An Acronym That Explains Mentoring
I could use some help. I’m trying – without success – to create an acronym that captures the essence of mentoring.
How would you use MENTOR or MENTORING as an acronym? What I have so far needs some work.
M.
Mission – what are we working to accomplish. Mentoring has focused outcomes. Mentors and proteges define success together.
A journey without a destination is walking around.
Model the way – mentors live the message. Emphasize the ‘show’ in show and tell.
E.
Explore your protege’s knowledge. Mentors begin where a protege’s knowledge ends. Mentors ask, “What do you know about this?”, before they share experience or expertise.
N.
Negotiate the relationship.
Mentors understand that some prefer hearing, others prefer seeing, still others learn by doing. Mentors ask, “How do you prefer to learn?”
Do you like to think things over or jump right in?
Discuss how to create space for learning. Explain that you won’t offer quick solutions. Successful mentors create space and stay available.
Would you like to try on your own before or after we talk?
T.
Build trust. Mentors create safe learning environments. Practice trial and error. Mistakes are learning opportunities.
Mentors make failure safe by sharing their own failures.
O.
Open your ears before you open your mouth. Encourage questions. Avoid quick answers.
Curiosity precedes answers.
An answer without a question loses it’s power.
R.
- Recognize progress.
- Receive feedback before giving it. Feedback begins with mentors asking about their own performance. “What am I doing that works for you? What might I do better?” Be specific. “I want to give you space and support. What am I doing that gives you enough space?”
- Review and reflect on performance. Feedback is a two way street.
- Be real.
What suggestions do you have for fleshing out an acronym for MENTOR or MENTORING? Thanks for your suggestions.
Note: The focus of this acronym is peer mentoring within manufacturing.
Looks pretty good to me already, Dan. My suggestion would be maybe use Navigate in place of Negotiate. Navigate the mentor/protégé relationship, navigate the route forward, etc. Good luck!
Thanks Michael. Love the word navigate!
Great answer to a great question. I especially like O – Open your ears before you open your mouth. Listening is a skill. So many times I think people are thinking about what they want to say, that they forget to listen to the person talking.
Thanks Crystal. There’s a lot in the O. All the listening things that mentors do seems to fit there.
Great way to outline a path!
Mission is a great way to begin with the WHY. Good to know where you’re going when you start.
E – ENCOURAGE all aspects of the process. Recognize strengths and knowledge of the protege, but also embrace the challenges that may not be going as well, highlighting that’s why you’re walking through this together.
Navigate relational growth with intentionality. Not just between mentor and protege, but walk together through conflicts that you each experience with others. Allowing your protege to give their insight in situations will help you guide their perspective and who knows, the mentor might learn something! To me, trust is part of this point.
Take risks – sometimes we want to save someone from learning the hard lessons of failure by helping them out of the cocoon, or shooting holes in an idea that our “wisdom” can clearly see the flaws. Let your protege find their own boundaries.
Open ears before mouth – perfect!
R – all of the above are great. Also thought “replicate the process”. WHILE your protege is being mentored, have them begin mentoring someone else and coach them through it. We all know we’ve learned more by teaching than we’ve ever taught!
Thanks for getting these thoughts going!
Thanks Greg. Your insights are helpful. Risk – Replicate – Recognize strengths all speak to me in particular.
The term navigate has lots of potential as well. Cheers
I like ENCOURAGE for E. I think what you have, Dan, could be incorporated into a couple of the other ones because what you have is also crucial!
Hi Dan,
Another great post my friend. Love what you have here.
Thinking about this and my CARE acronym, how about E – Encourage. N – Nurture Maybe add R – Respect ?
Just my 2 cents.
Really appreciate all your hard work and what you do.
Take CARE,
Al
Sent from my iPhone
>
Thanks Al. Great words. The “R” is fleshing out nicely with the addition of Respect. I like the word nurture. I wonder how a mostly male environment in manufacturing responds to it.
Dan,
I like your points and the suggestions made by others. I agree with Al’s suggestion N–Nurture
Adding to respect, consider R–Respect boundaries.
Good exercise!!
Thanks Paul. Glad to see your vote for nurture. I hadn’t thought about boundaries. Great add.
Hi Dan,
I tend to think in sentences that go somewhere:
MAINTAIN the skills you learn to MOVE to the next level / goal / position.
EQUILIBRIUM is gained by our working together.
We will EVALUATE the situation together.
EQUANIMITY = level-headedness = self-control = our mentoring partnership.
TOMORROW is a new day.
The invisible THREADS of this company/corporation support you.
TAKE action.
Thanks Cynthia. Wow. Creative stuff. For some reason the word ‘evaluate’ hadn’t occurred to me.
When you see something that makes sense it feels like you already knew it. The word ‘tomorrow’ has so much potential. 🙂
Hi Dan,
Love what you have put forth so far! When trying to decide on what to take out, maybe look for what will give something more… Although I love “Receive feedback before giving it,” there’s an element of this spoken to in “Open your ears before you open your mouth.” My personal favorite for R is “Be Real.” So often we know the right way, the expert way, but that knowing-doing gap exists when we fail to recognize our current reality and move from there.
