IN last article We have discussed with you the process of creating an internship program and figured out the key roles and focuses. Today I would like to pay attention to how to structure the learning process and what are the basic principles of this learning.
In life and work, we often have to start something new, learn something. The ultimate goal of training is knowledge, knowledge about the models and principles of embedding skills in experience, which allows you to quickly and effectively achieve professional growth. Learning is a continuous and ongoing process of absorbing new information and adapting existing knowledge to this new information.
So, in the figure you see a coordinate system with axes awareness - competence.
These are four states in which we can be in relation to any knowledge or skill. Let's take a closer look.
- Unconscious incompetence. The person is incompetent, and he does not know that this is so. He doesn’t know that such a field of knowledge even exists. For example, when an intern comes to us for an internship, he doesn’t even know what awaits him there. Perhaps even 10 minutes ago you did not know anything about the existence of a learning circle. And accordingly, they did not know how to use it.
- Conscious incompetence. I know I don't know how to fly a plane. I realize that I am not sufficiently trained in the awareness of airplane control. This is awareness of the limits of your current capabilities. Sometimes this is a reason to expand them. Sometimes there is a hint that it is better to entrust this matter to a professional.
- Conscious competence. The skill is already there, but good results still require full conscious attention. In fact, any new business for us requires extreme composure. I consciously study different techniques HR management to be the best expert in this field. I want to grow professionally!
- Unconscious competence. Something you can do without thinking. Walk, run, eat, read, speak your native language... Write poetry, ski or snowboard, drive a car or ride a bike. Everything we do is so good that sometimes we don’t even remember that we ever learned it. But there was a time when we couldn’t even focus our eyes. In the first days of life. And now it’s okay - we can cope. Once built-in skills allow you to do everything without thinking and competently, that is, without concentrating all your attention on the process.
As you know, it takes 21 days to develop a sustainable skill. In the process of mastering a new skill, we always go from the first state to the fourth. We are not disrupting this process.
However, understanding the learning process itself is not enough to build effective beginner-master interaction. So, in order to help a beginner in the process and in the transition from stage to stage, according to the circle of training, there is a wonderful technique. It's called the 5 Steps of Mentoring. This technique allows a beginner to develop a new skill/ability.
- 1st step.“I’ll tell you, listen.” Here it is necessary to motivate the trainee to master the skill. Tell us what you will do now and what you can use what you will teach him for, how it can be useful to him.
- 2nd step.“I’ll show you, look.” You need to demonstrate to the trainee what you want to teach him. When doing this, try to give the opportunity to see the process as a whole. The mistake here is when they start demonstrating the process from the middle of the work. When people see the task completed correctly and completely, they will be able to try to repeat it.
- 3rd step."Let's do it together." Here you need to tell in detail about your actions and why you need to do this. Step by step, do not skimp on detailed explanations. Try to make your educational story not only detailed, but also entertaining. Inspire by teaching!
- 4th step.“Do it yourself, I’ll tell you.” The student completes the task. The mentor helps and corrects. It is important here not to criticize, but to encourage, i.e. give proper feedback. This motivates the learner to strive to do their job better. You need to work until the student gains self-confidence.
- 5th step.“Do it yourself, tell me what you did.” Ask your trainee to teach you how to do what you taught him. Control and consolidation of skills.
It's that simple, 5 simple steps to help you teach any skill to anyone J And remember, when we learn something, we always make mistakes. And if what we learn is worth learning, then don’t be afraid to do it poorly at first! We only learn from our mistakes.
Today we have figured out how to structure the learning process and what are the basic principles of this learning. I, in turn, wish you good luck in mastering new skills. And I will continue to welcome your feedback here (email).
In my next article, I will share with you my experience on how to give corrective feedback to interns in a way that is also inspiring. See you again!
It is well known that if more experienced employees take patronage over newcomers, problems of adaptation of the latter in the team do not arise. How to make the process of transferring valuable knowledge and skills more effective and manageable, what mentoring tools are used in our time, what mistakes lie in wait for those who have begun to implement them?
FEATURES OF TRAINING ADULTS
How to teach something to an adult, how to transfer knowledge to him? People learn from their experiences and their own experiences, which is directly related to motivation.
The problem with many new employees is that they want the job but don't have the skills. The purpose of mentoring is to help a young specialist “move” into the “I can, I want” square, that is, to allow him, in addition to the desire to acquire, the opportunity for productive activity.
Rice. 1. Readiness young specialist to work. (Based on the Hersey-Blanchard model of situational leadership)
Let's look at Fig. 1 The readiness of a young specialist to work.
1 situation “I can’t - I don’t want to.” The person does not have the skills, and moreover, is not motivated. In order to include him in an activity, you must first motivate him. Otherwise, you will face an insurmountable barrier of protection.
2 situation “I can’t - I want.” A person is motivated, therefore he is open to acquiring new knowledge; he is in a state of learning. Here it is important to build a step-by-step scheme for working with an employee. How and what will you teach him. Also remember that it takes 21 days to develop any skill.
3 situation “I can - I want.” A situation in which it is reasonable to develop horizontal career employee. He already has the necessary knowledge and skills. He needs to raise the “goal bar” and expand his areas of mastery.
4 situation “I can - I don’t want.” The person is in a state of protest, some kind of sabotage. It is necessary to find out what is the reason for demotivation. Perhaps it is necessary to give work a new meaning.
Learning for a new employee can happen spontaneously (if he, for example, observes the work of his colleague) or intentionally (if he enrolls in a course and gains new knowledge). Gaining experience, the employee consciously or unconsciously reflects, draws conclusions, and when performing a new task, plans and performs other actions. This in turn leads to new experiences and the cycle begins again. Thus, training is a process of acquiring and assimilating new knowledge and skills, going through four stages, which must be taken into account when preparing mentors.
