How can you support your mentees to share their ideas safely?

In my experience, active listening is key. It's not about simply listening to respond, but listening to understand your mentee so that you can best serve them. I also believe being open, honest and vulnerable fosters safety and creates a space where the mentee feels safe to share their thoughts. It's helpful to remember that this can take time so be patient.

Soundboarding is a fantastic tool when mentoring as more often than not, the mentee can you tell you their own challenges and ways to improve. Everyone has unique challenges and active listening is the first step towards supporting your mentee towards growth.

If a mentee is having problems trusting you, they probably are not going to make a good mentee. Building a relationship and asking for help is the first step to trusting someone. If the Mentee is having trouble trusting someone who's done what they want to do already, then they probably aren't ready to be mentored.

By demonstrating openness, respect, and active listening, we may foster a climate in which mentees feel comfortable expressing their opinions without fear of being judged or punished. This strategy not only improves the mentoring relationship, but it also spreads throughout the team, organisation, and industry, inspiring others to accept the important ideas that varied perspectives can provide. By cultivating an inclusive atmosphere, we enable our mentees to reach their greatest potential, thereby strengthening the engineering sector as a whole.

To support your mentees in sharing their ideas safely: 1. Build Trust: Establish a strong relationship of trust and rapport with your mentees. 2. Create a Safe Environment: Foster an environment where mentees feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves without fear of judgment. 3. Listen Actively: Practice active listening to show your mentees that their ideas are valued and respected. 4. Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer constructive feedback in a supportive manner to encourage mentees to continue sharing their ideas. 5. Emphasize Confidentiality: Assure mentees that their ideas will be kept confidential unless they choose otherwise, ensuring a sense of safety in sharing.

Yes! Validate their ideas. Hear them out. Let them do 90% of the talking. If you're doing all the talking them they aren't being heard. I know. It is soooo hard. We are 'the experts' and have so much to pour into those we work with. But the best way to support them and hear them is to shut our mouths and just listen.

Encouraging employees to explore their ideas more is a great way to initiate a conversation and keep going. Validating ideas also builds confidence which is essential to learning skills and enabling people to learn quicker. This is also essential when mentoring neurodivergent employees who may struggle with speaking up in meetings or in a group setting. Dyslexic thinking is particularly sought out in some industries including MI5, because of the creative problem-solving of dyslexic minds. So, be sure to support and encourage your dyslexic employees to voice their ideas at your organisation and see the value it can bring.

Build a trust by communicating with them, if this doesn’t work, anonymous feedback or questionnaire might be the solution. Of this used adequately, I think will solve the trust issue

When a mentee knows that the mentor has the mentee's best interest at heart, this will help them feel supported, and in turn, foster safety for the mentee to share their ideas. This is achieved by regularly checking in with your mentee to see how they are going, following up on challenges that the mentee might be facing and asking thoughtful open-ended questions that help the mentee articulate what is going on for them.

When mentoring, support and guidance along the way is critical. Here's a few things to consider: - Plan and account for obstacles along the way to be proactive in overcoming them as they come up and share your insight accordingly. - Recognize the wins, even if small as progress is progress! - Give guidance and support with clear and actionable steps to enable them to navigate their path easily with your help.

Say it outloud when they've taught you something new. "I didn't realize that before. That's new to me. I'm so glad you made that connection. I learned something new from you." Recognize they may not see the world (or patient case or situation) from your perspective. And that's okay. Just let the mentee speak first, in place of trying to teach them your perspective before they think it through. Recognize the parts they have done great research or tried to put together the pieces.

This hits near and dear, as the mindset unlocked is your key to success. For both mentor and mentee, it can be a learning experience and opportunity. Starting here can ensure the new growth mindset habits and shifts occur through the process as it takes time to build them. Some examples include: - When times get hard, encourage them to focus back to why they started and what they have learned thus far. -As mistakes occur, guide them to see the lessons and data that was obtained thus far. -Turn can't into will! Showcasing this to your mentee with a focus on mindset as it's 80% of what they need to move forward and make success happen.

It's of utmost importance to make sure you foster an inclusive and non-judgmental environment where mentees feel safe to share their ideas openly. Reassure mentee continiously that discussions within the mentoring relationship will remain private unless otherwise agreed upon.

One of the most important things to do is building a psychologically safe environment where mentees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas openly.

Something else to consider is make this all about them: -Undersell and overdeliver on your expertise and guidance. -Pour into them everything you know and expand your mind in doing so. -Check in regularly to aid in their growth. -Ask them though-provoking questions to get their juices flowing and spark their fire to keep them going. - Ask them for feedback on what they need more or less from you. - Enjoy being honored to be part of their journey, share and show them your appreciation.