Effective Mentoring
Maya Angelou wrote “that in order to be a mentor, and an effective one, one must care.”
She goes on to say that “you don’t have to know now many square miles there in Idaho or the chemical makeup of water or blood” but to be an effective mentor, you need to know and understand who your mentee is as a human being.
An effective mentor takes time to really get to know the person they are mentoring.
What are they passionate about?
What keeps them up at night?
What are their goals?
What are their strengths?
Where do they want to improve?
Effective mentoring is about the person you are mentoring rather than facts about the business or workplace. It’s all about the relationship between the mentor and mentee. It takes time to mentor and to mentor effectively. That’s why we pay so much attention to selecting the right match.
Once the match is made, an effective mentor takes the time to get know the mentee so that the mentee feels comfortable sharing what they are seeking from a mentor. A mentee might be seeking to learn a new skill or improve a weakness in their ability to solve a problem. It may be that they are looking for affirmation or support.
Once the mentor has an understanding of where their knowledge or experience can be utilized to move the mentee along, the next step may be to set goals for when and how the mentor and mentee will work together.
An effective mentor/mentee relationship need to focus attention on the well-being of the mentee, and this is where the “caring” come in. Mentors have to be sensitive to what is happening in every part of the mentees life. Mentors need high degrees of empathy; they need to be able to nurture the other person in order for the mentee to grow and flourish.
And yes, mentors need to build trust. In the mentor/mentee relationship, a great deal of confidential information may be shared, and each person needs to be able to trust the other. Mentees need to feel valued and mentors make that happen by letting their mentee know they care.
It’s all about caring. Taking time to know the mentee as a person and not just as an employee is a great place to start.