Did you know that according to this 2011 Linked In survey of 1,000 women professionals, while 80% said having a mentor was important, only 20% actually had a mentor? In my work as an executive coach and speaker, I notice how easy it is for many women to second-guess ourselves. We tend to focus more on our own weaknesses than our strengths. On the other hand, we are often quick to see others’ strengths and have a desire to support them. So, it’s important for us to come together to support each other in reaching our dreams. Having a mentoring circle can help.
Why A Mentoring Circle?
Linda Descano, President & CEO of Citibank’s Women & Co says, “I was really surprised by the results of a recent poll conducted on Citi’s Connect: Professional Women’s Network on LinkedIn, which found that half of professional women have never had a mentor – and only 1 in 4 have a mentor that they regularly tap for career advice. We need to actively seek mentorship opportunities not just for our own professional development, but to pay it forward to those who come after us.” Starting a mentoring circle is a great way to grow as a leader because you learn and practice influencing and facilitation skills.
Five Steps To Start A Mentoring Circle
1) Clarify Objectives – Start with the end in mind. Clarify your own motivation to start a mentoring circle. Which of these apply to you?
- Do you want to give back?
- Do you want to start an accountability group that will help everyone meet their objectives?
- Do you want to learn from others’ expertise? What kind of expertise are you looking for?
- What is your mentoring circle going to do for its members?
2) Identify like-minded individuals – Once your preliminary objectives are clear, identify the people who are inspired by and will help you fulfill the objectives. These could be individuals in your workplace or your community. Although the group can be bigger or smaller, typically you will want to keep the group to 5-10 people so each person has a chance to share challenges and learnings in each meeting.
3) Convene an exploratory meeting – For those people who are interested in learning more convene an initial meeting. This will help you all align on the objectives and it will help you get clarity and perhaps even shape the objectives to make them meaningful for the group. In the exploratory meeting, plan to discuss:
- each person’s objectives and desired outcomes and how the mentoring circle will meet them
- how often you want to meet (generally most groups like this meet once a month)
- Meeting logistics – where, when, how long, topics to be discussed
- Rules of engagement (see below)
4) Develop rules of engagement – Most groups like this want to discuss the following and develop their own rules:
- Criteria for entry into and exit from the circle
- Rules of confidentiality and how it will be enforced
- Responsibilities of facilitator and team members
- Group culture needed to help the group achieve its goals
- How you will handle disagreements
5) Expect and overcome challenges – Any time a new group comes together there is a group development process that happens. To be successful and sustain itself the group will face challenges. Here’s the four step process:
- Forming – the group comes together and starts to operate. In the early stages difficult issues are not surfaced.
- Storming – the group faces challenges and surfaces difficult issues which strengthen trust
- Norming – the group operates at a “norm” level in terms of meeting goals
- Performing – the group starts to drive breakthrough performance
This article was written by Henna Inam, executive coach, speaker, and consultant. She works with women to help them realize their potential to be authentic, transformational leaders. They create organizations that drive breakthroughs in innovation, growth, and engagement.
Post originally on: transformleaders.tv
