Mentoring Tips for Mentor

It's essential to have experience in the area you are mentoring someone in. Indeed, you can't teach well if you haven't experienced, learned from practice, and applied the same principles yourself. It's also important to have people skills.

A mentor is a trusted counselor or guide. Your activities could include giving technical assistance, clarifying roles and responsibilities; identifying and analysing learning experiences, opportunities and gaps; encouraging analysis and reflection; structuring learning and work and confronting through questioning, listening and giving feedback.

In the beginning, we ask that you develop a safe and protected environment and be a supporter, protector and guide. As the mentee develops confidence and becomes less dependent and more autonomous, we suggest you  develop a more analytical, reflective, critical, challenging role.

After you read the mentoring guideline, please check out our learning center for book and video recommendations. You will also receive bi-monthly newsletters and event invitations to sharpen your mentoring skills. Please join our MentorWIN group to stay in touch.

Mentors play different roles according to the needs of the mentee. A mentor wears all these hats listed below. Observe your mentee and decide what she needs at each meeting. 

• Sounding board: helps the mentee think through their own ideas, out loud. Ask good questions to help the process.
• Experience sharer: shares their own experiences in areas that are relevant for the mentee, when appropriate.
• Critical friend: speaks the truth as they see it, and challenges and tests the mentee’s ideas.
• Listener: listens carefully, allows time, and encourages the mentee to reflect.
• Counselor: focuses on the emotional aspects of issues, discusses and explores with empathy.
• Career coach: helps think through career options, goals, and learned lessons.
• Networking coach: discusses how to build, maintain and use a professional network.
• Behavior coach: helps with the personal behavioral change of the mentee on specific issues.
• Motivator: offers encouragement and helps the mentee build self-belief.

Mentoring skills can be divided into organizational and interpersonal skills.

The mentor’s activities could include giving technical assistance, clarifying roles and responsibilities; identifying and analysing learning experiences, opportunities and gaps;  encouraging analysis and reflection; structuring learning and work and confronting through questioning, listening and giving feedback.

You can read up more on these skills in our program guide here. 

We would be missing out on something if we did not prepare a do’s and don’ts list for you! 

Here you go:

Do's:

• be committed to this new relationship
• be an active listener! Guide and help her put her ideas into action
• find constructive ways to challenge your mentee
• share similar experiences so your mentee understands that her problem is not unique
• use open questions to encourage the mentee to think creatively and form her own conclusions
• let mentees know that there are no shortcuts
• this is a valuable time for the mentees. Please focus on their business, as you are the expert in that field
• respect your mentee, her values & beliefs
• get her focus on the things that need to be done
• encourage her by pointing out her skills
• be consistent, but flexible. Expect changes in plans
• always do follow-ups
• foster a caring and supportive relationship. Showing that you care will boost confidence
• it is a common remark that mentors learn from mentees a great deal
• focus on developing the mentee professionally and personally
• support and facilitate. You do not have all the answers; you are a ‘learning facilitator’
• explain your personal work style and preferences
• remind your mentee to prepare a written outline or an agenda for the meeting
• after the meeting take notes of what was discussed and progress made

Don'ts:

• expect your mentee to lead every meeting or suggest activity
• make your mentee learn by trial
• give random advice or criticism
• expect a clone of yourself
• talk negatively about your mentee to others
• lecture
• share personal problems unless it is related to the current disposition
• lend money
• assume the role of the problem solver
• impose your vision
• attempt to force your mentee in one direction
• forget she knows her business better than anyone else

Yes, we do! 

• Read the mentoring guideline!

• Make sure your mentoring meetings take place within the framework of the EMCC Global Ethics Code.

• Add "This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it." to your safe list to receive our program emails in a timely way.

• Be prepared for your first meeting and think about how you will present yourself to your mentee.

• Communicate your expectations to your mentee. What would you like to accomplish? What is your mentoring objective?

• Learn your mentee's expectations from you and the mentoring relationship.

• Your mentee is in the driver's seat of this relationship. But if you feel she needs guidance, please step in and contribute to the flow.

• If your mentee has questions about the mentoring journey or milestones, you are her first stop for answers. Please guide her.

• Discuss your relationship's confidentiality principles with your mentee. Assure her that you will not share any information from your meetings with anyone without her permission.

• Make sure you are on time and fully present at your scheduled meetings. If you need to make changes, inform your mentee, explain the reason and propose a new date.

• Discuss and execute your mentoring agreement in your first meeting with your mentee.

• Remind your mentee that she is responsible for her development during this mentoring relationship and it is important to come to the meetings with the agenda.

• Encourage her to question her current situation and the targeted one. Make her think with your questions and reflections.

• Share the fact that it is extremely important to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses for being able to improve.

• You may need to give examples from your own experiences. Be prepared to share:-)

• At the beginning of each conversation, follow up the actions taken from the previous meeting, but do not make her feel she is reporting to you. No judgments please:-) “Where are you regarding that? What went well? Where did you have difficulties? What do you need?" You can follow up with questions like these.

• At the beginning of each meeting, turn the agenda of your mentee into a clear meeting goal. "What do you want to achieve in this meeting?

• Avoid teaching or giving advice and direction; Try to listen, ask, encourage and guide.

• Notice, reflect, and appreciate her progress and strengths.

• Make sure you are not the one who speaks more in the session.

• At the end of the meeting, ask her to clarify the first step she will take to reach her goal after the meeting.

• Make sure you set the date for the next meeting; This is your mentee's responsibility but a gentle reminder always works.

• Throughout your mentoring relationship, behave in accordance with the agreement regarding each other's boundaries.