Brian Mitchell’s First Group Mentoring Session – Group 5, Session 1
On Monday, September 30th, Group Mentoring leader, Brian Mitchell, hosted his first session. His meeting encapsulated the true meaning of group mentoring which is to collaborate and connect with the executives on a deeper level of learning and career development. With a full group for a rich, lively discussion, they were able to gain fantastic insights from the different perspectives and personalities that made up his group.
Group mentoring leader, Brian Mitchell. Photo courtesy of LinkedIn.com.
Their discussion included how to handle themselves once they first enter the workforce and which attitudes to have in order to be successful in the future. These mentors’ words are for the mentees to learn from so that they know what to expect and not to be held back by any disadvantages that can easily be avoided with some guidance. Once Brian’s sessions for the year are completed, I’m sure they will all be leaving with amazing skills and mindsets to remember when they embark on their careers.
To sum up the experience in Brian’s own words, he stated that, “Our first Group Mentoring Meeting was fantastic! Our conversation was all over the place, and it was great because it was the passion and genuine interest on these topics that lead our conversation everywhere.”
Congratulations, Brian, for a great first group mentoring session!
Here are the meeting minutes from the session (written by Jackie Marciniak):
Group Mentoring Session #1 Brian Mitchell
Attendance: Brian Mitchell, Jackie Marciniak, George Bevensee, Maria Vicarro, Paul Tompkins, Kimberly Harry, Kristen Nuzzolese, John Postel, Stephanie Gonzalez, Belle Plateroti
Expectations for the Year:
-Maintain deep conversation and learn from each member
-Ask questions – nothing is off limits
-Discuss social media and its importance in the business world today (2 party dialogue between producer and consumer) specifically in media and publishing
-Be open to listening to others and new ideas
Work Experience:
-Be prepared to do grunt work at an entry level job, opportunities will arise from that hard work
-Realize limits and time restraints
-Make bold requests
-Be passionate yet humble – control ego, success is about serving the company
-Be observant of managerial styles and colleagues
-Use time efficiently
-Balance work and family/relationships
-Make sure bosses know what you do outside of work
-Make time for personal life and time for yourself
-Culture of the company can value family time and personal relationships
-Poor management can affect motivation and level of work –snowball effect downhill
-Don’t be afraid to ask for mentoring
Good Management Techniques:
-Treat employees equally
-Make tasks clear and concise
-Show importance and value to work
-Be real and honest with employees
-Ask for feedback on performance
-Share a level of respect and sense of team
Dealing With Poor Management:
-Learn from their mistakes
-Decide how to deal with it
-Feedback
-Realize that one person cannot get in the way of your success
-Don’t let one bad boss detract you from your path of success within the company
-Is the work getting done? How is it getting done? (ethically, morally correct)
Feedback:
-Too much feedback can be invaluable and a waste of time
Student’s Early Work Experience:
-Learning basic skills to later on use in real life
-Learning how to manage work load
-Learning what you are passionate about – community service, respect for profession
-Learning how to handle finances
-How to deal with differences in the workplace
-How to deal with micromanagement
-Discussing potential opportunities down the road – gaining perspective
-Exposure to different career paths