Here's looking at you, kid!

I read an article recently about mentoring in the comms world, and it struck a real chord with me. Over the past two years, I've developed a mini-mentoring relationship with a couple of exx-employees, and it has been an amazingly positive experience. It has also been somewhat of a surprise to me, as although I'm somewhat experienced now with about 10years under my belt, there is lots of room to grow before I become a guru on anything.

The point about mentoring, for me, is that it is essentially about nurturing talent and encouraging others, based on mutual respect and a sort of friendship. I think I see it as continuing to be a good boss, after you've stopped working together. The two people that I have helped used to be on my team a few years ago, and we worked really well together. By which I mean they were really good at understanding me when I went off on a crazy brainstorm, they knew which rants to ignore, and to listen carefully to others, and they understood when to laugh with me or at me, and when to tell me to shut up.

In the years since I left that company I've stayed close to both people, but interestingly we never really changed our friendship - they still look on me as their old boss, who they call for work chats, work advice, and occasional insights on various regional or economic topics. Sometimes we would schedule time to sit down and talk about certain questions, situations or projects that they were working on at the time. And recently, when I heard of a perfect job for one of them, I put her forward, and have been on the phone with her before a few of the many interviews the company put her through. She aced them, as I knew she could. What was interesting for me was the real gratitude she had for my role - which is crazy when the real reward for me was seeing her achieve this goal.

All getting a bit cheesy and motivational, but I think the point is, although I'd rather work to live, the lines are blurry at the moment, and work is a very central element of my life. It won't always be that way, but for right now, when it is such a focus, I need to get the rewarding, soft/fuzzy, non-bottom-line related benefits where I can. And if that is mentoring someone to achieve a real goal, then that makes me feel pretty damn good.