This four-step process represents the transition from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence.
1. Unconscious Incompetence
With unconscious incompetence, you are unaware that you do not know or cannot do something (“I do not know that I do not know”). In our case new employee has not yet realized the lack of his own competence. Thus, a child traveling with his parents in a car is aware of the fact of travel, but does not understand that he does not know how to drive, that is, he remains in the dark about his own incompetence.
2.Conscious incompetence
With conscious incompetence, the employee acquires “knowledge of his ignorance.” This usually happens when a desire appears to take a new action. Thus, a teenager who does not know how to drive a car is constantly forced to ask someone to give him a ride, and is acutely worried about his incompetence. In the case of an employee, this could be, for example, his desire to make a cover for a magazine, realizing that knowledge Photoshop programs he doesn't have enough.
3. Conscious competence
In order to become consciously competent, a worker needs to undergo training. Often at this stage, the employee exactly copies the actions of his mentor. For example, a beginner remembers how an experienced designer made a magazine cover layout, that is, he realizes that he “knows what he knows.” So, having successfully completed the courses and received a license, the novice driver will still whisper to himself: “Mirror, signal, turn,” that is, consciously drive the car, controlling every action.
4. Unconscious competence. With unconscious competence, an employee performs certain actions so often that they become habitual, and a subconscious algorithm is developed. This is the “I don’t know what I know” stage. An experienced designer cannot explain to a new employee how to create a “masterpiece”; he does it on a whim. With many years of driving experience, you drive the car “automatically”. While leading it, you do not scrupulously analyze your actions, since they are guided by your subconscious.
When a person learns to drive a car, these four stages can be clearly observed: with the help of a driving instructor, the person goes through the stages of conscious incompetence and conscious competence. Learning can be accelerated by consciously repeating the cycle, either with the help of an instructor to achieve improved driving through the second and third stages, or independently through training.
Error 1. The mentor does not know how to convey experience, cannot explain to the new employee the algorithm of actions, because he himself is in the stage of unconscious competence. He's like genius artist who tells the apprentice to “learn”, but does not help himself, cannot explain what and how to do.
Rule 1. In order to be a mentor, you need to return from the stage of unconscious competence to the stage of conscious competence.
MENTORING STYLES
Depending on the level of training of the new employee and the complexity of the task, the mentor chooses the style of interaction with him.
- Briefing - This is a style in which the mentor gives clear step-by-step instructions to the trainee or invites him to copy his own actions. At the same time, he does not explain why it is necessary to do it this way and not otherwise - the mentor has a ready-made correct answer. The disadvantages of this method are obvious: often blindly following the instructions leads to the opposite of the desired result. Let us recall, for example, the film “The Diamond Arm”: the instructions “Ice cream for the child, flowers for his woman!” without explanation led to a comical situation.
- Explanation - a style in which the mentor shows how to do this or that job correctly, and explains each step in detail, provides a rationale for his actions. He has an explanation of which algorithm works correctly and why. If we go back to the example from the film “The Diamond Arm” and dream up our imagination, we could put the following line into the hero’s mouth: “Ice cream for children because they love sweets. Flowers for his woman: women love signs of attention.” Consciousness and validity of actions guarantee success for the mentor.
- Development- this is a style in which the mentor simply poses questions to the student and invites him to explain what, how and why he will do. Let's turn to the plot from the same film. One can imagine that if time had allowed, the hero would have built a special conversation with his partner, using developmental questions:
“What do you think should be given to children to make a good impression? What do children like to eat?”, “What gifts do you think women like?” - and the characters would be insured against the mistake that we see in the film. After all, the student himself would find answers to the questions, and his decision would become conscious.
For clarity, we summarize all mentoring methods in Table 1.
Table 1. Advantages and Limitations of Mentoring Methods
| Method | Advantages | Restrictions |
| Briefing - clear instructions, providing an algorithm of actions. Used in standard situations and in cases of force majeure, when you cannot hesitate |
|
|
| Explanation- justification for each step of the algorithm |
|
|
| Development- “aerobatics”. The mentor does not give ready-made answers, he only pushes him to solve problems and invites the student to figure it out on his own. The learner must have high level development and sufficient motivation |
|
|
Error 2. It is dangerous to be mistaken in thinking that if one technique was effective with one trainee, then it will be effective with another.
Rule 2. The mentor determines the style of communication with the student individually. The professional position of the mentor depends on the level of the student and the situation.
FORMULATION OF THE GOAL
A goal is an image of a result. It depends on the mentor whether he can simply and clearly convey the goal to the student and inspire the mentee to achieve it.
There are no unattainable goals, but there are mutually exclusive criteria for achieving them that should be avoided.
Let's take SMART goal setting as a basis. The word smart itself, translated into Russian, means “smart”, and the results of the work should be:
- specific
- measurable
- attainable
- significant
- correlated with a specific period (time-bounded).
Thus, setting a goal correctly means that it is also specific, measurable, achievable, meaningful and must be achieved by a specific date. Let's look at each goal criterion.
Specific and positively worded
Wrong: “Make me a cover layout, but not red on black.”
Correct: “Make three layout options using template A.” A negatively worded “don’t do” goal points to something to be avoided rather than something to be achieved. The subconscious mind does not perceive the particle “no”, but hears the command “red on black”, therefore, by formulating a goal according to the principle “don’t do this”, you, as a mentor, risk getting the exact opposite result.
