💡 Invincible Tip - Become a Mentor (Issue #565)
💡 Invincible Tip - Become a Mentor (Issue #565)
Leverage the Protégé Effect
“While we teach, we learn.”
Seneca
Have you heard of the Protégé Effect? It happens when we teach others about something, which helps us learn that information more deeply, too.
I remember my personal experience with this during graduate school. I had been learning and using HyperCard to run experiments for my psychology research. A professor noticed how proficient I was becoming with it and asked me to teach a HyperCard summer workshop to a few other professors and graduate students.
Well, I certainly became a deeper expert in those weeks!
Coming up with ways to explain the software’s mental models (e.g., stacks, cards, backgrounds, collections, objects, containers, scripts, events, messages) helped deepen my understanding of it.
Creating the course material and exercises challenged me to teach the material in understandable and interesting ways.
Answering questions and doing more research forced me to learn HyperTalk from A to Z.
This protégé effect is one reason I ask my coaching clients to document how they do their work (e.g., what is your ideal product development process from start to finish?). The act of capturing their knowledge to tell someone else about it helps them refresh everything they know about what they do.
The other cool side effect is it boosts their confidence. They realize how much they do know and how good they are at their jobs! This is further enhanced when they teach a more junior person about it. They say things like, “I assumed everyone knows what I know, but they don’t! I guess I am pretty good at what I do.”
So, I encourage you to become a mentor. Reach back and help someone else who isn’t as far along in their career as you are. It seems counterintuitive, but by helping them, you are also helping yourself. You’ll be better able to explain what you do, share what you know, and tell stories from your past work experiences.
Guess what?
All of that is required to interview well for your next job!
I’m Larry Cornett, a Freedom Coach who works with you to optimize your career, business, and life. My mission is to help you become a more "Invincible You" so you can live your life on your terms instead of being controlled by someone else's rules. I live in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with my wife and our Great Dane.
Becoming a mentor was one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done and like you said, helped solidify my own knowledge.
I especially recommend getting involved in volunteer mentoring to help those disadvantaged. Even for “young” professionals, there’s a lot of opportunity to give back.
I’ve worked with StreetWise Partners (in NY/DC) for a number of years, but I’m sure there are many others.