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| Let me attempt to put a face on what I'm talking about with the phrase "mentor myths". In the work from home industry people spend many hours every week participating various kinds of training, which unfortunately have, consciously or unconsciously, bought into the mentor myths I'm discussing here. These training venues include: live conference calls, one-on-one training with their mentor or coach, attending live training workshops and seminars, listening to the latest "success CDs", and studying manuals, special reports, or home study courses which they have ordered. |  |
WHY? It's their deep yearning to learn how to become an independent business owner:
They know they need to learn how to build their business to a place of profitability. They know they need to be involved in serious personal development of themselves.
They need to learn how to create streams of residual income, and how to generate a steady flow of qualified prospects for their business and the service or product they offer.
They know they need to develop effective time management strategies.
They need to master the skills of internet marketing and attraction marketing.
They're need to master the "prospecting" process so they can convert leads they have generated to business partners or customers.
People who own a home-based business are generally some of the most motivated, driven, serious, and committed people in world of business today. And yet, because of a number of mentor myths or training myths, most training systems designed to help them fall WAY SHORT of providing the kind of training that will really transfer into the daily operation of their business!
I feel it is necessary to “clear the air”, so to speak, and to discuss some of these mentor myths which are really big training errors and misconceptions which have crept into our profession as mentors, coaches, and trainers.
By pointing these out and discussing the realities, we can not only fix the mentor myths, thus better serve the training needs of those home business entrepreneurs who turn to us for help, but also help people select a good coach or mentor who can genuinely help them build their business.
Following each “Mentor Myth” and “Reality” is a space for you to reflect on your experience. Just type your reflection in the space provided then, at the bottom of the page is a "print button" so you can save a copy of your thoughts.
10 Mentor Myths and Realities
MYTH #1: If the mentor, coach, or trainer is well-prepared and thorough, participants will understand the material.REALITY: Well prepared material presented in only one way will reach less than ten percent of your participants. While there is no substitute for knowing your material inside out, HOW it is presented is as important. Research shows that material presented in a wide variety of ways reaches everyone.
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MYTH #2: The more times the information is repeated the more participants will remember it.
REALITY: There is no direct correlation between frequently repeated information and memory. The ways we remember are highly individualized and specific to our over-all intelligence profile. It is probably more accurate to say the more different ways we learn information, the better we’ll remember.
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MYTH #3: The mentor, coach, or trainer is the expert.
REALITY: Participants are the experts where the rubber hits the road! While it is true that the mentor, coach, or trainer has hopefully mastered the material to be covered in a training session, the real expertise lies in facilitating participants making meaningful connections with the material and seeing how to apply it.
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MYTH #4: If participants really pay attention they’ll "get it".
REALITY: Participants’ active involvement with the training material is how they’ll really get it. The direct instruction approach to training (a.k.a. “stand and deliver”) is effective with the adult learner for less than fifteen minutes. Participants must have an opportunity to make the material their own.
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MYTH #5: Human beings basically all learn the same way.
REALITY: Each human being has at least eight different ways they learn, acquire knowledge, process information, and understand – eight intelligences! In each person certain of these “intelligences" are more highly developed than others. The key to an effective training is presenting the material in ways which take into account these differences.
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MYTH #6: A mentor's, coach's, or trainer’s main job is to cover the material.
REALITY: A mentor's, coach's, or trainer’s main job is to uncover the material! In Webster’s dictionary the meaning of the verb “to cover” is “to hide from view”. The job of the mentor, coach, or trainer is to facilitate the learning process in participants, that is to get them excited and involved with the material. Racing through a specified amount of material wastes time and money because little real learning will occur.
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MYTH #7: Adult participants can be expected to understand the content being presented in a training session.
REALITY: Just because a great job of presenting was done does not mean understanding happened. Participants’ capacity for grasping information in any training is directly related to how it is presented. To reach everyone, presentations must minimally take into account participants’ prior knowledge and life experience, their intelligence profiles, their ages, gender, and their educational, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
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MYTH #8: Some groups are smarter than others.
REALITY: Some groups learn differently than others. The key to every group is to find out what will help them learn. It is then the responsibility of the trainer to do whatever it takes to reach them. It’s not a matter of how smart a group is. The question is rather HOW are they smart.
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MYTH #9: When presenting new information in a mentoring, coaching, or training session, the direct instruction method (a.k.a. lecturing) works best.
REALITY: Research has shown that the adult brain can productively handle only about 15 minutes of direct instruction! The key to teaching new material is to first assess participants’ prior knowledge and then to build on what they already know or think they know about the content. Even when learning brand new information, participants’ interaction and involvement with the information is more effective than lecturing at them.
(Type your answers in the space below.)
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MYTH #10: If you really want to learn you’ll learn.
REALITY: If you really want to learn, maybe you’ll learn, depending on the learning situation. A learning environment in which participants do not feel respected, where their input is not valued, where they are “talked down to”, and they are expected to simply “sit and git” the information will destroy the desire to learn for even highly motivated learners.
(Type your answers in the space below.)
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There are probably a number of other mentor myths which could have been mentioned. However my passion is to address the training side of being a mentor and coach.
I believe firmly what once we become aware of the mentor myths and the realities, we can change how we approach the very important service we provide to home business entrepreneurs as mentors, coaches, and trainers and help them choose a good coach or mentor,.
Let me help you move beyond the mentor myths! I have lots experience and many resources I'd like to share with you. Contact me today for a complimentary consultation.
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