Mentors Beyond Mom and Dad

Mentors Beyond Mom and Dad

If your son or daughter are taking their summer break from school to come back to your family’s farm or the ranch to work, consider the benefits of them working for someone else rather than you.
Jolene Brown, farmer, professional speaker, author, and family business consultant gives advice to parents about the benefits of someone else mentoring their kids.
Brown: “When summer time comes, one of the things we want is our kids to be back home to work on the farm--whether it is from high school or whether it’s from college. What I’ve learned is sometimes the best mentors are those beyond Mom and Dad. If you have other family members that you respect the way they work, it might not be a bad idea for your grown children to be working for them. So they can teach and manage them, and they get feedback from other people not just you.Working beside a mentor, other than mom or dad, allows the next generation to begin with a blank slate so they can build the results upon their behaviors. And they can be fairly judge. This is key.”
Parents can often have a long memory of past mistakes made when their children were younger.
Brown: “Mom and Dad come with a whole set lot of expectations based on a past. When you work for them, that continues. When you work for somebody else you will get a honest and good result in feedback.”
They often appreciate the positive aspects of their own farm or ranch even more upon their return. Another benefit of your children working for someone else? They are learning to work with under other leadership styles than yours.
To read more of Jolene’s wisdom and humor go to www.jolenebrown.com.

 

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