CONTENT CURATION
The Minnesota Rising 2012 Un/Conference: Leveraging Expansive Leadership for Our Minnesota was held on Saturday, September 22, 2012 from 10:00AM – 4:30PM at DLR Group offices in Minneapolis, MN. Hosted by and for emerging leaders, the Un/Conference engaged emerging leaders across Minnesota in an energizing day of innovative learning and dialogue, skill-building, and network-building with their peers! See below for the content curated from the talented thinkers, doers, and presenters in the room that day.
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The Minnesota Rising Un/Conference brought together a diverse set of mentors for the panel “Mentorship and the Emerging Professional.” Panel guests included:
- Nancy Martel, Client Liaison at DLR Group
- Susan Schuster, Senior Community Affairs Consultant, Public and Health Affairs at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota
- Ben Marcy, We-Make-It Man at Bedlam Theatre, Adjunct Professor at St. Kate’s, Leadership Specialist at University of Minnesota
- Marc Hosmer, Executive Director/CEO at Urban Boatbuilders, Non-Profit Services Program Assistant at Charities Review Council
- Consuelo Gutierrez-Crosby, Civic Leadership Program Coordinator at Macalester College Civic Engagement Center
Seated in a circle with participants, the panelists shared their ideas and experiences with mentorship and then exchanged questions and ideas with the audience. Key insights included:
- Determine what kind of mentoring relationship you want. Mentor relationships can be formal or informal. Informal mentorships lack the facilitator or program that establishes a formal mentorship; informal mentorships are about taking someone under your wing. Formal mentorships have set goals, timelines, and outcomes.
- If you have a formal mentorship opportunity, take it. Opportunities are rare for formal mentorships.If you’re an informal mentor, it’s the responsibility of the mentee to manage the relationship.
- Your boss is not your mentor. You need to be able to show your weaknesses to a mentor, which isn’t always advisable with a boss.
- What do mentors get out of a mentoring relationship?
- Mentorship is about paying it forward. Mentors are looking to return on the investment others made in them.
- Mentors value how the relationship helps them grow, as well as the new perspectives they gain from their mentee.
- Tips for finding a mentor:
- Identify what you need in a mentor and look for a mentor who has that experience.
- Network and conduct informational interviews to find your mentor.
- Ask your boss for ideas on who could mentor you.
- Don’t be afraid to ask people to mentor you.
- Alternative forms of mentorship:
- Recently, some individuals have been seeking mentors that are significantly younger than themselves, turning traditional mentoring relationships on their head.
- Form a group of peers at other companies to get together with and share concerns.
- Get involved in a networking group or a coaching circle.
- Tricks for setting your mentorship up for success:
- Read up on mentorship so that you have a knowledge base to inform what you need from the relationship.
- Set goals and share them with your mentor.
- Readjust and diversify your goals.
- Self-advocacy and asking questions are critical mentee skills.
- Trust is a two-way street. A mentor and a mentee need to know their strengths and weeknesses and be ready to share them.
- WIFM: “What’s in if for me?” Keep this acronym in mind when you have a mentor. What is your mentor getting out of the experience?
- Don’t let this concept get in the way of seeking a mentor, however.
- Ask what you can do to help your mentor. Bring your help to them.
- When you look good, you make your mentor look good.
- Sometimes, though, a mentor may see those benefits only with time and reflection. It’s an investment.
- Mentors should be good listeners and ask the mentee questions.
- When the mentor listens, they should avoid judgment. A good mentor is also reliable and flexible.
Recommended reading:
- The Leader Who Had No Titles: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life by Robin Sharma
- Leaders of Today and Tomorrow (LOTT) Fellows Program, a formal mentorship program for college-aged and emerging professional women through the League of Women Voters. Applications due October 12.
- The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota can help you find a mentor program (both youth and adult opportunities). More information here.
- The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation hosts Neighborhood Leadership Programs. More information here.
Rinal Ray and Leah Lundquist
Leading through conversations that matter
Lundquist
and Deborah Frieze. 2010. <http://berkana.org/berkana_articles/leadership-in-the-age-of-complexity/>
determine the best problem-solving approach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7oz366X0-8
InCommons in Minnesota describes the 4-Fold
Practice, the conceptual foundation for the many participatory methods that
are considered “hosting” practices: http://vimeo.com/40051233
in group process acted out by participants in a January 2012 University of
Minnesota Art of Hosting training: http://youtu.be/vuMUzEaOqhE
Innovation and Action.” By Eric Vogt, Juanita Brown & David Isaacs. 2009. http://www.scribd.com/doc/18675626/Art-of-Powerful-Questions
of Hosting:
International Community of Practice Online
Community: http://artofhosting.ning.com/
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2:00pm Professional Success is as Easy as P.I.E.
Al Coleman
2:00pm So, You Want that Promotion? How to Use Management Theory for Success
Sarah Morris
See her presentation online at Issuu!