Comacho addresses the issue of brokenness in leaders and leadership development, and the theme is scattered throughout the book. As a broken leader in my own right, I appreciated this. In chapter 8 Comacho tackles brokenness and identity pretty well in the concept of being sons and daughter; though in my current context the gendered terminology just gets me in trouble.[2]<\/a> Consequently, I like the way Fr Greg Boyle uses the terminology of broken kinship and its restoration. (You need to listen to him – see the note below)[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Though the book reads like a practical guide to mentoring, at its heart the desire is to know that mentoring flows from the experience of mentoring, as Comacho himself confesses, \u201cOne of my greatest mistakes over my life has been to focus too much on helping others, without doing the things that I needed for my own nourishment and growth.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n Twenty years ago I read an article by Martin Broadwell describing four levels of teaching.[6]<\/a> It has come in handy over the years for both self-reflection around my own leadership and mentoring skills, and understanding how to see other leaders in development The four levels go something like the following:<\/p>\n Unconscious incompetence<\/strong><\/p>\n A person does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit.<\/p>\n Conscious incompetence<\/strong><\/p>\n A person does not understand or know how to do something, they recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit.<\/p>\n Conscious competence<\/strong><\/p>\n A person understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration.<\/p>\n Unconscious competence<\/strong><\/p>\n A person has had so much practice with a skill that it has become “second nature” and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task.<\/p>\n The reason the four levels are useful in mentoring is that they categorise the places in which we might not be helpful to others. They are worth thinking about. Ironically, unconscious competents are terrible mentors as they don\u2019t know how they do what they do because they just do. Such people need to reflect on their skills in order to pass them on.<\/p>\n What I took away from the book? Open your eyes to see God\u2019s best in people where it\u2019s not always visible. Sometimes the precious metal is within, sometimes we need to use a bit of metal to reveal a beauty hidden in the broken and ordinary.<\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Tom Camacho, Mining for Gold: Developing Kingdom Leaders Through Coaching<\/em> 26ff<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold,<\/em> 91ff<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> If you haven\u2019t read or heard of Greg Boyle, you need to listen to him. Short video here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ipR0kWt1Fkc<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Camacho, Mining for Gold,<\/em> 129<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Have a gander at this link: https:\/\/www.lifegate.com\/people\/lifestyle\/kintsugi<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/kintsugi-piatto-blu1-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>A few years back I saw a bowl that was possibly the most beautiful thing I\u2019d seen in a while. It was a broken bowl repaired though the Japanese art called Kintsugi.\u00a0 The broken parts are gathered and are re-joined, not with glue, but with gold.[5]<\/a> The end result is not a repaired bowl, but a renewal; same broken bowl but with a beauty that changes the environment forever. Isn\u2019t that a good illustration of mentoring?<\/p>\n