Message from the author:

The  reason I wrote it was to share the message with as many people as I can that we all have it in us to live an incredible life.  Not the life the world wants us to live but the one we dream of and are capable of.  To feel the fire burn in your belly and to know the reason you are here. My hope is that everyone who reads this story will find their way to connect to the passion that lives inside all of us.  The passion that maybe you felt as a child but may have lost along the way.  It is a fictional novel that tells an amazing story.  A story just like yours and mine and everyone's.  A story of the challenges we all face and the lessons that can help us become that incredible person deep down we always knew was there. My goal is that in this story you will see your own potential in the mirror and make the decision to go for it.  To have it all.  

Randy Taylor
www.taylormadeleadership.com

Shawn Mintz, president of MentorCity's interview with Sharon Aschaiek, PIC chair. 

How useful can mentoring be to a new independent communicator?

It's important to have a mentor or several mentors. Each mentor may specialize in a different area, such as writing features, news releases or how to grow a business. A mentor will help them by sharing insights and experiences, and will be a sounding board. 

What should people in a mentoring relationship consider when establishing the terms of their arrangement?

For a structured formal mentoring relationship, the mentee and mentor should discuss the mentee's objective and goals, and the overall expectations of the mentoring relationship. This includes how they will meet (in person, over the phone, video conferencing, etc.), the length of the relationship, the frequency of meetings and how they will handle confidential information. 

What are some key ways to ensure a mentoring relationship is productive and beneficial for both participants?

The mentees should come to every meeting with a clear idea of what they would like to achieve, and the questions they would like to ask. Each meeting should start off with some small talk and an update on the progress made. They will then focus on the mentoring activity (purpose of the meeting). To wrap things up, the mentee should summarize the conversation and action items, and schedule the next meeting. 

What should people absolutely avoid doing in a mentorship relationship?

Don't expect mentors to open up their network to you right away. It may take time to build trust -- once trust is built, then they will be more likely to share connections and opportunities. Don't provide mentees with the answer when they have a tough decision to make. Ask them good questions to guide them in making a decision on their own.

How can a mentee ensure they make the most out of the advice they gain from a mentor?

They should determine the good advice from the bad, then start integrating the good advice into their life right away. The more advice and lessons learned they put into action, the stronger they become. 

What can a mentor do to ensure they are of value to their mentee?

Mentors can invite their mentees to attend professional events with them, they can role play scenarios, provide feedback, recommend great books, and refer them to people in their network who can also add value.

During any mentoring relationship, it's important to check-in with each other to assess the relationship’s progress. This is typically done around the mid-point of your relationship and provides both parties with an opportunity to discuss and evaluate where you’re going.

The following tips will guide you through this check-in meeting with your mentoring partner.

Appreciate

Before the check-in meeting, think about what it is that you appreciate about your partner, some of the lessons that you have integrated into your personal and professional life and how you have grown as a result of this relationship. Tell your mentoring partner about this and take some time to say thank you. A good mentoring relationship is mutually beneficial to the mentee and the mentor and you should both have feedback to share about how you’ve grown and developed as a result of the relationship.

Evaluate

Discuss the mentoring objective and goals that were set at the beginning of the relationship. Examine which ones have been achieved and decide whether there are any other goals you’d like to add to the list. Take a look through your mentoring agreement as well to make sure that the relationship is staying on course. Evaluating your relationship provides a good opportunity to address any concerns that you may have and allows you to amend your agreement to reflect changing needs and expectations. To access a mentoring goal and agreement template, click here.

Formulate

Brainstorm what the rest of your mentoring relationship will look like. Are there specific goals and competencies that you want to focus on? If so, how and when will you work on these? There may also be other mentoring activities that you would like to build into your plan, such as attending a professional networking event together, role-playing or observing competencies in action.

The great thing about check-in meetings is that they help to refocus and re-energize a mentoring relationship to keep it moving forward with a clear direction and purpose. 

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Comment redynamiser votre relation de mentorat

 

Dans le cadre de toute relation de mentorat, il est important de faire un suivi ensemble pour évaluer l’évolution de la relation. En règle générale, un tel suivi est effectué vers le milieu de votre relation et donne aux deux parties une occasion de discuter et d'évaluer vos objectifs.

Les conseils suivants vous guideront à travers ce suivi avec votre partenaire de mentorat. 

Appréciation  

Avant votre rencontre de suivi, pensez à ce que vous appréciez de votre partenaire, à certaines des leçons que vous avez intégrées dans votre vie personnelle et professionnelle, et à la façon dont vous avez évolué à la suite de cette relation. Discutez-en avec votre partenaire et prenez le temps de le remercier. Une bonne relation de mentorat s'avère mutuellement bénéfique pour le mentoré et le mentor, et vous devriez tous les deux partager vos commentaires sur votre évolution et votre développement à la suite de la relation.

Évaluation

Discutez de l'objectif et des buts du mentorat qui ont été établis au début de la relation. Examinez ceux qui ont été accomplis et déterminez si vous désirez ajouter d'autres buts à la liste. Examinez aussi votre entente de mentorat pour vous assurer que la relation maintient le cap. L'évaluation de votre relation représente une bonne occasion de parler de vos inquiétudes et vous permet de modifier votre entente afin de tenir compte de l’évolution de vos besoins et attentes. Pour accéder à un modèle d’objectif et d'entente de mentorat, veuillez cliquer ici.

