Mentoring

One thing that's become apparent in the Mens' Shed movement is the potential for mentoring - not only younger males, but all men who connect with Sheds in every capacity.

So, what exactly is mentoring? Mentoring is sharing wisdom, skills and experience with others to help them grow and learn and involves a relationship where both parties learn from each other, trust each other and respect each other. As Issac Newton said, "If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants." - and while you don't need to be a giant to pass on your wisdom and experience, what you can achieve in helping develop another person is gigantic in its effect.

Mentoring can be formal or informal; it can have clear outcomes or it can be simply offering a helping hand. Showing someone how to use an angle grinder or giving them the confidence and skills to just have a chat can be more powerful than you imagine.

Mentoring is often used in business to develop staff or re-energize those who've become jaded. But it's not just confined to the world of business. We all live in a community and need social contact and support whether we acknowledge it or not. Men's Sheds can offer this in a real way to benefit all those involved. Beyond the walls of a shed, mentoring can continue and seep into our everyday lives - it's not much different to the traditional Australian world of "mateship".

During the next twelve months, the Virtual Shed will return to the idea of mentoring and hold some workshops on how mentoring can become a part of our lives to strengthen our communities and ourselves.