What If Your Best Career Education Was Free

We make the case that mentorship is the best free education in cabling, ICT, and the broader construction tech world, and we explain why it works better than most formal training. We also break down how companies can design mentoring programs that build trust, improve onboarding, and grow future leaders without forcing awkward pairings. 

• defining mentorship beyond technical training 
• qualities of strong mentors, including emotional intelligence and listening 
• what makes a good mentee, regardless of years in the field 
• targeting interns, entry-level staff, and new hires for early impact 
• choosing a hybrid model that balances voluntary and assigned support 
• setting measurable program goals like retention, promotions, and knowledge transfer 
• matching mentors to mentee needs and using more than one mentor 
• building trust first, then moving into skill and career goals 
• providing resources like guides, prompts, and suggested meeting cadence 
• using sponsorship and shared experiences to keep engagement high 
• running post-cycle reviews and improving the program over time 
• handling ghosting, bad fits, and re-matching without blame 

Start building a mentorship program now. 
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Transcript

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Mentorship As Free Education

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey Watermonkeys, welcome to another episode of Let's Talk Cabling. This time we're talking about how to get free education.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Let's talk cabling. Yeah, let's talk cabling. Copper fiber structure to right. Stay connected. Do it right.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

You heard me right. I said free training. I'm not talking about going to a traditional classroom. I'm not talking about taking a virtual class. I'm talking about the best education that you can get. And it doesn't cost anything. I'm talking about mentoring and mentorship programs. But the bad news is it's not as popular as it should be. I don't know why it's not. Maybe maybe I can ask my subject matter expert when she comes on why she thinks that's so. I I've I have an opinion on it, but what do I know? But here's the thing those companies who have mentorship programs, mentoring, mentors, they will outperform. They have better company culture, they have better communications, they they get better revenues, better sales, they pay their people better. So why not have a mentoring program? And you know, if if you never ask somebody to mentor you, the answer is always no. I I had a funny conversation. I was I was sending out a bunch of uh messages uh over the last few days because uh yeah, I'm working on a on a ministry event here in local Florida and I sent him out a bunch of things. I sent him out to a guy that who was my mentor a couple years ago, he he's retired since, and uh he's he responded back to me and he said, Yeah, sure, miss our mentor calls. I said, Yeah, me too. He goes, Well, you know you can call me anytime you want. And I said, Be careful what you wish for. Because Chuck is always looking for free education, always looking for free education. So we're gonna be talking about what is a mentorship program, what does a mentor look like, what makes a good mentor, and what makes a good mentee. And I got one tip for you right now it's not age and it's not number of years experience, because there are great mentors who literally have two years' experience, and there's great mentees that have lots of experience. Heck, I got 40 plus years, and I'm a mentee. So, welcome to the show, Heather Randolph, a repeat

Heather’s Mentoring Roots In STEM

SPEAKER_00 2:28

visitor. How are you doing, Heather? I'm doing great. Good to have you on the show. So uh, second time, because you were last time I think you were on, we did a women in the industry show with uh I think you were on that one. Um why don't you go ahead and give the audience the the 50,000-foot view? Who is Heather and what makes you uh expert on mentor mentorship programs?

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Yeah, so um my name's Heather, and um I would say that like my big big 50-foot view of myself is somebody who's very passionate about STEM, uh, women in engineering, women in construction, women in ICT, women in tech, um, all of those, because they all play a part in what I do um in my everyday life, um, and something that I'm very passionate about, and that's uh building and designing technology systems in buildings and hopefully, you know, trying to make them smarter, uh just like you know, you have your cars um and you have smart features in your cars. Well, I try to help enhance buildings to make them, you know, more efficient and smarter and more uh user-friendly for all the occupants in them. Um and so I grew up in Kansas City and went to school at K-State and got my degree in architectural engineering, where I found a passion in intelligent building systems and design and got you know even further into IBT and low voltage. And then the Sunsigned State was trying to call my name down here to Florida. Um and I've been in Florida for the last eight years um enjoying what I do. Um, but with what I do is a big part of that is mentorship. And um I've really always just evaluated it and I really believe that it's a good thing to give it pay back. But I've had people, you know, unintentionally mentor me even at a younger age back in high school. Um actually, ironically, I had a one of my mentors back in high school actually just recently just text me this past month um and reach out to me and just saying how proud of you know she is of me and all my uh accomplishments up so far. But, you know, so you never lose those connections ever, I swear. But um because of that, I, you know, I was a big uh movement even into my college career. I joined some programs within my college at K-State where we, you know, I would, I guess, take on mentor or like help mentor like uh high school students, women in high school in the women in engineering program, where they would shadow me for a day, see what the life of an engineering student is, if they want to, you know, go to engineering school, um, and then answer any questions that they would have about is it scary to go to college, what is college like? Is it, you know, what's it like living in the dorms? And so even in then it starts, you know, I was a mentor then before I was even a mentee in my professional career. Um, and so that's that's evolved. Um I've just become very passionate about mentorship and knowledge and helping grow everyone around you. And like what you said, it's not your age, it's not the knowledge you have, it's not your experience, because you can literally gain knowledge from anyone around you, I think, and believe that everyone should be constantly learning um and engaging and talking to people because you never know what you might get out of it.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

