Every great leader had or has a great mentor. And every leader should sooner or later act as a mentor. Why? In mentoring and in teaching you as the mentor will also learn and develop. At the same time learning and growing will eventually enable your mentee to become a teacher and mentor herself.
Steve Jobs e.g. often asked his mentor Bill Campbell for advice whilst those who credit Jobs as a mentor include Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page of Google. Since there is a contributing and receiving end in the mentoring process, I´m a big fan and user of this beautiful concept.
Mentoring – It´s not just a Concept or Process. It´s a reciprocal Gift
A mentor provides less experienced managers, colleagues, employees, and other persons – usually within a business context – with valuable feedback, insights and support by passing on experience and various forms of knowledge. The mentor acts as an advisor, counselor or guide.
Mentoring is often used in both smaller and larger organizations as part of an employee training program. Like coaching, mentoring is an effective means of moving people on and supporting them in their career aspirations and personal development. The mentor uses engagement-generating techniques such as listening, questioning, clarifying, and reframing to gain access to the mentee.
Mentoring follows in this respect Benjamin Franklin´s superb observation: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
Like any other relationship, it takes work on both sides to make mentoring really work.
Important Facts to know if you are the Mentee
Here are some key points for you as a mentee to be aware of to make most out of your mentoring relationship and to ensure personal growth and success.
- Looking for the right Mentor
It is important being on the same wavelength with your mentor. You and your mentor should trust and respect each other. Therefore look for someone who really cares about you as a person and who honestly wants you to succeed and to achieve your targets. The best mentorships are based on a strong emotional band between mentor and mentee. - Setting clear Objectives
Decide exactly what it is you need mentoring on before looking for a mentor. What is your objective and what does success look like in the end? Only then you know where you want to go and when you will have arrived there. Good mentors are busy people. Although they love assisting you to learn and grow, their time is as precious as yours. Be prepared to talk clearly and honestly about your issues at hand. - Being open-minded and self-critical
During the mentoring process you will need to be willing to receive input and feedback, to question yourself, and to develop personally. Make a dedicated and honest effort to get to know yourself, to understand specific situations and characteristics and flaws of yourself and others. Get involved, make, and keep the relationship positive. Remember – You need to give in order to receive. - Taking over responsibility for yourself
Appreciate the fact that a mentor can help you to understand an issue and give advice. However, it´s you who has to work (hard) to implement agreed action items. - Following Through
As a mentee ensure to stay in close contact with your mentor during and after your meetings and working sessions. Provide regular updates in a pro-active manner (e.g. sending short mails) to keep the mentor engaged and supportive.
The beautiful Benefits for You if being the Mentor
No doubt, mentoring relationship can be a significant time commitment on the part of both parties. Often seasoned leaders ask themselves – being already overwhelmend with countless to dos and deadlines – why they should engage in mentoring. For all of those, please consider the following stimulating benefits which I often explain when trying to convince my peers, colleagues, and team members to act as a mentor.
- Developing your Mindfulness
Mentoring – like coaching – helps you as a mentor to realize a moment-by-moment awareness of your thoughts, feelings, and surrounding environment. It often involves a form of acceptance that there is not a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel. - Improving your Leadership Skills
As you assist your mentee, you have the opportunity to review your own expertise, experience, strengths, and areas for improvement. Something you might not take enough time otherwise. Possibly you will find out areas and behaviors which you have not discovered before. - Seeing with fresh Eyes
Mentoring helps to look at the organization, its structure, processes, culture, and politics with a set of fresh eyes. You could discover e.g. how your colleagues, peers, etc. approach their tasks and challenges and how they find their way around. - Recharging your Batteries
Many mentors get personal fulfillment and joy from being a mentor. If you’re burned out and/ or about to lose focus and drive, mentoring can give you and your own development new strength and energy.
Main Elements of a successful Mentoring Process
If you think about establishing a mentoring process in your organization, you should take the following aspects into consideration to make your mentoring program a success:
- Establishing an effective Matching Process
Whichever method you use (e.g. free selection, external consultants to determine possible pairings, etc.), mentoring needs to be centered around the mentee’s development needs. A transparent and open process is required. - Agreeing on Guiding Principles
Once mentor and mentee have entered into an implicit or explicit mentorship, certain elements should be defined like goals, meeting frequency, confidentiality, follow-up work or not between sessions, etc. - Providing Support
As an organization you need to clearly articulate what mentoring means for you and which the roles of all stakeholders are. Both mentor and mentee should comprehend the process, purpose, and tools of the mentoring process. There should exist training and information sessions for both. In addition, it has proven very helpful – even for experienced managers – if additional skills training are being provided by the company for aspiring mentors. - Having Follow-Up Steps in Place
If all has gone well and the mentee has met the originally defined goal(s), by then hopefully a relationship has been created that extends beyond the mentorship. If agreed goals have not been met, the mentoring arrangement could be extended, or, if it is not working out it should be terminated in a friendly manner. It is very relevant that both mentor and mentee know that they can choose not to continue. And that this process will be managed in a way that does not damage their relationship. - Constantly evaluating the Mentoring Program
The program would need to be assessed and evaluated to review if individual and organizational objectives have been achieved. Any potential problems, issues, and learning need to be addressed and analyzed in order to constantly improve the quality and impact o the mentoring program.
Summary and final Thoughts
Anyone can be mentored; as long as the person is open to the concept and is willing to reflect and to do the work. Also if someone wants to be a mentor, it’s possible. The skills needed (active listening, open questioning techniques, etc.) can be learned and developed. More importantly, the mentor needs to be dedicated to and passionate about the mentee´s success, she needs to be curious, willing to learn herself, being engaged, respectful, and committed to truly helping the mentee.
Whether you are just starting your own small company or running a large multinational company, mentoring is a very effective development and personal growth concept. For your colleagues, teams, and yourself.
Mentoring is not a magic wand; neither a simple steps-to-success programme. The process needs careful management and open-mindedness from all parties involved.
Best regards,
Andreas von der Heydt