Answer:
Hi J:
I do it with a lot of madness 😉 jk!!! Congrats on your first team mate. I have found that designers that now have the responsibility of mentoring someone makes one more “grown up” or take a little more care of their business selves and have a new level of awareness, almost like a woman who has her first baby, one simply wants to rise up and be better.
Yes, there are “moms” that just pop out kids (recruit) and don’t “raise” (mentor) them and there are “kids” (mentees) that don’t heed their “mom’s” (mentor’s) advice.
All one can do is be the best one knows how. Some simply live out mentorship the way one knows how by what one has seen by example. Others live out mentorship by taking all the classes for new skills they want to have on top of what they already have (or do not have).
I’m a tad of a perfectionist but I have learned, you don’t have to be perfect, you just gotta be willing to learn and teach. And our owlets, just like kids in real life, are so forgiving. We can do all these things for them but in the end, all they really care about is if you were there for their ONE thing.
For example, my daughter wrote what she loved me most for. It was giving her hugs and kisses. And from daddy, it was him being funny. ALL these things under the sun we do for her, give her, teach her and all she really cares for from her parents are hugs and kisses and being funny 🙂 never mind that we parents work tirelessly to become better in so many new skills under the sun and pay off debt, she just wants what she wants and those three things are it.
How to mentor such a huge team? Find out what that ONE thing is from your owlets and you will find, no matter how crummy you may feel as a mentor (I have those days), you will always be a shining star in their eyes. And the answer of “how” to be shining is probably not hugs and kisses but you being there when they need you. The “how” to that is simply found by connecting and asking each one.
If, for whatever reason, they never tell you how you can be there best for them, the rule of thumb is: Be the mentor you’d like to follow.
And as I have promised you from the beginning, I will always be here to mentor you and do exactly that for you 🙂
Sincerely,
Jennylou Raya #1186
