5 Tips to Be a Great Mentor

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a mentor? The Oxford Dictionary defines mentor as an experienced and trusted adviser. Having the right mentor can be life changing, but I’ve also learned that your mentee can teach you a lot too. The mutual benefits of mentorship programs can’t be underestimated. I have found ways to seek out mentors throughout my career and having that trusted counsel has prepared me for each step of my personal and professional journey. The truth is that at every stage of your career, a mentor is needed so that you can grow into the role and know when you are ready for the next step. A mentor should inspire, challenge, encourage, foster honesty, and strive to help their mentee be the best version of themselves.

One of the biggest learnings I’ve found in choosing mentors is that at least one should be outside of your industry.?Learning from people who have different experiences can bring so much more creativity into your mindset. Sometimes you’ll need a mentor who shares your similarities and sometimes someone with extremely different experiences is beneficial. For instance, as a female in a male-dominated industry, having a female mentor who has experienced similar situations and potential challenges has been extremely beneficial. I’ve also been able to work with male mentors that offered a diverse perspective that has made me think differently, too. In the long run, building a diverse network of mentors will set you up for success versus working with the same mentor your whole career.

Over the past decade, a few skills have really stuck out to me when helping both a mentee and a mentor. Listening, being intentional, focusing your lessons, building a two-way street and being an advocate are my most used skills I’ve found when working with mentees. As a leader and someone with experience, you may use these skills daily, but they are amplified in a mentorship setting. That is why it is important to constantly practice these traits so that they become second nature. I’ll go into detail for each tip below and share my perspective on why they are valuable.

1). Listen

Listening is the most significant skill for a mentor because you only know how to truly help your mentee if you fully understand their situation and where they need support. Without effective listening, you may not be able to offer the sounding board the mentee needs.

Don’t try to multitask when mentoring. Listening can be challenging when you have a busy schedule or a lot of other things going on. It’s common sense, but the best ways to actively listen are to turn your phone on silent, face the person, don’t interrupt, and ask any clarifying questions at the end. These extra steps make all the difference to ensure you are hearing the full story.?

One of my favorite quotes from Anthony Bourdain (also someone I would have loved to have as a mentor) is: “you learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together”. If you want an easy hack to listen to someone, simply grab lunch or coffee with them. I guarantee you will leave with a deeper connection than you started with.

2). Be Intentional

It seems easy enough, but being intentional when your work schedule is wild, and life takes over is a challenge. This tip is mainly about not showing up to chat with your mentee without a plan each time. It doesn’t have to be formal but knowing what you want to talk about that day and then reflecting on the mentee’s progress or something they said in the meeting supports the mentor-mentee relationship.

I’d like to touch on imposter syndrome here too because I used to think “why someone would want my advice?” Part of being intentional is realizing what you have to offer to other colleagues and getting over the imposter syndrome. Once you do this, you can evolve your mentorship passions into deeper advocacy projects as well.

Lastly, let’s talk about goals when being intentional. When starting a mentor-mentee relationship, the conversation should start with setting expectations and goals. This sets up both parties for success by creating an understanding of what the mentee wants to gain from the mentorship. Setting goals not only makes it easier to track progress, but also shows that time was taken to create a plan of action and both the mentee and mentor are accountable.?

3). Focus on 2 or 3 Big Career Lessons

While this this isn’t mandatory, if you’re a new mentor it really helps as a starter point to build your advice around. The trick is to focus on two or three big career lessons you’ve learned. Streamlining your own lessons for your mentee makes it easier for them to have takeaways from your meetings. Additionally, this helps you focus your advice, know what you can teach others, and sharing real-life examples builds rapport. Having your own experiences to share is more personal and aids in constructing a trusting foundation.?

4) Create a Two-Way Street

Mentorship is not about changing the mentee but bringing out their best traits and helping them grow as a leader and in their career. For this type of relationship to thrive it must be a two-way street! If the mentee is not comfortable to share work experiences or get sincere feedback, then the mentee probably won’t gain the insight that they could. As a mentor, you have to acknowledge that it is mutual and be able to have open conversations in a safe and confidential environment. Once the trust and foundation is built, that’s when you can be vulnerable to help the mentee grow.?

Having been on both sides of the mentorship concept, part of a two-way street means that you may hear feedback from your mentee. Equitable feedback from a mentee helps you hone your skills as a leader too. Mentees can also share a different perspective on the office dynamic if they work at your company, offering candid ways to improve the office or other scenarios.

5) Advocate

There will naturally come a time for a mentor to start advocating for a mentee or matter that means a lot to them. Being able to use my platform as a mentor to speak out and see others achieve their goals is the best KPI.

Thankfully, I have had mentors who were instrumental in my career and were eager to help me learn and grow. Without their guidance, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’d love to spotlight one of my most recent mentors Alfonso Albaisa ! I am amazed by how he navigates being the global head of design at 日产 . He’s helped me learn how to break through the challenges of being very creative in a corporate setting. I also had the chance to sit down and do a #ConversationsWithNissan video series with him where we explored how marketing and design intersect. Check out our latest vide here:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/allysonwitherspoon_conversations-with-nissan-3-activity-6988957617981161472-whWR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop.

Thank you to all who have helped shape my career and I hope to continue giving back, as my mentors did for me.?