HELPING MENTEES WITH VISION STATEMENTS
by Dr. Linda Phillips-Jones

If you have not yet read the articles, Creating or Revising Your Personal Vision (Tool #1) and Helping Mentees Do Research, do so now before you proceed with this article.

1. Continue your own personal vision work so you're a strong model for your mentees. Click on Writing a Personal Vision Statement (Tool #2). Print it out, and work on it by yourself. If it makes sense, share all or part with someone you trust.

2. Share your completed copy with your mentees so they can learn from your example.

3. Ask your mentees to complete Tool #2, Personal Vision Statement, before your next mentoring sessions with them.

4. At those meetings, ask your mentees to share their findings with you. Don't discourage them from their tentative ideas. Give them positive feedback on their work and strengths you've observed in them.

5. Continue to ask probing questions to help them identify their important goals.

Use the Vision Probing Question: "If you had ____, what would that bring you?" For example:

Mentor: If you wrote the book, what would that bring you?
Mentee: I'd finish something I promised my father and maybe make some money.
Mentor: (Taking the second of the two answers) If you made that money, what would that bring you?
Mentee: I'd buy a sailboat and take my family out on weekends.
Mentor: If you could take your family on your boat, what would that mean to you?

Continue and then probe the first answer about promising father.

6. Reinforce your mentees for their attempts. Putting one's dreams on paper is difficult. Encourage them to write in pencil if that's easier. They can even have multiple visions. Help them think big, and avoid discouraging them from visions and dreams you think are too grand. Later, you and they can explore the feasibility of these dreams. For now, be optimistic. Your mentees may surprise you!

You're now ready to help your mentees turn their Vision Statements into Personal Development Plans.

For more ideas, see The Mentor's Guide and "75 Things to Do with Your Mentee," listed in the Product List.