A Moment of Mentoring

This Monday I participated in a panel on managing an intergenerational workforce – not that dissimilar from what Matt and I presented at the Crossroads Conference. I was there to represent YNPN National and my role as chair of the National Voice Committee. It was ridiculously fun. I know that I’m probably weird for thinking serving on a panel is fun, but really, isn’t anything with an audience better than anything without one?

One of the key differences about this conference was that since so many of the other sessions were focused on employee recruitment and retention, we got to focus on how to help the generations work together with more concrete ideas and improvements on what has been done in the past.

I think the first question after the intro speeches was about mentoring. SWEET! Something I know a lot about. Mentoring is one of the key ideas out there to bridge the generations as well as prepare young people to take greater leaps of leadership. See, lacking a mentor or a network is one of the biggest reasons young people don’t feel they are qualified to become an Executive Director. They don’t feel invested in or “groomed,” as the reports have put it.

So it’s easy, right? We just start hooking people up as mentors and problem solved. Not exactly. It’s harder than it seems to match up mentees with mentors for long-term relationships. Many organizations have tried, but it’s hard to recreate the magic that happens when the two people form a relationship organically. And it’s also hard to set people up with the right expectations for a mentoring relationship – everyone has different needs, preferences, etc.

That said, I recommend creating what I have heard described as “mentor moments.” Even if you don’t meet monthly for coffee, find ways to learn from people you admire or to invest your skills and stories in people you know with potential.

Here are some easy ideas for creating mentoring moments:

Director Level Staff: Include younger staff in your meeting schedule. They learn more about how business is done, and you have someone to help you manage your day.

Emerging Leaders: When you see or hear about something you think is interesting and that you can learn from, ask to meet with that person. You don’t have to set up the expectation of ongoing meetings, but if it turns out to be a good fit, you can move forward from that first coffee.

Human Resources: Create the space for these moments to happen by creating intergenerational teams. Think about someone who understands strategy, and someone who is comfortable with technology, set them on a task together and see what happens!

Also for young people, YNPN Austin has an event this month called Building a Mentorship Dashboard – Tools for a Lifetime! Can’t hurt to check it out and start to make mentoring work for you. So send a link to your employees or your peers. That sharing can be a mentoring moment right there!

Kimberly Caldwell, Consultant
Greenlights for NonProfit Success