How Can I Find a Mentor to Help Me Succeed

When you're in transition or looking to take that next step in your career (or business), finding a mentor can seem like a lost art. Here's another question and answer from the Today's Woman: Your Life, Career & Outfit coaches panel with my tips on how to find a mentor.

Q: How would I find a mentor, preferably of the same gender, who is already working in the field I am interested in?

A from Coach Colette:

In addition to exploring whether your company has a formal mentoring program, you should consider other external resources to find a mentor.

Find professional organizations that offer a supportive environment and opportunities for you to meet other women (or men -- depending on your goal).  Expand your network by attending activities and events where you can interact with your potential mentors (e.g., networking events, workshops, industry groups, alumni functions, sporting events, etc.).

Seek out champions and connectors in your existing network:

• A champion is someone typically higher up the ladder with whom you have worked and have a good rapport. This can be a former boss, partner, client, or even a supplier/vendor who would vouch for your capabilities. If your champion is internal to your company, s/he may be a great ally during the performance management process -- either s/he can share feedback directly with your manager or s/he can advise you on how best to navigate the process. If your champion works elsewhere, s/he may be a great reference as you seek new job opportunities.
• A connector is someone who seems to know everyone and who is willing to use their network on your behalf -- to make introductions and put you in touch with the right people in their network. Similar to above, your connectors can help you to meet influential people both within your existing company and outside the company but within your industry.

Take advantage of informal opportunities to connect with your champions and connectors for quick coffee breaks or lunch -- ask them if they would be willing to share their insights and expertise with you. Often, mentor relationships develop informally -- you just need be confident and willing to ASK for help and guidance.

When you receive business cards from your champions and connectors, write down their interests and goals on the back so you’ll remember what’s important to them. Then, you can share information that would be helpful or interesting to them.

Be a connector yourself – help your champions and connectors to meet relevant contacts in your network. Don't sell yourself or your contacts short -- too often, we think that mentoring and networking is only a one-way street. If your champions and connectors see you as someone who is helpful, they’ll be more likely to help you too.

What do YOU think? Have you had a mentor who has helped you to succeed? How did you find him/her? What was the best advice you received from your mentor? Let me know in the comments here or tweet me on Twitter.

Tips from Coaching & Mentoring Session: Part 2

No, you're not seeing double. This is another post about the Coaching & Mentoring session. In my last message, I forgot to give a shout-out to ANOTHER live blogger at our workshop. Also capturing thoughts, ideas and best practices was Barbara Rozgonyi, PR expert and Founder of CoryWest Media. Click HERE to read her post.

Being the marketing extraordinaire she is, Barbara's feed from the session was also picked up by another cool resource: Real Smart Women Mentorship Network. Thanks, Barbara!

Get Notes from the Coaching & Mentoring Session

I mentioned earlier that there were live bloggers who attended sessions at the BlogHer conference. These were some fast-typin', super-listenin' gals who basically transcribed what people were saying. At our Coaching & Mentoring session, our super-fast-blogger was Shannon McKarney, Proprietess (don't you just love that title!) of the ThreeSeven blog. Thanks, Shannon!

So, click HERE to get the transcript from our session. It will almost be like you were there because Shannon managed to capture our thoughts and audience interaction. You'll get to meet Elizabeth Perry (teacher & mentor), Liz Strauss (blog resource expert) and Wendy Piersall (home business expert). I shared results from the survey on Coaching & Mentoring. Liz and Wendy discussed their experience mentoring each other. And, we all shared tips on how to find mentors and define the mentoring relationship.

There was also some discussion about what to do when the coaching or mentoring relationship is NOT working. Read more ...

Women Bloggers Rock!

I've just returned to New York from the BlogHer conference in Chicago and am INSPIRED and REJUVENATED! I met so many fabulous women bloggers that I couldn't keep count.

Keep an eye out on this blog for feedback and tips from my session on Coaching & Mentoring (they had live bloggers at the conference who captured key points from all the sessions!).

Also, keep an eye on the blogroll, as I'll be reviewing blogs of the women that I met and will add those I think are relevant to this community.

QUICK REMINDER: Tomorrow night (July 30, 8:00 PM EDT), I'll be chatting with Dr. Marianna Lead on Life Coach TV, a prime time live cable show in Manhattan that introduces people to the field of coaching. Tune in to learn more about my coaching practice and how I work with clients online at: http://www.mnn.org.

Coach vs. Mentor: How do you choose?

Happy Monday to all!
I’m doing a little research to learn more about what motivates people to hire coaches as opposed to (or in addition to) seeking advice from mentors.

At the end of the month, I'll be leading a workshop on Coaching & Mentoring at the BlogHer ’07 conference (a cool gathering of bloggers from across the country). To help prepare for the session, I’ve created two brief surveys (no more than 6 questions) to hear from both “sides of the fence,” and I’d love to receive your input!

• If you ARE a coach, then take this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=URexpjd5p_2fj3S510ZtWvcw_3d_3d
• If you have RECEIVED HELP from a mentor OR a coach, then take this survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5OvyjyZBWyGvRjJz2hyGPQ_3d_3d

By the way, you can learn more about the session and how to register for BlogHer at: http://blogher.org/node/19422

Thanks, and have a great week!

New Look & Feel

Summer greetings to all!

As you can see, the Competent AdvantageTM community has a new look and feel. We've updated the site with some fun new features including:

1. ClickComments are those icons that will now appear at the bottom of each post. If you don't feel like writing a long soliloquy, you can click on the icon that best matches your feelings about the post.
2. Blog Archive is a more organized way of keeping track of previous posts. I'll also continue to use labels so you can find posts that match your interests.
3. Blogroll will keep a running list of our favorite blogs. If you have a blog that you think would be of interest to our community, send me the link and I'll check it out. Then, we can talk about exchanging links to add you to our blogroll.

Summer promises to be busy here at InStep. I have two summer associates (Farjana -- Brooklyn College & Julie -- Teachers College/Columbia) who are working on our training programs as they get an inside peek into the world of consulting.

Stay tuned for updates on July events -- another ME TIME segment on Own Your Power Radio and my panel discussion on Coaching & Mentoring at the BlogHer conference in Chicago!