Mentorship Matters
Mentorship Matters! It’s not just a “nice” phrase. And it’s not just a “nice” circumstance to have as a new fitness professional launches their career or as a veteran trainer embarks on a goal that is currently beyond their capability and confidence. Mentorship is critical to growth, development, and high performance! We gain capability and confidence by setting goals and then going through an intentional change process to achieve them.
Along the path of growing beyond your current abilities to achieve something fresh and new, one must commit and then have the courage to take action and build momentum toward professional objectives.
In order to realize new capabilities and establish confidence, it is very helpful to seek out mentors who have already manifested what you seek. Some mentors will be transient teachers who come into your life at the right moment and then leave; you may never see them again. And then there will be those mentors who come into your life and initiate you: there will be a co-commitment on the part of the mentor and mentee to establish a relationship over a horizon of time until the mentee’s capability is mature enough to sustain new abilities and begin developing independently.
The “Burning Log” metaphor for effective mentorship comes to mind. When one takes a log that is burning brightly in a fire and places it next to a new log for a sufficient amount of time, the second log will begin to burn. When you separate the two logs, they will both be burning brightly.
In order for this transformative process to unfold between a mentor and mentee, the mentor must possess two important qualities: compassion and competence. Compassion sets the interpersonal conditions of affirmation, validation, and empathy. Competence establishes the credibility conditions of skill, capability, and wisdom in a specific area of performance. In addition, the mentor must have a written plan of action for the mentee to follow as the mentorship journey unfolds.
After the plan is revealed, it is the responsibility of the mentor to call the mentee to action. The mentor calls the mentee to action by showing the positive stakes of embarking on the mentorship path and the potential negative stakes if no action is taken. Finally, the mentor must directly invite the mentee to begin the co-creative journey together with words that clearly express interest and commitment.
Once the mentorship relationship has been established, there is a hidden dynamic at work in the background of the partnership. That hidden dynamic is called the “Hawthorne effect.” The Hawthorne effect states that when a person is positively observed, performance shifts from linear improvement (self-observed) to exponential improvement when positively observed by a mentor or guide. To demystify this invisible dynamic at play in a mentorship relationship, one may look to quantum physics and the principle of the “Quantum Anti-Zeno Effect” (QAZE), which suggests that frequent observations of a quantum system accelerate the evolution of that system.
Consider one of my recent mentorship partnerships: I had the pleasure of mentoring Matt Cornell through the IDEA Fitness Mentor Network program. Matt and I moved through all the experiences and steps mentioned in this article. When we met for our initial consultation, Matt was eager and ready for change. We connected, discussed, and assessed his goals and professional aspirations. I guided Matt through a formal evaluation of his strengths and weaknesses relative to the short- and long-term goals he was pursuing.
After thoughtful dialogue, it was clear we were a good fit. I presented Matt with a five-week plan, expressed explicit interest in forming a mentor relationship, and invited him to embark on the journey. In the background of each session, I was intentional about creating positive attention toward Matt and his personal evolution toward his goals. Matt achieved his short-term goals during our mentorship journey and later shared that “[Mentorship was] … one of the best career moves I’ve ever made.”
Through effective mentorship, a mentee will discover their unique abilities and brilliance and; one day, may be in a position to become a teacher to their former mentors in their area of expertise.
Has your growth stalled? Are you making great efforts but not seeing much progress? Consider mentorship as a way to get unstuck and back into FLOW!
Learn more about the IDEA Fitness Mentor Network and get a Mentor Match.