Measurable
How to measure a goal? It should be expressed in pieces, in sheets, as a percentage, in rubles, etc. For example, “three layouts according to template A” is an example of correctly formulated criteria, an indication of what and how to do.
Incorrect: “Dig from the fence until lunchtime.”
Correct: “Every day you must negotiate with three clients.”
Achievable
The manager himself, when setting a goal, must be sure that it is achievable, and we are not talking about faith in luck or a miracle. The goal should not be too simple, otherwise there will be no motivation to achieve it, while at the same time, a goal that is too complex can frighten an insecure student. It should fall under the description “difficult but doable” and challenge the learner. That is, it should be set taking into account individual characteristics, just below the limit of the student’s capabilities. The difficulty level will gradually increase.
Wrong: giving an inexperienced worker a task that is too difficult.
That’s right: give the task a little more difficult than the student has already had to solve.
Time-bound goal
Wrong: “Make a layout, well, let’s do it by the end of the month.”
Significant
The goal should motivate the learner. It is necessary to formulate it so that the goal becomes his own. A mentor, as a rule, cannot directly indicate or command; he only has methods of non-material motivation at his disposal.
Incorrect: “Make this layout, I need it.”
That's right: “You make this layout, and you will have the opportunity to introduce yourself to our design team.”
Error 3. The mentor incorrectly formulates the goal for the student
Rule 3. Match your goal to SMART criteria
HOW TO GUIDE YOUR PROTECTOR DURING THE LEARNING PROCESS
Rules traffic describe the "Main Road" sign. Developmental questions are the “sign of the main road” in the transfer of knowledge. The system of developmental questions allows you to determine a realistic plan of action, helps the student understand it, which, in turn, contributes to the formation of a responsible attitude to the matter.
Table 2. Developmental questions
| Stage | Example question | The benefit of the question |
| 1. Awareness of the situation and available resources |
|
|
| 2. Awareness of opportunities and obstacles |
|
|
| 3. Development of an action plan |
|
|
| 4.Final development |
|
|
Error 4. Having set the task, the mentor forgets to check how much the student understands it and whether he has enough resources to solve it.
Rule 4. Use at least three developmental questions after setting the problem. Find out how the student is going to solve it.
FEEDBACK AS A DEVELOPMENT TOOL
The ability to provide effective feedback is one of the most important skills of a mentor; it is the presentation full picture actions of the learner in a specific situation. Important components of this process also include analysis of the effectiveness of its actions and discussion possible ways its increase in the future. There is a great danger for a mentor to criticize a student, which is why there are feedback rules. “Vasya, you did the wrong thing” is not feedback, because the student does not know what exactly he did wrong and what the mentor would like to see.
Feedback - This is a technique of conflict-free criticism aimed at making the interlocutor himself want to change his behavior.
Exercise for training
There are three stages of feedback:
1) description of the situation about which feedback is provided
2) a description of your attitude to this situation and its consequences
3) wishes regarding the further results of the interlocutor’s actions in similar situations, ways to improve work efficiency.
Feedback principles
The following principles for providing feedback can be identified.
1. Balanced, positive focus
The learner should feel that the feedback helps him learn. If she is too critical, he may internally reject her, if she is too complimentary, then this may be perceived as patronizing, which can also cause rejection.
Feedback should combine a description of positive aspects and “growth points” for the learner. Maintaining a balance is to make the feedback acceptable to the learner, to inspire him to professional and personal growth.
2. Specificity
Feedback is not a discussion about whether the learner said or did not say something, did or did not do something. The mentor should always refer to a specific fact or action. Avoid generalizing phrases like “you always...”, “you tend to...”, etc.
Feedback concerns What was said, done and How, but not Why. Guessing about someone's motives introduces an atmosphere of mistrust and hostility into the conversation. An example of a specific review: “Yesterday you conducted a study using the ABC method, and I asked for the gradient principle.”
3.Behavior-oriented, non-judgmental
By providing feedback, the focus should be on behavior rather than on the individual per se. We should talk about what people do, not what we think about them. This way we can tell someone that they "talked more than anyone else during the meeting" instead of saying "you're too talkative." The first phrase leaves room for change, while the second is simply an assessment of a character trait. The presence of an evaluation in a statement reduces the volume of information perception and causes resistance to what is said. After the phrase “Masha, you are a bad assistant for me in this project,” a person may psychologically “close down” and not perceive what exactly was done wrong. We need to include the learner in the process, and not turn him off with criticism.
4.Timeliness
“A spoon for dinner is on the way.” The principle of positive reinforcement is one of the key ones in training, and providing timely feedback is the best thing a mentor can do: “Today you did all your work perfectly.” The worst thing is when the mentor remembers that, for example, the model Vasya made made an impression on him a week later.
5. Activity
A person learns best when he answers the questions himself. Give him a chance to correct mistakes on his own: “How much do you think you did your job, 100%? What could be done differently here? Are there any options? Table 3
Table 3. Examples of statements
| Feedback (allows you to improve your work, understand what worked and what you need to work on) |
|
| Praise (the student does not understand what exactly was done well, what he is already doing) |
|
| Criticism (the student does not know what mistakes he made, what exactly he should work on) |
|
| Lack of feedback (the learner remains in the dark about how and in what direction he should develop further) |
|
Error 5. IN best case scenario the mentor does not give feedback to the student, at worst criticizes him.
Rule 5. Before expressing your attitude to the student’s performance, remember the principles of feedback. By criticizing, we force a person either to defend himself, showing aggression, or to make excuses, or to feel guilty. Criticism does not lead to any constructive action.