So 100% agree with you, 100%. And

What Makes A Good Mentor

SPEAKER_00 5:55

and Heather and I know each other because we both participate in a on the Bixie mentorship committee, but I want to make this abundantly clear right out of the gate. This show is not a discussion about the Bixie mentorship program. Let's talk about mentorship programs in general. So, first I want to talk about Heather's let's talk about the participants in a program, the mentor, the mentee. What do you think are some of the requirements? What do you think are some of the qualifications? Let's start off with that. Okay. So, what makes somebody a good mentor? Is it gonna be somebody who's got strong technical experience?

SPEAKER_02 6:28

No. Um, and I think you know, it depends on you know what exactly the program you're setting up for or where you're looking to try to get, you know, a mentor from. Um, because you can have mentors throughout your whole life and not necessarily be technical in your professional career. You you know, it could very well be, you know, uh someone's mentoring on me how to help me be a mechanic on my car, or you know, how to raise a family or how to move to a whole brand new state. So it's not necessarily all about technical, you know, knowledge that you have. It's really about, you know, I think leadership um and emotional intelligence.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I think part of it is number one, having a having a passion, right? Whether for whatever it is that you're mentoring the other person about, i be cars or or homesteading or whatever the case, or or communications, you know, uh be passionate. And then, you know, I think another thing that a lot of people forget about when it comes to mentor and mentorship programs, they come in all different sizes, they come in all different ages, they come in all different sexes. Uh, in fact, I've had female mentors in my life, and I'll, in fact, you here's a here's a pro tip. You can have more than one mentor at a time. Yes, I said it. I usually have two or three at any given time because I might have one person who's helping me with uh, for example, I have a mentor, a female lady's helping me. She does a lot of leadership training, so she helps me on that side. She knows nothing about communications, and they got another guy who's got 40 plus years of experience in the industry, not me, somebody else. Uh, and they're my mentor because they got a lot of technical experience. So you can have multiple mentors. The only thing you really need to have is make sure that that person is somebody who's knowledgeable. And when I say knowledgeable, I mean knowing the correct ways, okay? Because there's there's always the right way and then the wrong way, right? So so that doesn't necessarily mean credentialing. There are a lot of people out there who don't have credentials that make great mentors. So that kind of makes me think, Heather, what kind of qualities, because we're talking about you know, organizations starting mentorship programs, what kind of qualities should organizations look like when they're trying to select the mentees for a program?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

When you're trying to select mentees, I typically, you know, would say you're gonna want to target probably, you know, two, well, I guess three, three um probably select a few of groups of people that you're you know you are working in within an organization if you're looking at it in that way. And one is, you know, starting out with do you have are you an organization that has you know co-ops or internships? Um, because you know, having that select group of people come in through the summers or throughout the year um with the organization, uh, they're obviously you know coming in to see is this the right you know organized, you know, type of industry I want to get into, you know, how is this the right company for me to work for, you know, upon graduation or in a year or take the next step in my career. So I think that's the one of the first groups. Um, the second group would be, you know, uh entry-level employees would be the second one. Again, something that is very young in your career. I mean, or you made a career change and it, you know, you're in an entry level into that organization and brand new to trying to learn and grow and understand everything, or learn that organization as well. Um, then second, the third and last one is then just a general new hire, um, whether that's an admin assistant, whether that's a janitor, whether that is an actual engineer or uh, you know, whatever that may be. Um, because again, there's a lot of transitions that occur during that period that you know that would be helpful in to making that transition and onboarding uh a smooth process. And so I think those would be the three different types of groups or people that you would want to target when you are looking at putting together an intentional organizational like mentor program um and gathering mentees. And then obviously, you know, still leave it open to um other people in the within the organization that would like to, you know, join or participate, whether that's a mentee or maybe be a mentor, but those would be your three main main ones that I think would help you contribute to organizational success.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

You you and I both know that when it comes to mentors and mentees, um, there's not enough on them. More people really need to realize their shortcomings and ask for a mentor, and a lot of more mentors should be willing to share their experience and their training with mentees. So, with that being said, again, consider we're talking about like a company-wide mentorship program, should a company-wide mentorship program the should the program should be should it be voluntary or should it be assigned and made required by the company?

SPEAKER_02 11:09

I

Designing A Program People Join

SPEAKER_02 11:10

think that initially what would really like strengthen again organization, um, depending on their you know goals that they want to set when they set up the the mentorship program, it should all almost always be voluntary, but kind of a hybrid approach is what I would maybe uh call that my answer. So not voluntary and not assigned, a hybrid approach there because uh that way, you know, when you have your co-ops and internships and again, very young people in the industry are coming in, not knowing things, it's great to be able to, hey, you know what, this is your unofficial or assigned mentor, or your you maybe not even use the word mentor, or find a different you know, terminology that you would want to call that person as a resource, you know, your summer resource or whatever, whatever you want it to be, but have that as you know, an option and it and be available for them to be able to ask questions or you know, have that direct line of communication of answering all things that you need, of where things are. Where's the bathroom? Which bathroom is the best bathroom to go to? Which where do I get my the best water in the office? You know, just even some of those simple questions like that would be um a great tool and resource to have for there. So I think it's a hybrid approach. Um obviously uh mentors would have to then at that point probably be more voluntary and be willing to help the mentees that you know come on board, you know, internships, new hires, um, and you know, entry-level employees.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

You know, the the good companies, like I just said, they had mentorship programs. I know I worked for one that had a mentorship program, and it was a company called Hinkles McCoy. And Paul Hinkles, the the guy who started the company way back in like 1908, 1909. I don't remember what year it was, but a long, long time ago. Um, he used to have this saying that if you fail the plan, you plan to fail. Right. So so that leads me to one should talk a little bit about when somebody's setting up a mentorship program, what expectations should be established before you start matching mentors and mentees?

SPEAKER_02 13:14

I would say that it would be looking at like what, you know, from an organization perspective, you know, obviously what is what is leadership and management willing to, you know, invest in and look at. And they're always, you know, looking out the out of the outcomes, you know, for any reason, for what to start to do anything, right? Really? And so then that's where you, you know, put things into a measurable outcome. Um, because you know, leadership loves to look at things in a measurable, tolerable way, right? So, you know, you gather, you know, you put together what are we gonna look? Are we gonna target retention, um, promotions? You know, are we gonna strengthen knowledge within? Are we gonna strengthen training programs? You know, we're you really want to start targeting like what are, you know, first, what are the organization outcomes and goals of starting this program? What is it gonna benefit and do for us to do for us? Because, you know, everything's all about, you know, fortunately, about what's gonna how's it gonna benefit me or the company or whatever, you know, it's gonna be. And so you kind of look put that together and kind of put in together a development plan of, you know, are we really gonna strong, you know, really focus really hardcore on, you know, our co-ops and internships and you know, entry-level engineers. Like, is that what we're really gonna do it, or do we really want to help retention and bring in people and really strengthen, you know, that, you know, um, onboarding process and really focus more on that? So, because I I saw some statistic not too long ago about if you have a really smooth onboarding process or a very successful, great onboarding process, it enhances and boosts your employee retention rate by like 25-30%. Some I saw some kind of statistical out there recently about that. And that's you know, having these type of mentorship programs can lead into having a very smooth, successful onboarding process when you have, you know, new hires and you know, interior-level employees join your uh company and organization. So again, go targeting that retention, looking at that, how is that gonna impact us? Um, but then again, also looking at the achievement, you know, are there gaps in our organization where there's leadership, you know, opportunities? Are we re-org, you know, restructuring our organization and have a future to, you know, are we gonna restructure it and what is that gonna look like? So the do we want to really focus more on um, you know, the knowledge transfer and really help grow the the younger staff and transfer that knowledge? And like what you said, it you're always something constantly learning. And I think that that's the biggest thing. You're gonna always learn from whatever, you know, value or ranking resource system that you want to put into your organizational value in the mentorship. Uh, but start looking at that and narrowing it down with the outcomes, you know, and what we want to focus on, and then keep looking out, you know, the feedback and tracking the engagement and process and success of it.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

I I could hear the project management training in you, right? Project managers always track stuff, whether it's labor budgets, material budgets, scheduling, customer satisfaction, you know, they're always tracking stuff. So a good good management program, yeah, you gotta set them goals, like you said, just to kind of recap what you just said. You gotta you gotta create those goals and you gotta track your progress towards those goals and determine whether you're on the right track or not on the right track. Because just because today you decide your mentorship program looks like A, B, and C, when you get six months into it, you might realize that might not be the best fit. So you might have to go to you know, D E F. You know, it just you gotta be willing to change. Right. Um, organizations though, you know, so there's we're talking about again the mentor and a mentee, right?

