Cross Skills Mentoring Getting : Down to the Basics
By William Jeffery and Dr. Micheal Milstead | @CoachJeffery | @DrMilstead
Have you ever had an amazing Mentor? Have you ever had a Mentor who sucked worse than a Dyson vacuum? What are the benefits of sharing information in a nonjudgmental safe learning environment?
It has become increasingly important to establish a Coaching Mentor relationship in today’s educational fabric. In Episode 5 of “I Want To Speak To The Principal” podcast we explore the dynamics of increasing a positive experience through this process called Cross Skills Mentoring. Although the emphasis on Mentoring and Coaching is nothing new in educational realm, a renewed interest in the mechanism has brought the practice to the forefront of professional learning.
With a renewed interest in the growth and development of professionals through Coaching and Mentoring, an obvious unspoken dynamic has also risen to the forefront of professionalism. As all good generations do, the passing on of knowledge and wisdom along to next generation is an unspoken understanding of status quo. That communication is simply “ I know what you are about go through, listen to me. I’m the Mentor”. Although that’s never how it’s intentionally communicated, far more often the practice of superiority pervades the initial transfer of knowledge in the infancy of the relationship.
By traditional standards the Mentor is the unequivocal expert and the Mentee is an empty vessel waiting to be filled. Ultimately this relationship is destined to yield the fruits excellence since, this is the process that has taken place for centuries…Right? Realistically it is the worse way to introduce, train, teach, or reach anyone by ignoring the Mentees “Embodied Cognition”. It is the source of frustration and fatigue on the part of the Mentor which inevitably breeds contempt in the Mentee. If the relationship survives this struggle — conflict, growth is the inevitable product. Either the relationship will grow together or grow apart.
In our episode we explore the “Embodied Cognition” of two or more individuals willing to learn from each others experiences to enhance a particular skill set. We have coined the phrase Cross Skills Mentoring, sharing the age old practice of getting to the basics of human mutualism to enhance knowledge or skills. Listen to our podcast here:
