Mentoring
I’m seeing so many opportunities for transformation within the Next Gen and older generations. The generations have been converging for a couple of years. When the book, “Managing the Millennials”, came out in 2010, many Boomers weren’t able to comprehend the next up and coming talented minds and their brilliant skillset. Another great handbook was “On Managing People”, written in 2011 by The Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. So many great guides were written to prepare us for this day; this moment of transformation. Yet, without walking you through the many articles and research-based workforce forecasts I’ve read and spoken about throughout this last decade, let’s realize in 2020 we are at an awesome marketplace opportunity to better understand work + life culture. Presently we work among five generations in the marketplace. I am grateful to have all five generations in my office and workspace. Don’t miss your mentoring moment to recreate the details + the big picture.
What ways can you mentor during these present disruptive times in the workplace and life? How can you use your leadership + influence to transform mindsets, stagnant behavior patterns + narrow motives for success? How can you promote team building across the new digital landscape and navigate through the noise of “look at me” to get to the servant leadership place of “look at us”?
This is a decade when the older more seasoned business leaders must think about their younger workforce leaders. This is the time to prayerfully ask how you can make a significant difference in the life of Gen Y + Z and let them stand on your shoulders as we all look to see where our next stepping stone will take our businesses and purposeful destiny. Not how can you make a big difference - - rather how can you make a ‘significant’ difference in the lives of Next Gen. I will now call our young workers ‘Lead Gen’ because they are the new leaders of our workforce!
What is the spirit of transformation in workplace mentoring? The spirit of transformation is more than a digital transformation. It’s more than a reskilling or upskilling transformation. It’s an inward look at why you’ve been placed in the sector you’re in right now. Just stop for a moment and write down your job title. Then write the broader category it fits under. Wait; now write the next broader category until you get to one of these sectors:
⛰ Education - examples are educators, teachers, virtual + brick & mortar learning institutions..
⛰ Celebration - creative works of the hands, music, art, fashion, music, film, sports
⛰ Economy - world traders, resource producers + distributors
⛰ Religion - the service or worship of the true + living God
⛰ Family - social justice entities, parenting + care-giving stewards, holistic + medical counselors
⛰ Government - Politics all levels
⛰ Media - Web + Internet, television networks, magazine + similar print media
This is only a sample description to help you find the mountain you stand on. The mountain you have been called to nurture, mentor from, + occupy in this season. Note for the Gig worker: look at the trend of gig jobs you’ve been expressing your passion in. The gigs you’ve been discovering your skills + talents in. Then see the thread that leads you to identify your mountain.
I know some of you have landed in some interesting industries! Use your Stillness Time to explore where you are today. Explore why you are where you are today. Use the 5-step DIG IN coaching model I shared earlier this week to help guide you in your transformation process.
This post is designed to explore where the older generations have succeeded (or failed) at mentoring and managing the Lead Gen. Transformation in workplace +life mentoring can only exist if the mentors are engaging their heart best with the brilliant young workers now placed at their office door.
Here are some 7 critical mentoring keys to reflect on as you realize your next decisions on managing Lead Gen that will count fo the next 5-10 years. Let’s explore + reflect:
Are you a Mentor of Progress or Peril?
🗝 1. Make no doubt - Silent Years, Boomers and Gen Xers - you are accountable for how you pass on your role of leadership and influence. This is no time to cower in these adverse times. Gather your strength; and reinforce your foundation of faith so you can properly share the authority you have with the next Lead Gen. Yes, as I’ve been expressing in the various roles I’ve held as an executive, managing director, project management professional and even executive director for a youth organization... INTERGENERATIONAL POWER SHARING IS THE ONLY WAY. It’s frightening how many leaders don’t want to develop a succession plan for their positions. Actually, it’s sad how fear has crippled their perfect love for others. But rise up; it’s not too late to engage your heart best!
YOUR PROGRESS: Be fearless and share your tacit + industry knowledge with the next leaders of your mountain. Transform and cultivate a godly foundation of faith that will give you the strength to work together for progressive innovation on your mountain.
YOUR PERIL: Selfishly holding on to your skills will only lead to those skills drying up because they are meant to be shared with others. Hoarding is not helpful. It restricts unity.
🗝 2. Use your past experiences and seasons to create learning histories and repositories for the Lead Gen. Only you know the personal intricacies that have made you wiser in your respective career. Our Lead Gen have a fear of the unknown that they may not readily share with you because they’re struggling with their own inner voices screaming “you’re invincible”. Get real with them; only God is invincible. And when they lean on His invincible wisdom and provision, they’ll receive what they need to pay their skills forward to their next lead generation. Now you’ve helped them understand how to build and think legacy.
PROGRESS: Your true game is bringing all of you to the table. The blended self. The nurtured self. The transformed self. Your work + life advice will help the Lead Gen multiply on their mountain. They will see your faith and glean from it for the daily encouragement they need to holistically succeed. Remember to show them you’re a blend and bring your entire self to your mountain.
PERIL: Your lack of transparency will give the Lead Gen a false foundation or no ground to stand on at all. Don’t be responsible for withholding crucial mentoring keys that can give them traction to withstand the hard and challenging times such as this season we’re in.
