One of the dangers of spending 8 hours in a vehicle is that you have a lot of time to ponder a lot of things. I was returning from delivering a workshop on leadership and mentoring and I was in a reflective mood. I thought about some of the meetings I had with folks that had reached out to me and the journey that they were going on. I thought about the group of people that had attended the workshop and the journey that they were already on. I thought about all the youth that were subject of bullying and I thought of all those workers in organizations that were subject of bullying.

My thoughts seemed to be jumping all over the place so knowing that I had 4 hours of driving ahead of me, it seemed appropriate to break each of these down into bite sized pieces. This could be a great story on multi-tasking as the highways are alive at this time of the year with wild life and my journey was not without incident.

No matter the journey that we go on it is always a little unnerving as to where we might end up. What I found in all the conversations I had with people that I have developed or are in the process of developing a mentoring relationship, is that they are not on this journey alone. They know that they can reach out to their mentor. Their mentor may well not give them the answer directly but they will be guided to it through the responses they give to a series of questions. They know that they are not on the island by themselves.  What was just as important to me was that I felt that I was on a similar journey as they! I was growing personally and professionally with each conversation that I had – with each journey that I was being asked to be part of. I could feel my passion continuing to grow and an increased desire to want to share even more the “gift of mentoring!”

Over that 4 hour time frame I also reflected on the workshop that I was part of.  It was reassuring to see so many people that wanted to enhance their leadership skills and gain a better understanding of mentoring. They experienced how great leaders have in their leadership tool box mentoring skills and how the two are dependent on each other. These folks were on a journey – a personal one but also one that would have a huge impact on the organization that they worked with. Knowing that they are not on that journey alone was part of the message that we hoped they left with.

We are all on a journey of some sort whether we realize it or not. We do not need to take that journey on our own. Each and every one of us can reach out to a mentor – a person that is going to be our guide and help us find the answers to all the questions that we may have personally and professionally. I had people that were with me on my journey home that day and I am glad that they were with me. They are truly great mentors and are always with me on my journey. Embrace the “power of mentoring” as you continue on your journey – can you afford not to?