Strategic Mentoring-Connecting the Dots
Karen Jaw-Madson
Culture, DEI-B, Leadership, Talent Optimization, & Change Consultant/ Exec Coach/ Author/ Speaker/ Advisor to Execs & Boards
January is National Mentoring Month! In that spirit, we’ve been sharing insights that compel deeper understanding of its value. Scroll down for an entire list of resources after the post.
Mentoring should not be an island on its own. It should be connected so that it can both support and reinforce entire ecosystems, internally and externally. For example, mentoring helps with learning. Learning supports talent development and career growth. Strong talent supports high performance and innovation, which drives the fulfillment of an organization’s purpose, mission, and vision.
Let’s look at it from an individual point of view. Mentoring grows knowledge and relationships, which could lead to more relationships as mentor and mentee introduce people to one another–people that could collaborate on achieving great success together. This sets the conditions for what Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From, called liquid networks. He compared them to neural networks, which require two things: size (a densely populated network) and plasticity—the ability to adopt new configurations. He even gave an example of a lab where it became clear that “the ground zero of innovation was not the microscope. It was the conference table.” (p. 61)
Liquid networks create an environment where those partial ideas can connect…They make it easier to disseminate good ideas, but more importantly, they help complete ideas. (p. 75)
My previous post answering, “does mentoring work?” also shows how liquid networks that originated with mentoring relationships can lead to so much more. Socrates mentored Plato, who mentored Aristotle, who mentored Alexander the Great. Even Oprah had a mentor in Maya Angelou.
See how it’s all connected? By connecting mentoring to a larger ecosystem, we can create a culture of innovation and collaboration that benefits everyone involved.
If mentoring is a topic of interest for you and/or your organization, here are some additional resources below, or schedule a meeting to chat about your needs.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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Marketing Executive | Strong Advocate for Underrepresented Groups in the Workplace | Startup Investor
9 个月Thanks for the Chronus shoutout, Karen Jaw-Madson!
Executive Coach * Public Speaker * Mom * Traveler
10 个月Ah!! Love having all of these resources in one place, Karen Jaw-Madson! Thank you so much.
Executive Coach ?? Dynamic Speaker ?? High Impact Facilitator ?? Emcee Extraordinaire ?? Lean in Network Leader ?? World Traveler
10 个月Wow talk about a treasure trove of resources! I love how you have individual posts/resources that address specific areas of mentoring! during early career years I designed mentoring programs, ran them and at this point of my career have been enjoying giving back by being a mentor. My biggest takeways from your resources were the future facing questions (4 & 5) inspired by the 5E frameworks. Most often the focus in on the program itself and not on what can mentees do to give back. I like how you set the stage for the "Exit" and "Extension". Well done Karen Jaw-Madson! José A Grimaldo Jr, MBA, PLS, PMEC & Krystal Brue - some food for thought.
Keep up the great work Karen Jaw-Madson. We invite you to follow National Mentoring Day and share your inspiring #mentoringexperiences with us at #NationalMentoringDay. Your support helps us to collectively raise the voice of mentoring to inspire others to take up mentorship.
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10 个月As always Karen, thanks for sharing such helpful resources!