by Eszter Ernst-Kurdi
Eszter Ernst-Kurdi, Training Domain Team Leader, SIL Francophone Africa
Tony Horsfall points out in his book Mentoring for Spiritual Growth that “no one begins as a perfect mentor. Most learn on the job and through experience.”
I don’t know about you but I often find myself doubting whether I am doing a good job passing on my competencies to others and I wonder how I could do it in a more fruitful way. Sometimes, these thoughts stem from a dose of self-focussed insecurities. In those moments, it helps to remind myself that not everything is about me. 🙂 Other times, these thoughts motivate me to look for ways to grow in my mentoring skills through reading, discussion with others and practical experience. That’s why Tony’s words are a great encouragement to me.
If you are looking for ways to further develop your mentoring skills, Mentoring Matters offers three different ways to engage with others and learn together to be skillful and inspiring mentors.
1. How to assess your mentee’s competencies (nanocourse)
This is a short, stand-alone online course focusing on how to set appropriate assignments for your mentees, how to assess their competencies and how to communicate that assessment in a way that is sensitive to intercultural dynamics.
- Length: 4 hours
- Mode: Self-paced online course (you can work on it in your own time)
- Language: English
- Prerequisite: None
Special offer: You can take it for FREE, if you sign up before the 10th November 2022
To sign up, go to www.sil.org/training/hub and choose this nanocourse from the Browse for Training menu heading. If you need assistance, click here.
2. Introduction to Mentoring
This is an introductory online course not just for mentors but also for mentees and even managers who wish to support the professional development of their staff.
- Length: 18-20 hours over 6 weeks
- Mode: Synchronous (a 90-minute zoom session per week + prework and homework)
- Syllabus here
- Language: English, French
- Prerequisite: None
Dates and sign up here
3. Practical Mentoring
This course aims to help participants develop their mentoring competencies through practical activities that can be directly applied in a mentoring relationship. Participants can choose from a selection of 12 modules depending on their interest. To complete the course, one has to take 5 modules.
- Length: 4 hours per module
- Mode: Self-paced online course (you can work on it in your own time) + a friendly, one-on-one zoom chat with a facilitator after each module to help you consolidate your learning
- Syllabus here
- Language: English (coming soon in French)
- Prerequisite: Introduction to Mentoring
Sign up here
I hope that when you have a chance, you will take these opportunities to learn from others and to share your experience, too, so that our mentoring community can grow through these interactions.
Banner photo by LuAnn Hunt from Pixabay