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...

639 Reflection Blog #5

After missing a couple of meetings, I saw my mentee this past Monday 3/29/2010. We had our weekly 1 hour talk and caught up on the events occurring in his life. We spoke about his troubles @ the home front, his emotional roller-coaster with his Grandmother passing away and his potential loss of his job in his professional life. It was a real 'tear-jerker' of a situation.

So I led the discussion in the beginning. I was empathetic of his situation and so It seemed that his life was indeed looking up. He has since been back to his 'normal' living situation with his family. He just completed the funeral services for his grandma. The only other item that I wanted to talk to him about was his professional life. I asked him about his plans for the future and his plans immediately. I wanted him to still pursue the CISSP certification so that he would be more marketable if he was laid off here @ work. So, he agreed, I also wanted him to spend more time 'reading' and less time 'mucking' around. He needs to be more responsible for his time and accountable for his time. I understood that he has 4 kids, but during the time when he is home, his wife could be more supportive since she knows of his current professional situation.

As for him, I do see that he's trying and I do see that he has a better outlook now than he did the past couple of weeks ago. I just still need to be there for him when he's in need. I will also keep track of his progress on the CISSP, but as I've reflected in my A6, I believe that we will not achieve that goal that we set out in the beginning. I will however 'coach' him in making it the best possible scenario for himself when he leaves (involuntarily) from the company.

MT

639 blog Reflection 4

My mentee missed my weekly call last Friday 3/12 and then missed my Monday F2F meeting on 3/15. I am a little disappointed in this, but again, he has personal issues right now with his family so I can't really blame him. We do talk on IM, but it's not the same. I would like him to at least call me, or email me to cancel our call, or meeting. I'm VERY worried that we will not meet our goal, but again, I really need to think of it as me being his 'therapist'. So today was a very 'bad' day at work for our group. Our immediate manager was being 'reassigned' so now I will report to someone else. We also had alot of layoffs at work today so it was very stressful. One of the reason why I made a curriculum that my mentee and a few of my co-workers could participate in is because of the recent layoffs. I wanted the team to be CISSP certified so that IF they got laid off, they would be 'marketable' when they are looking for a new job. Reflecting back to the readings that we've done (which i've completed), I now see the battles and hills in front of me. I see that there are so many intangibles out there that would make our mentor/mentee relationship 'skew' away from where we'd like it to go. BUT life is about 'possibilities' right? =)

MT OUT!

639 Reflection 3 Post for Mentoring

I had my one on one with my mentee this past Monday. (3/1/2010) I was asking him why he was behind in his readings and why he didn't show up to the 'kick off meeting' the past Friday. Little did I know, my mentee was experiencing some personal issues as of late. This new information made me decellerate my stance. I now know that I will have to 'support' him and I offered him my 'ear' so that being the mentor, I am really here to 'listen' to him and offer him any assistance that he needs. We are definitely going to have challenges meeting our goal that we made for him. Basically, our curriculum that we set out for him to have all of his readings and for him to take his CISSP test in June will be at risk. He has a family of 6 (including himself and wife) and they are going through a rough patch right now. Now I have to shift my focus on the set goal that we had, to more of a passive listener and more of a 'friend' than a mentor that is helping him focus on his career. The next day (Tuesday) we were 'back to normal' as a co-worker/friend but I now know his personal issues and it's a little strange for me, but I will try to still help him out as much as I possibly can.