If you’re a professional, tradesperson, business owner, a manager, director, or supervisor of any sort, consider lending a hand to a younger or less experienced colleague. Consider mentoring someone who has potential to grow, to more fully serve, to contribute to your shared work.
Mentoring offers great rewards to you and to the mentee. You have the opportunity to help and watch someone grow and flourish, to share your knowledge and expertise, to contribute to your organization. After all, your business or organization is as strong as its people.
If you’re considering serving as a mentor, there are a few basics to keep in mind.
Build the Relationship
A good mentoring relationship is first, a good relationship between the mentor and mentee. Mentor someone with whom you already have a relationship or with someone you’d like to get to know. Offer to mentor. Don’t tell or demand. A mentor relationship is two-way.
Develop and maintain trust with your mentee. Demonstrate that you are trustworthy. Follow through on your commitments. If you can’t review your mentee’s draft proposal as you promised, admit that you misjudged your time. Demonstrate taking responsibility—even when it means admitting a mistake!
Maintain confidentiality. Don’t spread stories from your time together. ‘Nuff said!
Create Structure
Structure your time together and maintain boundaries. Establish a meeting schedule—the first and third Monday of the month, or every Thursday, 3:30-4:00. Keeping to a schedule keeps you both on track and conveys shared commitment to this relationship. You also model good time management.
Set goals. Does your mentee need deeper understanding of the organization’s content-management system? Does she need to develop presentation skills? Is his communication style abrasive? You have the advantage of perspective and can recognize skillsets and competencies that will advance your mentee. Put that knowledge into action. You are developing an emerging leader.
Listen
When you’re with your mentee, be sure to be with him. Put your phone away. Close your laptop. Give your full attention. Honor him and model behavior you expect in return.
Listening attentively also means you don’t jump in to solve problems that your mentee brings to you. Ask good questions that allow him to discover solutions. Remove barriers, when appropriate. Provide resources and make necessary connections to assist his problem solving.
Engage a Coach
You’re in the position of providing direct guidance to your mentee. You know the business, the culture, and the opportunities. You have the network to help your mentee plug-in. You are in the best position to help your mentee grow within the work environment.
Engaging an internal or external coach offers further development support. A coach can help your mentee with the larger contexts of work/life balance, social-emotional learning, decision-making, communication, and even personality awareness and growth.
Remember, though, coaching and mentoring relationships are built on trust. What occurs between you and your mentee is confidential to your relationship. What occurs between your mentee and the coach is confidential to that relationship.
So what?
Look around at the younger or newer staff in your orbit. Where do you see someone with promise, a desire to learn, and the potential to step into or even create new opportunities within your organization? Mentoring is one of the best ways to serve others and serve your organization.