Mentoring
What ?
Mentoring is a powerful personal and career development tool that can enable the mentee to achieve or exceed their life’s goals and aspirations.
According to a lot of definition a mentor is ‘a trusted counselor or guide’.
What does a mentor do?
Well it will always depend upon the mentee’s needs a mentor:
- Shares knowledge and life experiences
- Provides guidance and advice
- Listens
- Inspires
- Offers encouragement
- Is genuinely interested in the mentees questions and concerns
- Is open and honest
- Explores different careers
- Discusses goal setting
- Advises on professional development
- Helps to develop leadership skills
- Provides insight into corporate culture
- Can provide exposure and visibility within an organization
- Coaches
- Supports
Why ?
Mentoring has plenty of benefits :
For mentee
- Exposure to new ideas and ways of thinking
- Advice on developing strengths and overcoming weaknesses
- Guidance on professional development and advancement
- Increased visibility and recognition within the company
- The opportunity to develop new skills and knowledge
For mentor
- Recognition as a subject matter expert and leader
- Exposure to fresh perspectives, ideas and approaches
- Extension of their professional development record
- Opportunity to reflect on their own goals and practices
- Development of their personal leadership and coaching styles
For the company
- Develop a culture of personal and professional growth
- Share desired company behaviours and attitudes
- Enhance leadership and coaching skills in managers
- Improve staff morale, performance and motivation
- Engage, retain and develop performers
How ?
- Find someone to mentor in your company
- Ask him/her if he wants to be mentored by you
- Start to mentor him/her
- See you on a regular basis
- Discuss/let him introspect him/herself
- Ask feedbacks about how to improve the session
The M.E.N.T.O.R model
If you want to succeed in a mentoring relationship we recommend to follow the principles explained in the M.E.N.T.O.R model (explained in the book “One minute mentoring” by Ken Blanchard and Claire Diaz-Ortiz)
| Topic | Take action | Sound bite | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mission | Essential to : • Create a vision • Purpose For the future mentoring partnership |
First step in any relationship = have a clear mission statement | • Find a mentor who shares your key values • Approach a prospective mentor or mentee with courtesy / respect • Develop a short mission statement to set your intention and direct the relationship • Mentoring adds value on both sides (Mentees have knowledge and ideas to offer mentors as well) |
| Engagement | Agree on ways to engage that work for your : • Personalities • Schedule |
Make a commitment on regular meetings | • Determine the type of engagement that works best for your personalities - Is your mentor / mentoree an extrovert / introvert ? - Are they best with set times scheduled far in advance ? • Mentoring partnerships require both : - Flexibility to engage in digital communication - The power in-person meetings when possible |
| Networking | Expand your network with that of your mentor or mentee. | Cultivating productive relationships is a major key to success | • Networking is a two-way street - Your mentor can broaden your connections • Tread carefully on the network of your mentoring partner • Mentoring is also 1 to many connections (Social media for example) |
| Trust | Build and maintain trust by : • Telling the truth • Staying connected |
Building trust takes time -> can be destroyed in an instant | • Trust should deepen • Honesty and clear communication with your mentoring partner can deepen trust and take your relationship to the next level |
| Opportunity | Create opportunity for your mentoree or mentor to grow | As partners you have access to personal and business opportunities | • Mentoring partnership is a two way street (Both have opportunities to bring) • Mentoring between generations (cross generational mentoring) -A powerful way to create opportunities by exchanging |
| Review and Renewal | Schedule a regular time to • Review progress • Renew your mentoring partnership |
You’ll never get where you want if you don’t create a mission statement and you’ll never know you’ve arrived if you don’t do regular reviews. | • Scheduling a regular review keeps both mentor and mentee on track • Ensure that reviews take place by putting them into your calendar • If your review reveals that the mission has not been accomplished -> discuss new strategies to achieve the goal |
