Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Members' Suggestions: Mentoring Article on Financial Times

Ruby Gottlieb, Director of Learning & Development Initiatives at Horizon Media Inc., shared with us an article recently published in Financial Times that talks about mentoring and its application in all situations. Here is an excerpt:

The Careerist: Mentoring by Rhymer Rigby
Published on January 24 2010 in Financial Times

Viewers of The X Factor television talent show in the UK will be used to hearing judges like Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole talk about “mentoring” their new acts. Indeed, whether you are dealing with boy bands or bankers, there is more to mentoring than just pep talks and pointing out directions to the nearest pub. Click Here to Read More...

If you would like to share ideas and suggestions with the AWNY Mentoring Program, please email us at awnymentoring@gmail.com.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Ask AWNY: The Money Issue


Q. Dear AWNY,
This is my first year being a mentor, and I was wondering if it’s customary for mentors to pay the bill when they meet up with their mentees. Thanks!

A. As a mentor, you are already sharing valuable time with your mentee, giving them one-on-one attention and guidance, so please don’t feel any pressure to grab the check every time you meet. Going dutch is the norm, especially for mentors who are just a few years senior. Some pairs take turns- then every other month one person gets to be treated!

On the flip side, if you want to celebrate your mentee’s personal victory at a fun, new restaurant or your favorite wine bar, you can insist on paying if you’re comfortable doing so.

One rule of thumb is to stick to casual spots if you want to keep things simple--grab coffee and something sweet at your favorite coffee shop so you can always pay with a few singles and still have change for the tip jar.

Whatever the setting, when you keep the focus on your mentee’s professional progress, it will help you build a relationship of trust and gratitude more than anything else!


Ask AWNY features questions sent in by the Mentoring Program community! Send your anonymous mentoring questions to awnymentoring@gmail.com.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Starting the day off with a Mentoring Breakfast: A Recap by Vicky Sullivan



Thank you to everyone who came to our 2010 Mentoring Kick-Off Breakfast on Tuesday Feb. 4th! This year we paired 113 mentors and mentees (the most ever!) and had over 100 attendees during the event. Members networked and mingled, and Terry Yoffe of TRY Coaching, LLC and Chair of the Mentoring Program Committee, started by addressing the importance of mentoring and how one can get the most out of the program.

As a new programming format, the crowd was split in half between mentors and mentees and regrouped in separate rooms to address mentoring roles and questions. The mentors’ discussion was lead by Terry, while the mentee's discussion was lead by Cheryl Darmanin, Senior Director of Account Management at Yahoo! and Mentoring Committee Member. The mentors compared how they meet and communicate with their mentees. Lyle Landon recommended using www.meetup.com which is a social network geared toward setting up offline meetings. Others recommended meeting your mentee for breakfast before work since most NYC restaurants are quietest in the morning.

Meanwhile in the mentee room, some mentees expressed concern about how their employers would react (and if it is acceptable) to participation in an outside mentoring program. Cheryl reassured that multiple mentors from different areas of the business are perfectly acceptable and employers should support AWNY’s participants in their desire to further their careers through mentoring. She also stated that their participation might inspire their companies to create an internal mentoring program. One of the biggest suggestions was to have a plan/timeline outlining your goals between you and your mentor.

Books on professional development were also suggested throughout the breakfast. They included: StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath, a book devoted to developing your strengths and finding your top 5 talents, How Remarkable Women Lead co-authored by Joanna Barsh, Geoffrey Lewis, and Susie Cranston which creates a model of work and life for women leaders, and Basic Black by Cathie Black, who is president of Hearst Magazines and one of Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business in 2006 http://awnymentoring.blogspot.com/search?q=Basic+Black

The crowd rejoined at the end of the event for a video demonstration of the AWNY blog was given by Amy Lam, Digital Marketing Manager at Direct Brands. This video is available for viewing at:
http://www.screencast.com/users/AWNYMentoring/folders/Jing/media/d547d0b9-671c-43d8-b5a0-4dbea0d9fcde.



There will be two other free exclusive mentoring events in the Spring and in the Fall and check back for more in-depth book reviews! Watch for emails or sign up for the RSS feed today!