Full Circle

I was fortunate enough the other day, to be asked to give a training talk during an assistant community call.  These calls are held by the admins in my company and they consist of speakers sharing knowledge about company procedures, processes, software, etc.  I was honored to be chosen to speak on mailbox management and I had a very good time sharing my knowledge. 

After the talk, a few attendees reached out to me with questions.  During this same time, the community resource chat room the admins use had some questions I could also help answer.  I had a huge revelation that my life had come full circle regarding mentoring.  

When I first switched from waitressing to office work, my mom taught me all the basic skills to land a job (excel, word, etc.).  I started off working through temp agencies.  I figured I could build up my skills and determine what sort of work I might be good at and what sort of company I should try and work for.

Mom told me that once I got inside a company, I should try and find an older assistant to help mentor me.  I should listen closely to what that person had to say...I would learn a lot.

I was lucky enough to land a few longer term assignments early on.  I would search around and try and find the older assistants in my area, that I thought would be willing to help me.  I found some amazing people that were happy to help me.

I realized quickly that not only were they willing to share their business skills with me, but also their knowledge of how to behave in business.  How to ask and answer questions, how to read situations, how to interpret important information vs useless information, how to gain confidence in my abilities, etc.  It was an amazing education. To this day, I still use a lot of the skills they taught me.  I am grateful to them all.

As I was answering a question from one of the attendees, I realized that I had come full circle.  I was now the older assistant, trying to help others.  Once I got over the shock of realizing I was now the "old" assistant in this story... I realized I had a really big smile on my face - knowing that someday, someone I helped out, would share their knowledge with the others in their work life and the cycle of mentoring (formally and informally) would continue.  

So, if you are young and just starting out... take advantage of us "old" folks... we have knowledge to share.  If you are one of us "older" folks... please help those following in your footsteps.  You might change a life for the better. And, no matter what age you are, don't be afraid to ask for help and continue to learn from the people around you.

If you enjoyed this topic, here are some of my prior blogs you might also enjoy:

Never Stop Learning

Share Your Knowledge