I was assigned as a trainer & mentor; A situation where you failed.

INSEAD Personal Essay 3: Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)

need to resize and is the intended meaning coming across

Three years ago, while working in HCL, I was assigned to train and mentor a fresher about my module. I shared my knowledge and expertise on the module with this trainee and explained him my expectations. Unfortunately, he showed little interest and avoided independent assignments. To motivate him, I invited him to our kick-off meetings and client-calls where he actively took part. However, in his individual tasks, he was careless and tardy. Being his mentor and also the supervisor for his assignments, most often than not, I ended up doing most of the work myself. This resulted in lost productivity and effort which further frustrated me. Eventually, after three months, I reported his lack of commitment to my manager with compunction and he was reassigned due to poor performance.

Looking back on this incident, I have to admit that I failed in my objective of making this fresher a better performer. Stressed by the need to meet deadlines and exasperated by his insincere and careless attitude, I rushed to get him out of my hair.

Probably he needed more time and effort than I could afford. Later, through self-reflection and feedback from my peers, I realized that a more patient and diplomatic approach could have been more appropriate.

Following this incident, I have become a more patient and perseverant. Training and mentoring my fellow colleagues and fresh undergraduates in my next job has always been a successful achievement for me. Volunteering for an NGO and teaching those poor, young kids has taught me to be much more patient, tolerant and perseverant. Now, I make sure to give them fair amount of time and effort to make them understand before imposing deadlines on them.

I reckon I was too eager and impatient to make him perform, that I would have prevented him from learning the concepts well and able to perform for himself.

As HW Longfellow puts it,

"Build today, then strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base;
And ascending and secure.
Shall tomorrow find its place."

(if concepts and base is clear today, then tomorrow he sure will succeed - this is the thought I want to portray)

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." Indeed.

If I could go back with the experience I now have, I would handle the situation differently.
But as they say, our bravest and best lessons are not learned through success, but through misadventure.

Make a note on this,

This resulted in LOSS OF productivity and effort which MADE ME further frustrated.

If I could go back with the CURRENT experience, I would handle the situation differently.

@ mhss - Thanks for the valuable suggestions; those were really helpful pointers.

I have further shortened the essay. However, still need to get it around 250 words.

While working in HCL, I was assigned to train and mentor a fresher about my module. Earnestly, I shared my knowledge and expertise on the module with him. Unfortunately, he showed little interest and avoided independent assignments. To motivate him, I invited him to our kick-off meetings and client-calls where he actively took part. However, in his individual tasks, he was careless and tardy. Being the supervisor for his assignments, often, I ended up doing most of the work myself. This resulted in loss of productivity and effort which made me further frustrated. Eventually, after three months, I reported his lack of commitment to my manager with compunction and he was reassigned due to poor performance.

Looking back on this incident, I have to admit that I failed in my objective of making this fresher a better performer. Stressed by the need to meet deadlines and exasperated by his insincere and careless attitude, I rushed to get him out of my hair. Probably he needed more time and effort than I could afford.

Following this incident, I have become more patient. Volunteering for an NGO and teaching poor, young kids has taught me to be much more tolerant and perseverant. Now, I make sure to give them fair amount of time and effort to make them understand before imposing deadlines on them.

I reckon I was too eager and impatient to make him perform, that I would have prevented him from learning the concepts well enough. If I could go back with the current experience, I would handle the situation differently. But as they say, our bravest and best lessons are not learned through success, but through misadventure.

This is really good.... Also, I feel you can mention that you lacked a vision for bringing him up to a certain level of his performance and therefore you too did not have a strong strategy and plan for the purpose. Of course you need to be patient and accommodating when you are training a new guy. But your patience and tolerance alone are not enough to change a person and get him to the point you want. You need to have a plan, strategy and commitment.