Élaboration

Réfléchissez à la forme que devrait prendre le reste de votre relation de mentorat. Y-a-t-il des buts et des compétences spécifiques sur lesquels vous voulez vous concentrer? Si oui, quand et comment y travaillerez-vous? Il peut aussi y avoir d'autres activités de mentorat que vous désirez introduire dans votre plan, comme assister à un événement de réseautage professionnel ensemble, effectuer des jeux de rôle ou observer des compétences en action.

Le grand avantage des rencontres de suivi, c'est qu'elles aident à recentrer et à redynamiser une relation de mentorat afin qu'elle puisse continuer de progresser avec une orientation et un but précis. 

 

Interview about MentorCity eBook with Gordon Nary of Tradeshow and Exhibit Thoughtleaders. 

Celestica and MentorCity are proud to present...

Mentoring Conversations

An innovative and dynamic speaker series on topics related to MentorCity members' mentoring goals.

Engage with mentor Jacquie Hermans who will speak about Presentation Skills.

Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Time:   9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. (EST)

About Jacquie Hermans



Inspirational Comedian and Emotional Intelligence Specialist, Jacquie Hermans will take the stress out of presentations and create the FUN within the adventure of the experience. 

Jacquie came from a place of anxiety from the fear of failure, judgment and fear of the unknown. The combination of Second City Training and Emotional Intelligence strategies helped Jacquie to overcome her fears and to embrace the unknown with confidence, courage and trust with the natural creative flow that resides within all of us.

Within this interactive and FUN presentation, Jacquie will provide you with tools to emotionally and mentally prepare yourself for the “Unknown”. She will also reinforce the integral role emotional intelligence plays in creating successful results in all of your interactions and will offer strategies to enhance your Emotional Intelligence in relation to your presentations.  You will also learn about the “Power of your Personal Energy” for creating an optimal environment. To learn more about Jacquie, visit www.lightnup.ca

To register, please click on the following link:

Sometimes, your message to a potential mentor goes unanswered. It may leave you feeling disappointed because that person appeared to be a good match; but you give up and chalk it up to that person being too busy to respond. But, when it comes to building mentoring relationships, it takes more than just a quick message to get things started. The following tips will get your mentoring meeting requests noticed and increase your likelihood of getting a response.

 1.       Don’t straight-out ask someone to be your mentor

Asking someone to be your mentor is like asking someone to marry you. It can be an intimidating question and can feel like a big commitment. Instead, ask them if they would like to grab a quick cup of coffee or have a short 15-minute phone conversation.

2.       Compliment them

When you are browsing their MentorCity or social media profile, you may find that you admire some of their initiatives and projects. Let them know these things. It shows that you have done your homework and that you have selected them because of their unique achievements.

3.       Tell them why

Give them a sense of your goals and why you feel that a meeting with them will help you achieve them. Potential mentors will feel valued knowing that their skills and experiences will be helpful to someone else.  

If you don’t hear back from them, it’s ok to follow-up with them a few times. This kind of perseverance will impress them and leave a positive impression about how driven, dedicated and committed you are.

When your invitation is done right, the potential mentor will feel honoured that you reached out to them and they will be just as excited about the meeting as you are. 

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3 moyens pour convaincre un mentor de dire « Oui » à une rencontre

Il arrive parfois que votre message à un mentor potentiel reste sans réponse. Ceci peut vous laisser un sentiment de déception, puisque la personne semblait être un bon choix, mais vous abandonnez vos essais, pensant que cette personne est trop occupée pour vous répondre. Par contre, lorsque nous cherchons à établir des relations de mentorat, il faut plus qu’un simple message pour faire avancer les choses. Les conseils suivants feront ressortir vos demandes de rencontre de mentorat et augmenteront la probabilité de recevoir une réponse.

1.       Ne demandez pas directement à la personne d’être votre mentor

Une demande de mentorat est comme une demande en mariage - cela peut être intimidant et peut sembler comme un grand engagement. Demandez-lui à la place s’il voudrait prendre une tasse de café ou tenir une brève conversation téléphonique de 15 minutes.

2.       Faites-lui des compliments 

Lorsque vous naviguez son profil sur MentorCity ou sur les médias sociaux, vous constaterez peut-être que vous admirez certains de ses projets et initiatives. Faites-lui savoir et tu peux ainsi lui montrer que vous avez fait vos recherches et que vous l’avez choisi en raison de ses réussites exceptionnelles.

3.       Dites-lui pourquoi 

Donnez-lui un aperçu de vos objectifs et la raison pour laquelle vous croyez qu’une rencontre avec lui vous aidera à les atteindre. Le mentor potentiel se sentira important sachant que ses connaissances et expériences seront utiles à quelqu’un d’autre. Si vous n’avez pas de réponse, vous pouvez faire quelques suivis avec lui. Ce type de persévérance l’impressionnera et évoquera à quel point vous êtes engagé, dévoué et commis.

Lorsque votre invitation est bien faite, le mentor potentiel se sentira honoré que vous vouliez établir un lien et il sera tout aussi enthousiaste par cette rencontre.