I love to mentor. Who doesn’t like someone who listens to boring stories and lessons learned?
However, I attempt to check that they understand what I am saying, and what they think about it. I want them to participate as much as possible. Even if they don’t know the details of what I am talking about, they can relate to the learning process.
Now I sometimes think that I am talking too much when I am teaching people. However, that is the nature of teaching. You have to share what you understand and that requires them to listen. Today the two students didn’t understand a complex example I was giving, so I talked about it differently. Eventually, I found 3 ways to explain it, and they seemed to understand.
I also gave them homework which was a URL of a place that I had read to find the answer to a problem that a company had. A large part of being a consultant is researching and I love to do that. So when I find something that I learned something from, I tend to share it with the team so that they are upskilled as well. If they know it already great, but there is always someone who seems to benefit. Once I shared 4 different resources on the same topic, and they helped four different people in different ways that appealed to them.
The most we can do in our lives is to be logical and loving and some of us are better at one of these than the other. If you are a logical person then bring those skills to the table. If you are a loving person, find a way to help a company become more kind and considerate of each other. Many stressed people at work just need some kindness to be happier and do better.
I once had my mentor tell me that we don’t always have to say something to help someone else. Just being there can be a help. At times just listening is all you have to do.