THE ARTFUL DESIGN OF YOUR BRAND AND LEGACY WITH INTENTION, PURPOSE, WISDOM AND STRATEGY
The Legacy of Mentoring
Taking younger or less experienced people under your wing is a privilege and a fantastic opportunity to impart learning and legacy into someone and impact their life journey significantly.
In practical terms, mentoring means taking the time out of your busy schedule to help guide someone who might need encouragement, knowledge, up-skilling, counselling and even at times, affirmation and recognition simply by being in your presence.
Mentoring should not be reserved just for adults. It should begin at school age with any younger children in your charge, care or sphere of influence.
Get involved in their learning. Take time out tomeet with each child at the end of each school term to find out their performance relative to the previous term.
Ask them questions about their school. Listen carefully y to their responses and respect their opinions, no matter how childlike they may seem.
Recognise their areas of achievement. Work with the child to design an individual improvement plan for areas they might be lagging in.
Your interest, care and careful planning will be imprinted on their developing psyche. It’s the best investment one can make in a child, to help them climb attain their goals, dreams, desires and education, as long as they are willing and has the ability to do so.
The same principle flows into adult mentoring. Identify people in your organisation or life sphere that might need a boost from your input.
Approach them humbly and offer to work with them at a regular interval. Set aside the time to meet with them, to listen and to provide advice as requested.
Respect their opinions and give feedback. Use examples from your own life to help guide them. Most importantly applaud their success and give them the freedom to make their own choices, regardless of your advice.
It’s elementary, Watson.
Insight Inspiration
In a world where people are quick to hurt and scar with their words especially online, speaking words of praise and encouragement into the lives of those you are mentoring is priceless.
Practice rewarding those in your care and sphere with kind words of affirmation.
Be liberal in your praise when they perform well, either at school, work or life.
Consider even adding a gift to affirm the verbal recognition.
As you practice this legacy building philosophy, you’ll in turn gain so much joy from watching people flourish around you, as well as make and keep many dependable friends.
About Dr Gladys Mwiti
The Legacy Insights series is authored by Dr Gladys Mwiti, an internationally recognised trauma psychologist who has served two electoral terms as Member of the Board of Directors for the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS); is Co-Chair for the Lausanne Congress Mental Health and Trauma desk, Global Board Member for Langham Partnership Board, is the current Chairperson of the Kenya Psychological Association (KPA); Interim Chairperson of the Kenya Society for Traumatic Stress Studies; member of ChildFund Kenya Board of Directors, immediate past member of the Board of Trustees for the Kenya Methodist University (KEMU); member of the American Psychological Association (APA); and immediate past Chair of Council, Cooperative University College in Kenya.
She was the lead psychologist overseeing a team of highly trained trauma counselors providing crisis intervention during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the US Embassy bombing in 1998, the Gujarat (India) earthquake in 2001 and violent aftermath of the 2007 Kenyan elections. She was also lead coordinator post the Westgate Mall terror attack in Nairobi, overseeing the training of over 400 psychologists and counselors as well as managing the massive intervention and therapist supervision that reached over 2,500 survivors of the terror attack. Her current client list includes the US Embassy, USAID, Coca Cola, IBM, British High Commission, Syngenta, Google and Mastercard, amongst many others.
