Change Isn't Easy - Mentoring Memo - August 2011

This past week my wife, Kathy, and I were visiting a friend in Salinas, California, as he performed in a community theater production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” For an all-volunteer, community-level production it was very well done. I was impressed with the concept of the play that traditions change based on the necessity of life. It was interesting to see how the principles of this Broadway show relate to our tasks as Mentors.

I asked our friend, “how do you get 60 to 75 young people, all volunteers, ages 5-17, to respond to work in the theater and he said, “we give them a reason to love their parts, we set standards they are capable of performing and we encourage them to give their best.” Doesn’t seem like there is much difference from being a Mentor or an Actor, both seek change in their audiences.

As Mentors, we are faced with many traditions of our Mentored Partners. Some traditions don’t need to be changed, others adjusted slightly and some need to see the dust bin of time. But our responsibilities aren’t to change traditions but rather to relate to our mentored partner’s ability to change their future…today!

In Mentoring we recognize that change isn’t easy, it takes effort! Changing the way someone or an organization does things is an extremely hard challenge. We see that taking place in the American politics, business and even communities and homes that have been hit by recent challenges to our economy. Consider how much change we are being asked to help implement in the contract areas in which we work. We take people out of their comfort zone and expect them to adapt to new and demanding methods that are often unfamiliar and strange for them, a literal break from the traditions of the past.

There are three ways that can help the Mentor make the change a bit easier; they are:

1. Give our Mentored Partner’s a reason to make their current way of doing business better. This may be based on economics, operational necessity, resource constraints, command and control or a number of other reasons that demonstrate that change can be good. Remember at all times that any change will only be temporary if it violates a cultural norm.

2. Provide Standards that promote the reason for change. Telling someone to change something, just for the sake of change in not going to make it happen. In many of our situations, the change will occur as long as we bring the resources with the change, but as soon as we leave, there is a return to the previous methods of operation. Standards provide benchmarks that help our Mentored Partners to focus on needs and accomplishments that increase effectiveness and efficiency.

3. Encourage our Mentored Partner’s by accepting the best they can do. Remember that their background of experience, coupled with limited resources and cultural norms often limit what they can do, not what they want to do.


Mentors encourage change, but not just for change’s sake. We seek to help our Mentored Partners understand the nature of change and how it can impact in a highly positive way, the way we and they do business -- that affects everyone; today and tomorrow. .