Mentoring leads to business acumen
If you are a leader, or emerging leader, then this should be helpful to you. The goal is to develop business acumen – that is the underpinning business knowledge that comes from experience and wisdom.
Today’s Reality
It is my experience that the generation behind me has not had the benefit of what I would call deep corporate training. Today bilateral loyalty is not the normal experience. Therefore, the investment in training staff for advancement is missing. This is a gap that I am passionate about filling!
The best mentoring occurs when there is a rich dialogue that is rooted in a current challenge or problem. The best outcome for this blog is that you, the reader, will engage with comments and questions. This would help you to get the highest value from this blog.
A mentoring model
It strikes me that the ancient village square dynamics were a good way to mentor. Imagine with me if you will the following:
People with a lot of experience who have a willingness to share that experience are sitting around a village square – let’s call them the elders. Young men and women who are in various stages of developed responsibility take some time out of their day to come and sit and listen to the elder’s conversation. Or maybe they have pressing challenges – a presentation to make to senior management, a peer relationship challenge, career objectives are blurred and need clarity, or some other real business-based event in their lives that they want to discuss. The elders listen and then a lively dialogue ensues. Business concepts are tossed about, root cause analysis is explored, pros and cons are weighted, and the discussion becomes a rich tapestry of learning. To me this is mentoring.
Mentoring mechanics
I don’t think mentoring is a lecture or a classroom or any form of one way, or worse, mandated one way communication. True mentoring is rooted in the ebb and flow of real life. It is a discussion, a dialogue, which is ultimately distilled into a root cause analysis or a business concept, or a principle. The outcome of true mentoring should be an increase in business acumen. If you can acquire true business acumen then you will be a formidable leader. That is my goal – to develop formidable leaders by increasing an individual’s business acumen. How does that sound to you?
I am a businessmen with 35+ years’ experience in four industries. I have been a President, the guy behind the president, a divisional director, and the guy with a lot of informal influence with no title. I have spent at least a third of my career developing individuals and teams. My core strength is strategic thinking. You can find more information about who I am www.reimerconsultinginc.com.
So there it is… my first blog! And so this journey, or is it an experiment, begins.
What business situation do you want to address today?