[Flash] Creating Velcro Conversations in a Post-it World… Why Mentoring Became My Passion
If I had known about mentoring when I started my career, I would not have quit my favorite job.
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.
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…
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. |