Mentor experience

Originally Posted by Incidentally So much for mentoring.

Do you feel that "mentoring" is not worthwhile?

Originally Posted by Jolly Roger Do you feel that "mentoring" is not worthwhile?

This is a difficult question to answer, you need to take into acoount if the mentor is self-employed, on commission only and its he's time [he's unpaid time] he's volunteering. This was the sitution with me above -see 2 posts. I worked for 2 men who I've admired and copied, William Sharp a Market trader, who underpaid me, employed child labour [me] but formed or moulded my life. The other was a Drew McDonald, whose attitude was "We are not packing in until we sell 6 washing machines today, and every day", and all by door to door selling. From these men I acquired a VIEWPOINT ON LIFE.

Big firms, especially conglomerates could not exist without training [ another form of mentoring] they spend mega-bucks, and in private will admit its an heart breaking business. Its my view the best employees become involved, become leaders, and their main qualities are good time keeping and reliabilty. Mentoring is needed, sounds good, but can cost the mentor a great deal.

It is indeed important, as a mentor, to first of all know who you're mentoring. Second, as mentor, when an incident happens, part of mentoring might be to help the "mentee" understand why his or her actions are inappropriate. Perhaps not at the moment the incident occurs, but certainly in time. Using the pen incident, you could approach the young salesperson and point out to him that you found it a bit off-putting for him to have made an issue out of a five cent pen because it seemed quite unappreciative, after you just helped him make 10 sales.

Remember, in his eyes, you making an issue over his need for a pen might seem petty. Perhaps he really needed a pen at the moment, so the issue wasn't the value of the pen (five cents), but the fact that he may not have had access to another one. He might think, or hopefully say, "Gee, what's the big deal? You're right, it is only a cheap pen, so why make a big deal out of the fact that I needed it at the moment." This is your opportunity as a mentor to explain to him that a large part of his work environment is perception, and working with others. Help him to see that the appropriate action would have been to catch up and say.... "I appreciate all your help today, and I know it's only a cheap pen, but there isn't a store nearby and I really need it to take some notes."

Originally Posted by Incidentally With great experience of my own misguided kindness, I must say that helping people out is a MYTH.

Have you considered that maybe you were the problem? You've learned how to sell but have you learned how to mentor?

Originally Posted by AZBroker Have you considered that maybe you were the problem? You've learned how to sell but have you learned how to mentor?

Excellent questions. Mentoring is a skill that takes understanding and practice.

I found a mentor recently. I asked my district manager if she could put me in contact with someone in my area and she did. This woman was able to submit my online order for me during the ice storm. It was a big help. I wish she lived in my town but she isn't too far away.

You shouldn't volunteer as a mentor if you don't want to put the 'mentee' above what's going on in your day. I had someone call me at the beach. I spent 30 minutes talking to him and he had the confidence to go into his meeting. he got the deal. Well worth taking a few vacation minutes.

Susan

Originally Posted by susana You shouldn't volunteer as a mentor if you don't want to put the 'mentee' above what's going on in your day.

Like a parent-child relationship?

Originally Posted by Thomas Like a parent-child relationship?

I don't know if I'd go that far, but you do have to be somewhat selfless.

Susan