The principle of feedback is a universal development tool. The HR manager can also adopt it. This way, you can give feedback to the mentor as well. We are all mentors to each other in life, and all of the above techniques work in any learning and development situation.
Training materials were used in preparing the article
N. Bondarenko and A. Tokar “Mentoring”, 2007
—> Do you want to get real tools for conducting training in 7 days?
It is well known that if more experienced employees take patronage over newcomers, problems of adaptation of the latter in the team do not arise. How to make the process of transferring valuable knowledge and skills more effective and manageable, what mentoring tools are used in our time, what mistakes lie in wait for those who have begun to implement them? The authors of the article answer these questions by examining five main mentoring techniques.
FEATURES OF TRAINING ADULTS
How to teach something to an adult, how to transfer knowledge to him? People learn from their experiences and their own experiences, which is directly related to motivation.
The problem with many new employees is that they want the job but don't have the skills. Let's look at Fig. 1: the goal of mentoring is to help a young specialist “move” into the “I can, I want” square, i.e. allow him, in addition to the desire to acquire, the opportunity for productive activity.
Rice. 1. Readiness of a young specialist to work
Let's look at Fig. 1 The young specialist’s readiness to work.
- 1 situation “I can’t - I don’t want to.” The person does not have the skills, and moreover, is not motivated. In order to include him in an activity, you must first motivate him. Otherwise, you will face an insurmountable barrier of protection.
- Situation 2: “I can’t, I want to.” A person is motivated, therefore he is open to acquiring new knowledge; he is in a state of learning. Here it is important to build a step-by-step scheme for working with an employee. How and what will you teach him. Also remember that it takes 21 days to develop any skill.
- 3 situation “I can - I want.” A situation in which it is reasonable to develop a horizontal career of an employee. He already has the necessary knowledge and skills. He needs to raise the “goal bar” and expand his areas of mastery.
- 4 situation “I can - I don’t want.” The person is in a state of protest, some kind of sabotage. It is necessary to find out what is the reason for demotivation. Perhaps it is necessary to give work a new meaning.
Learning for a new employee can happen spontaneously (if he, for example, observes the work of his colleague) or intentionally (if he enrolls in a course and gains new knowledge). Gaining experience, the employee consciously or unconsciously reflects, draws conclusions, and when performing a new task, plans and performs other actions. This in turn leads to new experiences and the cycle begins again. Thus, training is a process of acquiring and assimilating new knowledge and skills, going through four stages, which must be taken into account when preparing mentors.
This four-step process represents the transition from unconscious incompetence to unconscious competence.
- Unconscious Incompetence.
With unconscious incompetence, you are unaware that you do not know or cannot do something (“I do not know that I do not know”). In our case, the new employee has not yet realized the lack of his own competence. Thus, a child, when driving with his parents in a car, is aware of the fact of travel, but does not understand that he does not know how to drive, i.e. remains unaware of his own incompetence. - Conscious incompetence.
With conscious incompetence, the employee acquires “knowledge of his ignorance.” This usually happens when a desire appears to take a new action. Thus, a teenager who does not know how to drive a car is constantly forced to ask someone to give him a ride, and is acutely worried about his incompetence. In the case of an employee, this could be, for example, his desire to make a cover for a magazine, realizing that he lacks knowledge of Photoshop. - Conscious competence.
In order to become consciously competent, a worker needs to undergo training. Often at this stage, the employee exactly copies the actions of his mentor. For example, a beginner remembers how an experienced designer made a layout for a magazine cover, i.e. realizes that he “knows what he knows.” So, having successfully completed the course and received a license, the novice driver will still whisper to himself: “Mirror, signal, turn,” i.e. consciously drive the car, monitoring every action. - Unconscious competence.
With unconscious competence, an employee performs certain actions so often that they become habitual, and a subconscious algorithm is developed. This is the “I don’t know what I know” stage. An experienced designer cannot explain to a new employee how to create a “masterpiece”; he does it on a whim. With many years of driving experience, you drive the car “automatically”. While leading it, you do not scrupulously analyze your actions, because... they are controlled by your subconscious.
When a person learns to drive a car, these four stages can be clearly observed: with the help of a driving instructor, the person goes through the stages of conscious incompetence and conscious competence. Learning can be accelerated by consciously repeating the cycle, either with the help of an instructor to achieve improved driving through the second and third stages, or independently through training.
Error 1. The mentor does not know how to convey experience, cannot explain to the new employee the algorithm of actions, because he himself is in the stage of unconscious competence. He is like a brilliant artist who tells the apprentice to “learn”, but he himself does not help, cannot explain what and how to do.
Rule 1. In order to be a mentor, you need to return from the stage of unconscious competence to the stage of conscious competence.
MENTORING STYLES
Depending on the level of training of the new employee and the complexity of the task, the mentor chooses the style of interaction with him.
- Briefing - This is a style in which the mentor gives clear step-by-step instructions to the trainee or invites him to copy his own actions. At the same time, he does not explain why it is necessary to do it this way and not otherwise - the mentor has a ready-made correct answer. The disadvantages of this method are obvious: often blindly following the instructions leads to the opposite of the desired result. Let us recall, for example, the film “The Diamond Arm”: the instructions “Ice cream for the child, flowers for his woman!” without explanation led to a comical situation.
- Explanation - a style in which the mentor shows how to do this or that job correctly, and explains each step in detail, provides a rationale for his actions. He has an explanation of which algorithm works correctly and why. If we go back to the example from the film “The Diamond Arm” and dream up our imagination, we could put the following line into the hero’s mouth: “Ice cream for children because they love sweets. Flowers for his woman: women love signs of attention.” Consciousness and validity of actions guarantee success for the mentor.
