Mentoring has been a hot topic this month. We’ve been sharing a lot of resources, tips, and ideas on how it can benefit your career on our social media pages. This summer, my office was also transformed into a mentorship lab when Claire — a recent high school graduate — joined our team in May.
While a lot of the people on my team work virtually from different states, I have three team members who live just a few blocks from me here in Iowa. When we were all at the office, there were three generations represented: a baby boomer, gen-Xer, and millennial. It was an outstanding combination with all of us sharing experiences, generating new ideas, learning from each other, and experiencing the benefits of two-way mentorship.
Claire helped us get some big projects crossed off our list and made several good suggestions for improvements. In turn, we helped Claire add some skills and experience to her resume, and exposed her to business concepts and best practices that she can build on throughout her career. I didn’t want the summer to end. Thankfully, Claire will be continuing on with us as a virtual assistant from college this fall.
When we experience generational or personality differences in the workplace, it’s easy to get caught up in assigning stereotypes. But appreciating those differences, and learning from various perspectives and approaches provides opportunities to think differently and find better solutions to challenges. In this week’s feature article, I share some of the lessons I have learned from mentoring and being mentored by several millennials in my life. I hope it inspires you to think positively about the impact the younger generation is having at the office.
Supporting your administrative success,
Julie
P.S. You can find more tips, resources, and ideas on millennials and mentorship on our Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages.
