Evan Carmichael Top Header about About About facebook Twitter YouTube Google+

Avoiding Pitfalls in Mentoring Relationships, Part I of III



Free PDF Download
Communication Saboteurs: Egos - By Misti Burmeister

Name: Email:


“Life’s most urgent question is, ‘what are you doing for others?’”-Martin Luther King Jr.

Barbara, a young professional business owner in the consulting industry, was recently given an opportunity to receive a mentor and advisory board through XYZ Organization, a not-for-profit focused on helping women in the professional arena. Kathy, the woman selected to be her mentor has a thriving PR business and is very successful. As you can imagine, Barbara was thrilled about the opportunity to work with Kathy.

Their first telephone meeting went very well. They discussed the areas where Barbara needed the most support, like budgeting and marketing. Part of Kathy’s commitment as Barbara’s mentor was to assist her in putting together an advisory board of experts to assist with growing her business. Needless to say, Barbara was quite excited.

After receiving sample public relations (PR) and marketing plans to work with, Barbara quickly produced her own marketing and PR plans and eagerly delivered them to Kathy for feedback. To Barbara’s surprise, Kathy emailed back within a day with both documents fully edited and with track changes. While Barbara was certainly surprised to receive a fully edited document, she was happy to have support and mentorship. As a result, Barbara took action on all items Kathy suggested as quickly as possible.

Late one Friday afternoon, Barbara wanted to share a marketing email she and her team had created using Kathy’s suggestions that showcased a new product. Barbara mentioned that she was planning to send it out on Monday and was eager to share their work with her. Kathy’s response was not at all what Barbara had expected. Kathy assumed that Barbara wanted her to edit this document over the weekend and was quite irritated that she would make such a request.

It’s easy to see why Kathy came to this conclusion considering she had edited a document previously and Barbara mentioned the attached document would be sent out on Monday. While Barbara never asked for editing, she certainly appreciated it and was hoping to gain some feedback, even if only a few thoughts.

Unfortunately, before Barbara had a chance to clarify this misunderstanding, Kathy cc’d everyone from XYZ Organization responsible for setting up this mentoring program to let them all know that this mentoring relationship needed to be redefined and that her responsibilities as a mentor were unclear. After a series of misread and misunderstood interactions, XYZ Organization told Barbara to halt all conversations with Kathy until they could spend time teaching Barbara how to receive mentoring.

Barbara made final attempts via email to apologize for stepping out of bounds. But she felt at this point that her emails were being misconstrued. I recommended that she call the person in charge of the mentoring program and let her know that any further communications needed to take place by telephone. Barbara made the call and left a voice message.Two weeks later, Barbara received an email from the president of XYZ Organization stating that after a cooling-down period, the committee would reconvene to let her know how they were planning to proceed. It will be interesting to see what happens to this relationship!As a woman entrepreneur in need of guidance and excited about the opportunity to work with a mentor, Barbara was even more confounded. While it would be easy to blame either Kathy or Barbara for an inability to communicate effectively, the real truth is, challenges like these are why so many mentoring programs fail.

Communication between young and seasoned professionals is not always as compatible as peanut butter and jelly, but usually just as different. In a mentoring relationship, it is common to have two people who come from different experiences, have a different outlook on the matters at hand and often communicate very differently.


Related Articles

  Question of the Day: What will you do with your failure?
  Transitioning New Employees Into the Workplace with Employee Mentoring Programs
  Mentoring: A Key Strategy for Professional and Organizational Success
  Winning Opportunities For Everyone Through Mentoring
  Mentoring – Winning Opportunities for Everyone
  Why Mentor?
  How a Corporate Mentoring Program Prepares Employees for Success
  Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching
  Business Mentoring Programs
  Mentoring in the Workplace Plays a Vital Role in Corporate Training
  Mentoring - It’s All Greek to Me!
  How to Create a Strong Leadership Succession Plan With Mentoring
  Passing the Leadership Torch
  Who SHOULD be mentored?
  “Business Mentoring – Add It To Business Coaching For A Powerful Combination”
  Crossing Boundaries With Mentoring
  Mentoring in the Workplace
  4 best practices for mentoring new sales reps
  Characteristics of a Mentor
  Mentoring, An Essential Part Of Forex Success

Home > Women-Entrepreneurs > Misti Burmeister > Avoiding Pitfalls in Mentoring Relationships Part I of III >

Free PDF Download
Communication Saboteurs: Egos - By Misti Burmeister

Name: Email:

About the Author: Misti Burmeister

RSS for Misti's articles - Visit Misti's website
A leading authority and bestselling author on the topic of inter-generational communication, Misti Burmeister has – for more than 10 years – empowered multi-generational organizations to increase their effectiveness, thus improving their company’s profits and productivity, and substantially accelerating their careers. www.mistib.com www.leadingacrossgenerations.com This talented entrepreneur has consulted for well-known companies including AT&T, Johnson & Johnson, UPS, government agencies and many others. Combining humor with hard-hitting information, she’s earned acclaim for providing immediately applicable steps that enable staff to work together and bring out the best in teams and organizations, in spite of their generational differences. A holder of degrees in both Psychology and Kinesiology with a Masters degree in Human Communications, Misti has proved that increased understanding plus systemized methods of implementation result in increased collaboration and improve a company’s bottom line. And, as you’ll be able to easily see for yourself, she brings a passion, belief and skill set to this topic that will empower you to fulfill your potential.
Click here to visit Misti's website.
Dashed Line

More from Misti Burmeister
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
5 Tips for Workplace Retention Across Generations
Money and a Nice Boss Benefits and Career Development Thats What I Want
Avoiding Pitfalls in Mentoring Relationships Part III of III
You Have To Be Hungry Part II of III

Related Forum Posts

Re: NEW VIDEO - Entrepreneur Ideas - Webinar - (4 of 5) Getting Re: NEW VIDEO - Entrepreneur Ideas - Webinar - (4 of 5) Getting
Re: Essential Leadership skills Re: Essential Leadership skills
Internet Users Hbk http://www.internetscamsanonymous.com Internet Users Hbk http://www.internetscamsanonymous.com
Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight Business Women Peer Mentoring Spotlight
Patent information Patent information

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Share this post and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
Share for a Cause
Featured Expert
Canada Mortgage
@smibroker
Visit website



Worksheets
By: Evan Carmichael

Do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur?

8 Powerful Steps to Finding Your Passion

Does your pitch suck?

Create a plan of attach to launch your new business.

8-Cover

Like this page? PLEASE +1 it! Evan Signature
Bottom Footer



Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Popular Articles

Accessing Government Funding in Canada

Customer service redefined as a sales tool

Why We NEED A Business Analyst

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.