- Development- this is a style in which the mentor simply poses questions to the student and invites him to explain what, how and why he will do. Let's turn to the plot from the same film. One can imagine that if time had allowed, the hero would have built a special conversation with his partner, using developmental questions:
“What do you think should be given to children to make a good impression? What do children like to eat?”, “What gifts do you think women like?” - and the characters would be insured against the mistake that we see in the film. After all, the student himself would find answers to the questions, and his decision would become conscious.
For clarity, let's summarize in the table. 1 all mentoring methods.
Table 1. Advantages and Limitations of Mentoring Methods
|
Method |
Advantages |
Restrictions |
|
Briefing - clear instructions, providing an algorithm of actions. Used in standard situations and in cases of force majeure, when you cannot hesitate |
|
|
|
Explanation- justification for each step of the algorithm |
|
|
|
Development- “aerobatics”. The mentor does not give ready-made answers, he only pushes him to solve problems and invites the student to figure it out on his own. The student must have a high level of development and sufficient motivation |
|
|
Error 2. It is dangerous to be mistaken in thinking that if one technique was effective with one trainee, then it will be effective with another.
Rule 2. The mentor determines the style of communication with the student individually. The professional position of the mentor depends on the level of the student and the situation.
FORMULATION OF THE GOAL
A goal is an image of a result. It depends on the mentor whether he can simply and clearly convey the goal to the student and inspire the mentee to achieve it.
There are no unattainable goals, but there are mutually exclusive criteria for achieving them that should be avoided.
Let's take SMART goal setting as a basis. The word smart itself translated into Russian means “smart”, and the results of the work should be:
- specific;
- measurable;
- attainable (attainable);
- significant (relevant);
- correlated with a specific period (time-bounded).
Thus, setting a goal correctly means that it is also specific, measurable, achievable, meaningful and must be achieved by a specific date.
Let's look at each goal criterion.
-
Specific and positively worded.
Wrong: “Make me a cover layout, but not red on black.”
Correct: “Make three layout options using template A.” A negatively worded “don’t do” goal points to something to be avoided rather than something to be achieved. The subconscious mind does not perceive the particle “no”, but hears the command “red on black”, therefore, by formulating a goal according to the principle “don’t do this”, you, as a mentor, risk getting the exact opposite result. - Measurable.
How to measure a goal? It should be expressed in pieces, in sheets, as a percentage, in rubles, etc. For example, “three layouts according to template A” is an example of correctly formulated criteria, an indication of what and how to do.
Incorrect: “Dig from the fence until lunchtime.”
Correct: “Every day you must negotiate with three clients.” - Achievable.
When setting a goal, the manager himself must be sure that it is achievable, and we are not talking about faith in luck or a miracle.
The goal should not be too simple, otherwise there will be no motivation to achieve it, while at the same time, a goal that is too complex can frighten an insecure student. It should fall under the description “difficult but doable”, challenge the learner, i.e. it should be set taking into account individual characteristics, just below the limit of the learner's capabilities. The difficulty level will gradually increase.
Wrong: giving an inexperienced worker a task that is too difficult.
That’s right: give the task a little more difficult than the student has already had to solve. - A goal related to a specific deadline.
Wrong: “Make a layout, well, let’s do it by the end of the month.”
Correct: “Make a layout by August 20.” - Meaningful.
The goal should motivate the learner. It is necessary to formulate it so that the goal becomes his own. A mentor, as a rule, cannot directly indicate or command; he only has methods of non-material motivation at his disposal.
Incorrect: “Make this layout, I need it.”
That's right: “You make this layout, and you will have the opportunity to introduce yourself to our design team.”
Error 3. The mentor incorrectly formulates the goal for the student.
Rule 3. Match your goal to SMART criteria.
HOW TO GUIDE YOUR PROTECTOR DURING THE LEARNING PROCESS
The traffic rules describe the "Main Road" sign. Developmental questions are the “sign of the main road” in the transfer of knowledge. The system of developmental questions allows you to determine a realistic plan of action, helps the student understand it, which, in turn, contributes to the formation of a responsible attitude to the matter.
Table 2. Developmental questions
|
Stage |
Example question |
The benefit of the question |
|
1. Awareness of the situation and available resources |
|
Allows the student to realize personal responsibility and identify areas of his competence |
|
2. Awareness of opportunities and obstacles |
|
Psychological preparation for obstacles. The student prepares in advance for how he will cope with difficulties if they arise. |
|
3. Development of an action plan |
|
The student learns to separate significant criteria from insignificant ones, plan work and time, independently determine the level of his skill (i.e. understand how much time he will need to complete the work), work in a team |
|
4. Final development |
|
The student learns a creative approach to solving any problem |
Error 4. Having set the task, the mentor forgets to check how much the student understands it and whether he has enough resources to solve it.
Rule 4. Use at least three developmental questions after setting the problem. Find out how the student is going to solve it.
FEEDBACK AS A DEVELOPMENT TOOL
The ability to provide effective feedback is one of the most important skills of a mentor; it is the presentation of a complete picture of the student’s actions in a specific situation. Important components of this process also include analyzing the effectiveness of its actions and discussing possible ways to improve it in the future. There is a great danger for a mentor to criticize a student, which is why there are feedback rules. “Vasya, you did the wrong thing” is not feedback, because the student does not know what exactly he did wrong and what the mentor would like to see.
Feedback - This is a technique of conflict-free criticism aimed at making the interlocutor himself want to change his behavior.
