How to Mentor Someone

Many leaders get the call, and then have to figure out how to mentor someone.  Below we discuss:

• Why you would want to learn how to mentor someone.
• How mentoring someone is different than simply managing someone
• The role of the mentor
• The expectations of the mentee
• The mentoring agreement

Why Learn How to Mentor Someone?

• By learning how to mentor someone, you will improve employee retention within your department or organization.  An Interim Services study revealed that 35% of employees who did not have a mentor planned to look for a new employer within the next year, while only 16% of those with good mentors indicated the same intention.
• Learning how to mentor someone will capture employee discretionary effort.  A 2002 University of Georgia study proved that mentored employees perform better, advance more rapidly, and report greater job and career satisfaction.
• Learning how to mentor someone can better position you as an employer of choice.  A MMHA Managers’ Mentor study discovered that 60% of college and grad students said that the availability of a mentoring program weighed heavily in their decisions regarding selection of an employer.

Mentors and Managers

Many leaders don’t bother to learn how to mentor someone, because they believe it is the same as managing people.  It is not.  Immediate managers provide direction, resources, encouragement, consequences and measures progress.  Mentors, on the other hand, provide high-level guidance and help track progress.

A manager and an employee have a reporting relationship; a mentor/mentee relationship normally does not have a reporting relationship.  Finally, a mentee is under no obligation to accept the feedback or advice offered by a mentor, whereas the feedback and advice offered by a direct supervisor is often not optional.

The Role of a Mentor

A key part of learning how to mentor someone is to understand the role of this important relationship.  As a mentor, you should act as a(n):

• Sounding Board
• Development Coach
• Interpreter and Guide
• Role Model

What the Mentee Expects:

The other critical component of understanding how to mentor someone is knowing what the other person is expecting of you:

• Encourage learning, achievement, and trying new approaches.
• Mentees value mentors who are good listeners.
• The mentee expects the mentor to keep their confidences.
• Mentors who provide specific and honest feedback regarding their performance.
• Mentors who suggest strategies for specific work challenges.
• Most of all, participants want mentors who care about them and want them to succeed.

The Mentoring Agreement

A very useful tool for learning how to mentor someone is the Mentoring Agreement.  There are a variety of different formats for Mentoring Agreements, but here are some standard category contents for a mentoring agreement:

• Purpose
• Responsibilities of the mentor and the mentee
• Measures of Success of the mentoring relationship.
• Barriers
• Ground Rules
• Meetings

Click here for a Mentoring Agreement Template (members only)

3 Things to Remember about how to mentor someone

1)    Don’t bother if you are not committed.  A mentoring relationship will take some time and energy.  If you are unwilling to make that investment, you should decide early on NOT to do so.

2)    It’s about accelerating development.  Mentoring relationships are intended to advance the career of the mentee, and skill building.  If you are uncomfortable in such a role, you should not volunteer.

3)    Use a mentoring agreement.  A bit of structure can advance the relationship significantly.

Watch the ‘3-Minute Crash Course’ about How to Mentor Someone (CLICK THE ARROW TO START THE VIDEO):

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