Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to make time to mentor.
Speaker 1: Many of us have been helped by mentors in our careers,
Speaker 1: and we'd like to pay our gratitude forward. Like everything, though,
Speaker 1: mentoring takes time. It's easy to shove it to the
Speaker 1: bottom of the priority list when life gets busy. But
Speaker 1: I think even busy people can make time to mentor. Indeed,
Speaker 1: I hope busy people will make time to mentor for
Speaker 1: a few reasons. First, I think it's important to show
Speaker 1: that even people with full personal and professional lives can
Speaker 1: contribute to the community. But let's admit a selfish reason.
Speaker 1: Too few of us have so arrived that we can't
Speaker 1: be helped by other people. The people you mentor early
Speaker 1: in your career may go on to become fabulously success
Speaker 1: full while you are still working, and it will be
Speaker 1: great that they think fondly of you. So how can
Speaker 1: you build this into your schedule. One of the best
Speaker 1: things you can do is to be choosy about who
Speaker 1: you mentor. Well, we do have time for whatever matters
Speaker 1: to us. Time is ultimately limited. You can't mentor everyone,
Speaker 1: so you want to mentor the people who will blossom
Speaker 1: best with your help. You can definitely be strategic about this.
Speaker 1: If you're in a desirable industry, and particularly if you're
Speaker 1: in a position where you hire people, you will probably
Speaker 1: get a ton of requests to pick your brain. This
Speaker 1: is really a terrible image if you think about it,
Speaker 1: and it can be easy to feel resentful about these requests.
Speaker 1: So one of the best ideas I've ever heard for
Speaker 1: people in this situation is to create a list of
Speaker 1: frequently asked questions. Take half an hour or so this
Speaker 1: week to create a document with the most common bits
Speaker 1: of advice people ask you for. Send this list around
Speaker 1: to anyone who asks to pick your brain, invite them
Speaker 1: to read it, and then send you any follow up questions.
Speaker 1: Here's an interesting discovery. Most people won't bother to follow up.
Speaker 1: I have no idea why this is. I guess I
Speaker 1: think people kind of hope that if they get a
Speaker 1: coffee meeting with the right person, great things will just
Speaker 1: magically happen. But in any case, by sending a list
Speaker 1: of frequently asked questions around, you've been helpful. But now
Speaker 1: you're off the hook. However, there will be people who
Speaker 1: read your document and then follow up with intelligent questions.
Speaker 1: Those people, by all means, meet with them. They're the
Speaker 1: folks who are serious and are the best use of
Speaker 1: your time. As for those meetings, feel free to make
Speaker 1: them convenient for you. You might designate a time like
Speaker 1: every other Friday morning for these sorts of meetings. Anyone
Speaker 1: who asks can be put there. Limiting the time frame
Speaker 1: makes it easier to make mental space for these meetings
Speaker 1: rather than having any time be an option. You can
Speaker 1: also have people come to you. Feel free to choose
Speaker 1: whatever location minimizes your transition times, like the coffee shop
Speaker 1: on the first level of your office building. You can
Speaker 1: also look for ways to fold people into what you're
Speaker 1: already doing. I've heard many creative examples over the years,
Speaker 1: such as inviting mintees to go for a morning walk
Speaker 1: or run with you, or sharing a ride to the airport.
Speaker 1: Many years ago, one of my editors drove me back
Speaker 1: to the side of Washington, d C. Where we both
Speaker 1: lived from our office in Virginia. Most days, I tried
Speaker 1: to keep her entertained in traffic, and she taught me
Speaker 1: a lot while doing something that she had to do
Speaker 1: every day anyway. Of course I saw her at work too,
Speaker 1: and that's really the best way to fit mentoring into
Speaker 1: your life. Ideally, you work with a lot of high
Speaker 1: potential people that you'd like to see succeed. Ideally, these
Speaker 1: are the sorts of people you're hiring. If that's the case,
Speaker 1: then mentoring is really just part of managing every time
Speaker 1: you work with someone, be generous and gracious with fee back.
Speaker 1: Ask about their lives, ask about their desired career trajectories.
Speaker 1: Look for ways to make opportunities for them. Because careers
Speaker 1: are long and so are memories. Time strategically invested this
Speaker 1: way will definitely pay off. So how will you make
Speaker 1: time to mentor in the meantime? This is Laura, Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Yeah Before Breakfast
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