IP
Level 2.3
Grab the Mentor
by Dewi Erita
Several
days ago, I went to my hometown. I was planning to collect my working proof
from all places that I had ever worked before. In general, there was some changes.
Several clinic building were bigger, more rooms, more facilities, and various
type of services. Unfortunately, one place was closed. The owner moved to
another place and shifted to different way of business. On the other hand, the
owner from the last place I had visited said that their clinic are going to
transform to hospital in 3 years ahead. Well, I am happy to hear that.
At
the end of the day, after I had all the working proof papers, I thought about
people I had met along that day. Seeing the change, talking with them, and
listening their story made me pause for a moment, asking myself. Why some
places are going better? Why that place are still the same? Why another seems
to be going down? Why there is only little progress? Why there is great
improvement? Why that place survive?
Despite the fact that fluctuation is normal (of
course), I tend to think that there is something which made them different.
What is that?
Mentoring.
One
of success CEO in Indonesia had ever mentioned about mentoring. He said that
one of three things needed for keeping excellent business stamina was
continuing mentorship. Entrepreneur learn from the mistakes of senior
entrepreneur. Not only about business, but also all aspect of life need
mentoring. Bruce Lee is mentored by Ip Man. Oprah Winfrey is mentored by Maya
Angelou. Success person have mentor.
Do
you have mentor?
I
have mentor. I had ever had a mentor in writing club. In the club, all member
were divided into three groups that is essay group, poem group, and short story
group. I chose essay group. Each group had a meeting and discussion. Then, we were
assigned to write an essay. The comment about our essay was not much. Our
mentor just said “keep writing and read the book”. I remembered that my friend
in poem group got one-word-comment, “bad”. “Bad” means keep writing and read
the book. In general, the comment was always “keep writing and read the book”.
I
also had been mentored by my friend. We did going abroad project at our third
semester at UI. Truthfully, I had never imagined about overseas. For me, It was
far away like the distance from earth to the sky (almost impossible). At that
time, I just thought that I had to try going abroad even though once in my
life. For that, my mentor did many things even the small thing that is checked
my answer in the English form and revised it, explained the information, taught
how to reply an email in English, and so on. Furthermore, my mentor kept giving
encouragement when our proposal for scholarship and sponsorship still did not accepted
even rejected (finally, we got both).
Next,
I had formal mentorship for my undergraduate thesis. At the beginning, I
stucked. After I submitted first chapter thesis, my mentor asked, “What is the
purpose of . . . ? Why just the female . . . ? Why you study this . . . ? For
what the result of the study . . . ?”. Instead of giving me inspiration, my
mentor gave me the questions. As a result, I was perplexed then decided to keep
it for a while. Next meeting (after months), mentorship was still the same. After
I submitted my thesis paper, then, in short time, my paper was full of
handwriting. It is said, “Change this! Delete this! Add this!”. Then, my mentor
just said, “Search again as much as possible”. Truthfully, I needed more words
and I needed inspiration, but I did not get it. However, I did whatever my
mentor said. By the time, I get used to it. At the end of mentorship, I
realized two precious things. First, our mentor always provided us time no
matter how busy he is. Second, our mentor always encouraged us patiently to
understand something by ourselves by saying “Open your book” or “Not that
. . . Not . . . Not like that . .
. Not . . . ” and it would keep like that until we found the answer by
ourselves.
To
conclude, everyone need mentoring. Mentor will guide us by informing their
perspective and sharing their personal experience, encourage us to solve our
problem by giving feedback, and help us building skills and meeting goals.
Mentoring is about improved competency, particularly for functional skills and
specific interest. So, I think the most important thing is find a mentor!
Depok, February
2nd 2018
(This
draft speech has been presented at Plaza Toyota Toastmasters Club Regular
Meeting on February 3rd, 2018)