I agree with Paul and Al on “nurture” for N.
Your email is a gift every day! thanks for the great work you do.
Thanks Elizabeth. I like the opportunity to have fewer points under the “R”. Plus it feels better to include receiving feedback along with open ears. Thanks for the vote on “nurture”.
The idea of being real as making mentoring skills your own takes me to a new place.
I like what you have very much! Here are a few more possibilities for your consideration:
E – Encourage, or Embody the traits you want to pass along
N- Nurture ideas, positive thinking, correct actions
T- Training formal and informal
R – Reciprocity. I find that I learn as much as I teach.
Thanks Gretchen. The term embody might allow me to move “model the way” to the E. Interesting.
Also, the term reciprocity is really important. There is a give and take in relationships that we shouldn’t forget.
It seems like I often live in a world of acronyms so I like to keep them simple and prefer one word over several to keep the message direct and simple, like; M for Mission (on point), E for Experience (you already address it within your definition), N for Nurture (well said above), T for Trust, O for Openness, R for Review. I love this acronym for an important aspect of leadership and leadership development. Great idea. Thanks, Dan.
Thanks SGT. Great point. What’s the use of an acronym that is so complex that you can’t remember it.
I thought I would hang lots of ideas on the letters. But then, have the group pick the one point for each letter that seems most relevant to their organization. Perhaps ask each person to do one for him/her self, as well.
My thought: E = Empower. Empower your protege, help make them stronger, more confident.
Thanks Tracy. Wow! Another great word. Very helpful. The word “enable” came to mind as I read your comment.
T: Time Investing time for mentoring will have an impact that could last generations.
Thanks Virginia. Cool words keep coming in. Wen I see “time” in your comment, I wonder why I didn’t come up with that.
Making empowerment new through our relationships
Managing encouragement through our relationships
Maintaining empowerment through our relationship
Thanks Barb. The term relationships really stands out. Clever way to get an “r” word into the “m” designation!
Meaningful, Encouraging, Nurturing, Transforming, Optimistic, Refined
I would also add Engage. You have to be engaged in the relationship and in the process to be successful.
Dan
Thank you for this post
My attempt at the acronym
Mastery – Display mastery and help the mentee understand what it takes to get there
Empathy – Come from a place of empathy to help the individual grow
Nurture – Protect, enable, assist in developing their best parts
Teach – Teach the lessons that matter most
Opportunities – Keep them focused on opportunities, not limitations
Resilience – Help them develop the ability to hang through rough and tough times
Kind regards
Mission-focus (set boundaries, goals, times to meet, who will set the meetings, etc.)
Enjoy the time (create a comfortable, relaxed setting – mix it up)
Nurture the relationship (be available, respond to communication, don’t let the relationship lapse due to laziness or offense taken)
Teach each other (there is a lot to learn out there! Step outside of your own experiences)
Open up (be vulnerable, encourage openness, talk about your mistakes)
Read up (Mentoring/leadership books, other related topics, research questions you can’t answer)
I’ve never had a great mentor in the work space but I hope I can be one one day.
Wish you had used the plural MENTORS so I could suggest Selfless for the s-word. Have you ever been mentored by someone who is doing it to prove how much he knows instead of how much he wants to give and see you grow? If someone’s heart is centered on building up his ego through giving advise, I refuse to call him a mentor, though he may think he is.
Your list is pretty darn good, Dan. I like it. I might suggest “Nudge” and “Enthusiasm” for you to consider. All new people need a little push (nudge) )in the right direction from time to time. Thank you for the acronym idea for explains mentorship!
E – Engage but like Encourage maybe more
T – Transparency
O – Objectivity, Opportunities, Options
Love this conversation. I immediately thought “M” for meet them where they are (not where you think they should be) and also love “E” for enthusiasm which means bringing your full self into the relationship and enthusiasm for the mentee’s efforts (and maybe lifting energy around the project too).
Well done! I like it and am going to use it!
M –> Model and facilitate ways to
E –> Explore,
N –> Nurture, and
T –> Trust our abilities to seize
O –> Opportunities to make
R –> Realistic differences / improvements
T – Time
Thanks Joe. You are up early!
4 AM every day, Dan. Andrea and I start off with a workout before we have a chance to deploy an excuse. Now, let’s go make it a great day.
Wow! That’s fantastic. Make it a great day!
Didn’t have time to read ALL of the comments, so I apologize if this has already been suggested. For the letter “n”, Notice was the word that came to mind. It makes me think of being mindful and aware. There’s all sorts of things that could be noticed.
Another thought for O- Observe/observation. Seeing a person in action is a great way to be able to peek into current practice to feed learning forward.
🙂 This made me think!
E for empathy – listen to understand
E for enjoy – have some fun on this journey – be sure to keep a sense of humor
O – Be open to one’s own limits as a mentor. Mentors also learn on this journey
N – like Navigate as a word…..
thanks Dan!!
Kerry
Motivator
Explainer
Navigator
Trainer
Overseer
Reinforcer
Thanks Tommy. Much appreciated.