Mentoring is a commonly used development tool, with a proven beneficial impact on performance, confidence and career advancement. It can be useful at all career stages. A mentor has the valuable opportunity to have conversations with a mentee and support his or her development.
How can one be a good mentor?
At the heart of mentoring is a relationship based on trust and mutual respect, where one colleague uses their experience and knowledge to support the development of another colleague – helping him/her reach their potential.
What is and what is not a mentor?
A good mentor provides a safe space to discuss options and plan future actions. She or he provides support and asks questions that challenge new perspectives. Mentors are an invaluable source of advice and guidance.
A mentor is not a direct supervisor or supervisor. Mentoring is also different from coaching, which aims to ask questions and let the person reach the answers themselves. Being a mentor does not guarantee a shortcut to promotion, nor is it an alternative to working in a resource group.
Types of mentoring
Informal mentoring occurs between peers in similar positions through a series of conversations that foster a healthy work environment.
In traditional mentoring, mentors are experienced and trusted advisors, often several levels higher in the hierarchy or with more experience. Often the couple works in different departments or areas of activity in the company. The focus of the talks is on career development.
When colleagues who occupy positions at the same level in the hierarchy form and support each other, this is also a form of mentoring. The specific thing is that it can be reciprocal and there can be an exchange of mentor/mentee roles in different situations. Colleagues share skills and viewpoints and thus contribute to each other’s success.
There are so-called “reverse mentorship” programs, in which employees with less experience mentor more senior employees on specific topics such as using new technologies.
The end of the mentoring relationship
A mentoring relationship that worked for someone at one stage of their career may not work at another stage. With couples formed as part of a program, sometimes there just isn’t chemistry. When a mentoring relationship is coming to an end and is no longer useful to the mentee, then it is time to end it.
Mentoring does not always need to be long-term. One-off conversations can also be impactful.
