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Champions Fax ArchiveMentoring The Fundamentals of Mentoring Leadership looks very different today. It is not synonymous with role. It varies with the person, context and task. What works in one place will not work in another. People in positions of leadership need certain core competencies - relating to people, managing change, handling conflict, listening and communicating, networking, and learning. If these core competencies are not in place, it is very difficult to be an effective leader in a community and an effective mentor to others. The focus of mentoring must be on relationships, not organizations, buildings, programs or great accomplishments. The final measure in all that we do is in the emerging and developing individual relationships with God, self, others, and our world. Mentors help others discover God's divine plan for them. They encourage them to seek it, walk with them as they do, listen along the way and hold them accountable for their integrity in the unfolding process. Mentors enable others to learn, develop, and practice what they are good at. To have an empowering relationship, the mentor must recognize that each person has the inherent creativity, intelligence, and the tacit knowledge they need to succeed but they may need help in accessing it and understanding what it means. For the Christian, the ultimate act of stewardship may be learning who we were formed to be and then seeking to become that person. For most of us, that will involve real change. Mentors help enable that process. Mentors should be mindful of some fundamentals: · Help people set goals that make them stretch. Learning occurs when we stretch but it does not occur when we over stress. · Elicit internal commitment, motivation and self-directed learning toward those goals. Without the heart being the center, not much of lasting value happens. · Help people create a successful mental map through time and space to the place where they want to be. Visit it often; know it by heart. · Practice the fundamentals. Observe where breakdowns occur. · Learning occurs in doing. Create "practice fields". · Be reflective rather than reactive or protective. · What does crazy wisdom and intuition tell you to do? What is the most simple and logical thing to do? Use small, well-placed actions to leverage change. · Nothing happens until you start something different. New frames of reference open new possibilities. Choices lead to new skills and capabilities. · Provide meaningful feedback on a regular basis; observation is critical as persons move from thinking to action. · Continue to develop new skills and capacities. Don Zimmer is a member of our Church Champions Editors Board. Part 2 will continue in the next issue.
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