Bridging Differences For Better Mentoring

As the workforce becomes increasingly diverse, it is imperative that organizations learn to attract, engage, and retain employees and leverage their unique perspectives. But few leaders have fully developed the aptitudes required for mentoring, let alone the level of cultural competency needed to bridge differences. In Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring, leadership mentoring experts Lisa Fain and Lois Zachary present a framework for achieving cultural competence in mentor-mentee communication using accessible, understandable, and practical tools and strategies. The result is more agility, comfort, and capability in their readers to build meaningful mentoring relationships and communicate effectively across differences. These tools lead to better, more culturally sensitive leaders, a safer work environment, and a more inclusive workplace for all.

This first comprehensive guide to helping mentors and mentees bridge gaps between and among cultures—a growing issue in today's diverse workplace—is coauthored by the founder and CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence. As the workplace has become more diverse, mentoring has become more challenging. Mentors and mentees may come from very different backgrounds and have limited understanding of each other's cultures and outlooks. But mentoring remains the most powerful tool for creating meaningful relationships, furthering professional development, and increasing engagement and retention. Younger workers and emerging leaders in particular are demanding it. Lisa Z. Fain and Lois J. Zachary offer a timely, evidence-based, practical guide for helping mentors develop the level of cultural competency needed to bridge differences. Firmly rooted in Zachary's well-known four-part mentoring model, the book uses three fictional scenarios featuring three pairs of diverse mentors and mentees to illustrate how key concepts can play out in real life. It offers an array of accessible tools and strategies designed to help you increase your self-awareness and prepare you to embrace and leverage differences in your mentoring relationships. But beyond tips and techniques, Fain and Zachary emphasize that authenticity is the key—the ultimate purpose of this book is to help the mentor and mentee make a genuine connection and learn from each other. That's when the magic really happens.

In order to succeed in today’s competitive environment, corporate and nonprofit institutions must create a workplace climate that encourages employees to continue to learn and grow. From the author of the best-selling The Mentor’s Guide comes the next-step mentoring resource to ensure personnel at all levels of an organization will teach and learn from each other. Written for anyone who wants to embed mentoring within their organization, Creating a Mentoring Culture is filled with step-by-step guidance, practical advice, engaging stories, and includes a wealth of reproducible forms and tools.

PRAISE FOR THE MENTEE'S GUIDE "The Mentee's Guide inspires and guides the potential mentee, provides new insights for the adventure in learning that lies ahead, and underscores my personal belief and experience that mentoring is circular. The mentor gains as much as the mentee in this evocative relationship. Lois Zachary's new book is a great gift." Frances Hesselbein, chairman and founding president, Leader to Leader Institute "Whether you are the mentee or mentor, born or made for the role, you will gain much more from the relationship by practicing the fun and easy A-to-Z principles of The Mentee's Guide by the master of excellence, Lois Zachary." Ken Shelton, editor, Leadership Excellence "With this deeply practical book filled with stories and useful exercises, Lois Zachary completes her groundbreaking trilogy on mentoring. Must-reading for those in search of a richer understanding of this deeply human relationship as well as anyone seeking a mentor, whether for new skills, job advancement, or deeper wisdom." Laurent A. Parks Daloz, senior fellow, the Whidbey Institute, and author, Mentor: Guiding the Journey of Adult Learners

Amazing Benefits, Unique Risks A stellar mentor can change the trajectory of a career. And an enduring mentoring program can become an organization’s most powerful talent development tool. But fixing a “broken” mentoring program or developing a new program from scratch requires a unique process, not a standard training methodology. Over the course of her career, seasoned program development specialist Jenn Labin has encountered dozens of mentoring programs unable to stand the test of their organizations’ natural talent cycles. These programs applied a training methodology to a nontraining solution and were ineffective at best and poorly designed at worst. What’s needed is a solid planning framework developed from hands-on experimentation. And you’ll find it here. Mentoring Programs That Work is framed around Labin’s AXLES model—the first framework devoted to the unique challenges of a sustained learning process. This step-by-step approach will help you navigate the early phases of mentoring program alignment all the way through program launch and measurement. Whether your goal is to recruit and retain Millennials or deepen organizational commitment, it’s time to embrace mentoring as one of the most powerful tools of talent development. Mentoring Programs That Work will help your organization succeed by building mentoring programs that connect people and inspire learning transfer.

