Many organizations have mentoring programs or weekly updates between boss and employees. The times are often wasted. The mentee bitches about their boss or the workplace, the employee runs through the mundane list of work. The sessions are often canceled or truncated by the pressure of time. Everyone loses because of this. As a manager I found these sessions were my most important sessions of the week with my employees. In them we built a relationship, and I was able to impart my philosophy and intent, which increasingly allowed them to operate independently.
When I served on a panel for a class training first line managers at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and described my one-on-ones with my direct report managers (supervisors I supervised) my colleagues on the panel would wistfully comment they wished they had the time for such meetings. I never went back at them (maybe I should have?) with the question "what (the hell) do you have time for?"
These were the most important meetings of my career land I treated them that way. The success I achieved was directly related to it. By the time I left government service I had ten such meetings a week. I participated in the mentoring program at Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and I was the only senior manager to consistently participate. None of my mentees would ever stop meeting with me.
In the course of these meetings, I started to develop the themes in the chapters of this book. When you meet with ten people over the course of a week you sometimes develop an agenda as the week goes on. This book is the result.
My goal is for you to avoid the blank page that wastes time in many mentoring and supervisory sessions and get to issues that matter. My other goal is to have you more quickly make the connections that make these meetings useful. When people get beyond the superficial and begin to take on second and third dimensions, the work can begin.
The rest of this book consists of easily digested stories to start your sessions. I have provided 52 of them to get you through a year. After about 17 hours together you should develop a "community" together. Perhaps by the year mark you won't need me. If you do need me, let me know and I will write another 52!
I recommend that you read the "lessons" before your session so you can ruminate a little on them. But they can work if you both spend a couple minutes with them at the beginning of your hour together. I do not think it matters whether you agree or disagree with my lessons. Indeed, if you both disagree you might launch a great discussion. Do, however, apply them to your own workplace. Mentors--be open to learning from your mentees. Mentees--your mentor holds the secrets to accelerating your career progression, whether they know it or not.