Matching Needs And Setting Expectations

SPEAKER_00 16:54

Should they qualify the mentor and a mentee before they launch the program?

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Um what do you mean by qualify?

SPEAKER_00 17:02

Like I guess like I I don't know, maybe so by qu by qualify what I mean is you and I both know not everybody's a good teacher. Not everybody's a good project manager, not not everybody's a good technician, right? So should there be some kind of a qualification process? Let's say let's say there's a company out there that has a mentorship program, and they so they they put out the the flyers and they get people starting to start up or sign up for it, right? And uh so should there be some kind of a qualification process that yes, um Joe Smith should be a mentor, um, but John Smith shouldn't be.

SPEAKER_02 17:40

Um yeah, okay. Now I have a better understanding of what what what you have intended for that answer. Okay. Uh yeah, I definitely think that there should be some type of guidelines, um, or you know, I wouldn't say necessarily like a define hardcore like checklist, but you know, organizations, you know, they look at their employees and you look at, you know, what kind of person would be a great mentor or uh a value or asset into assigning them to be a mentor. Um, you know, and a lot of it like would be, you know, an great example would be, you know, women in STEM or like woman in security or women in tech, you know, maybe as a new employee or new hire or entry or you know, it would be great to be paired with a woman, right? You know, not saying that you're not a qualified child because you're a man, right? But you look at that where you know where we can, you know, strengthen help that individual and mentee grow. And that's what you know is the whole purpose of the organization of starting up a mentorship program within the organization is to really help an individual grow.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

You and I both know how hard it is to match a mentor to mentee, because we've been through that process once or twice. Right. So it kind of really depends on for me and from from what I'm thinking, is you know, you need to kind of look at what does the mentee want. If the mentee wants to become an RCDD, I can wax poetic about that. If the if the RCD wants to have a mentor to navigate the hurdles of being a female and a male-dominated workforce, I'm not gonna be a good mentor there because I haven't experienced that. Right? I don't know how I haven't gone through those battles. So it it's it, you know, a lot of that is understanding what is the the needs of the mentee. And the beautiful thing what people don't realize is with a mentor mentorship program, the mentee is not the only person benefiting from that. Mentors benefited from it as well. So you mentioned on one benefit almost right out of the gate is relationship. Right? I'm I'm still friends with every one of my mentors and reach out to them quite often. And yeah, that helps you even in the long run. Maybe if you if you actually exit the mentoring program, you can always call them up a year later and say, Hey, um, you know, I got this issue, and because you already have that relationship, makes it a lot easier, right? Let's let's shift our conversation into what are some elements of a good mentorship program? So the first question I have for you, you kind of touch base on on some of the goals, but can you be a little more specific? What kind of goals should the mentorship program establish? Can you be a little more specific?

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah, so I think like I said, there you kind of come down to a few different categories of the goals of that. And one, you know, is the retention. You know, have we really suffered from really bad you know retention rates in the last five years? You know, what what was the cause of that? Or like looking at, you know, maybe this might help with that process. Or, you know, again, maybe we have a lot of leadership gaps in in our organization and we need to grow, you know, and we're we're a firm or uh organization that we love to promote within and not hire um externally. So doing so is leadership development, knowledge transfer. Um, you know, so going looking at that, and then again, onboarding, you know, will really help that strengthen training programs, you know, maybe you sector it out into different departments or different regions in the country, or depending on how, you know, again, your organization is structured, um, and where you have room uh for improvement is I think is where you really start defining, you know, the program goals of what you really want out of it. But I think at the end of the day, it's really to understand to know that you're an organization that uh values and invests in your employees. If you're not in an organization that you know values your employees and invests in your employees, then it's gonna be very difficult for you to start up a mentorship program. Um, but maybe this is a good way for you to you know shift your values um and uh the way you do that. But I think that that's you know a good way to really start and have the program goals and move forward with that.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

So let's talk about now, let's say a company has decided to to move forward with the mentorship program. They do the the matching of the mentee and the mentor, right? Um so we we m we mask you know um technician A with project manager B or whatever the case may be, because we think that's gonna be a good relationship.

Building Trust And Meeting Rhythm

SPEAKER_00 21:55

What's that relationship look like over the mentorship program? I mean, should they should they meet Daily, weekly, monthly, or should there be a formal agenda? What does that relationship look like during the mentorship cycle?

