CBODN Mentoring Program

Part II
Ten Minute Mentor

June 14, 2011| 6:30-8:30 PM
Georgetown University
3101 Wilson Blvd., 2nd Floor
Arlington, VA 22101
(See directions below)

How can CBODN create not just a mentoring program, but a community of practice that supports each other both personally and professionally?

If you are interested in helping CBODN answer this question and make an impact in our community, then join us for part 2 of our 3-part series on mentoring where we hope to enable members to further understand the roles of both mentors and mentees as well as allow them to define, understand, and take on either role. 

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10 Minute Mentors

The 10 Minute Mentoring program will be set up in a way that resembles speed dating.  There will be three rounds with a different question for each round.  Participants will engage in conversation allowing each to share a story.  Storytelling is an important part of the process as participants tend to be more comfortable sharing if they can tell a story.

The goals of the event will be to introduce participant to an alternate mentoring model, to help participants realize that they have mentoring skills regardless of their level of experience, and to elicit ideas for knowledge cafes in our third session

10 Minute Mentoring Event

Upon arrival each individual gets a name tag that has either an A or a B in the lower right corner.  The room is set-up in a U-shape.  When mentoring rounds start those with an A on their tag will be on the inside of the “U” and the Bs will be on the outside.  Chairs are positioned to line up inside and outside.  A and B participants will be aligned to have a one-on one conversation about a topic presented to them.  There will be three rounds and a final debrief
Questions are presented for each round.  Each person takes five minutes to share a story and discuss their answer to the question.  The there is five minutes to discuss what they collectively learned from the story.  Following that discussion, each person will take two and a half minutes to “introduce” themselves.  (Note the introduction is intentionally at the end so that individuals aren’t intimidated by someone else’s credentials.)

Questions

Round One: Describe the best leader you have ever experienced.  Give an example of what made them so outstanding.

Round Two:  Describe a time when you overcame a challenge at work?  What did you learn from the experience?

Round Three:  If you could wave a magic wand what would you change about your current work?  Would you change things in yourself, in others, or in the organizational structure?  Elaborate. (Note: the purpose of this question is to get people to start identifying things they need help with.  It will give us insight into topics for the third session’s knowledge cafes).

Debrief

Participants will be rearranged into small groups of 4-6 participants.  They will first share in a small group and then repot out to the large group.  Possible debrief questions will be handed out. 

Debrief Questions

• Were there any “ah-ha” moments for you during the rounds/ (Hopefully some will say they had more to share (mentor) than they thought, or that they were surprised that someone with more experience learned something from them.)
• Why do you think we had you wait to introduce yourselves after you had talked for 15 minutes?  (To reduce intimidation based on experience, etc.)  
• Did you feel differently about your learning as a result of knowing someone else’s background?
• What role, if any, did storytelling play in your learning?  How might storytelling become a part of mentoring programs?
• What thoughts do you have about an event like this for mentoring or leadership development programs?
• What changes in the model would make this event more effective?

Large Group Debrief
Open discussion and allow groups to share.

• Prior to tonight did you think you needed a mentor or would be comfortable being a mentor?  Have any of your thoughts changed?
• How could we improve this model of mentoring and what value might it play in your organizations?
• In round three, what are some of the things you would change?  In our third session of this series we will be hosting knowledge cafes on some of the topics you identified tonight.  Obviously we can’t get to all of them, and we will be dependant on presenter availability.  (List these items on a flip chart.)

This series is co-sponsored by the George Mason University’s Organization Development and Knowledge Management Graduate Program.

Directions

Georgetown University
3101 Wilson Blvd., 2nd Floor
Arlington, VA 22101 MAP
Located across the street from the Clarendon metro station