DrContrarian

Mentees probably join a mentoring program for an array of reasons, and some of which are likely to doom the relationship. The first thing I will do with my mentee is to establish clearly and honestly why she joined the program. There is list of things I won’t be doing, and the top of the list looks like this: Telling her what to do. Doing stuff for her. Leverage my network. It may seem odd that I won’t be dishing out advice, but I happen to be a firm believer in the Socratic method of teaching. I will ask the questions that will lead her to arrive at an answer. If I am any good, it will be the answer I think is right. I won’t do stuff – I have enough to do. I have a business – a family – a life. I am not doing it for charitable purposes. I can’t charge for my services. Despite the fact that this expectation is dealt with upfront, I am pretty sure the reason why the organisers have to keep dealing with an the introduction evening is because it keeps popping up. I won’t leverage ...

I started on the journey of joining a local initiative to act as a mentor. Being a pedant, the first thing that struck me was the use of mentor and mentoree (sic) as the labels. I am proud to say that I refrained from correcting it on the spot, and now having checked the dictionary ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mentee ) I was tempted to let them know of the error of their ways. I am proud to say I resisted. Mum will be proud: I am growing up.... very slowly. To be honest (as that is what this blog is all about) if I was the organiser, I would want to be corrected rather than make a fool of myself. On the other hand it may be an “in” joke or peculiarly Australian. Being in the training/learning business, I suppose the act of mentoring is simply a different kind of training. But for most people, even very experienced business people, would no doubt fall into the trap of becoming de facto consultants. This whole process will require time I can ill afford, and I would not...