Mentoring, flow of expertise

Experience needs relationships. Reading about it is not enough.

Mentoring is a great concept. Experience flowing down from veterans to recruits can be a satisfying relation for everyone implied. But as any other successful relation, doing it the right way and with the right expectations is a lot better in the long run.

The explicit goal is learning. The mentor’s job is to promote the deliberate creation of knowledge. It needs to be a relation with results; else it’s a waste of time, or some other kind of relation.

Success, failure, who cares? Well, probably you. But for your mentor it’s a non-issue. His goal is to make you learn something, and both situations can be useful for that. It’s all about context. Why? How? Who? It’s also a great opportunity to share past experiences, we all have failures. Getting back on track is important, but while you’re down, try to get something being there.

Mentors know a lot, did a lot, and have a lot to share. A good mentor is able to tell the good story at the right moment, talking about their past experience, an anecdote of some similar situation they went trough.  By contextualizing lessons, they become “learning leaders”.

Mentoring is a continuous process, it takes time. It is the synthesis of ongoing events, experiences, observation, studies and thoughtful analyses. Don’t try to rush it, if will fail.

Learning is a shared responsibility. Both members of the duo must do their part. Regardless of the subject, timing and all others variables, it’s about commitment. You respect your business contracts? I hope so, because this is one of them.