SPEAKER_02 22:09

I think with the during the mentorship cycle, the biggest thing is like first, you know, establishing the goals, uh, establishing the individual development goals of you know of the mentee. Like, what is the mentee looking for? What are their goals? Um, and then like start also to like getting to know each other and build trust. Uh, you're never gonna have a mentorship uh pairing or participants uh if there's no trust. Um and so first start to develop that. And whether that's just grabbing coffee or and just talking about, hey, you have dogs, I have cats, let's talk about you know what what they like to do and when with the struggles and what you know, if that's what how you have to build that trust to start talking more, you know, technical, um, to get start engaging, you know, the technical expertise with the project management and leadership development and growth, so be it. But you know, like you said, it like it's relationships. Build those relationships, build a friend, build someone you trust. Because if you don't trust somebody, you're not going to listen.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Yeah, the to me, the most important conversation between a mentor and a mentee is that very first conversation. Because a mentee might have put on an application what they're looking for, but there might be a misinterpretation of what's on the application. So, you know, when you sit down and you have that person in front of you, you know, what I typically what I ask them is, okay, let's say it's a year-long program, and I what I'll typically say is what's your goal at the end of 12 months? What do you want to get out of this? And let them just kind of talk. And you're right, you know, building that personal relationship that helps a lot because nobody wants to talk about all their failures right out of the gate. Well, I've been a technician for 15 years and I want to be a project manager, but they won't promote me. People aren't gonna start out with that, right? You gotta build up first over the soft conversations, like you said. Um but as a mentor, you really need to understand what your mentee is is is looking for. So let's say the company's already got their program running, they've already matched it. What resources should the company provide to the mentee and the mentor to make sure they meet their goals that you talked about earlier?

SPEAKER_02 24:16

Yeah. So I think the biggest thing is to, especially for the mentors that are maybe potentially volunteering or getting volunteered or whatever the the situation may be there, um, is providing some type of mentor guide, something that has some type of structure, something maybe generating, you know, 15, 20 different questions, soft, you know, soft intro questions, um, and then look and see kind of like helping establish that, establish a time like a suggested timeline of how often you meet or what kind of meetings you have. Um, and so kind of putting together again a structure that a suggestive structure, I would say. It doesn't, it's not concrete. You don't have to follow it line by line item and do every single thing that it it does, it says to do, but it's there to as a resource for somebody's, especially somebody who's never mentored anyone before. But you come in here and and your boss sits there and tells you and goes, Hey, you know what, we got a new hire starting on Monday, and I think you'd be really good fit for you know uh Joe Smith to really grow and start here. And I think you you know you could be great to at training him and teach him his ways or whatever, and you're just like, Whoa, I've never done this before.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

You did um told thing you were just talking about.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Right. But and it's kind of in where you actually have all the great skill sets to actually be a great mentor, and that's where your boss, probably, or manager or whoever told you HR or you know, admin, whatever, maybe have saw that potential in you being a mentor to you without even realizing it, um, because they kind of knew that you want to do leadership or you want to be more engaged, or I don't know, whatever the reason may be. And they're trying to help push you to do those things. And so now you've now you're stepping into this new role, but now they've been able to give you those materials to start moving forward. So see, you just it's it's like a cycle. It's like you're you're having mentors push you into being, you know, strengthening your goals that you have without even being in the program initially. Um, and that's kind of like where you look at it. It's always about helping develop somebody to reach their goals. Um, and so you know, having that the discussion templates, you know, like said, have agendas or talk it, talk uh about topics and what are your goals in the mentorship program, or how can I help you this summer, or how where have you struggled in the past, or whatever it might be, or do you have any fears, you know? Uh can I help you with those and overcome them? Um, so again, have those open conversations, list those questions and topics. Um, and then also it'll also be really helpful. Everyone loves free food. Um, I'm sure, Chuck, I don't know how many lunch and learns you've probably given or have been or attended to, or how many anyone else out there wanted to or goes to happy hours or sponsor dinners or outings.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Well, the funny thing is, is I think obviously I've been to uh many of those, but the ones I I really enjoy are the ones that were just we just kind of get together, the there was no attention of anything, and then they end up turning into their informal lunch and learns, you know. Those ones I I absolutely love. Absolutely love I I 100% agree.

