This is true.
But “if” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
The average post on Linkedin nowadays, if it isn’t about layoffs. Is this considered shit posting? I didn’t actually read it all just these first few lines…
I don’t get posts like that on my Linked in feed. Maybe it has to do with who you follow?
Ya, it’s a 2nd level connection (I’m connected to someone connected to this person) and our mutual connection liked the post.
I think I can cosign most of these, but “feed two birds with one scone” is a bridge too far. Is that a thing people say? Never heard it even once.
That one reads like a malapropism.
But it has virtually zero shot of offending someone. I’d roll with it.
Get two birds stoned at the same time.
Question.
Any if you have anyone you would consider as a mentor? Either now or in the past?
If so. Keen to find out more. What’s the story?
Sure, lots of them. What do you want to know? I dunno, maybe I have an idiosyncratic definition, but to me a mentor is just a senior colleague who sees a long term benefit to themselves from your professional success, so they invest in building a relationship with you and helping you progress, beyond the immediate requirements of whatever you’re working together on. If you’re working with a bunch of people over a period of time and none of them are mentors to you, it probably means that you’re not very good at what you do or your workplace is broken in some way.
I personally wouldn’t use the framing “see a long term benefit to themselves” to define the motivation of mentors. I mentor a few younger folks and there is no objective benefit to me, other than feeling satisfaction at helping younger people along because I’ve already “made it”.
It’s also useful to unpack the distinction between mentors and sponsors. Mentorship is really a pretty loose category of relationship where one person dispenses most of the advice and recommendations and the other person mostly uses those tips to try to improve their situation. In fact, mentorship is such a loose term encompassing such a broad range, it’s helpful to be explicit about what the relationship is going to be like. Mentors that assign takeaways and readings and stuff will help their mentees a lot more than someone how just buys the mentee a coffee and pontificates free style for an hour every once in a while.
Sponsorship is a different thing and is more specific to your workplace. A mentor can be anybody, in or outside your company or team, that gives you advice. A sponsor is more specifically someone who is both providing some mentoring and coaching and advocating for you in the organization. If you are really stuck in an organization, a sponsor is the most powerful way to break out of that rut.
The best mentors I had were people who were either former bosses or next level managers who I no longer worked with but who knew me and knew the business areas I was focused on. I have one former person like that who retired from the company I would still talk to about things like external job opportunities where I don’t feel comfortable discussing with internals.
I’ve been both mentee and mentor in those formal programs sponsored by HR and 80% of the time it will be of no value, 16% of the time it will be of some value, 4% of the time it might really work out. You really need to perfect two people in that scenario. The last time I was a mentor in one of those programs I actually advised the person to look outside of our employer because her boss was basically treating her as too important to leave for another department/team but also not worthy of a promotion and she was basically going to get permanently screwed if he made her stagnate in that role for another few years.
All of my good mentor/mentee relationships were outside of a formal HR program. In my opinion practically no good idea will survive being turned into a formal HR program.
Mentor to means they put your development first, even if it hurts them/the company. Obviously your interests will normally align but not always. The biggest test for me would be if you are thinking about changing jobs, would you get honest advice - even if your leaving directly inconveniences your mentor.
I’ve only had one mentor who I trusted this way. He’s also the only person to stay in contact with me after I left. For everyone else our relationship was transitional- they were willing to mentor me, only when it also benefited them.
I really dont think I’ve had that many. None in my current company.
I’ve been wondering why that is. I certainly dont think I’m bad at what I do. Theres lots of objective evidence that I’m actually pretty good (results, external awards, promotions, etc)
I do think theres something in my relationships with senior folks that I’m missing.
I’ve been pretty senior for a long time, so the folks above me always tend to be much older, and exclusively white.
There also havent been many folks above me for a while who I aspired to be like, or particularly respected for being good at their job.
I think part of it relates to values and approach. Most of my leaders are fairly old school, in terms of being quite command and control, not particularly open or vulnerable, and generally paying only lip service to diversity and equity.
Theres a couple of much more senior women who I really respected, but at that remove, it’s harder to engage.
When I think back to the few mentors/sponsors I have had, there was a lot more allignment, in that they were a lot more similar to me and I respected them a lot more.
Maybe I’m in the wrong company.
Edit. Actually. Just realised there was one in my current company. But he retired just as we were started to build a relationship, so that sucked.
Not sure where to put this.
Shes fucking hilarious. So savage.
So many great one liners.
I feel sorry for HR. From diversity and inclusion to adversity and exclusion… in just one week.
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Ive barely been doing anything on Fridays for years but now I have recently integrated barely doing anything on Mondays either into my routine.
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Pretty sure I burnt a bridge declining a job offer on the spot recently, but there were wayyy too many red flags during the actual interview. Hiring manager basically said they were a micro-manager but framed it as “I like to play devil’s advocate to make sure we’re thinking through all possibilities when we talk about decisions you’d make but usually I’ll make the decisions”. Also went out of their way to say how much work it’d be and I’d be the only person in this specific role so taking completely removed vacations wouldn’t really be possible. I guess the most charitable explanation of this was them being honest about their expectations. But still, I ain’t got time for that.
It was for a position and work I actually really was interested in but they lowballed me on the offer, expecting me to negotiate my way up I think, but instead of doing that I just simply declined. My choice was confirmed when I learned that the person in the role I was to replace only lasted a year with the organization.
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Low pay, no vacation, and an overbearing boss. Doesn’t sound like a bridge I’d be too concerned about.
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Its annual engagement survey time.
I filled it in while I was in a fairly shitty and elevated mood. Regretting it a little as i was a little too honest about current boss and some recent company decisions.
The only silver lining is that it looks like everyone else in my team was also fairly negative, so I’m not sure my comments will stand out that much!
Is the survey anonymous?