Mentoring: as the Mentor

Why you should mentor

Organizations are no longer managing employee’s careers. Each one of us is responsible for our own path.
Therefore, professionals are seeking mentors to help them achieve their goals by learning from their knowledge, experience, mistakes, failures and successes.

What’s in it for you as a mentor?

• Personal satisfaction, a sense of fulfillment that comes from helping others and giving back to the community.
• Making a positive impact on someone else’s life by contributing to their personal and professional growth.
• An opportunity to further develop teaching and leadership skills, such as communication, empathy, active listening and problem-solving. Guiding and supporting others can help you become a more effective leader in your own right.
• Reinforcing your knowledge and expertise, deepening your understanding of key concepts and help you stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices.
• Expanding your professional network, opening up new opportunities for collaboration, partnership and career advancement.
• Gain fresh perspectives and insights from mentees, who may bring unfamiliar situations, unique experiences, ideas and approaches to the table. Engaging with mentees can inspire creativity and innovation in your own work.
• Get exposed to advancements in technology, various methodologies, and new situations that would prepare you for your future.
• An opportunity to leave a lasting legacy by sharing your knowledge, skills, and wisdom with the next generation of professionals. Seeing your mentees succeed and thrive can be a source of pride and fulfillment.
• Introspection while guiding others, that may deepen your understanding of your own strengths, weaknesses, values and goals, as well as own journey, challenges and successes.
• Reputation, authority and credibility within your industry or organization. It demonstrates your commitment to helping others succeed on an area of expertise.

The world would have looked different without some of the famous mentorships, such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, Marie Curie and Lise Meitner and more.

Socrates mentoring Plato

Characteristics of mentoring

• Done in a 1:1 setting
• Is about long term goals (e.g. 2–5 years)
• Strategic, to achieve holistic career goals
  - Not too generic like help with life
  - Not a specific skill like how to conduct 1:1 with direct reports
  - Not tactics, like getting a promotion
• Not your direct or indirect reports
• Lasts from a few weeks up to 3 years, as strategies change, people change and move, etc.
• Examples: become a CFO, become a public speaker

Your ideal mentee

• Admires you (or your expertise)
• Believes you can help them achieve their goals
• Have no other mentor at the same time for the same area or goals
• Any gender, diversity group or age
• Time zone and language are not a barrier
• Preferably outside of work
  - Information, plans and decisions might affect the relationship and outcome
  - Departure from the company would likely end the mentoring prematurely
  - Exception: big companies without work or reporting relations now or in the near future
  - Big companies may offer mentoring programs which try to match mentors and mentees with constraints. Verify that the pairing meets your wishes

Before starting

• Verify you can commit to mentoring someone (you can mentor more than one at a time)
• List areas you could mentor for
• Think which people you’d like to mentor, e.g. specific values or reasons they have
• Think whether you either have the patience and will to teach, advise and support your mentee, or the will to acquire these skills
• Ask you manager for approval if necessary, as this is an additional work, even unpaid

Where to find a mentee

• Post free slots on social media and professional networks
• Let your friends and family know you have capacity for mentoring
• Let colleagues and ex-colleagues know, as they may have people looking for a mentor
• Let people know in groups, forums, communities you belong to, or events like meetups
• Join professional organizations in your field
• Alumni networks — either reach out to alumni who are established in your field or they may offer official mentoring programs
• Some companies offer formal mentoring programs for employees. If not, consider suggesting to implement or run a pilot
• Look for local community organizations or non-profits related to your field. Volunteering or participating in these organizations can help you build relationships with experienced professionals
• If you spot a specific individual you think you may help, offer them
• Look for formal mentorship programs offered by educational institutions, professional organizations, or mentorship-focused organizations

Being asked to mentor

If approached via email or LinkedIn message, request a face to face meeting to discuss the potential mentorship.
Do not commit before agreeing on the details below, or if the behavior of the potential mentee is giving you negative signals.

You will be investing in the mentee’s success, so they would have to adapt to you, not the other way around.

Formal request meeting — good signals

• If meeting online, they are technically ready with sound and video, quiet environment and good lighting
• If meeting in the real world, they come to you, on a time convenient to you and pay for the coffee or lunch
• Are on time
• Start with the direct request, explaining why you, what they need and for how long
• They can explain their goals, current situation, are prepared with their resume and projects they did
• In case of a “no”, for example due to time pressure or not ideal match, you could refer to someone else who could help them more

Agreeing

During the formal meeting or in a next one, come to understanding, or an agreement:

• Make sure both you and the mentee have the time, energy and dedication
• See how long the mentorship would last. You may want to limit it and mentor others
• Decide on the initial frequency and duration of meeting, e.g. one hour every two months — balance between having a meaningful relationship and the burden, as well as the medium (face to face, online, phone, etc.)
• Set ground rules like showing up on time and preparing on both sides
• Discuss the achievable goals and how we know we succeeded (as with most goals, subjective feelings are debatable and less useful)
• Terms of breaking up the mentorship, either with successful completion or failures to prepare and execute
• You may give assignments, ask for data of professional and of personal nature and expect the mentee to cooperate
• You may connect the mentee to other experts on various topics

During mentorship

• The burden of scheduling is on the mentee, including an agenda
• They come to you, don’t travel to them, expect your time to be respected
• Give feedback if they hold cards close to the chest, not open about the situation and dynamics inside at outside of work (this is another reason a mentee is better outside of work)
• Give feedback, expect them to not justify or argue
• Stick to the agreed cadence and medium, don’t feel pressured to do more work such as emails and phone calls
• Keep it focused on strategy, not on tactics. For example, emphasize how they can bring more value rather than how to get a raise
• Ask questions and actively listen. Don’t immediately present solutions
• It’s not just a chat. Give guidance and advice. If you do not, the mentoring is ineffective
• Come prepared, remember the homework you had given, follow up. If you cannot for any reason, let them know in advance
• Be swift and responsive upon proactive updates they share
• Remember you invest in their future. Accept any gestures such as a dinner for you and your spouse

After mentorship

Ideally the mentorship was successful, and you have made a big impact on someone else’s life.

Now you could consider:

• Asking the mentee to update every now and then, e.g. once per year, on very high level
• Asking the mentee to mentor others (if it makes sense)- they have experienced being a mentee and accomplished their goals. Could they now help growing others?
• Asking the mentee if they can refer other mentees or give you testimonials

Resources

Visit Manager Tools and Career Tools for extensive actionable guidance on mentoring and much more.

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