Mentoring is a valuable way to share your knowledge and experience with someone who can benefit from your guidance and support. But not all mentees are the same, and neither are all mentoring styles. How do you choose the best mentoring style for your mentee? Here are some tips to help you adapt your approach and maximize your impact.
The first step to choosing the best mentoring style for your mentee is to understand their goals, challenges, strengths, and preferences. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, listening actively, and giving feedback. You can also use a mentoring agreement or a development plan to clarify your expectations and objectives. By assessing your mentee's needs, you can tailor your mentoring style to suit their level of readiness, motivation, and confidence.
In addition to your mentoring style, one very important component in a mentor/mentee relationship is an alignment on how often you meet or check-in between conversations. Some mentees will want frequent communication where others may feel some pressure or that they are being micro-managed if there is not enough time in between. Determine what works and feels achievable on both sides and edit as needed.
In a mentoring program, understanding the mentee's preferred learning style and communication style is important to ensure continued learning, skill development, and mentee's success.
Depending on your mentee's needs and your relationship, there are various mentoring styles you can use. Directive mentoring involves providing clear instructions, advice, and feedback to your mentee, setting the agenda, and monitoring their progress. This style is beneficial when your mentee is new, inexperienced, or needs guidance on specific tasks or skills. Facilitative mentoring involves helping your mentee explore their options, find their own solutions, and develop their skills. This style is useful when your mentee is competent, confident, or needs support on broader issues or goals. Lastly, collaborative mentoring involves working with your mentee as a partner, sharing ideas, experiences, and resources. This style is beneficial when your mentee is experienced, motivated, or needs inspiration or networking opportunities.
Knowing the limitations of each style is equally important. For instance, as the name suggests, facilitative style of mentoring would largely depend on how motivated a mentee is towards their progress. So, something to consider before choosing this style would be: Is your mentee an independent learner? And so on.
Your mentoring style is not fixed, and you may need to adjust it depending on the situation, the feedback, and the outcomes. You can use different styles for different aspects of your mentoring relationship, or switch between them as your mentee grows and changes. You can also ask your mentee for their input and preferences, and discuss how you can improve your communication and collaboration. By adjusting your mentoring style, you can enhance your rapport, trust, and effectiveness.
The mentor:mentee relationship is fluid as it will grow and change over time as both individuals grow from their own experiences and awareness - of themselves and what they need out of the relationship. When mentoring, I take more of a leadership role at the beginning. Over time, I’m intentional about shifting leadership of the conversation to my mentees. This empowers them to learn how to lead conversations in a safe space, while taking ownership of their growth and development and ultimately drive the results they want in their business or career.
To ensure that your mentoring style is working well for your mentee, you need to evaluate it regularly. You can do this by setting and reviewing SMART goals, measuring and celebrating achievements, and soliciting and giving feedback. You can also use tools such as surveys, questionnaires, or checklists to assess your mentoring style and identify areas for improvement. By evaluating your mentoring style, you can ensure that you are meeting your mentee's needs and expectations, and that you are both satisfied with the mentoring relationship.
One of the best ways to improve your mentoring style is to learn from other mentors. You can do this by joining a mentoring community, attending mentoring events, or reading mentoring books or blogs. You can also seek feedback from other mentors, ask for advice or tips, or observe or shadow their mentoring sessions. By learning from other mentors, you can discover new perspectives, strategies, and best practices that you can apply to your own mentoring style.
Learning your how communication style and assessing the quality of your ideas and communications is key in developing an impactful mentoring style.
Finally, to choose the best mentoring style for your mentee, you need to develop your mentoring skills. You can do this by taking mentoring courses, workshops, or webinars, or by accessing mentoring resources or tools. You can also practice your mentoring skills, such as listening, questioning, feedback, or coaching, and reflect on your strengths and weaknesses. By developing your mentoring skills, you can increase your confidence, competence, and credibility as a mentor.
The most successful leaders are lifelong learners. Through my interviews with more than 500 of America's most successful leaders, I have learned that the leaders at the very top are the leaders most interested in learning how to grow. A growth mindset is integral to sustained success.