Latest / Good Morning From The Chicken Coop! / Season 4 - Episode 20 - Getting the most out of a mentor

Transcript

Season 4 - Episode 20 - Getting the most out of a mentor · Good Morning From The Chicken Coop!

• 0:01
  Hey everybody, welcome to the good morning from the Chicken
• 0:04
  Coop podcast. My name is Kim Johnson and I am
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  a mastermind, set coach, creative strategist, and also
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  happen to be a farmer. This is my chicken coop and I
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  come out here every day to record a podcast to teach
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  distinctions, possibilities, new ways of thinking, and just bring
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  some joy into the world. So welcome to the coop and let's
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  start your day off in a fantastic way.
• 0:27
  Hey everybody, good morning from the dark, cold garage because
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  it's freezing and I'm getting ready to go on the road for a
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  couple days. I'll be shooting from the road
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  though, no worries. So today we're talking about
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  learning from a mentor. And this is always a fascinating
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  subject because some people have very, you know, idealistic
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  things that they go to when they say, oh, I'm going to do a
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  mentorship with somebody. Had many clients tell me about
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  their disappointment with it or their overjoyed with it because
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  the person poured into them. Over time, I've really observed
• 1:02
  what makes 1 better than another for somebody.
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  It's kind of interesting when you really nail it down because
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  most of us think, OK, I'm going in to learn how they do what
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  they do. I'm going to watch all the
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  steps. I'm going to go through it.
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  I'm going to see exactly like, you know, every little detail
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  that I can possibly gather up to understand exactly what it is
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  that they're doing. Now, here's the crazy part of
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  this. Yes, that is part of it, but
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  there's a bigger part of it in my opinion, because it's digging
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  into their mindset and their thoughts and their emotions and
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  asking them, well, can you tell me while you're doing this, Like
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  what are you thinking about? I mean, how many times have you
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  ever asked a mentor that question?
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  Well, OK, while you're doing this, I mean, this is awesome.
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  And can you please tell me what are you thinking about while
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  you're doing it? Where is your, where is your
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  focus? Where is your mind and get them
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  to think? Now, what's tricky about this is
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  most people who are really great mentors or experts in what they
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  do experience something that most of us are very unaware of.
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  But they're unconsciously competent, meaning they do not
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  know how they do what they do. And you know, that's one of the
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  things that's always tricky. We've heard people mention that
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  before. Well, you know, somebody's,
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  they're really good at what they do, but they can't teach it,
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  right, because they're unconsciously competent.
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  Now they can, if they choose to pull back and actually think
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  about it, they can define it for you.
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  But it is about us as the student to ask the right
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  questions. Especially if you're in a
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  position where you really want to learn from someone and mentor
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  with them. You have to dig into all aspects
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  of it. So it's like being Sherlock
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  Holmes. You're in there and you're,
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  you're going through each and every aspect of it that you
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  possibly can to ask the right questions about what they're
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  thinking, what they're feeling, what their experiences was, what
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  led them to those thoughts. And take notes.
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  Because you will find the patterns and you will see
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  exactly what it is that you think you can outline for
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  yourself and say, OK, well, I want this piece or I want this
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  piece or I want that piece. It's critically important to be
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  a very good questioner. I don't know if that's a word,
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  but it's it's an inquisitor, let's put it that way.
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  You want to be an inquisitor, You want to go in there and dig
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  in, figure out the nuance of it all.
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  Now, the trick to this is telling them this up front so
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  that you don't make them think you're crazy asking so many
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  questions. You really need to frame it and
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  go in and say, you know, I'm interested in a mentorship, but
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  I'm also interested in learning the process behind the scenes in
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  your head. And I would love to be able to
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  share that with you when I'm done because maybe like a lot of
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  other great people who know what they do, they don't know how
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  they do it, they just do it. So it might be beneficial for
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  you as well if I could share it. Now, that is a huge part of the
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  gift back of saying I'm willing to share this outline with you.
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  Obviously, not every single person is going to be open to
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  this. Some people are negative and
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  they don't want to have it bad. They'll be like, oh, I don't
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  want to talk about that stuff. And if that's the person you've
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  chosen, then that's the person you've chosen.
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  And you have to figure out how to get around it so you can be
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  covert in your questions so that you're not like, you know,
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  bombarding them with them one after another after another.
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  Like, you know, I've been known to do that.
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  And sometimes it overwhelms people with a number of
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  questions when I'm trying to learn something.
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  However, over the years, as I've gotten older, I've learned to
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  temper a bit of it with myself so that I can hold back just
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  enough and get the information I need without actually driving a
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  person insane in the process. But it takes a hot minute to get
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  that, you know, skill built up. So you can do that.
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  But a lot of people would love it if you said, oh, wow, yes,
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  you're going to breakdown my process, not only what I do, but
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  like my thoughts. That's very cool.
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  And you're going to be invited in further and they're going to
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  trust you and you're going to make a map for them and say, so
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  this is what I've observed. And it's going to force you in
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  the process to be able to actually give them while you're
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  giving them that, giving yourself the gift of saying,
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  wow, not only did I actually learn it, I, I saw what they
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  did, but I can actually articulate it.
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  So now I'm, I'm able to teach them what they did.
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  And now I own it even further. So give yourself the gift, give
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  it a shot and go out there and find a mentor.
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  All right, my friends, I hope you have a blessed day and I
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  will see you tomorrow. Bye.