A mentor acts as a trusted advisor, offering support to a mentee in need. The relationship between mentor and mentee varies greatly and depends on the style of mentorship, such as whether it is short-term or long-term. For example, the mentor may help the mentee work through a specific situation in a short-term relationship, whereas long-term relationships may last for years. Ultimately, mentors of all styles have three standard tools that help mentees achieve their goals. Motivation, inspiration, and support are the keys to helping others succeed when facing challenges.
Mentors serve as a trusted resource or voice of reason when mentees want to grow professionally. The mentee’s needs and best interest are first and foremost, while mentors strive to provide the support that makes sense to their specific mentee. Mentors may share life experiences and knowledge, provide resources, advise on professional development, offer encouragement, offer personal development advice, and more. In short, a mentor is a support system for mentees navigating a specific journey.
While there are many types of mentors, life, career, and peer mentors are among the most common. However, mentors are also different, bringing their methods and skills to the table. Depending on a mentee’s needs, whether personal, professional, etc., they will likely choose between these three types of mentors.
Life Mentors
By tapping into their own past experiences, life mentors encourage and support mentees in personal development, career support, and more. This type of mentor may come from unlikely sources, such as neighbors, everyday people, friends, family, and colleagues. However, this type of mentor cannot replace the support of a designated career mentor. Instead, their ability to impart career wisdom is invaluable and often unmatched by a life mentor.
Career Mentors
Mentees looking for assistance advancing through career transitions often seek out the help of a career mentor. This mentor is an advocate and career advisor, guiding mentees through career goals. Seniors commonly employed by the same company often serve as career mentors to younger team members, but they can be employed elsewhere, too. In addition, managerial staff may serve as career mentors, primarily if they work in the same location, act as regional managers, and more.
Peer Mentors
New employees often seek the help of a peer mentor during on-the-job training. Ultimately, the goal of a peer mentor is to assist in settling mentees into their new roles to lessen the associated learning curve. In addition, peer mentors work to teach job skills, offer resources, and impart work procedures.
Four desirable skills will help you hone an effective support system if you want to become a mentor. First, acting as an effective mentor is impossible if you lack experience in the areas where your mentee is seeking help, such as the medical field. Mentors should have hands-on experience in their mentee’s areas of concern (i.e., nursing, etc.).
Stellar communication skills on the mentor’s part can take a mentee to the next level in terms of a successful mentoring relationship. Face-to-face discussions go to great lengths to develop a mentee’s personal or professional path. By working on your communication skills as a mentor, you are poised to succeed in acquiring the additional skills required.
Teaching on an individual level is another in-demand mentoring ability. Mentors must adapt and customize the approach depending on the mentee’s needs. This practice involves talent in reading a person to understand whether the current teaching approach is working and how you should alter the course appropriately.
Ideally, the quintessential mentor is driven to help a mentee reach their ultimate potential. In short, a mentor would love to watch their mentee live their fullest life and fulfill their goals. Mentors who utilize this skill want their mentees to feel energized right out of the gate from their first meeting. This is an important skill to use and impart if only to shape the next generation of mentors.
Mentorship programs are important for guiding eager mentees through their career and personal development. Not only does it teach mentees new skills and boost their confidence, but it also enables mentors to increase their knowledge base. Mentors know precisely how stressful starting a new career (and its challenges) can be because they have been there. By practicing as a mentor, you create leaders for the future, strengthen leadership skills, increase the confidence of others, and improve your skills.
You want to begin your mentoring relationship by clarifying your mentee’s needs. By asking questions of your ward, you are better enabled to identify their patterns to determine what makes them tick. Then, utilize any resulting answers to guide them along their journey to discovering how to succeed at work (or in life). Additionally, teaching the mentee to ask questions will help them to learn insight from within. Finally, doing so imparts the necessary tools to the next generation of leaders independently.
Digging deeper into specific questions may help to further your conversation, lowering the walls between you. “How did you determine your professional goals?”, “What are you afraid of career-wise?” or “What spurred this career move?” are some of the questions a mentee should consider. Brainstorming ideas is another way to continue conversing over the answers given. Maybe they are looking to change career paths but aren’t sure how to get there. Conducting exercises will help mentees identify their dream career and create a plan for obtaining it.
Illustrate your lessons by sharing stories and past applicable experiences. You want to tell your mentee you understand their predicament without saying it; a sort of show, don’t tell. For example, sharing how you struggled to handle the leadership at a particular job and the steps you took to overcome it would benefit your mentee more in the long run than saying, “I’ve been there.” Even if you completely understand their situation, showing your experiences through sharing stories is the best method of imparting authority.
After taking some time to get to know your mentee and their needs, you should move on to creating an action plan. Maybe their goals involve becoming a financial advisor, lawyer, or teacher. Once you discuss the possibility of an internship, you can encourage them to shadow an employee within their place of employment. If they are new at your place of business, create a training plan and go from there.
Ways to boost a mentee’s career include an introduction to your network after seeking permission from all parties involved. The results can be pretty rewarding if you are comfortable with the idea. For example, this method works well for mentees deciding between becoming a loan officer and a financial advisor. You might be tempted to introduce them to everyone in that field or target your favorites. The best option is to select the best individuals within that specific role and guide the mentee in developing relationships.
There are many ways to ensure you are a good mentor, including having empathy, taking and offering criticism, a firm understanding of communication, knowing how to listen, and putting the responsibility squarely on the mentee’s shoulders. Criticism is a two-edged sword in that many people are willing to give it and displeased to take any. Start by pointing out the positive and draw from your experience to show understanding and empathy. Then, continue by offering to guide their work for overall improvement.
You cannot teach empathy; you must learn it through experience. This attribute allows mentors and mentees to connect deeply, further improving the guidance process. For example, when a mentee seems overwhelmed, remind them to take it one step at a time. Or, if they feel particularly energized, you will recognize their ability to delve a little deeper.
Communication and listening are two skills that go in hand with every other skill we mentioned. Clear communication is nothing without active listening. To communicate with a younger mentee, you must listen to them as a mentor. Healthy communication and listening skills will enable you to hear a mentee’s concerns and validate their feelings.
Ultimately, the responsibility of a mentor is to guide the mentee and inspire them to reach new heights career-wise. Remember, your job is to help them along the way, not to do it for them. It is acceptable to model any particular task for a visual representation, but they must follow it up with a demonstration of what they learned. You may give your mentee homework to encourage practice outside mentorship sessions. Should you go this route, remember to talk it over during your next session to see how they handled it.
The act of participating in mentorship is a rewarding one when done correctly. Mentors and mentees must work together to help both parties achieve their goals. Not only will mentors develop skills that advance their career, but they play a role in advancing the career of another while building leaders for tomorrow.
