by Mentoring is a relationship between two people with the goal of professional and personal development. The “mentor” is usually an experienced individual who shares knowledge, experience, and advice with a less experienced person, or “mentee.”
Mentoring is a process of developing formal relationships between junior and senior members of the organisation, in certain cases mentoring also takes place between peers. In other words it is a process of developing relationships between more experienced members of an organisation and the less experienced ones for transfer of knowledge and skills. These associations are developed with the intent of developing career functions. For example, coaching, sponsorship, protection to peer, challenging assignments, introduction to important contacts and resources are certain ways in which mentoring may happen.
Mentors become trusted advisers and role models people who have “been there” and “done that.” They support and encourage their mentees by offering suggestions and knowledge, both general and specific. The goal is to help mentees improve their skills and, hopefully, advance their careers.
A mentoring partnership may be between two people within the same company, same industry, or same networking organization. However, the partners come together, the relationship should be based on mutual trust and respect, and it typically offers personal and professional advantages for both parties.
Mentoring is also targeted to psychological functions; role modeling, counseling, benchmarking individual practices are various ways in which the latter is achieved. It is no doubt an important tool that apart from employee development also leads to increased job satisfaction, organisational dedication and career achievement.
Mentoring Techniques
Mentoring requires an exercise of great wisdom, caution and expertise on the part of the mentor. There are many techniques that are used these days, some of which have been briefly explained below:
- Mentors are assigned with the responsibility of preparing their mentee for change. The focus is to prepare the individual mentally before he/she is asked for change, so that the change is not taken as negative and instead a developmental process. This mentoring technique s called sowing.
- The other entering technique is called as accompanying, wherein the mentor is involved in the learning process of mentee side by side explicitly, guiding all the time.
- Doing is yet another mentoring technique in which the mentor uses his own example to make something understand. It is also called leading.
- Harvesting is one technique that is essentially aimed at evaluation of the past learning’s and to extract conclusions from the same.
- Catalyzing is one technique wherein the process of learning or knowledge transfer is speeded. This is done only when a significant amount of change is achieved.
Best Practices
Open doors
You have great connections that could benefit your mentee. To help your mentee learn and grow, introduce them to people in your network who could provide insight on how to be successful in their chosen field.
Respect differences
Your mentee’s path may be entirely different than yours, so try not to make assumptions about their experiences, goals or skills. Work with your mentee to recognize how their unique backgrounds and experiences shape their perspective and can be leveraged.
Know your worth and your limitations
Don’t question whether you are qualified to be a mentor what you may take for granted might be invaluable knowledge to someone else. At the same time, it’s also important to recognize your limitations and seek out advice and support when needed, which is a great way to model problem-solving skills.
Empower, don’t solve
Most mentors are amazing problem solvers. But great mentors empower their mentees to find their own solution to a problem or challenge. Sometimes, the journey is more important than the result.
Mutual accountability
Trust and accountability are the foundations of any successful mentoring relationship. Hold your mentee accountable to set goals. By the same token, make sure you’re practicing what you preach.
Set expectations
The most successful mentoring relationships have agreed-upon expectations and goals. Must be transparent about what you can bring to the relationship and what you hope to get out of it.
Celebrate milestones
Recognize small achievements along the way. This is a great way to keep your mentee excited and engaged.
Provide opportunities for growth
Ensure that you provide genuine and honest feedback in a supportive manner. Conversely, be open to receiving it.
Learn from each other
When sharing knowledge and advice with your mentee, ask them questions about their point of view, insights and perspectives. The best relationships happen when a mentor and a mentee can learn from each other.
