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Mentoring

Reviewing This Week on Make HR Happen – Stories About Minotaurs and Manatees (Not Really!)

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    The blogger’s nightmare is when his muse is instructing him to be creative in a serious and positive sense, but something keeps whispering to his brain that there is something really funny about all this. It was a tough job, but Monday through Friday was published with a certain amount of decorum. Today it is time to play with the words a bit. Technically, Mentor and Minotaur are heterographs different in spelling and… Read More »Reviewing This Week on Make HR Happen – Stories About Minotaurs and Manatees (Not Really!)

Part IV – Informal Mentoring

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Not all companies have formal programs to start a new employee on the right track. Many long term employees entering new jobs may not be afforded a formal program to bring them up to speed. It is necessary in some cases for mentors to self appoint themselves to fill a training gap. It is also important for all of us who need assistance to seek out and appoint our own mentors. Is this some sort… Read More »Part IV – Informal Mentoring

Part III – Formal Mentoring Programs

There is a similarity between all mentoring programs whether they are in academia, non-profit, service organizations or industry. It all begins with a cadre of individuals that have the know-how and patience to serve as a mentor and willing participants that understand that they don’t know it all and have a lust for knowledge. To establish a formal program for mentorship in a business, there are threads of conflict that must be resolved before a… Read More »Part III – Formal Mentoring Programs

Part II – The Art of Being a Mentee

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In addition to the duties of a mentor, the protégé, disciple, apprentice or student being instructed has responsibilities to make mentoring systems work. It may seem to most people as a top-down arrangement at first glance, but one thing is true in all mentorship programs: The mentee is responsible for making the system work. This is not typically a supervisory/subordinate relationship, but one of partnering to impart wisdom and knowledge to the mentee. Often when… Read More »Part II – The Art of Being a Mentee

Part I – The Art of Mentoring

There are several misconceptions that must be set aside before there can be any analysis of an effective mentor. A mentor is not a friend. In fact, true friendship is much too tolerant for effective mentoring. Mentorship based on a personal relationship alone will not allow either party to openly participate to their mutual benefit. This is also not the buddy system. In summer camp, assigning a buddy could have been seen as a defense… Read More »Part I – The Art of Mentoring