[Flash] Creating Velcro Conversations in a Post-it World… Why Mentoring Became My Passion

If I had known about mentoring when I started my career, I would not have quit my favorite job.  

After law school, I moved to Silicon Valley and joined a renowned firm to practice start-up law.

There, I was responsible for helping CEOs launch their dreams with venture financing. The pace was grueling; the work was challenging; the challenge was exhilarating!  

I worked for two brilliant partners, Dana and Bob (not their real names), both good-natured people whose company I enjoyed.  

One hitch: Bob’s disorganization. He would notoriously assign me urgent client transactions at the end of the day, causing me to cancel plans and work past midnight to meet his last-minute requests.  

I felt frustratingly incapable of changing my situation. I lacked the confidence and competence to confront the pattern of missed expectations.  

When a recruiter called and dangled the prospect of a fresh start at a different law firm, I took the interview and ultimately the job offer, but not without undue angst. I felt enormously disloyal.  

Upon reflection, mentoring would have made a fundamental difference in my decision.   

• I thought I had to navigate career situations and decisions on my own.
• I didn’t know I could seek advice, guidance, perspectives, and insights from colleagues. 
• And it never occurred to me that anyone at work would want to listen deeply to my struggle and contribute their wisdom to help me succeed. 

Instead, I ran away. And I questioned my choice the moment I left.   

At the time, my relationship with work was like a Post-it note, easily lifted and moved from one project, team, or employer to another.   

But mentoring conversations create an experience like Velcro - each exchange is a hook fastening onto a loop, proclaiming, “I’ve got you! I see you. I hear you. You belong here. We’re in this together! You don’t have to figure this out all by yourself.”  

And that’s why I love formal mentoring programs. They…

• give us permission to engage and contribute to each other  
• teach us to create transformational conversations (Velcro!) in the chaos of our everyday transactions (Post-it notes)
• reframe mentoring as a skill to be sharpened, not an event to be coveted 
• offer us a safe space to practice championing each other

By formalizing mentoring, we normalize it, helping everyone in an organization become better peers, leaders, and human beings.  

Fewer Post-it notes. More Velcro.  

© 2024. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

ps. Will I see you on our complimentary webinar?  "Unlocking the Power of Mentoring Programs to Retain Nurses, Improve Leadership, and Strengthen your Hospital" Date: Thurs Nov 14 @ 11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET Register: www.mentorlead.com/webinars