MENTORING FOR SUCCESS THROUGH UNLEASHING A LEADER’S CAPABILITY

At one point a few years back I knew I was going to change the business in a way that would mean I would no longer have a requirement for bought in specialist services from someone I rated highly: this would mean to him the loss of his largest client and potentially a threatening drop in income.

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I decided to broach the matter at an early stage and to offer to act as a mentor to help his business re-form before my business change took place.

We had several sessions, a few workshops, many emails and calls, and through this time I saw his confidence growing, his clarity developed on where his business was going, and he was effective at leveraging any of my insights and experiences to shape his business. I recall tough discussions, where I was direct about what I saw as issues needing to be addressed, and I also recall several ecstatic calls as he won new clients. I’m delighted that he now is in high demand in his sector, is coming up to 10 people working for him, and is looking at asset-based models for further scale.

In some ways I did little – he is very good at what he does: all he needed was me to challenge, support, enthuse and share a little – the vast majority of his success is absolutely down to him. But I do feel proud to have been in the shadows on his journey….