Hello <<First Name>>,
Welcome to the Mentoring News.
Speaking on change management, at the presentation of the LearnX Asia Pacific Awards recently, Lance Dublin modified a famous line from the movie Field of Dreams, when he said “If you build it they won’t come”, emphasising that when you design a program, no matter how wonderful it is, the job is not done until people change as a result. I’m building on his theme in today’s feature article, describing the second secret of award winning mentoring – promotion.
If you missed the last newsletter with the first secret, it’s in our newsletter archive,
here. Secrets three and four will come your way in the next newsletters. I’ll also be talking about these fundamental elements in a complimentary webinar on 24 October. See details below.
In this issue you’ll find …
You are welcome to contribute your story, comment or article to the Mentoring News. Just email newsletter@mentoring-works.com.
In the meantime, enjoy!
Ann Rolfe
Thought Of The Day
“If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”
Mother Teresa
Feature Article: If You Build It Will They Come?
In the Kevin Costner movie “Field Of Dreams”, Costner’s character, inspired by a supernatural message: “If you build it, he will come”, builds a baseball field on his farm. In the movie, famous but ghostly, ball players do turn up to play on this field in the middle of nowhere. I won’t be a spoiler if you haven’t seen the film, suffice to say it has a heart-warming ending.
It’s a nice idea,
if you build it they will come. It works for Apple, who have changed the world and amazed us with sleek personal technology that never existed before. Social media has sprung up that caters to our desire to connect and share. But there are millions of products, businesses and development initiatives, that are well conceived and well designed yet fail. Your mentoring program, no matter how well intended, can flounder because
if you build it they may not come!
Although most people agree that mentoring is a good idea, not everyone will be instantly committed to giving it priority over conflicting demands. You will need to get your mentoring message across through promotion.
The purpose of promotion is to:
-
Communicate the strategic and personal value of mentoring to all stakeholders.
-
Attract and engage participants.
-
Keep managers informed and supportive.
Depending on your resources, promotion could include management briefings and staff information sessions, posters, brochures, information kits, an intranet page, online or audio-visual presentations to communicate the value of mentoring.
Once you have convinced senior decision-makers that mentoring adds value and have enthusiastic participants, your challenge is to maintain their commitment over the long-term. And, there’s a third group often forgotten, that you can’t afford to ignore. Middle managers and supervisors, who are not supportive, can derail mentoring. Non-participants who are disgruntled can be a problem too. So your promotion of mentoring must not be confined to pre-launch. A steady stream of communication is needed throughout the program. Senior and mid-management need high-level messages reinforcing the strategic value. Supervisors of participants must be kept in the loop. Participants need regular contact and two-way information to feel supported. Non-participants need to know that their development is not being ignored.
You need to set up a communication schedule that delivers the right messages to the right people at the right time. It is wise to develop, and even automate, some aspects of your communication before launching your mentoring strategy. Promotion is critical to ensure mentoring works!
Want to know more about promoting your mentoring program?
How to Get The Mentoring Message Across Webinar and Flashbook Combo
Getting the mentoring message across is one of the top concerns identified in our survey of program organisers. So, I’m going to share with you communication strategies that will help you promote your program, get the support you need and attract and engage participants.
For the tiny price of $20.00 you receive a flashbook – concise written version of the topic covered in the webinar plus the webinar recording itself. Details
here.
I’ve been helping organizations design and implement mentoring programs since 1994. I have worked with mentors and those who are mentored in Australia and overseas. I have reviewed many mentoring programs and seen what works and what doesn’t.
A flashbook is an ebook that you download. The flashbook contains the slides as well as the written version of the presentation. It is designed to be read on screen because it contains full color pictures but of course you can print a hard copy if you wish.
Webinar recordings run for about an hour. They include the input and experience contributed by participants on the live webinar.
Get your mentoring message across, get your flashbook/webinar combo
here right now.
Complimentary Webinar
Webinar: Is Your Mentoring Program In Danger Of Fizzling Out?
24 October 2011 12-1pm Australian Eastern Standard Time
With more and more organizations expecting mentoring to achieve strategic outcomes, it’s never been more important to make sure you get it right.
Yet, as the fanfare of the initial launch fades, enthusiasm may wane and mentoring relationships can fizzle out.
Whether you have a mentoring program or are thinking about one, you’ll gain great value from this complementary webinar.
I’ve been helping organizations design and implement mentoring programs since 1994. I have worked with mentors and those who are mentored in Australia and overseas. I have reviewed many mentoring programs and seen what works and what doesn’t.
So
register now to join me and learn about mentoring planning, promotion, preparing the participants and program support.
How Can I Assist You?
Books and Written Resources - the most comprehensive range of practical and easy to read materials on mentoring;
Presentations and workshops tailored to your requirements;
Webinars - interactive, live learning where people can hear and see the presentation, ask and answer questions via the internet;
Online learning - tutorials comprising recorded audio-visuals, available 24/7 online with worksheets to download;
Videos - available on iPhone, iPods, iPads and computers;
Podcasts - recorded audio accessed via mp3 players or burned to CDs;
E-books and email courses - put written materials in front of people quickly and efficiently;
Mentor-The-Mentor - support for people in mentoring programs;
Your own online community - a secure networking website, exclusive to your participants, that provides discussion forums, access to resources and support.
Call +61 2 43422610 or email ann@mentoring-works.com to discuss your requirements.
