Introduction: Invisible Mentor 5-Stage Model Expanded
Yesterday, I introduced the 5-Stage Invisible Mentor Model, and today in the final installment in the series, I will expand it, to give you a clearer idea what it is about. The model is a professional development system. And for it to work for you, you have to devote the time. Last year, I embarked on an informal liberal arts education, where I took a number of courses online. Of the courses that I took, only one I paid for, and I bought it when it was 75 percent off. I spent considerable time choosing my courses. But I made a critical mistake, which is a pattern that I noticed in my life, is that I chose courses that interest me. There is nothing wrong with that if you are independently wealthy, but most of us are not in such a position.
Instead, what I should have done, was to choose courses that made me better at my craft. In my situation, most of the courses I selected should have been writing courses. When I recognized what I was doing wrong, I took several writing courses, and a grammar course. About the same, I had been feeling like a fraud, like I didn’t know what I was doing. I am sure that some of you can relate to those feelings. When I decided to reflect on my feelings and unpack everything, I discovered that I believed that there were gaps in my skills. A few years before, one friend told me that my writing was sterile. And another said that my writing was hokey. I didn’t realize what a negative impact those words had on me. They helped to erode my confidence as a writer. Many people whom I have interviewed, would have decided to prove those naysayers wrong. But at the time, the words did damage. I cannot control what people say, but I can control how I respond to what others say to me.
Related Posts
Evolution of The Invisible Mentor
5 Stages of the Invisible Mentor Model
The 5-Stage Invisible Mentor Learning Model
- Stage One: Identify Your Goal
- Stage Two: The BIG WHY – Mentoring Needs Assessment
- Stage Three: Get Organized
- Stage Four: Get Started – It’s Time to Learn
- Stage Five: Journey to Excellence
Getting Started:
- Identify a personal or professional learning goal where mentoring would provide you with value.
- Choose unique leaders (Mentors) whose expertise and life achievement align with your learning goals. But how do you choose the right mentor?
- Select tools and resources that will empower you to reach identified or stated learning goals.
Invisible Mentor Model – Stage One: Identify Your Goal
- Narrow your goal:
What do you want to change?
What do you want to achieve?
What do you want to learn?
To achieve excellence in your personal and professional life, what changes would you have to make, and what assistance do you require?
Invisible Mentor Model – Stage Two: The BIG WHY – Mentoring Needs Assessment
- Based on the responses to questions in Stage One, how might you benefit from invisible mentors? What issues or problems can invisible mentors help with? What knowledge, skills, and abilities do you need to acquire?
List the issues or problems that you want to resolve
- Think about your professional goals, what gaps exist between where you are now, and where you would like to go in the next three years?
List the gaps that you have identified
- What knowledge do you need to fill those gaps?
Write down the knowledge that you wish to acquire
- What actions do you have to take to fill those gaps?
Write down the specific actions in detail
- Which experts, books, and courses can help you to bridge the skills gap?
Write down the information in detail
Related Post
Mentor Yourself: DIY Mentoring Program (You can find a mini mentoring needs assessment)
View Start With Why – Simon Sinek TED talk YouTube Video
If you cannot view the video, you can watch it here.
Invisible Mentor Model – Stage Three: Get Organized
- Look at all the information collected so far – streamline it:
List three learning goals that invisible mentors will solve. In other words, what three things do you need to know?
Prioritize the three learning goals.
Plan to achieve your learning goals.
Determine the number of hours each day or week to invest to achieve your learning goals.
Schedule learning time – what is scheduled gets done.
Invisible Mentor Model – Stage Four: Get Started – It’s Time to Learn
- Start taking the courses and reading the books that you selected. And start to talk to the experts.
Take excellent notes.
What are 5 key ideas from each course, book, and interview?
Receive the ideas: Listen to what the instructor is saying in the course, then write down five of the ideas that resonate. What are the experts telling you? What are you learning from the books you read?
Expand the ideas: Choose one of the five ideas to build on.
Apply the ideas: What projects are you working on where you can apply the one idea?
- Look for relationships between the courses, informational interview with experts, and the books you read.
- Look at the courses, interviews and books all as one. What are the key lessons learned that you can apply to your work?
Related Posts
Taking Better Notes – Learning to Abbreviate Words
To Remember More of What You Read, Take Notes by Hand
Tips on Note-taking: The Art of Writing While Listening
Invisible Mentor Model – Stage Five: Is It Working? Track Your Progress – The Outcome
- Record in detail what you have learned and how it has helped you in your career and life.
- Have you resolved your initial issues or problems? If not, what aspects have not been resolved? Do you need to revisit another section of the model such as choosing different invisible mentors?
- Have you achieved your invisible mentoring goals?
Although the process worked for me, it is still a work in process, and when it is as refined as I would like it to be, I will get it developed into an app. One of the things I have to do is to read Simon Sinek’s book, Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
. Test the model and let me know what you think. You could start off with one course, interview and book, and see how they help you to bridge any skills gap.
Get Started Here – I want to help you get started on your learning journey. Read The Invisible Mentor 2015 Reading Challenge, then Join the Facebook Group for the Reading Challenge today, connecting the ideas from the books you read!
In the meantime, THANK YOU for your time… Thank you for sharing this post, and thank you for connecting with me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest! What was your biggest takeaway from today?
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