Mentoring is a rewarding and valuable way to share your expertise, support others, and grow your network. But how can you balance mentoring with work, especially when you have a busy schedule and multiple commitments? In this article, you will learn some practical tips to help you manage your time, set clear goals and expectations, and make the most of your mentoring relationships.
Before you take on a mentoring role, you need to assess your availability and capacity. How much time can you realistically dedicate to mentoring each week or month? How flexible are you in terms of scheduling and communication methods? How many mentees can you handle at once? Be honest with yourself and your potential mentees about your availability and avoid overcommitting or spreading yourself too thin. You want to make sure that you can provide quality mentoring, not just quantity.
Being a mentor is one of the most important time commitments I've made in my career. It's a commitment for both you and your mentee(s). And just as you may expect your mentee to make time to interact with you with full attention, we owe our prospective mentees the same courtesy. At any time, I have 1-5 mentees, and with each mentee, I make sure to have an explicit discussion about time commitment. I meet with some mentees weekly and others less frequently (every other week, monthly, etc). Depending on that cadence with each mentee, I adjust the number of mentees I work with accordingly. Don't overcommit your time. Quality over quantity. You want to be able to give your best to your mentees to maximize each relationship.
One of the key steps to balance mentoring with work is to set clear and realistic goals and expectations with your mentees. What are the objectives and outcomes of the mentoring relationship? How often and how long will you meet or communicate? What are the roles and responsibilities of each party? What are the ground rules and boundaries for the mentoring process? By having a clear and mutual understanding of what you want to achieve and how you will work together, you can avoid confusion, frustration, and disappointment.
With any endeavor, I always advocate for starting with your Big Why behind it. Mentorship is no different. Why are you engaging in mentorship (both the mentor and the mentee)? What do you want to get out of it? What does success look like to you? Another operative idiom that I love is one I stole from embryology: 'structure defines function.' In building a successful mentorship relationship, it's important to put in place a good 'structure' to help you be successful. How often will you meet? How long do you want to plan for each session to be? Will you meet in person, virtually or some combination? Do you want to follow an agenda? What will that agenda look like? Defining your goals and structure is important.
Another way to balance mentoring with work is to plan and prioritize your mentoring sessions. Use a calendar or a tool to schedule your sessions in advance and block out the time in your agenda. Treat your mentoring sessions as important appointments that you don't want to miss or reschedule unless absolutely necessary. Prepare an agenda or a list of topics for each session and stick to it. Focus on the most relevant and urgent issues and avoid distractions or tangents. Follow up with your mentees after each session and provide feedback, resources, or action steps.
Technology and resources can help you balance mentoring with work by making your mentoring more efficient and effective. You can use online platforms, apps, or tools to communicate, collaborate, and share information with your mentees. You can also use video calls, chat messages, or email to stay in touch and provide support between sessions. You can also leverage existing resources, such as articles, books, podcasts, courses, or events, to supplement your mentoring and provide additional value to your mentees.
Finally, you can balance mentoring with work by reviewing and reflecting on your mentoring regularly. You can use feedback forms, surveys, or conversations to solicit feedback from your mentees and assess their progress and satisfaction. You can also use self-reflection, journaling, or coaching to evaluate your own performance and satisfaction as a mentor. You can use these insights to identify what is working well and what needs improvement in your mentoring. You can also use them to celebrate your achievements and recognize your impact.
If we can see far, it's because we stand on the shoulders of giants. In my own life and career, I've learned that none of us is successful without learning from others, and often the gift of time from mentors who guided us to become who we are today. To me, mentorship is about paying that gift forward. It's about helping someone else out because that's how our community achieves it's strongest potential. I don't expect anything from any given mentee, but I always end up getting at least as much out of the mentorship relationship as I put in.
Mentoring is about serving others, if you make the decision to make a difference in the lives of others, you will always find the time and the inclination.