[Flash] Creating Velcro Conversations in a Post-it World… Why Mentoring Became My Passion

After law school, I moved to Silicon Valley and joined a renowned firm to practice start-up law.

There, I was responsible for helping CEOs launch their dreams with venture financing. The pace was grueling; the work was challenging; the challenge was exhilarating!

I worked for two brilliant partners, Dana and Bob (not their real names), both good-natured people whose company I enjoyed.

One hitch: Bob’s disorganization. He would notoriously assign me urgent client transactions at the end of the day, causing me to cancel plans and work past midnight to meet his last-minute requests.

I felt frustratingly incapable of changing my situation. I lacked the confidence and competence to confront the pattern of missed expectations.

When a recruiter called and dangled the prospect of a fresh start at a different law firm, I took the interview and ultimately the job offer, but not without undue angst. I felt enormously disloyal.

Upon reflection, mentoring would have made a fundamental difference in my decision.

• I thought I had to navigate career situations and decisions on my own.
• I didn’t know I could seek advice, guidance, perspectives, and insights from colleagues.
• And it never occurred to me that anyone at work would want to listen deeply to my struggle and contribute their wisdom to help me succeed.

Instead, I ran away. And I questioned my choice the moment I left.

At the time, my relationship with work was like a Post-it note, easily lifted and moved from one project, team, or employer to another.

But mentoring conversations create an experience like Velcro – each exchange is a hook fastening onto a loop, proclaiming, “I’ve got you! I see you. I hear you. You belong here. We’re in this together! You don’t have to figure this out all by yourself.”

And that’s why I love formal mentoring programs. They…

• give us permission to engage and contribute to each other
• teach us to create transformational conversations (Velcro!) in the chaos of our everyday transactions (Post-it notes)
• reframe mentoring as a skill to be sharpened, not an event to be coveted
• offer us a safe space to practice championing each other

By formalizing mentoring, we normalize it, helping everyone in an organization become better peers, leaders, and human beings.

Fewer Post-it notes. More Velcro.  

© 2024. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.