Skip to main content

Thoughts on Mentoring

I just finished the book The Elements of Mentoring by W. Brad Johnson and Charles R. Ridley at the suggestion of Andy Warren in his blog series on mentoring. While I’ve been fortunate enough in my career to have many people have advised, taught, and coached me, I’ve never been involved in a formal mentor-protégé relationship. After reading all of the work involved, I’m surprised anyone would want to! That statement is partly tongue-in-cheek because it is apparent after reading this book that a successful pairing can be mutually beneficial. Here are just a few thoughts on the book.

The Elements of Mentoring starts by discussing how to be a good mentor, namely that it is important to have both the right personality and the right skill set. It struck me as I read that for most of the advice, I could replace mentor/protégé with any relationship pair, i.e. parent/child, person/spouse, etc. For example, the important of bolstering the protégé’s confidence is a pillar of good parenting. The next sections of TEoM show all phases of a mentoring relationship from picking the protégé/mentor through ending the mentorship. One recurring theme in this section is to ensure that both parties are fully aware of what they are agreeing to by entering into this relationship. I would recommend that both people start out by reading this book. It would provide a common base from which to build schedules, expectations, and timelines.

As expressed in TEoM, I think it’s important to realize that being involved in a mentoring relationship is not for everyone. Just because someone is intelligent and well-respected in their field does not mean they will make a good mentor. Just because they are a good mentor does not mean they will be compatible with every protégé’s goals and personality. Just because a mentoring relationship starts out well does not mean that it will end well. Barring the difficulties in making a successful match, if it can be done, mentoring or being mentored is definitely worth it. Getting involved in a mentoring relationship from either the protégé or mentor side can be a very fulfilling role and can create a relationship that will last long past the end of the mentorship.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I would have to agree about about women mentoring other women can build a lasting relationship.
November 19, 2008 at 3:33 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Upgrading your SSIS Management Framework: Part 3

At this point, you understand the options for moving an SSIS framework to the latest version of SSIS, and you've upgraded the logging portion of the framework using a hybrid approach.  The final step in the framework upgrade is handling your configurations.  Let's walk through an existing configuration implementation and how you can upgrade it by combining your existing implementation with the standard SSIS framework. Overview A typical "old-school" configuration scheme is described in the SSIS PDS book or in this blog post here: http://jessicammoss.blogspot.com/2008/05/ssis-configuration-to-configuration-to.html .  Starting in SSIS 2012, the configuration scheme uses environments and parameters when using the Project Deployment Model, as discussed here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh213290(v=sql.110).aspx . In both scenarios, the core ideas in a configuration scheme are: Provide the ability to move packages through environments without having
Post a Comment
Read more

Manipulating Excel Spreadsheets in SSIS

Tom, an attendee at last weekend’s SQLSaturday Olympia , asked me how to refresh a spreadsheet from within SQL Server Integration Services. My first thought was to turn on the connection’s “Refresh data when opening the file” option in the spreadsheet itself and avoid the situation entirely; however, this may not always be a viable solution. Here are the steps to perform the refresh from within an SSIS package. First, ensure that Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel is registered in the GAC. If not, install the 2007 Microsoft Office system Primary Interop Assemblies . This will need to be done on any machine where you plan on running this package. Next, create a script task in your SSIS package that contains the following code (include your spreadsheet name): Imports System Imports System.Data Imports System.Math Imports Microsoft.SqlServer.Dts.Runtime Imports Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel Public Class ScriptMain Public Sub Main() Dts.TaskResult = Dts.Results.Success Dim excel
52 comments
Read more

Reporting Services 2008 Configuration Mistake

To start working with the management side of SQL Server Reporting Services 2008, I decided to set up a report server and report manager. Unfortunately, I made a mistake while setting up my configuration that left me a little perplexed. Here are the steps I took to cause, track down, and solve the issue. Problem: I began by opening the Reporting Services Configuration Manager from the Start Menu. I clicked through each of the menu options and accepted the defaults for any question with a warning symbol, since warning symbol typically designate an action item. After two minutes, all of the warning symbols had disappeared, and I was ready to begin managing my report server. Unfortunately, opening up a browser and trying to open up the report manager resulted in the dreaded " The report server has encountered a configuration error. (rsServerConfigurationError) " message. Sherlock-ing it: I put on my sleuthing hat and went to the log file directory: C:\Program Files\Microsoft
45 comments
Read more