How can mentors avoid bias and stereotypes when working with mentees from different backgrounds?

As a mentor, I believe it is important to know yourself and your biases. Bias and stereotypes can affect how we perceive and interact with our mentees and limit their potential and growth. I hope to create a more inclusive and supportive mentoring relationship, where I can learn from my mentees as much as they can learn from me.

Understand that your experience is not representative of your mentees. Don’t jump to give an answer to a question. Ask clarifying questions to really understand the situation. Help the mentee to resolve the question vs strictly advising. Preface your guidance as it being unique to you and the mentee should adapt it, apply their own knowledge and experience and consult others.

We’re finding our students become a lot more aware of themselves (& others) after #btfa training - providing an easy to understand explanation of brain function (the neuroscience of change, culture, engagement, strategy deployment etc.) It blasts through the subjectivity and ambiguity of the language surrounding psychological principles like ‘Bias’ and explains it with science (wiring / firing patterns). Once aware of self with science to back it up, the approach to everything shifts, and we do better for ourselves and others.

Unlike a starter cap, one size does not fit all. Your experiences are unique to you. While you may share some similarities with your mentee, they have their own challenges, goals, and aspirations. Identify your own bias to an answer and then consider a different way to approach the situation. This exercise will help you get out of your own box and think bigger.

The Oracle of Delphi’s timeless wisdom is “Know Thyself”. This is the beginning of all understanding. Don’t put yourself or others in bad situations that are doomed to failure. That said, expanding our horizons and understandings is always net positive, and working with people from different cultures, backgrounds and views can truly effectuate that.

This step is so easily overlooked but is crucial as a mentor. If you fail to get to know your mentee, then ultimately, you will fail as a mentor. Something that works for me is this; Have the mentee introduce themselves and also have them talk about what they are hoping to gain from the mentor/mentee relationship.

Spot on. Just because someone wants your help and may even frankly need it doesn’t mean it’s the right fit. We legitimately can’t help everyone, no matter how bad we want to. Ensuring mutual respect, understanding and synergy is paramount to a successful mentor/mentee relationship.

As you get to know your mentee, really active listen and learn from them. In my experience, many times they will say something and there is a deeper meaning behind it. So you have to dig deep, ask follow up question and try to understand them from a holistic viewpoint.

My favorite go-to is "tell me more" or "help me better understand your perspective." Asking questions not only furthers my own understanding, but also provides a safe space for the person to open up and expand upon how they're feeling.

This is so important, especially as whatever goals the mentee has, tackling them will always come down to increased self awareness of and self assurance in who they are. A mentor can help with this by: staying in the moment by reflecting back what the mentee is saying - this reduces the possibility of mind wandering and therefore leaning on their own context, having a bank of natural, go-to curious questions that keep the narrative solely about the mentee (demonstrating the value of their individual story) and finally having maintaining "unconditional positive regard". This requires skill and is often rooted in innate ability of the mentor but can also be elicited through identity tools that use language that does not attribute meaning.

I always try to summarize a topic, conversation, or ask. This allows me to better understand and retain the information and provide the other person with the opportunity to clarify or redirect. I tend to take this approach more when the conversation is uncomfortable or direct.

This step ties directly with knowing your mentee. When you have a mentee, you need to assume that they are there because they need your help getting into your industry. Assume they need additional information or explanation and let them tell you they know what X is or what Y means.

Be clear, concise and over communicate when necessary. Get their thoughts and perspective on areas they seek guidance or feedback in.

Again, using a simple language register #btfa to replace ambiguous terms with scientific fact, we can consider the act of communication in terms of inbound sensory stimulus, processing of that stimulus and the output of return stimulus post processing. Understanding that in terms of neurogenesis as the foundation of adaptation in a brain, reframes everything we have to do to be effective in communication for the benefit of others.

I work in an organization that uses High Reliability communication to improve safety and patient satisfaction. Using these tools daily allows for clear and respectful communication.

I've received feedback that had clear bias involved, and I've learned that when I say, "I dont entirely agree with what is shared, but what I'm hearing is you need more XYZ, and that is something I can commit to doing more with you." It allows the individual to be heard, while still owning my own power.

I love the feedback loop as this process also works for how your mentee sees you. Make sure to use the feedback loop often. You can build your own lessons learned bank to refer to for future mentees you have.

I have learned to focus on the behavior, not the individual. Listening to the individual and providing focused feedback of their strengths and weaknesses has worked well for me.

The feedback should be positive, constructive and actionable enough for them to create value added change. Speak slowly and share your experiences, asking questions to become a 2 way conversation.

5 heads are better than 1! This absolutely holds true when being a mentor. Exposing your mentee to other mentors to provide that critical diversity in thought and can play a huge role in the development of your mentee. One practice I do is invite another mentor on the same call with my mentee. You may find that you learn something yourself! ??

Once you are a mentor, you are done, right? Far from it. As a mentor myself, I constantly reach out to peers and put myself in the mentee position. This allows me to learn different approaches to being a mentor and reminds me what it is like to be a mentee.

I have taken my mentee to book stores, libraries and places outside of their normal/usual surroundings so they learn and know that there's more to life than what they see and may be useful. In my experience, they have been very receptive to that.