GROWTH TAKES TIME
Welcome to another new school year of mentoring! We hope these Mentoring Minutes help you grow as a mentor as you come alongside students and help them grow into healthy adults. As we all know, growth of any kind is a process:
Growth takes
time.
Growth takes
care.
Growth takes
help.
Growth takes
patience.
Whether you're talking about growing a garden, or a newborn baby, or a relationship; those things take time, care, help, and patience before you begin to see the results. Mentoring students is a lot like that as well. Results don't happen overnight. At the same time, we have seen the results of mentoring over a long period of time...and the news is good! The process works! Studies show that mentoring relationships make a huge difference in the trajectory of students' lives as they grow into adults.
So, keep it up...
and trust the process!
This month, we want to help you by focusing on the four "growth" words that help us be effective mentors. Let's start with Time...
Time builds trust and rapport between you and your student. When you take the time to get to know your student, you build up relational equity with them. And, that equity is needed to be a positive contributor to their growth into healthy adults.
So, how are you using your time to build trust and rapport with your student? Remember, it's important to be intentional... to look for common interests or opportunities to create shared experiences that will help your relationship grow.
Check back next week to see how care is another necessary ingredient for growth in a mentoring relationship.
— Jason Matthews, Mentor Coach