639 Reflection Blog #6

My mentee missed my meeting this past Monday because he was sick, but he did however attend our Friday CISSP meeting for the first time in over a month. This was good news to me. I invited him over the day before @ my place for a bbq. We watched the Laker game with a few of my co-workers. I wanted him to feel at 'home' and although i'm his mentor, I'm a friend first. I didn't have the 'official' sit down with him that day, but I did sense a feeling of 'i'm moving' on from him. He did seem a little happier and upbeat.

The following day was his regular telecommute day, so he dialed into our meeting along with another co-worker for the CISSP call. We went through some q/a and then I think he felt good about the questions. I really need to push them into their readings more now though. He needs to get his book from his fellow co-worker so that he can read up on the same chapters. It does not help that they are both falling behind in their readings.

Reflecting back, did I fail my mentee by having the study group done as a group? Initially I was thinking that they could help each other by being on the same schedule, but now that i've looked back and am in reality, one person lags, perhaps this gives the other person a feeling of lagability? A big sigh for me. Well, out of the 5 that initially started, we still have 3 participants. That's not so bad, but I don't think we'll hit our end date. I will keep on holding the meetings and q/a for the remainder staff. I think not only will this create a 'support' group, it will also create our 'community of practice' internally. This will help us network in the future.

I will approach my mentee this week and ask him about the closure of our relationship. I wanted our closure to be hitting our end goal of his CISSP certification, but now I don't think we'll ever hit that goal. Eventually, I must draw the line somewhere so that he can be on his own. Does this mean i've failed him?

To be continued...