Who are you mentoring?

Mentoring is a natural next level of leadership. It is an acknowledgement, by yourself or others, that you have something to offer. It is both awesome and scary. It is awesome because you have matured to a place that you can make a difference in someone else’s life by virtue of your wisdom, knowledge, experience, or skills. Celebrate it, it’s awesome. It is scary too: what if you are wrong, what if you make a mistake through someone else or trip them up in their desire to seek wisdom from you.

I would like to talk about four types of mentoring: random, intentional, organic and secret
mentoring.

Random mentoring simply means you are a mentor, but the process is random. Sometimes you meet, sometimes you don’t.

Intentional mentoring happens when you both know that it is a mentoring relationship, and you schedule events and have specific goals in mind and materials you review together.

Organic mentoring is one where the relationship may not necessarily be formalized but both parties know that there is a process of mentoring. Also, the connection usually happens because, over time, there has been a natural process of mentoring that has happened and has worked.

Secret mentoring – A type of mentoring that is seldom talked about is what I call secret mentoring. This is where the mentor just makes a private decision that there is someone he or she wants to go out of the way to help or pour into. It may be a belief in the person’s potential or need or just a sense that it is the right thing to do. Over time this could become intentional or organic, or could remain secret mentoring, that is a mentor intentionally giving time and pouring into someone without their necessarily knowing it.

Here are some tips on mentoring:

Choose carefully – Some people are not deserving of your time or you may not have the skill set to help them.

Put responsibility on the one being mentored – Sometimes a person asks to be mentored by you and they look to you to schedule, set agenda, do the work. They are being benefited and it is right to expect them to step up to the plate and do the work.

Keep the train moving – If the mentoring process is intentional (even if it’s not), keep moving forward. If the relationship gets to where it is no longer a mentoring relationship, acknowledge it as such and move on. No need to be stuck in an awkward situation especially if you are the one leading the dialogue.

Prepare for transitions – If the relationship needs a change, have the needed conversation and move on. Sometimes it is good to explain the potential transitions from the start.
Tell stories – Confession here, I am a story teller! Stories are great ways to communication deep truths!

Dig deep – Get beyond the small talk and don’t ignore the elephant in the room.

Share big ideas – don’t spend all your time dwelling on simple inconsequential conversation.

Ask questions – The best mentors ask more questions than they provide answers.

Listen well – Sometimes all someone needs is a listening ear. The ability to have a sounding board and allow external processing can be all the support someone needs.

Tools – Find tools to guide the process. They can be free or paid, apps, software programs, books, workbooks, checklists, etc.

In summary, mentoring is a huge responsibility and opportunity -embrace and enjoy it! My last tip was to find tools. I think the best approach to you being an awesome mentor would be to take the journal of a 2-day life plan with me. In 2 days, you will not only have 19 new tools to share with others; you will have a better understand of yourself and how you can best pour into others.
Let me guide you toward a preferred future that will maximize your potential as a mentor. If I can help you,
I would love to talk with you about your LifePlan, let’s connect!

Lastly, I love the fact that I get to provide you with gifts every week. We are providing you a most amazing gift, free weekly book summaries that you can watch or listen to. This week we’ve got 3 new book summaries for you that you can watch or listen to – all you need to do is sign up for our newsletter

Every week I will provide you some more information on what a life plan is and how you can check out this incredible opportunity – thanks for your visit!

Bob