Mentoring that Makes a Difference by Chaman Iftikhar

Many of us know Michelangelo – one of the most brilliant Italian sculptor famous for his un-parallel artwork. But very few of us know this very interesting fact about him that every time he opted to make a piece of sculptural art, he approached sculpting with the humble belief that an exclusive and lovely piece of art already existed within the stone, and his sole job was only to reveal it.

This is one of the core beliefs that also translates to effective mentoring, shaping an individual from a mere stone to a mesmerizing sculpture!

So, my dear readers, in this article we are going to throw light on some of the key variables, which if effectively utilized can accomplish mentoring practices, that can actually make a difference-Not only to the life of mentee, but mentor as well. Afterall, it’s a two-way street where both mentor and mentee benefit from each other ??

Great Mentors Focus on the Whole Person, Not Just Their Career

It’s a very common practice that usually mentorship is reflected only as a subject of career development. While professional life can be one of the most significant chapter of a certain individual, personal upbringing, experiences, values, relationships, aspirations and inspiration add to the overall dynamics of a person.

Mentors need to start asking questions about mentee’s life story and also get a clear understanding how mentee wants that story to end. To break the ice and get the water flowing; share your story, ensure confidentiality, ask great questions, maintain the personal touch, share the details of one or two difficult chapters of your life and here you go! You are on the track of beginning one of the awesomest mentoring experience.

Now with all these probing questions and knowledge, you will be in a position to save yourself from giving an advice that is good for their career but bad for their life.?

Don’t Give them Fish, Teach them How to Fish

Babysitting a mentee is one of the most common mentorship malpractices that mentors are likely to develop with time, growth of relationship and affiliation. While its vital to guide and pave way for your mentee, the most important trick here is to ensure that when things go awry in your absence, your mentee should be ready to do the fire fighting. Understand the type of help and guidance your mentee needs, align him with the right resources and skills, give specific tasks and challenge and give them space to deal with difficulties using their own unique toolkit of traits.

Serve as a Role Model

Being a role model is a privilege and the most powerful kind of educating. So, while you have the chance to mentor an individual, make sure the mentorship is “caught rather than taught”! The way you conduct yourself on daily basis leaves a very long-lasting impact on the mind of your mentees. The most crucial impact we usually have on our lives is by what we see, and not we have been told!

People are generally great imitators, so they imitate what they see. Hence try to be the role model you always wanted for yourself when younger, to see your mentee become the kind of leader you want to see.

Take Pride in Being a Mentor

It is important that mentors see the effective mentorship as something of their responsibility to pay it forward. The capital of knowledge and experience they have built over time, this is the time for them to transfer it to the next generation in order to see them as effective leaders.

As Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen puts it, “The only metrics that will truly matter to my life are the individuals whom I have been able to help, one by one, to become better people.” This is we all should aim for, to help their others get better. This is what we all should wake up for everyday!

Concluding this article with some recent stats taken from recent Harvard Business Review; “while more than 75% of professional men and women want to have a mentor, only 37% have one.?What’s more, most of the people currently acting as mentors aren’t having as dramatic an impact as they could because they’re too narrowly focused on career advancement instead of mentoring the whole person”

Reference: https://hbr.org/2019/08/great-mentors-focus-on-the-whole-person-not-just-their-career