Mentoring: An experience for growth

TL;DR: Mentorship drives growth for both mentor and mentee. Consistency, clear goals, and thoughtful guidance are key to effective mentoring.

One of the best ways to advance in your career is through mentorship — both as a mentee and as a mentor. Recently, I listened to a podcast that encouraged me to improve my approach to mentoring (and write this post). Here’s what I’ve learned about supporting others effectively:

🛠️ Structure

• Have an agenda – It doesn’t need to be overly detailed, but some points to follow along. Have the same agenda every time as consistency is key.
• Set clear goals – Aim for one actionable learning objective per session, and agree on it upfront or in the beginning.
• Reflect briefly on goals – Dedicate 2-5 minutes to see if you reached your objective. Ask the mentee what three things they learned or what they now understand differently. Keep asking for three more until they cannot come up with more.
• Document progress – Write down goals and reflections so you can track learning over time.

🥅 Reaching the Goal

• Define the mentee’s goals – Open with questions like, “What do you want to achieve?” or “How can I help you?”

• Understand their context – What skills or knowledge will support their current role, current project and career growth?

• Identify focus areas – One example from @Adam is asking on a scale of 0-10 how comfortable they are with the topic (without choosing a 7!), after this (let’s say they chose a 5), explore the edges: “What would have made it a 4?”, and “What would have made it a 6?”. With this information, you should have a picture of what you can focus on to help the mentee level up.

🧑‍🏫 Effective Mentor Behavior

• Stay educational – Remember, your goal is to help them learn, not just give answers.

• Nudge to the solution - ask questions that nudge them toward finding their own solutions and don’t solve it for them.

• Ask real questions – Avoid rhetorical questions.

• Ask open-ended questions - prefer “what?” over the interrogational “why?”.

• One question at a time - Answering multiple questions at once is confusing and you might even forget one.

• Allow silence – After asking a question, give them time to think.

• Refocus if needed – If the conversation drifts, refocus with questions like “What’s the real challenge here for you?”

Mentoring is a valuable way to grow your own skills while empowering someone else.

originally posted on linkedin.