Mentoring and Leadership

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Joy Illington & David Morhart

November 4th, 2010

To have a conversation with you about:

how mentoring relates to you and your roles as leaders, and

how leaders mentor and are mentored.

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Our purpose today

some simple definitions

five myths about mentoring

what to look for in a mentoring relationship

some common mentoring techniques

connections with leadership & how to get started

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Agenda this morning

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

John Quincy Adams

Are you a leader?

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"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader success is all about growing others.”

Jack Welch

Are you a mentor?

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“The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.”

John Buchan

It matters that we improve

By changing the nature of our relationships, we will change our own lives

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Mentoring: we are all teachers

1. It only happens on a long term, face to face basis.

2. Mentors need to be older and more experienced.

3. Only the person being mentored benefits.

4. Taking the time to mentor decreases productivity.

5. The public service is too busy reorganizing to have time for mentorship.

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5 Myths about Mentoring

Three critical elements: respect, trust and listening skills.

Establish the boundaries of the relationship.

What do you bring to the table?

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The Mentoring Relationship

Focus on wisdom, not on answers.

Experiment: coach, do role plays, get experiential learning, brainstorm, network.

Mentor yourself.

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Mentoring techniques

“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader. A great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves.” Eleanor Roosevelt

If you seek to lead, invest at least 50% of your time in leading yourself- invest at least 20% leading those with authority over you and at least 15% leading your peers.

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Mentoring and Leadership

Look for formal work such as the one at the Ministry of Social Development.

There are Communities of Practice that offer peer mentoring;

Partner with someone new to public service, Aboriginal interns, co-op students, or groups whose purpose is to improve professional practice.

Mentoring options: getting started

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