How can you maximize your mentee's potential in Creative Strategy?

Cut-out the b.s. assessment forms and just have a conversation. You will learn far more from a person by being with them in the moment via Zoom, face-to-face, or even on the phone. One of the MOST beneficial questions for me to ask is: "have you ever worked with a coach or mentor before?", and follow-up with: "what were YOUR pros and cons about that experience?" --- Watch and listen carefully. The way they answer these two questions through body language, thoughtfulness, speech-flow, and their actual answers will be highly informative regarding who they are, what they actually expect from your relationship, and sometimes, what their world-view is. Try this out and let me know how it works for you. Cheers!

Create a Personalized Growth Plan: Begin by understanding your mentee's unique strengths, weaknesses, and professional aspirations. Have open discussions to identify areas they excel in and areas that need improvement. Understand their long-term career goals and what they hope to achieve in the field of Creative Strategy. For example, if they excel in visual creativity but need to develop strategic thinking, tailor your mentorship to strengthen these aspects. Creating a personalized plan will ensure that the mentorship is focused and effective.

Wow could not agree more with comment below. Cut out the bs and talk to them. The chances are that they can't answer those typical questions anyways. If they had a 3 year plan they would not need you. In my experience that has been effective is really meeting the person, and then bringing them into meetings with you. Meetings they would not typically be in. Literally open door for them. See what happens, magic.

Assessing your mentee strengths and goals helps you walk with them hand by hand. This will help you know how to go about coaching them and achieving it in a way that resonates with the person current level of understanding.

Yes, yes, yes to this. NOTE: you must make sure that you are OPEN to hearing them. Hopefully, you've created a very safe space where your mentee feels they can share and strategize and ask questions without criticism. Supporting them by holding this space, listening, being curious is one of the most powerful ways you can show people they matter. (This is an essential practice in all your relationships from parenting to your partner, to colleagues, acquaintances, and, of course, your barista.)

Apply Learning in Practice: Expose your mentee to real-world projects that challenge their skills and push them out of their comfort zone. This could involve having them take the lead on a small project, or assigning specific responsibilities in larger projects under your guidance. For example, if they're interested in digital marketing, let them develop a mock digital marketing campaign and present their strategy. Real-world application is crucial in developing practical skills and confidence.

I think as people of industry we can forget what it's like to be new, and what context is lost on being so new to something. I think mentor's number one job is to remember this and provide context for their mentees to understand. Not everyone know's the 'room' they're walking into and what the unspoken rules are. Because there ARE unspoken rules to a lot of things in our industry. Feedback should always be providing additional context to the reality of industry.

Feedback is also essential. Make it a conversation, a collaboration, a sharing, NOT a dress-down, or "talking-to". As humans, we shut down when we sense a threat. Speaking in a level, pleasant tone will help your mentee absorb your feedback much more easily.

Foster Continuous Improvement: Regular feedback is essential for growth. Provide constructive criticism that not only highlights areas for improvement but also offers specific advice on how to develop those areas. Equally important is acknowledging and praising their strengths and achievements. Timely and balanced feedback after each project or task helps them understand their progress and areas needing more focus.

There are three types of feedback - appreciation, advice and evaluation. The habit you want to develop is to know your purposes when you offer feedback and to make your comments in a form appropriate to accomplishing that purpose. For creative work especially, it’s important to remember that this is personal to the person who created it. So, before providing feedback, it’s essential to understand why certain decisions were made before providing clear feedback. Get a sense of how the piece came together, then give clear steps to elevate the work and/or help the creative become better at what they do.

Creativity does not happen on demand: when in peak season or when, all of a sudden, a C level leader wants to change the creative strategy. Creativity needs to be encouraged by creating the environment for it. As a leader, you must educate your mentee that this is the norm.

I find that sometimes we mentors can get over-excited about sharing. So ask first. Or wait until your mentee asks you for tools and resources. And observing is also another way to notice when the time is right to ADD something. So often, I need to edit and delete more then I need to add so I keep that in mind for my mentees, as well.

Enhance Their Knowledge Base: As a mentor, share your personal experiences, insights, and lessons learned throughout your career. Discuss industry trends, challenges, and success stories. Provide them with resources such as books, articles, podcasts, or invite them to relevant workshops and webinars. For instance, if content strategy is a key interest area, recommend seminal books or thought leaders to follow in that space.

Again, the brain and body want to enjoy life - being relaxed helps us learn more easily and retain what we've learned. So having the element of fun as a constant thread through daily life, in all our experiences, provides more satisfaction, better productivity, a higher sense of ownership and responsibility, and it's a good gauge for what's working and what's not. The most profitable and scalable businesses have an element of fun. Think Google, Nike, Apple. Fun is good for you, your business, your employees, and your mentees.

Cultivate Creative Freedom: Encourage your mentee to experiment with different creative strategies and have fun in the process. A relaxed and open-minded approach to creativity often leads to the best ideas. For example, organize brainstorming sessions where no idea is too outlandish, or encourage them to explore creative software or tools they haven’t used before. This encourages innovative thinking and keeps the creative process enjoyable and engaging.

When we were children, we learned through play and observation. Fostering curiosity, confidence, and creativity can come through play, even now as adults. Exploration through the "what ifs" using different strategies and materials will open up new possibilities and help the mentee to not be afraid to try a different approach. Learning is far less scary when you are not graded or disqualified for thinking beyond original parameters. Play and exploration foster amazing ideas and new leaders.

There are many frameworks to explore and utilize, and you may find that different projects require different approaches. Try to work with several formats on a project to see if you can "dig deeper" or create a stronger argument for your SMP.

There's a lot of introspection needed in order to be a good mentor. Thinking back through your own career experiences helps you identify what your mentee might be feeling, what they're nervous about, or if they're holding back. This is where your mentoring is really needed as you can provide them a calm voice when you know they're stressed. Or a kick in the rear if you know they're afraid of taking a big swing. Fear of failure is a big hurdle for a lot of folks, but failure is a critical component of the creative world, so as a creative mentor, guiding your mentee through this process will hopefully unlock their real potential.