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mentoring

In praise of mentoring across the generations

by admin on March 4, 2009

LSE event for F-Laws 017 I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks as I have been finishing writing my latest book.

This is the second book I have written in close collaboration with someone from another generation. The first, ‘Management F/Laws’ was a book I co-authored with Russ Ackoff in 2006 when he was 87 years old. Anyone who has studied organisations and how they work will know Russ’s distinguished work. I was fortunate to work with him on the book and on a mini-lecture tour of the UK.

When the publisher suggested that the book became a ‘dialogue’ between the generations Russ welcomed the idea. Many men his age might have been indignant at the idea that a woman less than half his age take up half the book responding to and, at times, disagreeing with his views. Not Russ. He is a man who is up for lively debate and dialogue. And he is the best kind of mentor – challenging, questioning, interested and interesting, Apart from being a privilege and a lot of fun, it was one of the best learning experiences I have had in a long time. Working with an American man of his generation and wisdom taught me so much about lots of things including about organisations and what is possible (he has done some incredibly inspiring consultancy work in all sorts of contexts)and about really listening to  and understanding other perspectives. Russ is very generous with his wisdom and was a fantastic role model of what a mentor can be.

So, when I began to write my latest book about Generation Y (sorry no link available yet) I thought it would be great to repeat the experience of cross-generational collaboration. I asked one of my Gen Y mentors if he would review the book and write the preface. What a humbling experience. Sure he was supportive, generous with his feedback and encouraging. However, he also challenged me hard on some of my thinking, he pointed out my prejudices and made me realise that at times I fell into the very trap that I help my clients not to fall into – one of stereotyping and making assumptions. Agggh! I found myself wondering if Russ had ever flinched as I did sometimes upon hearing my young colleague’s feedback!

One of the reasons I love writing is because it is a chance to really immerse myself in and reflect upon a subject. I am sure that I learned so much more writing these two books because of the presence of Russ and Ed respectively. Apart from that, it was more enjoyable too. Both books are  definitely better for having two generations involved.

So, whatever your work, if you are thinking about finding yourself a mentor from another generation – go for it!

Sally

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The importance of mentoring in the digital age

by Sally Bibb on July 17, 2008

 

Our research tells us that mentoring is very important to Generation Y. They are desperate for mentors in the workplace and it is a role that they expect their managers to take on.

Why is mentoring so important to this generation? I can think of at least two possible explanations:

  1. They are used to a much more hands-on relationship with their parents than previous generations had. Parents of Gen Y are much more inclined to be closely involved with all aspects of their children’s lives and decisions. This creates a need for on-tap mentoring style relationships with important older people
  2. The huge amount of information available to them at anyone time via the internet means that having significant relationships with people who can guide them becomes much more important than it otherwise would.  Malcolm Gladwell’s explanation of this phenomena makes a lot of sense.

 

 

Managers were not traditionally taught the skills of mentoring.  I would argue that this has always been an important skill of a good leader. Now I would argue it is absolutely essential.

 

Sally

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Mobile mentoring

by Sally Bibb on April 7, 2008

At talentsmoothie we have reciprocal mentors: young people who mentor us on exciting subjects like how to think like digital natives, and we mentor them on things like how to navigate the alien worlds of Gen Xers and Boomers.

One of the things that Shaun, my mentor, does is gives me what he calls ‘inefficiency alerts’. That is, when he watches me using my mobile phone or computer he notices when I am doing things the long way (usually the only way I know how) and shows me how to do things faster/more efficiently. Thanks to his teaching I can now post my blog entries in less than half the time. It’s great.

I came across this service in Holland where teenagers are giving mobile phone workshops to adults. It’s a good idea and something that maybe companies could take onboard. Wouldn’t it be great to have a young colleague show you how to use your Blackberry, iPod, a social networking site maybe…… It would save so much time and would be much more fun than reading a manual.

Sally

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