to busy people may be challenging.

Consider a range of delivery methods for education and training. You want to educate not only prospective mentors and mentorees but managers and staff not directly involved (see our webinar How to Get The Mentoring Message Across). You can do this through personal communication, management briefings, staff information sessions, print, audio-visual or web-based push/pull resources. Push resources are those you email out and pull is material that is on the internet for them to access that you have to draw them to.

Effective mentoring results from a set of attitudes, behaviours, skills and motivation. Training, complemented by ongoing support and follow-up, significantly increases your return on investment. That's how mentoring works.

Extract from; Rolfe, A. (2006) How To Design And Run Your Own Mentoring Program. Mentoring Works.

Get Strategic!

Post GFC, you need to be confident that any investment will produce the return promised and be a secure and wise use of your funds. The resources you put into mentoring will add to your triple bottom line but only if you are strategic in its planning and implementation.

Why Mentoring Now?

It is vital to show employees you value them and see a future for them. Employee disengagement means lower productivity and poor customer service resulting in higher costs and lower revenue. Now, more than ever, you need to build human capital and organisational capability. So, implementing a mentoring strategy that develops people and brings out their best is a very positive move.

However, mentoring is not a magic bullet, it won't fix everything! So choose wisely what you target as its goals. Think about the purpose of mentoring and what you believe it can achieve.

• Why do you want mentoring?
• What are the needs mentoring will meet or gaps it can fill?
• How will mentoring make a difference?

Most importantly, in an organisational context, consider: where will mentoring deliver the most value? Look at your organisation's strategic aims this year. What are the corporate objectives? What are the challenges? Where could mentoring contribute real benefit?

Planning Your Mentoring Strategy

Only when you have answers to the question of "why mentoring now?" can you progress strategically and specify aims and objectives for mentoring. You need to decide whom you'll target to participate in mentoring and then determine the outcomes that would indicate success. You can then plan a program of activities that will support people to produce the desired results.

Resources

You'll need to plan the logistics required to adequately support mentoring and secure the necessary resources. These include people, material, time and money. Mentoring is a very cost-effective strategy for individual and organisational development and yet under-resourcing is common. Invest in the planning process so that you know the budget required from the outset. You will need to identify and document the quantifiable as well as qualitative return on investment to make a business case for investment.

Mentoring represents the very best of human endeavours. It establishes connections and builds relationships. It provides personal and professional growth that benefits people and organisations. Get strategic with your mentoring because that's how mentoring works!

RRR

Rest, recreation and reflection, that’s what I’m looking forward to over the next few weeks, how about you? These three “R’s” are imperative to our well-being and productivity and they ought to be a part of every day not just holidays! Here’s why …

Rest, not just sleep but physical relaxation, maybe letting someone else take care of you with a meal, a pampering massage, manicure, or pedicure, or just lazing around; mental rest, maybe meditation, listening to music, reading a novel or even some veg-out TV, can recharge your batteries and balance the busyness of a hectic lifestyle. Necessary for re-energising, rest can also stimulate the mind to spontaneously generate answers to problems, great ideas and clarity of thinking. Important and practical insight can be the result of taking the foot off the accelerator and putting the body and mind in neutral.

Recreation, leisure activities such as sport, hobbies and games that you enjoy, celebrations and social events that give you pleasure, conversations, art, nature or exercise that stimulate you and relationships that nurture you, all renew your mental, social, emotional and physical energy. Without this energy, enthusiasm wanes, challenges seem larger and life can lose is luster.

Reflection, looking back and learning, gaining perspective and considering other points of view, thinking things through, accepting your own feelings and responses, taking stock, considering what has worked well and what might be done differently, allows us to learn and grow. Counting our blessings and expressing gratitude, makes life worthwhile and points us to a positive future.

Mentoring can incorporate all of these. It can provide time out that is actually restful. It can be enjoyable and recreate energy and enthusiasm. And certainly, it is a relationship that builds reflection, meaning and positive action.

I trust you have experienced and valued these aspects of mentoring this year. If you have gained as much as I have from being and having a mentor, or having mentoring moments – those unplanned, informal conversations that create insight - you know how mentoring works!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has an historical basis that is not unique to the USA. Most cultures give thanks in an annual harvest festival. The work of cultivating, sowing and tending fields is needed to produce the necessities of life. What did you plant, nurture, grow and gather, this year?

At this time of year, it is worthwhile to look back and give thanks. Experiences of all kinds are abundant with opportunities to learn and grow personally and professionally. What will you celebrate, mourn or realise?

If you were a mentor, chances are you may not know just how much of a contribution you made. Marcy Blochowiak said: “Never underestimate the power of one person to have an impact on this world, touching one person at a time … the mark you leave on people will endure and extend beyond your sight and beyond your reach.”

If you were mentored, it is likely that you had an impact on your mentor too. Most mentors find that the conversations they have allow them to pause, reflect and gain insight themselves.

With friends, family and mentors, we can enjoy and give thanks for what we have today. The new-year is fertile ground just waiting for us to plan and prepare for what we intend to create. That’s how mentoring works.

Reference: Blochowiak, M. (2005) No Glass Ceiling, Just Blue Sky. Simple Truths, Illinois.

Ann Rolfe

Mentoring Works

Email me

Vincent asks:

Vincent’s Question:

Recently a well established professional's organization (one that I pay yearly dues for) connected me with a mentor as part of their offering.

As it turned out, the mentor was not commited to what I consider the special relationship of mentor / mentee. After about a month of initial conversation, his interest was clearly as a payed consultant if my company would hire him!

I was dissapointed to say the least. Especially that I've grown so much in my lifetime by mentors. How do I avoid this in the future?

Thanks,

Vincent

Ann’s Answer:

Hello Vincent,

How disappointing! However, this is not the first time I've heard of this kind of situation. You can't avoid the disappointment but you can and clearly did avoid being taken advantage of. I recommend three actions. If you have not already done so, express your disappointment to your professional organisation. If they are offering mentoring, in my view, they have a responsibility for some form of quality control and will value your feedback. They probably have a code of ethics or guidelines for mentors. Likewise, provide feedback to the mentor. He may not realise the conflict of interest of seeking business from a mentoring role. Finally, remember all your positive experiences and don't let this one jade you. The vast majority of mentors are motivated primarily by a desire to give.

Regards,

Ann Rolfe

Mentoring Works

www.mentoring-works.com