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Many of us hold fixed ideas of what “mentoring” is and how it can help us. Few of us know how to tap into its power to help transform ourselves and others in the process. “One Minute Mentoring”, written by two experts in leadership and communication, offers a powerful story and strategies for helping you do just that.
We all know that mentoring is a good thing for our careers and other areas in our life, so why don’t more people get involved? The typical excuse is that we don’t have the time or don’t know the right person. In One Minute Mentoring: How to Find and Work With a Mentor–and Why You’ll Benefit from Being One, authors Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz debunk both of these mentoring myths. Using a fictional story of two busy business professionals (Diane and Josh), the book showcases how mentoring relationships can be cultivated under the busiest of circumstances.
What is One Minute Mentoring About?
“Successful people do not reach their goals alone.”
— from One Minute Mentoring
One Minute Mentoring uses a story to provide a new perspective on the mentoring relationship. As the book points out, many of us would like a mentor. Some of us would even like to be a mentor one day. One of the big obstacles to mentoring, though, is misunderstanding the mentoring relationship. A mentor is not someone who imparts wisdom to someone else (often younger, but not always). Good mentoring involves a relationship between two people who both gain value from the process. Mentoring, at this level, can offer an incredible return on investment.
That return on investment can blossom in just one minute.
Most, however, never get to experience that moment. They either believe that mentoring takes too much time or lacks a clear structure to make real progress. One Minute Mentoring shows how both of these obstacles can be addressed through the fictional story of Josh Hartfield and Diane Bertman. Both are busy professionals who have come to a turning point in their lives and careers. Josh is a sales professional who has a disconnect between his work goals and his sales performance. Diane is an executive who is becoming weighed down by the constant flights and meetings. Both Josh and Diane need someone who can help them sort it out.
Josh meets Diane in his search for a mentor and the two agree to a mentoring relationship, despite their limited time and other pressures. Their mentoring relationship blossoms, regardless, leading down to new journeys and insight that change their lives. These changes transform Diane and Josh into stronger leaders and examples of the possibility of mentoring within everyone’s lives.
The book is the product of two authors who know a thing or two about business mentoring, even with the busiest schedule.
Ken Blanchard is an author, speaker, management consultant, and Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a business he founded with his wife 35 years ago. Blanchard has authored or co-authored over 60 books.
Claire Diaz-Ortiz is an author, speaker, startup advisor and online marketing consultant. A former employee of Twitter, Claire was listed as one of the “Top 100 Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company. Beyond her duties in the online business realm, she gained recognition for being one of the first to Live-Tweet giving birth.
What Was Best About One Minute Mentoring?
When mentoring is talked about in business, it is often discussed from one of two extremes. The first extreme is an experience in which a mentor magically appears in someone’s life and somehow fixes everything. The second is an unhappy scenario in which mentoring is forced upon someone by upper management because the person’s performance has slipped. Both of these extremes lead people to an inaccurate and passive view of mentoring. One Minute Mentoring dispels both extremes, replacing them with a powerful, simple and insightful view. The approach gives readers a different perspective on mentoring, one where they have more control over the process.
What Could Have Been Done Differently?
One Minute Mentoring is focused on getting started with the mentoring relationship. It is not a guide to fixing everything within that relationship. The book does address some obstacles to mentoring (through the story with Josh and Diane), but readers should not consider it an ultimate guide to all things related to mentoring. One Minute Mentoring provides an excellent story and tips to fine tune your mentoring experience but it will not guide you every step of the way especially if you are setting up a formal mentoring program
Why Read One Minute Mentoring?
Because the focus is on demonstrating that mentoring is available for everyone, One Minute Mentoring is theoretically relevant to everyone. As the book reinforces, we all need mentors in our personal and professional lives to help us think through decisions, get inspired and reach a new level of performance. As the book also reinforces, that mentoring relationship can become a powerful tool that produces results in less than a minute. We’ve all encountered a person who is able to change our perspective with one sentence or one action.
One Minute Mentoring emphasizes how we can all tap into the power to mentoring to influence others, both above and below us in the chain of command. We have to invest in that relationship to tap into this power and gain the desired results. If you need the motivation and some essential pointers, One Minute Mentoring can definitely help.