5 Tips on How to Be a Meaningful Mentor

(Image Credit: Carolyn Christine on Unsplash)

Mentors offer insights and advice to mentees in order to help them reach their goals and grow. 

But what attributes are necessary to be a great mentor?

Before we answer that, let’s quickly look at the question  “what is a mentor?” 

Often people think the term “mentor” is synonymous with “coach” but there are many differences between the two. A “coach” is someone who uses their skills and knowledge to guide their client on their goals by asking questions rather than giving answers. On the other hand, a “mentor” is someone who not only guides their mentee, but also shares their knowledge, skills, and experience to help the mentee grow and develop. Both relationships offer encouragement and help to someone to reach their full potential. 

Mentoring is often a life-time and long-term relationship while the coach relationship is often of a more finite duration. There is often an overlap - but one main difference is that coaches are often paid while a traditional mentor is not.

Mentors devote their time to their mentees to help them with their development whether it be in an organization or daily life in order for them to succeed. With patience, practice, and understanding, you can build a successful mentor-mentee relationship. Here are some ways that can help you become a meaningful mentor!

1.  Listen

The first and most important tip for being a great mentor is to listen to your mentee. Listening to your mentee can help you to understand what your mentee is dealing with and how to help them navigate through it. By listening to your mentee not only will you be able to see the situation from your mentee’s perspective, you will be showing them that you respect and understand what they are going through. Active listening is a skill that great leaders, coaches and mentors need to develop.

Often mentees simply need someone to hold space for them, really hear them, and being able to listen with compassion as a mentor can create that mentor-mentee bond. When you listen with compassion to your mentee and can grasp an understanding of the situation, you can then move on to tip number two: asking questions. 

2. Ask Questions

A good mentor will ask questions, but a great mentor will ask the right questions. Asking questions opens the conversation for mentors and mentees to talk more about what the mentee is facing and where to go from there. With the right questions, you can search for meaning to help the mentee identify patterns and guide them in the right direction on their self-discovery journey. 

Asking questions also helps the mentee to really think about the choices they need to make and how they can be fully independent in their decision making to be successful in the long run.

3. Give Honest Feedback

Honesty and open dialogue is key to building trust, and this should definitely be the case in a mentor-mentee relationship. Offering honest feedback to your mentee can push them in the right direction and help them to reflect on any growth areas they may have.

Being able to provide honest feedback to your mentee also shows that you care for their well-being and are willing to give them your knowledge, inspiration, and constructive criticism to help them to reach their goals. A great mentor will be able to lift their mentee up and also be able to point out the mentee’s strengths and weaknesses in order to provide the mentee with actionable changes to get to where they want to be. 

4. Encourage and Celebrate Achievements

Great mentors take the time to celebrate the mentee’s positive achievements. Many people assume that mentor-mentee conversations are mainly negative, but great mentors find a way to balance out these conversations, and the mood, to build the mentee’s confidence and keep them motivated. Many mentees seek approval and reassurance from their mentors so acknowledging your mentee’s success and achievements is a great way to satisfy that psychological need for recognition. 

Along with this, if it is a mentorship that is happening within your company, you can choose to publicly acknowledge the mentee’s achievement by sharing their progress and success story with their team or even with their manager if the mentee is comfortable with it. 

5. Make Introductions

One of the best ways to support a mentee is by making introductions for them with people in your network. Whether it be introducing them to appropriate people in your network or even recommending relevant books, events, podcasts, blogs or classes, introducing your mentee to these resources can help them to get involved in new opportunities. 

By becoming involved with these opportunities, you can point your mentee in the right direction and learn more about the areas in which your mentee wants to grow. Not only will your mentee be grateful for the resources and connections, providing these resources will also give the mentee a chance to discover new projects, areas of interest, or even develop valuable skills. 

In the end, a great mentor is someone who makes their mentee feel comfortable and confident enough to share the goals they want to reach. Being a great mentor makes you a trusted advisor who your mentee relies on and the bond and friendship that can develop from a mentor-mentee relationship is one that can be incredibly fulfilling for both. 

Did you know that Life Works Well offers programs and services that can help you develop the right mentor program for your organization? To learn more, click here!