SPEAKER_02 27:34

I love those, those are the best. But you know, uh a good way to get people to bring people together um and show up if you're trying to do something, um, is sponsorship, um, whether that however that looks for the organization. But I know one of the ones I've uh participated in the past is you know, like say if you're an internship or you're a new hire or whatever, is that your mentor takes you out to lunch wherever you want to go and it's on the company's time. Or it's you go to lunch once three times a year, and it's you know, the company is sponsoring it, or you go to a an event for you guys both to grow together, whether that's something that's happening locally, whether that's a webinar or something that's there, you know, a roadshow, um, a conference presentation, whatever it is, you know, encourage them to go together. So again, it it also I think some of that executive sponsorship from the organization will also help um promote uh the mentorship program, not saying it's it's required or needed, but it's a great, you know, motivator.

unknown 28:45

Yeah.

Resources And Sponsorship That Sustain It

SPEAKER_00 28:46

I agree a hundred percent. Our our industry is is uh as I've already mentioned this once because I saw it in you. We're project management driven, right? And one of the one of the key facets of a good project manager is to do what's called a uh post-mortem after you finish a project. What went right, what went wrong, what can we learn so we don't repeat those mistakes in the future. Let's talk about a post-mortem for let's say you you called it a cycle, an end of a cycle, right? And by the way, you know, the funny thing is is the end of the cycle is just the end of the formal mentor mentorship relationship. As you said earlier, a lot of times those relationships last for years. So at the end of that formal cycle, whatever it may be, six months, a year. I'll have to ask you another question. I just thought I'd end up in the meantime, too. What would a good postmortem look like for a mentoring cycle? Would it be surveys, would it be interviews, or were what how would how would a post-mortem look like for that cycle?

SPEAKER_02 29:41

I think the biggest thing is one is you know looking at, you know, conducting some type of review, uh, whether that's you know through internships, obviously that's a good way because you especially getting feedback on a very consistent basis because those you know people are coming in and out of the organization, but then you start then realizing and looking at, okay, well, we've invested this in into our internships, you know, interns and co-ops that have um worked for us for several years. Did they retain a job? Did they come work for us full-time? Look at those rates. How many stayed, how many didn't? Look, see, you know, compare those numbers and see if that is so is this, you know, uh mentorship program, you know, maybe start small and only do it for you know interns and co-ops and then see measure those values and outcomes and continuous improvement, and then you grow into you know more um maturely into you know new hires or entry levels. That could be an option as well. But you start looking at those successes of that, of like I said, an exit interview, and then start looking at into training. Um are people gaining knowledge and actually growing? Um, you know, you look at most companies do some type of annual reviews with goals and and such, right? So look at those annual reviews. Are people, you know, are your employees actually achieving their goals that they, you know, that they've set for themselves for the year? And is it because you've put in place and implemented, you know, an intentional mentorship program within your organization? Start looking at those as well. I think would be a great way to you know look at the continuous improvement and if it's working.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Let me ask you this question. So the we talk about this project, actually, you talk about the project management cycles where you're in that formal relationship. How long should that cycle be? Should that be a six-month cycle, a one-year cycle, a two-year cycle? What what do you think is the best time range for that cycle?

SPEAKER_02 31:33

For a formal cycle, I think it's like a year, um, because you start to feel engaged of, you know, maybe it's like you said, you were voluntold or you're trying to figure things out, um, and is this the right fit for me? You know, kind of similar to maybe people going and getting doctors or dentists or whatever, you know, mechanics on your cars and or nail tech. If you're a woman, you have nail tech, you know, going to nail salons and getting your nails done and how you go through a cycle, you go and test them out, right? So you did it, was it a good fit? Did I like them? Whatever, you know. So you do all those things throughout, you know, your life in other ways. So it's kind of a same, similar process. So you don't want it too short. You want to give them the opportunity, mentee or mentor, is it a great fit? Um, do we like it? Do you want to, you know, can keep continuing it? Um, and then that's where you kind of you come back. So you maybe met a couple times. Now I'm gonna come back. I like this, it works. So I'm gonna keep continuing back. And then that's where you kind of I think the year is a good uh a good time frame for it to see if that mentorship um pairing and or participation uh togetherness uh is successful and works. Now, as far as continuing on beyond that, I think that you know, if if it is successful, then it's a lifetime uh relationship, hopefully. But if it's not successful, it doesn't mean that you are a bad mentor or they were a bad mentee. It's just maybe it just wasn't a great fit. Maybe they have different goals, like maybe, like I said, for whatever reason, um you want to start and own your own business, or you want to pack yourself up and move over across country, or I you know what, I really would love to go move to Germany and this just this isn't gonna work out here or whatever the case may be. Um, but that doesn't mean that you don't ever have to be a mentor ever again or ever go find another if you're a mentee, go find a mentor ever again. It means you're just gonna go find a different one, someone else's that's gonna, you know, fit your needs and wants and goals. And hopefully at that some point, you know, throughout your life, you like you said, you don't need one, you can have multiple, like Chuck has said, uh, because I really feel like knowledge is power.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

