A road map for prospective mentors
November 13, 2020
When you’re invited to become a mentor, you may question yourself — do I have the skills or time required to mentor effectively? To help you answer those questions, here’s an overview of mentorship basics along with a few big picture do’s and don’ts.
- Meet your mentee: Meet face-to-face whenever possible. It is hard to replace the value of meeting in person. However, virtual meetings are a great option should other commitments, health concerns or geography prevent an in-person engagement. At your first meeting, explore each other’s backgrounds and history. Get to know each other.
- Make a schedule: The Canadian Mentor Network suggests a monthly meeting, but you can establish your own cadence. Always have several meetings set ahead so that you can plan around them and so that you are less likely to miss one.
- Agree on a meeting format: It’s not a one size fits all, but we suggest at least an hour for each session, comprised of a 30-minute ‘hot topic’ discussion where your mentee raises issues he or she would like insight on followed by a 30-minute discussion of a chapter in a book you’ve agreed to read together. CMN can suggest books relevant to the topic you are interested in and that other CMN members recommend.
- Be prepared: For upcoming meetings have your mentee create an agenda of ‘hot topics’ for discussion and send it to you by email in advance so you’re able to prepare. Also, set the expectation that agreed upon readings must be completed
- Be an active listener: Mentors should seek to understand what’s being said rather than jumping to solutions. They should also ask good questions to ensure they’ve received the message as it was intended. As author Stephen Covey says: “The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”
- Be transparent: When it’s time to talk about you, tell the good and the bad. Highlight your successes and failures. There is nothing more discouraging than sitting across from someone who tells you they’ve done everything right.
- Teach your mentee to fish: Don’t tell your mentee what to do; instead, share experiences that illustrate how you overcame obstacles. Challenge your mentee to commit to using his or her own new approaches and ideas to reel in the “big one.
- Encourage action: Your mentee should walk away from each meeting encouraged to put his or her new “fishing rod” – ideas, approaches, technologies – into action.
- Dream and follow up: Be your mentee’s biggest fan. Believe in them, encourage them! But hold them accountable for the fulfillment of their dreams. As Peter Drucker writes: “Great mentors inspire action. Dreaming big is only a beginning. Dreams without action drain vitality and affirm helplessness.”
- Network for success: CMN encourages professional development for its roster of mentors, primarily through Mentor Connect virtual meetings held regularly and CMN networking events held twice a year. When you’re stumped, look to the CMN community for support.
Do you have the skills to be an effective mentor? The tips outlined above are straightforward and relatively simple. However, we’ve seen how the benefits that accompany faithful execution can be quite extraordinary and fulfilling.
Yes, You! You can be an effective Mentor!
Thanks for your interest in the Canadian Mentor Network.
Canadian Mentor Network 