How to make continuous progress with a mentor
Guests: Tatjana Kolenc, ambassador of mentoring, lifelong learning and networking, co-founder of the Srčno mentorstvo platform
BEEP PODCAST with Tamara Valenčič, expert in people and organization development
Many times we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot find the answer to very simple things ourselves or we are not sure that we are thinking correctly. Most of us pick up the phone and call someone close to us for advice. Many times we wish that someone who has already walked this path would show us all the advantages and pitfalls. But who could it be?
Timothy Ferriss, author of Tribe of Mentors¹, got the idea for the book in a very similar way. At a turning point in his life, many important life questions arose for him, and that's when he decided to seek answers from more than a hundred world-famous personalities. He decided to create his own tribe of mentors.
Mentoring is practically the oldest form of learning and represents a reciprocal relationship and cooperation between someone who has knowledge, skills and experience and someone who is eager to acquire this knowledge. Mentors often become role models and a kind of voice of reason, judges or better said "sounding board" for our life decisions and steps.
We often think that someone else, an organization, association, profession, should take care of mentoring. But it won't quite hold. We can find a mentor or several of them ourselves, if we only know what we want and have a sincere intention to learn and guide.
Our podcast guest is Tatjana Kolenc, ambassador of mentoring, lifelong learning and networking, co-author of five books in the field of mentoring and co-founder of the Srčno mentorstvo platform⁴.
What will you hear on the podcast? - What is mentoring? - How and where can we find a mentor? - How do we establish an authentic mentoring relationship? - How does mentoring help us grow? - What is "walking mentorship" and why is it special? - Why is a true mentoring relationship always mutual?
PODCAST
If you want to acquire concrete knowledge, go to school, take a course, or find a teacher.
If you want to acquire specific skills or achieve a specific goal, find a coach.
If you want to constantly improve and always be the best version of yourself, find a mentor.
One of the researches² carried out in America among randomly selected 3000 people from different countries showed that as many as 76% people recognize the importance of mentoring, but only 37% respondents have a mentor. Furthermore, most of them admit that mentoring affects their satisfaction. The following finding is interesting: only 141 TP3T mentorships took place as planned or with the question "Would you be my mentor?" and as many as 61% respondents claimed that the mentoring relationship happened completely spontaneously and naturally.
It is therefore about relationship and trust and mutual desire for cooperation and connection. But it is also about the exchange of knowledge, experience and different views and reactions to what is happening around us. Having a mentor enhances our satisfaction in all areas of life and work, and there is no reason why we cannot find one ourselves. In this conversation, our guest and I discovered the importance of mentoring for lifelong learning, what real mentoring is, when we need it, and where we can find a mentor ourselves.
PODCAST
An interesting fact One of the first mentions of the word mentor appeared in Homer's Odyssey. When Odysseus sailed off to the Trojan War, he left his son Telemachus in the care of Mentor. He was supposed to be in charge of education and guidance, but Telemachus and Mentor established a solid and long-lasting relationship through the education and formation of the character of young Telemachus. The world has put the word mentor as a synonym for "experience and trust". Throughout history, several forms of mentoring have appeared, but the modern world began to really use the model of learning through mentoring in the 60s, at that time mostly in medicine and law and business management.
PODCAST
ABOUT THE PODCAST AND GUESTS
Tatjana Kolenc is an ambassador of mentoring, lifelong learning and networking, co-author of five books in the field of mentoring and co-founder of the platform Srčno mentorstvo⁴.
She is a passionate researcher and developer of mentoring culture and mentoring programs. She herself is a mentor to many individuals who want this form of support in their personal and professional development. Tatjana built her professional career in very different managerial and executive positions in the field of business economics, marketing, sales and corporate finance in some of the largest Slovenian companies.
Interesting fact: She heard about ChatGPT from her mentee
Life Motto: "Knowledge is one of the few things that you always carry with you and that no one can take away from you."
Recording time: Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Filming location: Beep Institute
Asks: Tamara Valenčič
Sources:
Tribe of Mentors, Timothy Ferriss, 2017
A Brief History of Mentorship, Researchgate; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325460727_Brief_History_of_Mentorship
STUDY: PROFESSIONAL MENTOR-MENTEE RELATIONSHIPS IN 2019 https://online.olivet.edu/research-statistics-on-professional-mentors, June 2018