🗝3. Be a mentor that has an expectant hope. You must encourage yourself because you have a job to encourage others. How do you promote your mountain in a positive way? How do you discuss your sector without cynicism, bias + suffocating subjectivity? It’s easy. Engage your heart best. Talk to the Lead Gen about the works of your hands from the purest perspective. Filter out emotions and soulish commentary.
PROGRESS: You are the light on your mountain. Stop flickering. Realize your importance on the respective mountain you’ve been placed and steady yourself.
PERIL: I admonish all of us that have sat in closed doors meeting not inviting Lead Gen to hear, process, and develop the emotional, social intelligence skills. We’re now crying we’re looking for these soft skills to support our workplace environment. Review and remember your servant leadership lessons. Reread my blog on Servant Leadership (https://www.ejencalarde.com/blog/2019/1/2/servant-leadership).
🗝 4. Allow the minds of Lead Gen to generate cells that produce innovation and progress. How can you do that? Avoid teaching and mentoring with bias, prejudice, gluttony, unforgiveness, and perversion regarding your skills and the sector you’re in. Let them see your transparency during career tribulations. How is your heart and mind protected from worry, fear and anxiety. Remember, concern is different from anxiety. Your mindful concern and perseverance will give them the courage they need to grow strong in the skills they’ve been gifted with. Let them see your core values, which should align with your company values. Your character is essential in this season. Your hope is critical.
PROGRESS: Be the blended person. Let those you mentor see you triumph with humility and agape love desiring to share your success with them. Let them see you pray when times are uncertain and you must show them where your true help comes from. Let them see you stand with peace when chaos and angry anxious voices are clamoring for your attention.
PERIL: Harmony at work is expressed when Lead Gen can see you bring peace to your coworkers through challenging conflicting times. Do not withhold showing them your tribulations and honest efforts to persevere during stormy seas as well as during your triumphant industry times. Let them see your proper response to suffering or else they will not fare well with future work difficulties.
🗝 5. This is the season of creativity. How can you mentor Lead Gen and teach them how to solve a problem or hatch an idea? What are the brainstorming methods you’re helping them develop? Creativity requires focus, commitment, and discipline. This is the time to help them focus on + identify their God-given talents; believe in their ability to succeed; and increase their threshold for patience. How are you using these present circumstances and situations to maximize creativity in discovering a new and innovative course of action? Failure can be a useful tool to help Lead Gen find a creative way to do tasks differently than it was done a decade ago. But you must be willing to share the shortcomings of a procedure in order to turn toward new methods of overcoming defeat.
PROGRESS: Forgive yourself for past mistakes and failures that didn’t bring the work success you intended. When you can confess your mistakes and turn, genuinely looking for transformation to call forth a new and brighter course of action, you are gaining the leadership required for a courageous mentor.
PERIL: Don’t hide the experience you suffered through that can give Lead Gen a miraculous moment to bring about the healing transformation your industry needs. Flexibility is not your enemy. It’s you’re long-lost friend. Don’t miss out on new discoveries and possibilities that reverse shadowing from Lead Gen can offer you.
🗝 6. Little things add up. Don’t be a sum zero mentor. Your net change in wealth or benefit should add to Lead Gen; not cause them to lose momentum. I’m not espousing flowery, positive nothings. I’m asking you to explore whether or not you’re creating life transformation in those you have been called to mentor? The little things add up. Your flexibility and willingness adds up. Begin to review industry information weekly and send your mentees helpful learning tools threaded with wisdom and discernment about the times both of you are living in. You should know how to use Zoom, Google Meet or Google Hangout by now; or maybe you want to use Vimeo to send out a short video of Work + Life tips. During this Big Pause, understand the little things you do add up. Express insight, not hindsight.
PROGRESS: I see your God-given skills wrapped up in a small gift box with a big colorful bow. When you offer it to Lead Gen with no expectations or strings attached, I see them opening it up only to marvel at how much you’ve given them in such a small box. The gift they open from you has experiential depth that will sustain them for longer than they ever imagined. The gift you give will offer them such contentment and peace at a time they need it (and you) most.
PERIL: If you miss this quiet opportunity to increase your learning in order to be a more effective mentor, you may regret this moment you’re receiving to pay it forward.
🗝 7. In all transparency, I feel more peaceful today than I did during Hurricane Katrina. I sought the Lord to explain why I had this peace during what seems an even more explosive time. I believe the answer brought me clarity with the phrase “fullness of time”. It gave me a broader perspective of the term completeness. And it reminded me of my present strength because I am now in agreement with Him. Today, I mentor and coach with greater discernment and insight; a broader knowledge of how others success will complete my role in the workplace + life; and I am comfortable coaching in alignment with those led to discover meaningful transformation in their work + lives.
PROGRESS: Protect your mentees by helping them stay strong and resilient. This is your season to document your work wisdom and include it in the company work repository. Archive your tacit and structured knowledge so Lead Gen can share your skills and career talents for better times that will come in this era.
PERIL: Leaving Lead Gen scattered without a courageous godly mentor to lead and influence them will leave us with an afflicted workforce. You (we) are accountable for what you (we) do with the works of your (our) hands on the industry mountain you (we) occupy.
Living Life transforming mentoring Today!
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