8 Dos & Don\’ts for a Great Mentor

While I have had mentors throughout my life – colleagues, boss, friends, parents and my own brother – none of them were formal or structured mentoring. I was nominated for a Global Women leadership Mentoring program in 2012 which was my first experience of a Structured Mentoring Program. The program was sponsored by Fortune & US State department and we had women from different regions of the world being mentored by Fortune 500 Global Women leaders for a month.

\”This experience made me realize how structured mentoring can lead to leadership.\”

While formal mentoring has its own advantages but it can also be ineffective at times. I personally had both – great and not so great experiences with my mentors. But as someone who has been both a mentor and a mentee, I want to share a few tips for mentors to guide their mentees in a more meaningful way.

At the very minimum, relationship skills required for mentoring include, showing kindness, practicing patience and flexibility, and conveying a sense of appreciation for the individual’s accomplishments. Following are some additional suggestions for mentors:

DOs

• Respect your mentee’s time as much as your own.
• Be explicit about the ‘norms’ for your meetings and your own needs and limits (e.g., time, style of interfacing, etc.).
• Always ask if you can make a suggestion or offer feedback.
• Tell your mentee that she is not expected to follow all of your suggestions.
• Expect your mentee to move toward his/her goals; not yours.
• Express appreciation for any help your mentee gives you.
• Recognize and work through conflicts in a respectful way; invite discussions of differences.
• Keep the door open for your mentee to contact you in the future—if that is your wish.

DON’Ts

• Assume that your schedule always has priority.
• Commit unless you have the time .
• Make your mentee guess about the ground rules for your meetings.
• Automatically give advice or criticism.
• Assume your advice will be followed.
• Expect a clone of yourself.
• Take your mentee for granted or assume the she/he doesn’t need positive reinforcement.
• End the relationship on a sour note.

A mentoring program done right can be very effective. It offers many benefits to an organization as it develops a growing, seasoned workforce, increases productivity, improves strategic planning and provides better succession planning and cost-effective training.

To know more about Biz Divas Mentoring Leadership program or to apply, please click here.