Millennials & their Mentors Speak Out

Considerable emphasis is placed on non-technical or soft skills as a crucial factor for enhanced professional and leadership development. Working together and designed as a “game plan,” we design custom mentoring programs for your team members. Participants overwhelmingly rate, “highly satisfied” and “pleasantly surprised” by the effectiveness of mentoring partnerships and they continue their relationships long after the program.

Mentees Speak

“The timing was perfect with our economy in a downturn. I’ve never experienced anything like this so I couldn’t ask for a better Mentor. Hey, should I be worried or what should I be doing? So that was almost every single mentoring session. We would talk about the environment ‐ he even pulled up charts that he researched for me and he was able to show trends and dates and graphs and give me great comfort.” 

“One thing that really stands out for me was receiving guidance, talking about being happy, and being honest about my challenges at work from someone who wouldn’t tell my boss. That’s been really helpful. Not having to be careful about discussing my concerns with other people around.”

“I worried that because it was an assigned match versus an organic one that it would be too structured, feel restrictive and forced. So it was good that the majority of the time we didn’t pull out a sheet of paper and follow a task list. Our relationship just flowed each time we met and it felt very comfortable and reassuring.”

“On a normal day I would have never approached this person, my Mentor. I would’ve thought, there’s no way he’d have anything to do with me. We have nothing in common. That perception made me understand that, WOW, what other opportunities are out there that I’ve not taken time to uncover because I have these preconceived stereotypes of people? When in reality, I’m just missing lots of chances to meet new people in our company.”

“My generation is trying to understand what is appropriate to say and when. Because we have a lot of social media stuff going on and we have things that the older generations haven’t had and when you come to work you have to understand what’s appropriate. Is it right to say, “I don’t blatantly agree with a higher up manager’s philosophy or what they’re doing? Do you call them out at the meeting? Do you go behind doors and talk to them? How do you approach that? What’s appropriate?” Apparently, back in the old days, things were different. We talked a lot about that and I got excellent guidance and it especially helped that my mentor had kids my age.

Mentors Speak

“I liked that participation really helped keep me relevant. As a parent I noticed the same things about my own kids that I saw in my Mentee. It helped me discuss our differences as a generational issue, the kind we dealt with in our workshops, and that really got me thinking a lot about our differences and commonalities.” 

“It’s been very interesting for me to answer her questions about my career oriented and personal choices, decisions and experiences rather than helping with technical work and to help my Mentee better understand our company environment and the industry.”

“I enjoyed hearing my Mentees’ perspective on things that I didn’t expect from somebody of her experience level to have. If you had asked me what I thought her perspective might be, I would not have been close to or as on the mark as I am now.” 

 “I realized that when I had conversations with my peers it tended to be commiseration rather than seeking guidance. It seemed to be easy to just go talk to your buddy down the hall. So I needed guidance to become a Mentor and this program gave me an opportunity to learn how to mentor and create conversations that matter and where I could offer support.” 

“I gained a new appreciation for someone else’s need for personal and career guidance, knowledge and understanding. In mentoring roles I’ve been in before, it’s been more of supporting their technical development so it felt easy and safe. The workshops that were provided helped me to guide my Mentee’s professional development and also his personal/social development and questions he had about certain leaders and the way we do business.”

“We’re both introverts and I’ve had to come out of my shell to interact well with my Mentee as we’ve had this mentoring partnership to interact. So, it’s been very helpful for me. I could hear myself speaking to him and I said, “Hey listen to yourself. This is great guidance,” and I was hearing my own words.”

Our custom mentoring programs, formal and informal, result in effective development for the mentoring program partners. And, our handy workbook is helpful for assessing readiness.

For more information or to schedule complimentary consultation, visit our Mentoring Program, contact us, or call 405-701-2999.