My Journey & Learning from Mentoring.
My time with #Druva has been exhilarating, I wish the joy ride never ends. As I near my second career anniversary with #Druva, I thought it is a great time to share one of the most exciting times of my career with everyone.
Thanks to Druva and its belief in us which gave me the confidence to join the mentoring team even though I was a relatively new employee. It has been by far a very enriching experience for me to work with Katalyst partners and the two mentees I have been assigned with.
Before I dive into narrating my experience, here is a short insight about Katalyst partner.
You can click on this link to read about their objective: http://katalystindia.org/about-us/ , they are one of the prominent NGO’s supporting girls from backgrounds of socio-economic disadvantage for higher education and empowering them to lead a better life as well as enable them to create an impact on this world.
How did it start for me?
Coming from a lower-middle-class family, I understand the challenges one faces when one wants to break free. In my personal experience, it is education alone that can help. Having that in mind, I always supported and helped people who needed it.
While I spent about 11 years in Hyderabad, I volunteered for
HSPCA ( Humane society for protection and care of animals )
PFA (People for animals)
These activities gave me immense satisfaction and a sense of belonging. So when I moved to Pune, I was looking for some opportunity to engage myself.
Thanks to the HR team, they accepted my nomination.
The Orientation
As the reminder app popped up on my screen to remind me of the orientation program, I felt something “tingling” yet excited, I visited the pantry on the way. Still, the tingling was with me. I sat in the conference room waiting for everyone else to join, realizing I was too eager, and came early!
After the orientation session by Ms Aarthi and Ms Megha, things became clearer; but I was still uncertain about what or how I would mentor, who those kids would be, and knowing the generation “Z”, I was a bit scared too.
Mentee assignment and my first meeting
About a month had passed and we were yet to hear more about the next steps, I was thinking, maybe I was dropped out of the program but who knew the very next min my phone rang, it was Ms Mehak from Katalyst, she told me about the two mentees and confirmed about the form submission. She took my permission to create and add me to the WhatsApp group and wished me the best of luck. Later had a few more telephonic discussions about how much time will be used and other formalities.
Here I was all set to embark on the journey of mentor-ship, while I kept procrastinating a week passed. This is when I asked myself if I was really going to do justice to the role Or was it just like being a Facebook warrior. I promised myself to take the next step and see what happens next.
I called and set up a meeting with my mentees, it was their college. New to the city, though thanks to Uber I was able to reach the destination on time. There was a weird feeling and no pantry around! Damn. I was standing in front of the girl’s college and was going to enter the main door. I don’t know If you understand what I am trying to say. Just so you know, there was only one girl’s college in my hometown — hope that brings some fun memories.
Anyways, got my courage together and entered, signed the entry register, and walked in. I called my mentee and they asked me to wait in the cafeteria. Well! I thought, now that I am here, let’s see through it. After about 15 mins. I saw two little girls who were a bit scared walking towards me. Hoping everything goes fine, I called their name and they smiled. I was glad the wait was over or was it?
The kids were so quiet, I spoke for the most part and then asked them how was their day and they happened to tell me how super busy they were but still so happy to meet me. I could see the nervous smile and hope in their eyes and I promised myself to work really hard to make a difference.
Since then we have been meeting every two weeks via video and voice calls.
Collaboration
Birds of a feather flock together!
While with COVID’s impact, life was getting monotonous, a ray of hope came. A friend ( Prashant) shared an idea to do a clubbed meeting with both our mentees, I instantly liked it and we synced our calendars. Lest we knew they were already friends and were even more excited to join the joint session.
We did our first joint session and it was an instant hit, the girls have learned so much from each other than any one of us could really share. Now we are more of a facilitator and all four are really stomping through their way towards success.
My Learning!
Focus on structure
The random approach has never helped anyone in achieving success. This journey has proved it correctly many times. From scheduling our meetings to having a structure to the activities. It fails miserably if we don’t prepare and follow the structure.
Trust
Exactly like delegation, tell them what you want and let them choose their way to solve the problem. Trust that they would do the right thing, however, you need to put enough background work to ensure your mentees are prepared for the challenge. So before you put them through the challenge, work with them, train them and make them confident. Once they face the challenge let them know you are on their side but they have to solve it.
Give time
Whatever we do, we cannot rush things. If we rush then we come across as needy and not really someone who wishes well for the mentees. It starts to feel more like a checklist. Hence give time to yourself as well as your mentee to build the relation and rapport.
Collaborate
Humans are pack animals and hence we perform best when we are together in a safe zone. Hence it’s always great if you could find a like-minded person to collaborate with. Just like how Prashant and I collaborated.
Summary
In the sum of all things, I see Katalyst doing a great job in helping kids and supporting them. As well as provide opportunities for people like us to share our knowledge. I have had a great experience and learning which is going to stay with me life long.
