How to Be a Good Mentor?

Take a moment to think about someone that helped you in your life, a possible mentor that guided you towards your goals.

It could be someone from your personal or professional life. It could be someone from your work or someone who you have met during the networking event or through Social Media Platform such as LinkedIn. It could be your colleague, a manager, a parent, or a friend. It could be someone who has made a difference in your life.

What made them so special? How did they make you feel? What was their leadership and communication style? What made them stand out to you?

Reviewing past experiences will help you to evaluate the essential qualities of a potential mentor, and those that should be avoided or continually worked on.

It is a work in progress. “Not everyone is born a leader, but anyone can become one,” just remember that anyone, anywhere, can make a positive difference!

Leadership often relates to mentorship, and your job becomes helping others by sharing your experience and wisdom to inspire those around you and help them grow. Inspire others to “dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.

What exactly does it mean to be someone's mentor, and how can you really stand out in the role? What does it mean to be a mentor, and how to be an amazing one?

Mentorship often starts with trust. It is like friendship; you make yourself available to support and advise someone when they need it. It begins with a meaningful connection, an open mind, and a passion for succeeding.

Successful mentorship connection will benefit from:

• Establishing Roles and Responsibilities. Set expectations together in the very beginning. Clearly define responsibilities, ways to communicate, commitment expectations, and frequency of connections. Define an action plan and relevant goals for the partnership. Think about “what success would look like” for both of you, “how would you know that your mentee achieved desired goals,” and “how would you overcome challenges, barriers, or changes in the process”?

As a mentor, you make yourself available to support your mentee’s needs. Your role is to help as much as possible, but it is not to drive the connection. Be honest about your expectations. Commitment is often the essential aspect of an effective mentoring relationship, so bring it up right at the beginning.

• Open Communication. It is a two-way connection. Effective communication is essential to building a trusting and healthy mentoring relationship. It is vital to be open to questions, feedback, and new ideas. Getting to know each other personally will definitely be an excellent foundation for success. Ask questions and teach your mentee that participating and asking questions is actually an essential part of their work.

Remember that we all have different communication and cultural styles. What works for one person may not work for another. Therefore, it is beneficial to assess your own style, learn what would work best for your mentee, and together establish practices that will work for both of you. Listen carefully and ask for clarification when needed.

• Short and Long Term Goals. Through open communication, work together with your mentee to develop goals and an action plan for achieving them. These goals become the foundations for mentoring activities.
• Genuine interest in your mentee as a person. Yes, a meaningful relationship can actually go a long way! Try to develop trust and get to know each other. Ask about your mentee interests, passions, challenges, or barriers. You could be surprised about how much you may have in common. A formal mentorship connection can actually become a real friendship for years!

Here are some other character qualities that Mentors should possess. Make sure to check them off from your list: Commitment, Transparency, Honesty, Open Mindset, Forward-Thinking, Being Humble and having a Heart of a great Coach and Teacher.

What other qualities do you think are essential in a mentor? How to be an Amazing Mentor and what worked for you when mentoring others?

#mentoringmatters #softskills #mentorship #stepsforsuccess

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