I got you an audio. I got you an audio.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Um, and I really truly believe that. Uh, never stop learning no matter what it is. Uh it doesn't have to be related to the ICT, you know, industry, uh, you know, as a technician or designer or installer or project manager or whatever. It's just continuous learning is a very fine asset to someone to really have that great you know, maturity and leadership and emotional intelligence to to succeed in life.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Emotional intelligence. I love that. I love that term. You mentioned a couple of times, I know what it is, but I want to hear your definition.

STEM And Emotional Intelligence At Work

SPEAKER_00 34:25

You said STEM. I'm I I have people listening who may not know what STEM is.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

And what does that actually mean? What's that look like?

SPEAKER_02 34:37

So it's basically all four of those different types of fields are tend to be more difficult, um, male-dominated. And so you hear a lot of women, you know, go a woman in STEM and or I'm going into women' uh programs, or you see a lot of, you know, call uh high school programs. I'm starting a STEM program or STEM sponsor sponsorships or co-ops are in high school or colleges also doing that, that's what it kind of typically means um to focus on those four core topics uh for development.

SPEAKER_00 35:11

So so a a class in in um a class in how to build a deck would not be considered STEM, right? That's not science, that's not technology.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

Well, it might be I mean it I mean it could technically kind of fall into engineering though, because you would have to engineer and measure your tools and and wood pallets and heights and stuff, right?

SPEAKER_00 35:32

And the Pythagoran to make sure you have everything square and and all that fun stuff. That's homework assignment for the audience. Go look up the Pythagorean theorem. You I guarantee you you were taught that in high school. Okay. I'm never gonna use it ever, ever. I use I use that I don't say every day, but I use it weekly here on the farm when I'm building stuff because it's a squared plus b squared equals c squared. It's just a way to make sure the two lines are perpendicular to each other. If you're building a rack together or you're putting in a ladder rack, you want to make sure it's square, you can use the Pythagorean theory to make sure that you're doing that right. So there you go. That math teacher was right, right? And that's kind of what STEM is. It's those those four basic principles that, as you mentioned, are typically male dominated. But uh, I have seen more and more and you know, women get into the industry, and I'm glad to say we still need more, but more and more getting into it quite often. So let's talk about uh the the company, the idea who's starting their their their mentoring program. What's their next steps after they start the program? How should how should the leadership team, the senior level SLT, senior level? I can't remember what it stands for. There we go. The acronym man just got stumped on his own acronym. How should how should the leadership stay engaged after they've launched that mentorship program?

SPEAKER_02 36:50

Yeah, so I think part of that is one, you know, you start, you encouraged it and supported it to start the uh mentorship program, right? So how are you gonna stay engaged and to keep it moving forward to become successful? I think a lot of that is going to be recognizing achievements and recognizing success of your employees. So whatever that may look like, whether that's them, you know, getting certifications and licenses, whether that's uh of a promotion, whether that is I I don't know what else, but you know, I I know that people have done like uh shout-outs or things, whatever it might be. I or I I spell this really cool idea where in the break room you put a sticky note out on the break room wall when somebody did something great for you that week, saying, Hey, you know what uh Joe Smith stepped in and covered for me while I was on PTO, or you know, it's small things like that. Um, or hey, this person, you know, went and won a client work for us that we have we've been trying to gain for the last two years. You know, you start like kind of engaging that. And I think that that's what's also part of building this into your culture within your organization, um, which would kind of, you know, go into the other kind of next step is making it part of your culture and knowing that people can be a mentor or be a mentee, and that so again, supporting and investing back into your employees and their their growth and their professional growth and what you know, helping them develop their skills and knowledge because eventually, you know, their skills and knowledge is helping the organization uh in in the end as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

You know, one of one of the things that I think is a misconception is a lot of people had the feeling that a mentor mentorship relationship is always, you know, it's all fields of of daisies, right? Yeah, it's always always great and always, you know, there's no problems. And and and most of my mentor mentorship relationships have been that way. I've I'm I'm currently mentoring somebody right now within my day job who works for a different division, not digital division, a different department than I work in. And uh and I'm helping them learn the technical side of our industry. Does the homework assignments, comes back with great feedback all the time. But then again, I've had other mentors, uh mentees, I mean, that when I got paired up with them, they just ghosted me. They poof, you know, and you'd reach out to them, hey, um I'm here. I thought we I thought you'd go be my mentee, right? Um so not every mentor-mentor mentee relationship is you know, hunky-dory. How should a how should leadership help a mentor-mentorship relationship when they experience those kinds of challenges?

