Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Feedback

I recently received some indirect (from them to my manager, and from manager to me) positive feedback about my mentorship from a colleague. And this got me thinking about how important feedback is. It helps you know if you are on the right track with what you are doing. There were some challenges mentoring this person and, I must admit, it was pretty frustrating. In a moment of inspiration (or maybe reflection*) I decided to change my strategy. Instead of giving them an answer to their question, I sat them down and had them derive the answer to the question by themselves. At the end of it, my colleague knew the part of the product for which they had the question like the back of their hand. And they thanked me for taking the time to walk them through it. 

Thanks to this feedback, I know I am on the right track with mentoring this person, and this makes my job easier. They think that they were the only one who stood to gain, but they are wrong. I learnt something too :).

 

*I remembered that sometime in the past, I was that kind of person that might have caused a lot of frustrations for my colleagues with the constant questions. If it wasn't for their patience in dealing with me, I wouldn't have been where I am right now. Always pay it forward!