A hands-on and usable guide to making the first 90 days of your mentoring relationship a success In Starting Strong, mentoring experts Lois J. Zachary and Lory A. Fischler weave a compelling tale that exemplifies the concepts, highlights the dynamics, and outlines the issues involved in mentoring relationships. The authors use the form of a fable to tell the story of a budding mentoring relationship filled with possibilities, problems, and triumphs. The story of Cynthia, a seasoned professional, and her new mentee Rafa, brings to life Zachary and Fischler's wealth of mentoring suggestions and best practices and each episode of the fable is accompanied by reflection questions, key learnings, and strategies that readers can apply to their own mentoring relationships. The authors include a conversation playbook that guides mentors and mentees through six essential conversations that will help them establish a strong mentoring connection, and keep it moving forward. As organizations face the transition of departing Boomers and arriving Millennials, Starting Strong offers a hands-on and readable guide to create effective mentoring relationships that will ensure the success of that transition. The book: Covers the key components of a successful mentoring relationship including building trust, establishing a comfort zone (and then having the courage to leave it), holding productive meetings, dealing with power dynamics, setting goals, and keeping momentum going Shows how to avoid common pitfalls and overcome mentoring obstacles Applies to any organizational or institutional setting Starting Strong is more than an engaging story of mentorship, it's a vital resource for understanding how to implement and sustain a meaningful mentoring relationship.

Reach New Heights as a Mentor Broaden people’s perspectives. Sustain momentum for development. Drive significant career growth. It doesn’t take a workplace superhero to accomplish all of this. You can do it—when you become a masterful mentor. While mentoring resources typically center on the mentee or the program, 10 Steps to Successful Mentoring is devoted explicitly to helping you excel in the role of mentor. In this book, Wendy Axelrod helps you stretch your mentoring abilities to yield substantial rewards for you and your mentee. Drawing on more than 20 years of work with mentors, she delves into proven approaches to use in your ongoing meetings, such as elevating the power of questions, leveraging experience for learning, and expanding growth using everyday psychology. Come away inspired to take on a fresh challenge. Whether mentoring is a calling or a choice, you’re new to it or a seasoned veteran, or you’re in a formal program or on your own, 10 Steps to Successful Mentoring is the resource you’ll return to again and again. It’s filled with real-life examples and 40 tools to help you master the nuances that drive deliberate development. Woven throughout are Wendy’s seven guiding principles that distinguish the most successful mentors (hint: “Start where your mentee is, not where you think they should be”). Become the best possible mentor, and deliver memorable experiences to your mentees and create a lasting legacy for yourself.

This thoroughly updated Second Edition of the Handbook of Youth Mentoring presents the only comprehensive synthesis of current theory, research, and practice in the field of youth mentoring. Editors David L. DuBois and Michael J. Karcher gather leading experts in the field to offer critical and informative analyses of the full spectrum of topics that are essential to advancing our understanding of the principles for effective mentoring of young people. This volume includes twenty new chapter topics and eighteen completely revised chapters based on the latest research on these topics. Each chapter has been reviewed by leading practitioners, making this handbook the strongest bridge between research and practice available in the field of youth mentoring.

Explore the latest edition of an authoritative resource on professional and educational mentoring In the newly revised Third Edition of The Mentor’s Guide: Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships, veteran mentoring experts Lois J. Zachary and Lisa Z. Fain deliver a thoughtful and rich exploration of the critical process of mentoring. The book offers practical tools for facilitating the mentoring experience from beginning to end. In addition to walking you through the four phases of mentoring—preparing, negotiating enabling growth, and coming to closure—this important book provides: Brand-new content on diversity, inclusion, and equity, as well as tools to enhance virtual mentoring relationships The ethics of mentoring, including how to handle common ethical pitfalls and mistakes Hands-on worksheets and exercises to facilitate the mentoring and learning process Perfect for leaders, managers, and educators, in any career or professional setting, The Mentor’s Guide is an indispensable tool to help navigate your learning and mentoring journey.

Dynamic corporate speaker and coach, Cassandra Worthy, introduces a growth mindset practice that helps readers to view change and the emotions surrounding it as a gift. Cassandra Worthy is a highly sought-after consultant, speaker, and Change Enthusiast, who is sharing her revolutionary approach for not only embracing change but using it to propel you to heights you never imagined. Only 10 percent of successful change adoption is about know-how; the other 90 percent is centered squarely on the motivation and willingness to accept the change. Cassandra explains that if you don't address the emotions surrounding change then your transformation journey will be stopped in its tracks. In this book, Cassandra will teach you to: Redefine your relationship to change Embrace "negative" emotions and use them for epic growth and transformation Make conscious, productive choices in the face of disruption of any sort Develop your resilience muscle View change as something that happens for you vs. to you Cassandra's practical yet inspiring strategies can inspire anyone to authentically embrace change and find their own unique power of resilience during turbulent times. Using insights gleaned from her life, those of her clients, and the tools and exercises she has refined over the years, Cassandra Worthy has written the playbook for anyone leading, influencing, going through, or embarking upon change.