Introduction: Creating a Mentoring Circle for Professional Development
How do you find the time to read enough of the right books that will feed your mind? One answer is by creating a peer-mentoring group or mentoring circle for professional development. Dedicating the necessary time to pursue a non-degree liberal arts education is a crazy, but an ambitious goal, and I am the first to admit that. Not everyone will invest that amount of time for a goal like that, and I understand perfectly.
But as I have explained on the blog before, I have some compelling reasons to do so – develop the invisible mentor model to benefit readers, create a membership site and write a book about the experience. As part of my liberal arts education, I plan to read classic literature, what Jeffrey Brenzel, the Dean of Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Yale University refers to as the right old books (Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Essential Value of a Classic Education).
Initially, I had intended to read 50 of the right old books, but I decided that when I have read the 50 books, I will continue reading the other books on the list since I will still have to read them if a liberal arts education is really that important to me.
For you to reap the benefits of reading the right old books, without actually reading all the books, you will have to rely on the assistance of others who are interested in that same goal. To simplify the process, you can use the list of books that I created, and now that I intend to read more than 50 books, I will update the list.
Related Post: Book Recommendations for a Classic Education in 2014
Steps to Create a Mentoring Circle for Professional Development
- This is essentially a book club for professional development, with a focus on classic literature.
- Watch the lecture “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Essential Value of a Classic Education”. If you do not like watching videos, read the transcription of the video. After watching the video, if Jeffrey Brenzel doesn’t convince you why it’s important to read the right books, go no further.
- Talk to your co-workers whose values align with yours, and find out if they would be interested in creating a mentoring circle for professional development. For those who are interested, recommend that they watch the video.
- There should be about eight people in the mentoring circle for professional development. If you do not have enough members, tap into your networks to identify people who have similar goals as yours, want to acquire similar knowledge, skills and abilities.
- Decide if members will meet face-to-face or virtually, and if face-to-face, where. It’s best to meet the same time each month so members know exactly what to expect. Decide how often to meet and for how long. I would recommend twice a month and each meeting two hours long.
- Each month, each member of the mentoring circle will choose one book from the list that is different from the one chosen by other members. That means during any month, eight people will be reading eight books from the list.
- Each person is responsible for reading the book thoroughly, taking very good summary notes. She should capture information such as: Why the book is relevant today, five big ideas and how they are applicable today, theme of the book and a summary. And any other information that is deemed important.
- After reading the book, conduct some research to find very good videos on the book, and find other information to strengthen your summary. The summary should include key takeaways, and ways in which the information can be applied to work. The purpose of reading the right old books in the first place is to develop professionally by generating great ideas.
- Before the meeting, circulate the book summary, and other information, for all the members to read, digest, and prepare for their mentoring circle meeting.
- At each meeting, four people will give an in-depth presentation on the book they read. Incorporate various methods to deliver the book summary presentation. Each group member should participate in the discussion.
- At the end of 12 months, all eight members of the mentoring circle, will have a solid understanding of 96 books since each person will be reading 12 books for the year.
Have You Read?
A research report by The William Glasser Institute about how we learn indicates that we learn:
- 10 percent of what we Read
- 20 percent of what we Hear
- 30 percent of what we See
- 50 percent of what we See and Hear
- 70 percent of what we Discuss with Others
- 80 percent of what we Experience Personally
- 95 percent of what we Teach to Others
Have you read?
Review of 10 Ways to be a Better Learner by Jeff Cobb
I haven’t tried this process because I enjoy reading, and I do not need any motivation to do so. For me, I have to manage myself so I do not cancel a meeting with friends because I want to finish reading a read. My consulting work is such that I am able to block off chunks of time, and I am willing to arise earlier in the mornings or stay up a bit later to pursue my goal of reading the right books.
But I would like others to experience the joy of reading. I have been in a mentoring circle and peer-mentoring group for professional development, but their purpose wasn’t to read classic literature. On the other hand, many of my friends are in book clubs so we are constantly talking about books. I have referred books to them and they have returned the favor.
