[Flash] The World Needs Your Mentoring – Here’s Why and How

Gallup’s most recent employee engagement survey found that in the last four years, our colleagues feel:

• more detached from the organization
• less connected to the mission and purpose
• more uncertain about expectations
• less likely to feel that we care about them as humans… yikes!

Sure, we all mentor unexpectedly or casually. We make suggestions, drop stories into conversations, give well-intended but unsolicited advice, and flippantly preach, “You should…”

But deliberate mentoring has purpose – a commitment to contribute, an earnest effort to support another on a learning journey.

I get it! We’re already too busy. We don’t have time to take on another obligation.

But mentoring isn’t an obligation. It’s an opportunity – to reflect, grow, lead, bond, make a difference, and bring joy back to the job.

Purposeful mentoring improves our:

• Patience.
• Compassion.
• Communication.
• Engagement.
• Leadership.
• Humanity.

And it doesn’t require grand gestures. Its power lies in slender but thoughtful interactions.

12 Kernels to Deliberately Mentor

1. Become Self-Aware 

• What do you need to work on?
• Where do you want to improve?
• How could mentoring others grow you?

2. Be Vulnerable First

• To build trust with your Mentee, share something personal, like a struggle or an aspiration.

3. Plug In

• Pause to grasp their reality: “What are you feeling good about? What is challenging you right now?”

4. Check Expectations Habitually 

• Ask at the beginning, “What do you hope to get out of this conversation?”
• Confirm at the end, “What are we each doing next?”

5. Be the Safe Space 

• Mentees want to vent in-the-moment issues and explore solutions… without repercussions.

6. Question Marks Before Periods

• Dig deeper to ensure any story or advice will be valuable.

7. Listen Without Judgment

• There’s nothing broken with the person seeking your guidance. They’re merely finding their way and need a champion.

8. Dig into the Archives

• Pull from your trove of experiences, stories, learnings, resources, and people, and share what is relevant.

9. Actively Pivot

• Notice when you must intentionally shift from listening to encouraging to teaching to exploring to offering advice.

10. Protect Mentee’s Power to Choose 

• To offer an idea or recommendation, ask, “What about…?
• To share feedback, try “Would you consider…?”
• Urge your Mentee to evaluate various options.

11. Mind your Mentee 

• Follow up, check-in, stay connected
• Look for pertinent articles, podcasts, resources, and people.

12. Root for your Mentee

• Believe in the unearthed potential of your Mentee.

Mentoring is about magnifying possibility and confidence – yours and theirs.

But first, we need you. 

© 2024. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.