It's been a year since I last showed up on my virtual
world here - a year of much increased individual mentoring.
Right after my last blog post here, I was pleased to be
selected as a mentor for the Aspire Foundation and for the Cherie Blair
Foundation - 2 wonderful mentee women, one who was in the midst of a leadership
opportunity in the midst of an organizational reorganization and the other an
established health business owner who has been working to expand her business (both
clients and product offerings), add a stable of employees, and also grow
herself as well.
I have also been mentoring public health professionals
studying for MPHs at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health – in this
past academic year, one just starting her career and the other who is a
mid-career professional who is expanding his evaluation skills.
These experiences are all long-term mentoring where we
meet together every 2-4 weeks over 6-12 months or longer.
In addition, I have had shorter-term mentoring
interactions with 9 other professionals ranging in their professional growth
from a new public health researcher who is working while starting her prerequisites
for her MPH studies to a woman who is well skilled and with many decades of
experience but who wants to move from the domestically-focused work she has
been doing leading large research projects into more direct technical work in global
development settings.
What are the differences between these 2 groups? Here’s
what I’ve seen, admittedly with a limited sample!
Those seeking Long-Term Mentoring are generally looking for career advice and ideas on professional
growth areas for focusing. They feel they are at a crossroads and want to talk
things through. I’ve also found that they want to develop and build on a long-term plan to move their professional
growth to a new level. The regular, ongoing contact provides them with an
external connection that keeps them on track with their professional growth
plan so they do not get sidetracked by the busy-ness of their lives. Over time
in the mentoring sessions, we review the complex threads of their lives as
contributors to their moving to the next level. In between the sessions, each
mentee and I agree on what the focus for the next period is. And we know when
we’re done – when the mentee identifies that they’ve achieved what they had
been seeking.
The people I’ve worked with who are in the category of Short-Term Mentoring have targeted, specific questions for immediate
information. They need to be able to verbalize their plans and want to bounce
ideas off me. They are usually not looking for solving life-plan issues, but are
often contemplating making a move. They describe themselves as stuck – and one
to a few mentoring sessions help them get moving again.
The commonalities…? That’s the next blog post – and there
will be one quite soon.
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