There are three stages of feedback:
- description of the situation about which feedback is provided
- description of your attitude to this situation and its consequences
- wishes regarding the further results of the interlocutor’s actions in similar situations, ways to improve work efficiency.
Feedback principles
The following principles for providing feedback can be identified.
- Balanced, positive orientation.
The learner should feel that the feedback helps him learn. If she is too critical, he may internally reject her, if she is too complimentary, then this may be perceived as patronizing, which can also cause rejection.
Feedback should combine a description of positive aspects and “growth points” for the learner. Maintaining a balance is to make the feedback acceptable to the learner, to inspire him to professional and personal growth. - Specificity.
Feedback is not a discussion about whether the learner said or did not say something, did or did not do something. The mentor should always refer to a specific fact or action. Avoid generalizing phrases like “you always...”, “you tend to...”, etc.
Feedback concerns What was said, done and How, but not Why. Guessing about someone's motives introduces an atmosphere of mistrust and hostility into the conversation. An example of a specific review: “Yesterday you conducted a study using the ABC method, and I asked for the gradient principle.” - Behavior-oriented, non-judgmental.
By providing feedback, the focus should be on behavior rather than on the individual per se. We should talk about what people do, not what we think about them. This way we can tell someone that they "talked more than anyone else during the meeting" instead of saying "you're too talkative." The first phrase leaves room for change, while the second is simply an assessment of a character trait. The presence of an evaluation in a statement reduces the volume of information perception and causes resistance to what is said. After the phrase “Masha, you are a bad assistant for me in this project,” a person may psychologically “close down” and not perceive what exactly was done wrong. We need to include the learner in the process, and not turn him off with criticism. - Timeliness.
“A spoon for dinner is on the way.” The principle of positive reinforcement is one of the key ones in training, and providing timely feedback is the best thing a mentor can do: “Today you did all your work perfectly.” The worst thing is when the mentor remembers that, for example, the model Vasya made made an impression on him a week later. - Activity.
A person learns best when he answers the questions himself. Give him a chance to correct mistakes on his own: “How much do you think you did your job, 100%? What could be done differently here? Are there any options? Table 3
Table 3. Examples of statements
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Feedback (allows you to improve your work, understand what worked and what you need to work on) |
|
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Praise (the student does not understand what exactly was done well, what he is already doing) |
|
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Criticism (the student does not know what mistakes he made, what exactly he should work on) |
|
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Lack of feedback (the learner remains in the dark about how and in what direction he should develop further) |
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Error 5. At best, the mentor does not give feedback to the student; at worst, he criticizes him.
Rule 5. Before expressing your attitude to the student’s performance, remember the principles of feedback. By criticizing, we force a person either to defend himself, showing aggression, or to make excuses, or to feel guilty. Criticism does not lead to any constructive action.
The principle of feedback is a universal development tool. The HR manager can also adopt it. This way, you can give feedback to the mentor as well. We are all mentors to each other in life, and all of the above techniques work in any learning and development situation.
In preparing the article, materials from the training N. Bondarenko and A. Tokar “Mentoring”, 2007 were used.
Magazine "Management" corporate culture»
« Publishing House Grebennikova
December №4 (04) 2009
Is it necessary to have superpowers in order to communicate with spiritual guides? And is it really only about those mentors who “get in touch” with hereditary shamans or mediums?
In fact, everything is much simpler. You yourself can answer who our spiritual Mentors are and go out to communicate with them.
Maybe you have already communicated with the spiritual world, you just don’t realize it?
From the article you will learn what methods of communication can be used with the Spiritual World.
So, you have decided to get in touch with the Spiritual World. What is needed for this?
It is known that in life nothing is done for nothing; every event needs a reason. In communication with the spiritual world, such a reason will be your inner desire and readiness.
How to prepare for a meeting with spiritual Mentors?
Believe that you can see and hear your spiritual Guides! To communicate with spiritual Guides you do not have to be a psychic or a medium.
If you meditate and know how to stop the racing of your thoughts, this skill will help you achieve results faster. It is already inherent in each of us internal potential for contact with the Spiritual World.
Now it’s no longer a secret that you can train your extrasensory abilities. There’s just a time, place and readiness for everything. Therefore, we are all potential channels for communication with Mentors, we just forgot about it...
Try to first look at the events of each day a little differently.
How often does this happen? Half-awake in the morning, in a hurry - breakfast, or maybe without it, then work, study, chores, household chores. Everyone has their own list, but the meaning is often the same. And even if you come across something interesting, just pass by. Why think about it if you’re already full of worries!
What if it’s different? Notice everything that happens in your life every day? Perhaps you have already ignored it more than once.
Who is helping us?
There cannot be a consensus on who our spiritual Guides are. There are many views on who helps us. Everyone can
You can contact your guardian angel or Soul loved one. Each of us has our own spiritual friends; we should act as our heart says.
How to get in touch with a Spiritual Guide?
1. Letter
Automatic writing comes to you through channels of spiritual communication; it is not a product of your mind, your earthly brain.
Automatic writing is one of the effective ways connections with the Spiritual World. If you have a direct and specific desire to ask questions to your spiritual Guides, then this is exactly what you need.
To write, you need to get yourself in the mood to mentally allow yourself to write down everything that will come and what the hand (or hands on the keyboard) will write.
From the outside it may seem like communicating with yourself: asked - wrote down. But you are the one a guide for answers from the Spiritual World.
Therefore, take a comfortable position, put thoughts and worries aside, and turn your attention inward. Watch your breathing to better tune in to the incoming information. And just start writing down everything that comes as knowledge or in the form of a kind of monologue.
