Situational Mentoring

Why should you read Situational Mentoring™ when there are over 300 other books already written on mentoring? Because you will learn what over 100,000 mentors and proteges have learned: How to employ four Mentoring Styles in a flexible manner – so mentors equip proteges with what they know (wisdom, practical know-how, etc.) and empower what proteges want to do and become. How to employ Situational Mentoring™ so you don’t “get stuck” overly using a Preferred Mentoring Style – which causes mentoring relationships to fall apart so protégé needs and goals are not met. Since 1978, different kinds of proteges have benefited from Situational Mentoring: youth in grades 4-12, college students, new teachers and principals, new hires in corporate and government situations, as well as proteges needing guidance for career development and for becoming leaders. Chapter 1: Why Situational Mentoring? describes the negative consequences of “getting stuck” overly using a Preferred mentoring Style – and how to prevent this. Chapter 2: Equipping + Empowering => Successful Protégé describes the importance of equipping protégés with what mentors know and empowering what protégés want to do and become, and how this can have a transformational impact on the protégé and the organization. Chapter 3: Mentoring with the Right Style provides a Situation from one of the 11 versions of my Mentoring Style Indicator, then describes four Mentoring Styles and 26 mentoring behaviors that equip and empower proteges. Chapter 4: Mentoring for Results describes my 6-Step Mentoring Process™ and when to employ appropriate Mentoring Styles and behaviors to equip and empower proteges to handle challenging situations. Such as: solving a difficult problem, deciding what to do when facing a dilemma, transitioning to a different position or career. Chapter 5: Applying Situational Mentoring provides a transcript of an actual interaction I had with a protege to help her make a major career change (from print advertising to video advertising). You’ll read how I helped Elaine progress from being Unconsciously Incompetent (“I don’t have a clue what to do”) to become Consciously Competent (aware of what to do and able to do it – with assistance form myself and others). Chapter 6: How Proteges Can Manage Situational Mentoring describes how I guided my first business mentor through my 6-Step Mentoring Process so he could help me transition from being a salaried professor to become an entrepreneur generating my own income. (My mentor knew nothing about this Process or Situational Mentoring – but I did.) Chapter 7: Mentor-Assisted Enrichment Projects Enhance STEM Education describes my most significant application of Situational Mentoring over an eight year period when I was a professor – and gave my students course credit for carrying out projects with small groups of protégés (grades 4-12), which focused on an important aspect of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM). All the key concepts that made Situational Mentoring work successfully in other situations were discovered over these first eight years through ongoing research and development. Such as: how to prevent “getting stuck” by using my Mentoring Style Indicator; how to complete and present projects; how to provide situationally appropriate incentives, structure and training; how to define, design and deliver a Mentoring “Program” because “Announcements” and partially planned “Initiatives” don’t produce multiple benefits for everyone involved.