The March 9th lecture continued with Pete delving deeper in to the theme of mentors and protégés. First we must understand that when we approach a potential mentor, they may not know how to form the mentor - protégée relationship or may not feel that they have anything to offer. When approaching a potential mentor it is best to be honest and up front with expectations. Mentors can be found in many types of relationships, there is peer-to-peer, career or life orientated. As a general rule, your boss cannot be an adequate mentor as the boss is sometimes (usually) the problem, however, you might be lucky enough to find a boss who is genuinely interested in you.
Further discussion tied previous class dialog to today's session, "awareness" about people, self, or situation allows us to receive honest feedback from someone else about our "blind-self", however this person must have a genuine interest in you and you in them as self-interest kills any relationship. A good mentor must have an unconditional positive regard for you, in other words, the mentor can tell you that you screwed up, be honest with you, and be a reliable source that you can trust. The relationship with your mentor should be authentic one, not one for gain of position or power but one of honesty, empowerment, and of cross-fertilization; your mentor will learn as much from you as you will from them.
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear" Chinese Proverb.
Next we dove into responsibility and position as it refers to two types of achievers. The first achiever climbs the ladder one rung at a time, never venturing out of their responsibilities or position's definition. Self-interest fuels this tunnel vision achiever and they do eventually climb that ladder to more power and better positions.
The second type of achiever climbs the ladder via a game of chutes and ladders (mostly the big ladders). They tend to take on responsibility outside of their position and act without authority to solve problems to get their initial job done. Volunteering to take on more and solving greater problems will gain the attention of superiors, and soon the energy and capability to take on more accountability promotes this achiever to the next rung or sometime up several rungs. This achiever continues to take on more problems and more responsibility, and will overtake the first type of achiever as they put more on the line but receive a bigger return. Some of the traits of this achiever are energy, awareness, and altruism; however the continued taking on of responsibility carries the danger of burning out. As in anything, balance is the key to success.
"Leap and the net will appear." Zen Saying
Further discussion tied previous class dialog to today's session, "awareness" about people, self, or situation allows us to receive honest feedback from someone else about our "blind-self", however this person must have a genuine interest in you and you in them as self-interest kills any relationship. A good mentor must have an unconditional positive regard for you, in other words, the mentor can tell you that you screwed up, be honest with you, and be a reliable source that you can trust. The relationship with your mentor should be authentic one, not one for gain of position or power but one of honesty, empowerment, and of cross-fertilization; your mentor will learn as much from you as you will from them.
"When the student is ready the teacher will appear" Chinese Proverb.
Next we dove into responsibility and position as it refers to two types of achievers. The first achiever climbs the ladder one rung at a time, never venturing out of their responsibilities or position's definition. Self-interest fuels this tunnel vision achiever and they do eventually climb that ladder to more power and better positions.
The second type of achiever climbs the ladder via a game of chutes and ladders (mostly the big ladders). They tend to take on responsibility outside of their position and act without authority to solve problems to get their initial job done. Volunteering to take on more and solving greater problems will gain the attention of superiors, and soon the energy and capability to take on more accountability promotes this achiever to the next rung or sometime up several rungs. This achiever continues to take on more problems and more responsibility, and will overtake the first type of achiever as they put more on the line but receive a bigger return. Some of the traits of this achiever are energy, awareness, and altruism; however the continued taking on of responsibility carries the danger of burning out. As in anything, balance is the key to success.
"Leap and the net will appear." Zen Saying
Amy King
SHWGROUP
