The BS Mentoring Program

Maybe spelling it out as the Board/Sustainer Mentoring Program would be a better idea.

Once again, I could use your collective input.  I am happy to report that our superstar Sustainer Representative, Marnie, has "sold" the Sustainer group on my mentoring idea.  She said they were "very enthusiastic" about helping our Board members to become even better leaders and to help strengthen our skill sets.  I think this is a great opportunity for each of us - we will have a chance to learn from some of the most accomplished leaders of our community.

We will match you up with a mentor and share your contact information.  Beyond that, it is up to you to develop the relationship as best suits you.  I will ask that you have the courtesy to call and introduce yourselves in a timely manner.  After that you may schedule face to face meetings or communicate by email or phone whenever you feel you could benefit from some experience and wisdom.  These ladies can be your sounding board, your insight into our community or your task coach - whatever you want them to be.  They can be on your regular "contact list" or can be called sporadically throughout the year when a need arises.  This is NOT meant to cause you more work but to offer you help with some of the things that you may find stressful as you wade through the year.  I know that when I took on the VP Fund Dev role, I could have definitely used a Kathy White who raised tens of millions of dollars for United Way on my speed dial. 

The task at hand now, is to match each of us up with the right women.   So, on that thought, will you spend some time reflecting on what you would like to learn?  I can broadly align some of you with a professional in your area of responsibility but if there is something specific (leadership, time management, public speaking, community awareness,  team building, networking, project management, technology,  ...) you are interested in, please let me know. I really want this to be a positive experience that you feel will make the time worth investing. 

We can use this forum to share thoughts or you are welcome to email me if you are feeling shy about admitting an area of interest.  I'll tell you that I still feel like a relative newcomer to GR and am hoping to align myself with someone who can teach me about the myriad philanthropic organizations that exist here.  I would love to broaden my knowledge of the community and increase my sense of community awareness.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a chance to tell all these organizations about the JL and to begin to market ourselves to them?

I hope you are excited about this opportunity.  It will certainly go a long way toward strengthening our relationship with the Sustainers.  They have been saying for years that we should utilize their knowledge and experience. I believe that this will make us stronger leaders and the league will benefit because of it!

Leah