I've been a member of our engineering community for more than 30 years now. I've seen a number of mentorship programs. I've seen just as many that didn't really work. I think a formulaic approach to mentorship relationships may yield an answer to who you should have as your mentor. I haven't seen that answer be a very good one yet - one that results in a long-lasting partnership of information exchange, mutual care and respect, and one that is highly-beneficial and -gratifying at both ends of the mentorship stick. This kind of mentorship does not occur in a classroom or with study assignments or daily/weekly mentoring meetings. You can get all of that from a book! Real mentorship happens while working together as a team, side by side, supporting one another in what the other lacks. It's a partnership. It's also a long-term, perhaps even life-long, commitment.
I've had many teachers in my career, but only four mentors. They were not designated company mentors nor did I make a conscious evaluation of these individuals before-hand. We just realized that there was a natural fit, a chemistry, an understanding. These individuals were well-more seasoned than I in their proficiency areas and were senior to me in the company/corporate sense. However, we both learned lots from each other. I got to learn how to be a business developer, a project manager, an engineer, and a business man from these four people. They got to learn about how people tick (something we as a group could really stand to learn more about), my project manager mentor received the technical expertise I was acquiring, my engineering mentor benefited from the project management skills I had learned, etc. It was truly a melange of teaching and learning that occurred over many years and as time went turned much more into a two-way mentorship.
Here's my final advice/tips:
- Stop being an engineer for the purposes of "picking" a mentor. Stop it!
- Trash your formulas and four questions to ask about a potential mentor. Forget it, that kind of mentorship can be found on-line for a small fee or at home in the evenings with a book.
- Ask yourself, who do I feel comfortable with? Where's the chemistry? What feels right? Who seems to be coming by your office space and discussing technical matters or just chatting with you? Instead of making it occur, LET it occur. I know this a tough one but do it anyway. If you do this, it will just happen naturally.
- Ask Yourself if YOU are committed to mentorship.
- Step out of that comfort zone.
- Commit to building something instead of just getting something.
Today, I live a thousand miles from my mentors (they are still my mentors) but I can pick up the phone or fire off a text or email any time and say "Hey I got an issue." They may also contact me and say, "Mark, what do you think about this?" It's just a natural thing. We continued our relationships LONG after our time together at company A. If you start now, you'll probably work with them again at company C or D.
I've always been compelled to mentor others. I firmly believe it's my professional responsibility and I just like it a lot. I'm still good friends with all of the individuals I've mentored as well. They now mentor using this approach too. Get it?
I know my description is not as tangible as engineers are comfortable with. I know it's a little soupy and perhaps even a little sappy. We're engineers after all! I have tried it both ways. I am relaying my personal experience and what I found to be best. I hope somebody gets some mentorship benefit from my experience.
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Mark Risch P.E., M.ASCE
Principal
Bend OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-08-2018 07:33
From: Stuart Walesh
Subject: Mentoring Programs
ASCE has an archived webinar titled "Mentoring: Guidance for Mentors, Protégés, and Organizations" that answers those two questions and more. It is described and available here: http://mylearning.asce.org/diweb/catalog/item/id/70213/q/q=walesh&c=79&f2=1&n=1
Full disclosure: I am the instructor.
Many organizations say they have a mentoring program but most of these are, at best, casual efforts. Successful mentoring programs require major time and thought investments by protégés, mentors, and organizational managers/leaders. That investment will yield win-win-win-win results, that is, protégés, mentors, organization, and clients/stakeholders will benefit. Why: Because people grow faster.
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Stu Walesh PhD, PE
Consultant - Teacher - Author
<maskemail>stuwalesh@...</maskemail>
219-242-1704
www.HelpingYouEngineerYourFuture.com
Original Message:
Sent: 10-07-2018 16:40
From: Bevin Beaudet
Subject: Mentoring Programs
Recently on the Professional and Career Topics Discussion Board of ASCE Collaborate, we held an interesting and informative discussion on the topic of mentoring. I personally consider that the two most important contributors to my career were having good mentors and the networking involved in relevant associations like ASCE. Many ASCE members would like to see our association get more involved in the support of mentoring our younger, upcoming leaders. In that spirit, I am going to re-open the topic in the hopes that you, our collaborators, will weigh in on issues to help guide ASCE toward that goal. Here are two questions that I hope many of you will discuss:
1. How should a young engineer go about choosing a mentor? Or conversely, should experienced engineers choose those who they would like to mentor?
2. Should engineering companies or agencies develop formal mentoring programs? If so, would guidance from an energized ASCE mentoring program be helpful?
If I get enough thoughtful responses, I am going to ask a Hot-Topic question next!
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Bevin Beaudet P.E., M.ASCE
President/Owner
Bevin A. Beaudet, P.E., LLC.
West Palm Beach FL
(561)225-1214
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