Break!

Great break! now it's time to start focusing on next semester and Action Research.. I need to do more focusing on my writing.

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.

Reflection 2 for 639

Well, we had our first kick off meeting for the CISSP (Certified Information System Security Professional) course work for my mentee. The quick lowdown is that I created this 'curriculum' for my mentee (3 month program to study and accomplish the certification) Once I created that, I came up with a timeline for each week, readings and the whole Google Groups for him and an Etherpad for taking notes. SO...I also invited a couple of his co-workers in joining in to participate as a collaborative group. I also invited 3 other security professionals on the side to (CISSP Certified) assist in answering questions for the study group.

Needless to say, the first meeting was Last Friday, 2/26/2010 and 3 of the 5 participants showed up. The goal of the meeting was to describe the google groups, the etherpad and the support that the security groups will provide the study group. My mentee didn't show up. I texted him to see where he was and to no avail, no response. My mentee is a co-worker of mines and I am trying to block it off. I do have a 'recurring' Monday meeting with him and i'll need to reflect on what I'll need to do to 'motivate' him. But I am beginning to feel that he's not as motivated, or driving as I want him to be. We just had this conversation last Thursday in class as well and I feel that I push hard for myself and get annoyed to see that others do not do the same for themselves. I know he has 4 kids but hey, it's his career we're talking about. With all the fears of layoffs this was one of the items he wanted to work on and we 'signed' up for it together...with me helping him.

I am hoping for the best for him. Praying even. =)

Reflection 1 for 639 Spring 2010

So i've gone ahead and decided to take one of my co-workers on as a Mentee. He's a pretty good candidate, and to give some background, he's in a different 'security' group as I am. So he's been with the company for over 10 years and with recent 'layoffs' happening, he's getting worried. I've been on his case for a long time now. I've always wanted him to get his Security certification and so now is perhaps the time he went ahead and did so, with my help of course.

I already have a curriculum for him and went ahead and got him a book to read. With all the reading that I've already done, I will try to play a 'passive' role, and not be on his case all the time, but somehow I feel that he might be 'slacking' a bit. So, i went ahead and recruited a couple of others (employees) into the loop to do the same certification. This will help all of them out. So here's the scenario. 4 candidates (students) and there's 4 'certified' helpers including myself. We have a set timeframe of 3 months to complete the reading, and then the test will be June 27th. We have set up weekly Friday meetings @ 2PM so that we can talk together about the readings and answer any questions that may come up. I've also set up a google group for the group, and an etherpad to take notes. I feel that I've done ALOT to help these guys out. (Mind you I didn't get this type of help when I was studying) so i really do have high expectations. Now, I will lay low and have them seek me out instead of me doing 'too' much to be in their faces. We will have a 'kick off' meeting this Friday (2/26/2010) and from there i'll lay out the ground rules and let them 'flap' their wings.

MT out for now.