Mentoring. Its a topic that brings lots of different emotions and opinions. Lucky for me, I’m going to share mine here today and let you decide, on your own, where you stand. But, everyone needs a champion. Every idea needs a champion. Every new business needs a champion. Kids in tough places, recent graduates, young adults, middle aged employees, new senior adults, they all need a champion. I just turn the word champion in to mentor.
Think about it. There is not a stage in life that you enter without a little trepidation or fear of what’s to come in the unknown glaring at you.
This time of year with graduation, weddings, baby showers, job changes, and new jobs, I often reflect on some of the scariest and hardest days of my life. Laced with fear of the unknown mixed with excitement for the new adventure, I’m reminded of the people who walked the road before me and were willing to turn back and stick out their hand to pull me forward.
My first intentional mentors came in middle school and high school by way of small group leaders in my youth group at church. But, before that I know I had VBS teachers, choir teachers, and Sunday School teachers who invested in me and helped me through hard little elementary school days.
I look back now and think about my after school sewing teacher where I started lessons in 6th grade. Its a special calling in life to teach 6th graders, much less an after school lesson learning a new skill. She let me pick weird fabric for culottes and that sunflower material (to match my perfume) for my first, an last, homemade Easter dress from my own hands. It was days of big glasses and bad perms. I walked there after school and spent Friday nights at lockins with my sewing machine and a store full of thread and fabric.
Then, I remember a woman in my junior year who met with me weekly for a period of time at our local library. She was the mom of a classmate, but she only had sons and mentoring me through a program provided by our school district was her way of investing in the future. She was a professional woman and always came from work. But she was patient, and had a smile, and asked about my life and sat and listened to my responses. I’ve not seen or connected with her since I graduated high school, but I still remember specifically that intentional time we had together.
Valerie. Debbie M. Mrs. Lively. David S. David G. Babb. Randy. LB. Rebecca. Debbie G. They are all individuals that stopped and took special interest in me at whatever stage and season I was exploring. They walked with me through those days. They pushed me to be better. They recognized potential and let me fly with new projects. They listened when I failed or hurt. They brought intention to hard days.
Some of the experiences required hard effort and some were just them being them. Whatever it was, it made me soar. And, I know I”m the better for those relationships.
5 Reason to Mentor the Next Generation
- Takes the focus off you – it’s not much harder than that. When you are intentionally focused on another person and investing in them, you do not have the mental space or time to focus inwardly. Don’t hear me set that up in an unhealthy way, but really when you are caring for others it’s really hard to be egocentric.
- Great way to make friends – whether its a friendship with the person you are mentoring or meeting others in the mentoring program, its a great place to meet new people you might not have interacted with otherwise. I’ve personally had this experience. One of the first things I got involved with in my new town three years ago was volunteering one afternoon a week at an afterschool program with teens. The other ladies who run the program and volunteer there have become my closest friends in this community. They invest in me, and Little Man, as much as we try to invest in the students who come each week. It has built for me a family in this community, connected me to others and helped draw me out as I connected and made a new place feel like home.
- Potential new mentor for yourself – using the example above, if I were in a place to want a mentor and to build something deeper, I know I could go to any one of the other women who volunteer there and ask if they would build an intentional relationship with me. They are mothers, grandmothers, retired teachers, and community leaders. They are the kind of women I want in my life and I know their “been there” mindset could make all the difference. I’ve been able to be in Bible study groups with some of them and just from those conversations, I know the wealth of growth my life could use from that.
- A place to put your skills to work – this is one thing that has kept me involved and coming back to mentoring and volunteering. One of my favorite and most fulfilling, volunteer roles was with Junior Achievement. I worked with a local high school teacher and we talked through career clusters, resumes, and interviews, applying for college, budget tips, and she always let me add a social media safety and identity session. It was just a fun way to take my teaching skills and combine that with my experience as a manager, college admissions officer, and social media professional. Recently, I’ve been building and teaching social media training to Relay For Life volunteers. This has been a great way for me to work with people across the country who are new to social media and how to connect their Relay community with their local community. I’ve loved the teaching aspect and making new friends. What about you? Do you have a legal or financial background that could help a start-up non-profit? Are you experienced in your field and need to bring a new employee under your wing? There are so many skills we all bring and one of the most fulfilling ways to use our skills is to use them to give.
- If curriculum, sometimes it comes out to help you. This was true for me with the Junior Achievement curriculum. There were tools I used from what I was teaching the high school kids with a group of college interns over a summer program. But, as you work out issues with another person in a one-on-one mentoring program, you often work through issues in your own personal relationships. Whether its the mirror of accountability the program raises or simply pushing you to think more, its an incredible process of healing that often develops.
Yesterday, I was listening to a college president address a group of high school seniors. He shared some good news, not so good news, and then another round of good news. He had been reading an article that recently reported results of the Gen Y graduates.
- Good News – they want to do jobs that involve meaningful work
- Not so Good News – when interviewed, many young adults in the workplace respond that they do not feel like they do meaningful work
- Good News – of those who reported they did feel like they did meaningful work, there were 2 common characteristics of their college experience. 1 – they formed a relationship with a mentor or advisor at the college. 2. – they got involved in learning outside the classroom.
Good News indeed comes often as a solution to a problem.
The business and working community will drastically change over the next decade and again in the one that will follow. Jsut making money no longer stands as a characteristic of the generations to come, including mine. We were raised by people who were raised in poverty. The generation that raised us sought wealth that came through hard work, working hard, working long, building business and then adding more and more.
A new generation of business and working employees are consistently trying to figure out how to do more with less. How to make more money in less time. Not because they are lazy, but because they can. And, they want to control how their time is spent, not let their job control their family and personal life. We will have much to learn from these generations.
But, somewhere along the way, the grit that comes from a life of meaningful hard work will mean something. If you are nearing the end of your career, find a 20-something that wants to learn and invest in them. If you are a 20-something beginning your career and learning to find your place in life, look back and find a teen or college student who could learn from your experiences. If you are an empty nester mom, reach out to a new mom and hold her baby for her and let her go to the grocery store or take a bath. She will probably thank you with a cup of coffee or a random soda in her fridge and crave grown up conversation and your experience and advice.
Smile. Encourage. Don’t Mock. Share when asked. Be present until you are asked to share. Invest. Give deeply. Enjoy the investment.