SPEAKER_02 39:32

I would think to again like kind of try to step in without understanding those conversations, Oregon, like looking at those measurable outcomes of, you know, or looking back at that that exit, you know, interview responses of you know, their internships, like did it fit, or you know, how how great was your mentor? You know, should we cycle them through? Or again, like looking back at those measurable outcomes and seeing where I could better, you know, fit in to help the you know make pairings where it best sees fits. Like I said, some parts of it might just be can trying to integrate the mentoring into like leadership development or where again, like kind of what I mentioned before about trying to get the voluntole uh you know, employee that you have, you're and you saw it in them. They they said in there, you know, three months ago you had, you know, a you know, your annual review, and they said, my long-term goal is to be a project manager or I want to be a team leader. Well, part of that again, it is you know, having those soft skills and communication skills and being able to listen. Um, huge, huge thing when you're trying to be a mentor or be a leader. Um, but is that they saw that in them and they saw this was a great opportunity for it to push them towards um that goal to be able to lead a team, you know, in in two years. And so again, looking at opportunities to grow your individuals, grow your employees to help achieve their goals. Like I said, maybe it's not directly through a true mentorship program, um, but you are integrating mentoring into that leadership development.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

Let me ask you, let me ask you this question because there are some companies that that they they they hear people talking about mentor programs and they say, Well, we want that. We want to we want to become better. And then they they launch it and even they do the pair matching and then they go through that first cycle. How can a company maintain that momentum of a mentorship program so it literally becomes part of the company's culture?

SPEAKER_02 41:32

I think it's just to can constantly integrate that mentoring into leadership developments, talks, you know, having constant sponsor uh sponsorships through come in, you know, within the organization, get other, you know, people together. Maybe everyone comes, your it's a it's a mentee outing today, you know. It's all the mentees get together, um, and you guys go all and chit-chat together themselves. So again, it's it's the promotional and continuous um investment into the program and whether it, you know, in various different ways that it is, but you want to basically really again try to encourage that you know, build it into your culture. Don't just say we're gonna start up and do something and then never follow up on it. That's not going to make the program successful. You've got to have continuous cycles, continuous feedback. Now, all feedback's gonna be great and and and peachy and wonderful and rainbows, but then you take that you know contractive feedback and see how can we make this better? What items can we you know improve on? You know, do we need to restructure, you know, and allocate a different fund um for more sponsorships, less sponsorships, more in office, out of office, or do we need to, you know, structure something different as far as did we write the right questions down on our prompt that we gave our mentors to take, you know, to the new hires? Did is it because we don't have a great training program or onboarding process initially, you know, we need to fix that. You know, hey, I paired up, you know, Joe with Aaron and told him to help his you know onboarding process to be so much smoother and to help him show him the the organization's you know where's and how's and what you know and what would you know, but then if there's no um materials put in place of how to do things, that makes it very difficult for Aaron to mentor Joe because there's no training guides on anything, there's no standards on anything. There's there's no nowhere where I can point him to of what it looks like. You know, I if if all I'm doing is just spitballing words out to you all day of this because I'm a mentor to you, you know, that's not gonna really work. So it's also looking at your resources you have within your organization as well. That's going to continuously keep helping develop leaders and you know your employees to make them better. Um and so and eventually, you know, if they you know, I always say you have a happy employee, happy client. Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

Heather, what a great conversation.

Free Toolkit And Final Challenge

SPEAKER_00 44:05

Um, here's my call to action for people listening to this show. Start building a mentorship program now. It's gonna develop your your future leaders, it's gonna strengthen the people you already have working for you, it's gonna increase the the knowledge within your organization. And what it does is it separates you from all the other communication company out there so people want to come work for you. And now, what I've done to help make this process a little easy for those who may not already have a mentorship program, I created a little document package that I will give to you for free. Oh, you can do sign up for the newsletter, it'll be in the description below. It'll help with pairing mentees and mentors and maybe how to do a post-evaluation because those are all key marks. And as you heard Heather saying tonight, it benefits everybody from the the tech, the apprentice all the way up to the CEO of the company. So, what are you waiting for? Start your mentorship program now. Heather, thank you for coming on the show.

SPEAKER_02 44:59

Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having me, Chuck. I appreciate it as always. Um, again, you know, knowledge is power.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

You know it is.