Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring: Lean Forward, Learn, Leverage

by Lisa Z. Fain, Lois J. Zachary

Overview

This first comprehensive guide to helping mentors and mentees bridge gaps between and among cultures—a growing issue in today's diverse workplace—is coauthored by the founder and CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence.

As the workplace has become more diverse, mentoring has become more challenging. Mentors and mentees may come from very different backgrounds and have limited understanding of each other's cultures and outlooks. But mentoring remains the most powerful tool for creating meaningful relationships, furthering professional development, and increasing engagement and retention. Younger workers and emerging leaders in particular are demanding it.

Lisa Z. Fain and Lois J. Zachary offer a timely, evidence-based, practical guide for helping mentors develop the level of cultural competency needed to bridge differences. Firmly rooted in Zachary's well-known four-part mentoring model, the book uses three fictional scenarios featuring three pairs of diverse mentors and mentees to illustrate how key concepts can play out in real life. It offers an array of accessible tools and strategies designed to help you increase your self-awareness and prepare you to embrace and leverage differences in your mentoring relationships. But beyond tips and techniques, Fain and Zachary emphasize that authenticity is the key—the ultimate purpose of this book is to help the mentor and mentee make a genuine connection and learn from each other. That's when the magic really happens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781523085897
Publisher:	Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Publication date:	02/25/2020
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	238,733
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Lisa Fain is the CEO of the Center for Mentoring Excellence and founder of Vista Coaching. A former management-side employment attorney, she built and led the diversity and inclusion function at Outerwall (the former parent company to automated retail giants Redbox and Coinstar). She is a certified mediator through Chicago's Center for Conflict Resolution and certified life coach through the International Coach Academy.

Lois Zachary is the founder of Leadership Development Services and its Center for Mentoring Excellence. Her book The Mentor's Guide is a primary resource for organizations that promote mentoring for leadership and learning. She is also the author of The Mentee's Guide, Creating a Mentoring Culture, and Starting Strong.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables xi

Foreword xiii

Preface xvii

Introduction: Why Bridging Differences Matters 1

Part I Lean Forward into Differences: Meet Mia and Christopher 3

1 Building the Framework for Mentoring across Differences 5

2 Seeing the Differences between Us 15

3 Culture and Identity in Mentoring 26

4 Bias and Privilege in Mentoring 40

Part II Learn from Differences: Meet Aesha and Heather 51

5 Preparing the Relationship 53

6 Getting to Know Each Other 72

Part III Leverage Differences: Meet Martin and Darren 93

7 Establishing Agreements 95

8 Enabling Growth 117

9 Enabling Growth through Feedback 142

10 Coming to Closure 166

A Closure Conversation with Our Readers 183

Appendix 185

Notes 187

References 193

Acknowledgments 197

Index 199

About the Authors 205

Editorial Reviews

2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards bronze winner in the Business/Careers/Sales category.

“This book exposes one of mentoring’s biggest blind spots—mentors and mentees who assume similarity rather than difference—and provides insightful and practical advice for how to mentor and be mentored across all forms of diversity. A vital addition to the diversity and inclusion and mentoring field.”
—Andrés T. Tapia, Senior Client Partner and Global Diversity and Inclusion Strategist, Korn Ferry, and author of The Inclusion Paradox
 
“Successful mentoring relationships must be authentic and inclusive. This practical hands-on guide to better mentoring by mentoring experts Fain and Zachary is not to be missed by anyone who wants to learn how to build deeper and more meaningful bridges across, under, and through difference.”
—Marshall Goldsmith, Thinkers50 #1 Executive Coach for ten years and New York Times #1 bestselling author of Triggers, Mojo, and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
 
“Mentoring is one of the more powerful tools in the inclusion toolbox. It is increasingly vital that we share privilege across differences in service of breaking down systemic bias. This book offers valuable insight and practical guidance on becoming a trusted inclusion ally and effective mentor.”
—Dr. Tiffany Jana, coauthor of Overcoming Bias, Erasing Institutional Bias, and Subtle Acts of Exclusion
 
“Fain and Zachary, luminaries in the mentoring field, deliver the definitive applied toolbox for genuinely inclusive mentorship. Any leader committed to recruiting, retaining, and promoting diverse talent should personally hand a copy to every mentor and mentee in the organization.”
—W. Brad Johnson, PhD, Professor of Psychology, US Naval Academy, and Faculty Associate, Johns Hopkins University

From the Publisher