2. Prayer
Do not try to control the process of prayer, it should flow freely, like any important conversation. Give yourself over to your prayer completely, accept any feelings and thoughts that come during it.
Doreen Virtue "Messages from Angels"
As already stated, no consensus about the division of spiritual beings. The same applies to prayers and religion. Some often turn to icons, visit churches and light candles, while others are completely far from religion and do not know a single church holiday.
Prayer can be called not only written texts that are read at services. Prayer is a message from your heart. And the order of the words you pronounce is not so important. The important thing is with what feelings and thoughts you will do this.
Mentally or out loud say your question, your gratitude or wish, and believe me, you will be heard!
3. Drawing
"IN kindergarten There is a drawing lesson going on. The teacher approaches a girl who is enthusiastically drawing something:
What are you drawing?
But no one knows what he looks like!
Now they’ll find out!”
Surprisingly, drawing can also be a way of communicating with spiritual Guides! Drawing can be used especially successfully to create images of our spiritual friends.
Also, if you wish and intend, mentally set a goal for yourself: depict your spiritual Mentor or Mentors in the drawing.
Maybe you want to answer a certain question with the help of a drawing - draw how some situation will unfold, and this is also possible!
Mentally ask for support in your business, so that spiritual friends can prompt you and lead your hand in the right direction. Often, from such a seemingly difficult task, entire works of art are born!
4. Sleep
In sleep we become closer to that universal, true and eternal Self that hides under the cover of night.
Carl Gustav Jung
Sleep and dreams are a part of every person's life. If someone does not remember his dreams, then it seems as if they do not exist at all.
In fact, brain physiology says the opposite: the brain dreams, but we don’t always remember them. And this is considered just a completely normal physiological process.
But those who can confirm that sometimes these “night films” can be very mysterious and wordy.
And all because dreams are a mirror of our subconscious and subtle mental processes. Consequently, this is the most favorable opportunity for communication with the Spiritual World.
Most people have at least once seen something in their dreams in their entire lives. interesting character who said important things...
As a rule, half of these important things are erased from memory the next morning... Someone, maybe, and maybe even with those who live now.
Now imagine that this is exactly how communication with the subtle world can take place. Sometimes it is easiest for spiritual Guides to communicate with us through dreams - most of us still believe in dreams.
You can do it yourself call your spiritual Mentor for communication in a dream.
When you go to bed, ask one of your close spiritual friends to come to you in a dream. This probably won't happen the first time. Perhaps the Mentors will get in touch in another way.
However, we fall asleep every night, so maybe it’s worth a try?
5. Meditation
The most important thing about meditation is that you become closer to your true essence.
David Lynch "Catch Big Fish"
The most profound way to communicate with the subtle world is meditation. This is not only a way to immerse yourself and understand internal mental processes, but also an opportunity to go beyond ordinary perception.
In a state of calm and turning off disturbing thoughts, we become closer to Spiritual World and to ourselves.
You can independently engage in meditative practices and conscious breathing.
Before starting meditation, you should set an intention: to communicate with the Mentors or to understand the solution to some life problem.
You can also use special practices and lessons to connect with the spiritual world.
It’s so great to just allow yourself not to think at all and follow the voice of the one doing the meditation!
6. Reincarnation
We believe that every person has a Soul, and it is eternal. That's why we study Past Lives and make their experience accessible to everyone.
Maris Dreshmanis
Reincarnationism can be distinguished as a special method of communication with the Spiritual World. It not only includes the above methods, but also opens up their more effective use.
It is with the help of reincarnation:
- open creative talents and the ability to see and recognize the signs of spiritual friends;
- you can learn to meditate quickly and efficiently - tune your “broadcast antenna” to the desired channel when necessary;
- many were able
Now you have learned how you can communicate with spiritual Guides. Of course, these are just some of the possible ways.
As much as each person and his communication channels are unique, so can the methods of such communication be varied.
Our whole life as a whole can be represented as a school where we undergo training from birth to death. And since we learn something, then at every stage of learning we must certainly have a mentor. Why do we need it? What role does a mentor play in our development? When looking for an answer to these questions, you may encounter many misconceptions. Obviously, the function of a mentor is to instruct and teach us. He gives valuable advice, which help us become wiser, tests our readiness to move on to the next stage, etc. Much in this matter depends on what exactly we mean by “advice” and similar “checks”, how we treat these “lessons” and “exams” " This is where misconceptions arise about which mentor is best for us.
Wizard mentor.
After reading a certain amount of literature about spiritual development and esotericism, some people see the development process as a kind of romantic adventure, and they dream of meeting an all-powerful mentor who will “reprogram” fate, show magical techniques and ultimately make these people the same (or more powerful) “magicians” and “sorcerers.” Such students are looking not so much for a mentor as for something outstanding and unusual, a feeling of strength and contact with certain secrets, with the “highest” caste of people with superpowers. Of course, this is the voice of our egoism speaking, these are the illusions of the ego. We want to follow our sense of self-importance, and this has nothing to do with a sincere desire to learn something. Why do we even think that a wise, gray-bearded mentor must appear in our lives? Is it really up to us to decide?
