The Mentoring One - Women Talking About Learning Podcast

"Sisterhood" - by Taruna Goel (Acrylics on Paper, 2019)

"The Mentoring One" - Andréa Watts and I recorded a podcast! Thanks to Andrew Jacobs and WTAL_Podcast who brought us together for this episode of "Women Talking About Learning" where we talked about all things mentoring.

I am passionate about #volunteering and #mentoring and hopefully, this episode captures my enthusiasm. Andréa's experience and her insights made for such an engaged and easy conversation. Among other things, we discussed what it means to be a mentor, mentoring as a two-way learning relationship, types of mentoring, the difference between coaching and mentoring and the value of trust and self-directed learning in mentoring. I even included a story from the Mahabharata (an Indian epic).

Since it was released last week, my friends and colleagues have shared their thoughts and insights as comments on my LinkedIn announcement post. It has been a wonderful discussion thus far. But in all of this, one question that stood out for me was asked by Katharina Hill. She sent me a message and asked, "What have you learned from recording this episode?"

There are several things that I have learned from recording this podcast, from Andréa, Andrew and the listeners, but also from the process itself.

 ·        Every person offers an opportunity to make a deep connection. In our lives, we meet many different people. But it is a rarity when you meet a person and the first conversation feels like you are talking to a friend. There was a feeling of harmony when Andréa and I spoke for the very first time. With how 2020 went, I had lost hope in this miracle and joy of connection. But Andréa assured me that it still exists. She and I have had different life experiences but we both care about similar things including our quiet time with nature, the pauses in each conversation and our shared passion of helping others discover themselves by being a partner in their journey. I am looking forward to deepening this connection and exchanging notes, experiences, and insights with Andréa on a range of other topics.

·        Connectors are the conduit for knowledge exchange across networks. We were brought together by Andrew who was the spark to get this engine going. Andrew is spending many volunteer, unpaid hours to bring people together and record, edit and publish the podcast. He has connected me with Andréa and with all the listeners of the Women Talking About Learning. He gives me yet one more reason to value the 'connectors' in my life. He doesn't interview the women; he just brings them together and gives them the space to talk. I have learned from him how 'trusting a process' (rather than driving or controlling a process) can sometimes be so liberating and magical. Andrew values diversity, collaboration and conversation and we clearly need more Andrews in this world.

·        Connections can happen anytime and take you anywhere. Although Andréa, Andrew and I come from different backgrounds, expertise, experiences and even continents, a series of unplanned and unrelated events brought us all together. Sometimes, these serendipitous connections make a paragraph in your story; at other times they become a chapter. Either way, something gets added to your life and I feel the same way about recording this podcast. I have already taken the first step in a positive direction. One can never know where this might take me and I am looking forward to it in great anticipation.

Thanks for the question, Katharina. I am so glad you asked. You made me reflect and made this process even more joyful and meaningful than it already was.

By giving me a chance to talk about mentoring and why it is important to me, this podcast episode has given me a fresh perspective and the energy to keep it going.

If you haven't had a chance to listen, check out the episode here and let me know what you think. 

And while you are there, there are many other conversations worth a listen including the Lockdown one, the Boss one, the Misogyny one, and the Imposter Syndrome one, etc.