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Summer 2015
| Volume 6 | Issue 6
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| 1. | Use the "Top 50" list to benchmark your current mentoring practices
| | 2. | Identify three areas for improvement and growth
| | 3. | Develop your plan
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Identify measures of success
| | 5. | Execute your plan
| | 6. | Celebrate success!
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A Clear Message To Mentors About the Importance of Listening
In a recent survey conducted through our Center for Mentoring Excellence, listening emerged as the top mentoring best practice. Readers of our monthly e-letter, Mentoring Matters, also identified listening as the #1 attribute of a good mentor.
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We believe that leaders cannot be effective without a strong and ongoing commitment to mentoring excellence. This belief, our passion for mentoring excellence, and our extensive experience in the field with organizations led us to create the Center for Mentoring Excellence.
At our virtual center, www.centerformentoringexcellence.com, you will find mentoring tools and resources, expert advice and a forum for sharing best mentoring practices. We hope that you will visit us there and let us know how we can continue to help you raise the bar on mentoring in your organization.
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We polled our e-letter subscribers and asked them to complete the sentence stem, "All Mentors Should...." Here's a list of 50 of the items they came up with. It was no surprise that, once again, listening floated to the top of the list.
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| 1. | Listen more than they talk
| | 2. | Listen without judging
| | 3. | Learn to listen well
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Actively listen to their mentees before providing guidance
| | 5. | Work to improve the abilities of those they mentor | | 6. | Come prepared to each meeting | | 7. |
Continuously look for new learning and ways to support the mentee
| | 8. | Allow the mentee to find their own way
| | 9. | Be sounding boards and thinking partners | | 10. | Really care about the development of people
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| 11. | Take an interest in the mentee's whole self
| | 12. | Truly believe in their mentee's potential and encourage them to reach it
| | 13. | Read Ken Blanchard's book The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do
| | 14. | Be approachable | | 15. |
Be emotionally intelligent
| | 16. | Focus on the mentee being their number one customer and treat them that way
| | 17. | Practice what they preach | | 18. |
Want to be a mentor
| | 19. | Be open-minded
| | 20. | Be committed and sincerely want to help others succeed
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| 21. | Be attentive to the ideas and the language of emotional expression of their mentees
| | 22. | Be open to feedback and challenge
| | 23. | Be prepared to ask the 'difficult question' of their mentees
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Have goals and expectations for what they want to achieve with mentoring
| | 25. | See the mentee for who she is and where she wants to go
| | 26. | Share their experience and expertise without trying to force the mentee into their mold
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Treat the relationship as the gift it is
| | 28. | Be ready and open to learning
| | 29. | Remember what it was like when they were learning the ropes
| | 30. | Be courageous, kind and reflective
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| 31. | Make the effort to see life through the eyes of their mentee and anticipate challenges
| | 32. | Move beyond supporting their mentees, to challenging them to stretch beyond their comfort zones
| | 33. | Be willing to share the lessons learned from their experience
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Have a good understanding of themselves
| | 35. | Be able to read the nonverbal language of the mentee
| | 36. | Promote a climate that is honest and open for both parties to share their feelings freely without fear of retribution
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Do good
| | 38. | Be ethical and trustworthy
| | 39. | Admit limitations
| | 40. | Care about the individual they are mentoring -- not just a skill transfer but make a human connection
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| 41. | Go through some training and education to help them prepare for being a mentor
| | 42. | Have a mentor | | 43. | Have been a mentee | | 44. |
Have the best interest of the mentee and the business in mind to support the growth and development of the mentee to better contribute to and navigate through the business
| | 45. | Show empathy
| | 46. | Establish a relationship with the mentee
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Keep his/her promise
| | 48. | Stay focused on building the relationship and achieving mentee learning goals
| | 49. | Create the expectation of feedback
| | 50. | Reflect on their mentoring practices to identify areas for improvement and growth
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