This raises a logical question: exactly what concepts and qualities should our mentor teach us? Perhaps this list contains such concepts as solitude, hopelessness, growing up, shortcomings, uselessness, attachment, states of consciousness, intelligence, mercy, etc. Such a list makes you think. Somehow we forgot to include fame, luck, prosperity and pleasure. Who can boast that he has chosen which concepts he would like to learn and which ones he can forget about? And in general, do we ourselves determine this set, or someone from the outside, or something inside us? After all, we will not be able to dictate to our mentor what he will teach us. Otherwise, what is the use of teaching him? Our mind, being in changing conditions, is constantly changing, fluctuating, doubting. How to develop guidelines in the face of such variability? Can we trust the fragility of the human mind to resolve such issues? Our mind, in fact, has to come to terms with the results of the choice of the subconscious and hope for a mentor who will teach what is necessary and help overcome current current obstacles. And here we won’t even talk about situations where modern mentors simply use their gullible followers for their own personal interests. This is a separate issue, and we will talk about it later.
Parent mentor.
What kind of knowledge would we like to receive from a mentor? In any case, you cannot find a teacher better than the life itself. However, we need someone of flesh and blood to convey his lessons in accessible, human language. However, life is a much more experienced and skillful mentor than a teacher in human form. Perhaps this is because life itself contains much more than we can comprehend. Its lessons can be quite difficult to understand. In this case, life itself is embodied in the person of some person, so that he becomes our mentor and speaks the same language with us. When is this possible?
They say that when the student is ready, the teacher appears. It turns out that the mentor himself determines his ward, because he has extensive experience, or he sees a direct indication from some force that this particular person will become his student. Although now the situation with mentors is more like a market. Nowadays you can choose from a huge variety various directions and schools, find the most suitable spiritual mentor among them and work with him. Here it depends only on our choice what we will take on faith, what will become unacceptable to us, what we will study, etc. It turns out that we know better than our mentors, in what area exactly do we need guidance? And in general, can the choice of the Guru be treated as a choice of products on the market? For the most part, a mentor who offers some kind of training to the followers of his school is simply offering a product within the framework of market relations. As demand grows, there are many such offers. But unfortunately, only one in a million gets to meet a unique teacher such as Don Juan, and, apparently, there is no point in deluding yourself on this score.
What do we expect from a mentor? Often, we simply need to make up for our failure, our inability to act decisively in a given situation. We are looking for someone who will play the role of a parent with a small child. In this situation, we believe that our mentor should be a wise person, a competent intercessor, to whom we can transfer responsibility for our lives. When a person is looking for such a teacher, he simply wants to relieve himself of the burden of responsibility, get rid of the need for choice and reflection, and make life easier at the expense of another person. And in the absence of a mentor, you have to work on your life on your own, experiencing the inevitable pangs of growing up without any support or support. Becoming an adult generally means relying mainly on yourself. And the ability to be independent is perhaps one of the most important in our lives, especially on the path of development and personal growth. And sometimes, with a mentor, it is more difficult to learn this than learning from your own mistakes on your own.
It turns out that everyone has a mentor in the form of life itself. Life speaks to us through the people we meet, the circumstances we find ourselves in, the events that happen to us and much, much more. At times, her lessons are painful, but they are the most memorable; You will not forget these instructions until the end of your days. We don’t always like such a mentor, because life teaches us something completely different from what our ego would like to learn. These are not flashy magic “tricks” to entertain us, but exactly what we need. These lessons are sometimes boring, lengthy and banal; By comprehending life’s instructions, we do not shine as enthusiastic “stars”, but stubbornly live through gray everyday life, however, becoming stronger, stronger and more self-confident.
The mentor is the culprit of the problems.
This is deplorable, but often our mind looks for ways to satisfy our pride or amuse our pride, while choosing the easiest path, from which it is not so easy to turn down later. I want to have supernatural abilities, to become purer, better, kinder, to be closer to God, but in the end - just a series of dull days. And at such moments it is difficult to accept the fact that the banality of “gray” everyday life that we have to experience from time to time is one of the most important lessons that must be learned in life. If a mentor had taught us this lesson, we, from the height of our bewilderment, would have immediately accused him of all mortal sins. “What is the point of your lesson? I want sparkling magic! I want to become a brilliant magician, enlightened and noble, to rise above the gray mass of the human crowd!” We are not at all inclined to learn life lessons from a mentor. The mentor, in the form of life itself, does not have a personality that we can blame for something; We can complain about life, but we have to listen to its instructions if we want to develop and move on.
Life as a mentor confronts us with problems and immediately points us to ways to solve them. The most difficult difficulties stimulate us more than others: “Everything that does not kill us makes us stronger.” It is “impossible” tasks that force us to develop and take higher and higher standards, so we discover hitherto unknown abilities in ourselves, through which we achieve ever higher goals. Experience deadlock valuable in itself - thanks to this we become more mature; a similar situation next time will not cause us any difficulties in solving it. This is an elementary rule: we learn and gain experience. The only problem is that we are sometimes unable to see the valuable instructions of life behind the obstacles and problems. If this lesson were taught to us by a “living” mentor, we could blame him for the unbearable complexity of tasks in our already difficult life. And in this situation, it would be much easier to say goodbye to such a teacher forever and continue to live a carefree life, without “sweating” about his tedious instructions and difficult tasks. But the disembodied mentor named Life is not going anywhere. Unfortunately (or fortunately) you cannot get rid of this teacher. In life, one of our best mentors is ourselves, our body and intuition. In addition, we are surrounded by a lot of sources of development, each of which can teach us many lessons: parents, our homeland, place of work, our relatives and friends, people around us and random passers-by, all our emotions and feelings, everything we see and hear.
Our personality is a perception in pure form, the vessel of the existence of life. Life is our natural teacher; it essentially teaches a part of itself. Development is only one aspect of the existence of our “I”. And this aspect does not stand out in particular among others. Our destiny as humans is to live and continually learn. And to understand that there is life, perhaps there is the most main result that we can achieve in our training.
Dmitry Smirny.