Good mentoring relationships prove to be a rich reward not only for the mentee, but also for the mentor. Sometimes, exceptional experiences of learning are provided to the mentees, which in turn expand the perspective, insight and awareness of the learners.
Given below are 10 things that should be followed by a good mentor:
Credibility is important
It is important for the mentor to be credible. Guidance of mentors is sought for developing specific qualities and skills and to help in acquiring important decisions. Credibility does not mean having all answers. The wisdom and thinking of the mentor would affect the thinking of the mentee as well.
Being a positive role model
Mentees respect good mentors. A lot can be learnt from the mentor just by watching the behavior of the teacher in some particular situation. A good mentor would create a situation or experience through which they can involve the mentees for learning new things. For instance, providing a glimpse of how things are done by other people or to provide behind the scenes of how people react.
Show genuine interest in the mentee as individual.
The relationship of mentoring is quite personal and is of great importance to mentee. The mentor should know the mentee personally and should study their dreams and hopes meeting their best interest. Owing to this, it is said that parents are not good mentors for children because their guidance is likely to be influenced by emotional connection and parenting relationship. However, we cannot say that parents would never be able to provide mentoring moments for children. They obviously can, but they fail to show objectiveness like it is shown by an independent person. Just like this, even managers are not good people for mentoring someone on the team. Often a conflict of interest is seen.
Insights and experiences should be shared
Helpful and appropriate stories should be chosen that would help the mentee in learning. The failures and mistakes should be shared openly, as these are termed to be the biggest lessons. It also helps the mentee in being aware about the arousal of challenges. This way he can gain insight about how resilience should be built.
Open questions should be asked
When open questions are asked to the mentee, it helps in identifying the real passions, values and needs. It is a great way of getting the mentee think through various situations and drawing out several consequences of courses of action that can be taken. When these conversations take place, wisdom can be shared without a decision being taken for them.
Acting as sounding board
Mentees get great benefit if the mentor is a good listener. They should be allowed to explore their ideas and thoughts openly. This helps in unraveling the thinking and gaining insights about situation as concerns are shared.
A fresh perspective should be provided
A good mentor has the capability of providing a fresh perspective on issues. Objective feedback would be given to the mentee. This helps in keeping up with the pace of the world, as they say; change is the only thing constant in this universe.
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