I was lucky enough a few years ago to be approached by my local Chamber of Commerce to become a mentor to schools… they didn’t sell it to me initially as I was told I would have 2-3 days of training, then I would have to commit a further 3-5 days of my time at various intervals mentoring to different schools in my area..
At this time I was self employed so when I added up the amount of time lost and what it would cost I have to say sceptical was an understatement… however then I had a think about it, this was all around spending time with Year 10 and 11 students delivering a personal development programme helping to prepare them for their future, either at school, work or at home.
It was all around giving something back to the community and ok it was going to cost me but in a society so engrossed with take, take, take was this such a bad thing? I was also intrigued as to how it might help me in my daily life too as it was all around developing:
- Listening and oral communication skills
- Adaptability and creative responses to obstacles or setbacks
- Self esteem, confidence & self motivation
- Empathy
- A responsible attitude to own actions
- A can do attitude
Now I’m the worlds biggest believer in having core values and most of the above had big ticks beside them for me so putting my ‘can do attitude’ hat on I signed up!
Now we can all pinpoint certain times in our live where we have a ‘bit of a revelation’ and mentoring to these students was when I had mine..
My training consisted all around teaching skills and how they differed when the audience were a bunch of teenagers instead of the finance managers I was used to.
We spent time learning and understanding the importance of EQ (Emotional Intelligence/Qualities) and how these skills can be equally as important as the more academic qualities.
All of this training spilled over into my own personal life, it made me look at what motivated me and made me realise how different things motivate different people. One big key area was being responsible for our own actions, accountability… we live in such a blame society and when that spills over into the workplace this can have devastating results on staff morale and consequently the business !!
Each area of the workwise programme was developed to be fun and inspiring to the students, we did role plays, we got them to all come in dressed for an interview, we arranged motivational speakers and at the end of it we had a great party…
The first day of the programme we were introduced to a bunch of 25 girls and lads and as we stood at the door shaking each of their hands and introducing ourselves, each limp handshake was accompanied by an uncomfortable shuffle of shoes, a muttering of a name and had me looking at the floor as this is where each of their gazes were fixed !
We spent the next few days together sharing highs and lows, lots of laughs and lots of stories. I was glad we delivered the training in 3’s as there is no way I could hold their attention for such long periods of time and it made me realise what a demanding job teachers have !
The last day was very emotional for all involved – the one thing we tried to encourage the students to do throughout the course was to follow their dreams or in the words of William Arthur Ward ‘If you can imagine it you can create it. If you can dream it, you can become it’..
We had treated them like responsible adults and they had become responsible adults, we had treated them with respect and they gave us respect in return, most importantly we advised them on how they could follow their dreams and they left us believing that anything was possible.
When we said goodbye not only did I have a tear in my eye but each and every one of those students shook my hand and looked me confidently in the eye and thanked me for such a great week.
I can truly say the time I spent with these students was life changing for me, it made me realise how much time we spend teaching children to conform and getting them to do what we want.
I’m not saying that 15 and 16 year olds should be given carte blanch to do what they want with their lives, but it made me realise that next time my teenage daughters said they wanted to do something, my immediate reaction shouldn’t necessarily be ‘NO’ but instead be ‘WHY’ ! Then when I understand ‘WHY’ I can now sit down with them to explore ‘IF’ and ‘HOW’…… !!
If you would like to be involved in mentoring to pupils then IMJack have developed a revolutionary module called CAFE – Careers Advice and Further Education, which allows people to post a profile and answer some questions as to what their job involves as well as give an insight into what a typical ‘day in the life’ of that job might be.
We are interested in hearing from people in all walks of life but in particular anyone who has an inspirational story to tell or an unusual job.. please contact kathleen.parker@imjack.com for further details.
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