Mentee's Guide to Mentoring - Best Practices

Best Practices

You should drive the relationship.

Circle back and follow up.

The relationship should be mutually beneficial.

Avoid impersonal, transactional exchanges.

Be gracious.

Be Positive.

You should drive the relationship.

Take responsibility and lead the relationship. Reach out to your mentor regularly by scheduling meetings or phone calls. Remember to follow up within 24 hours of their responses to you. Prepare an agenda, listing all your questions and topics to discuss during your meetings. This keeps you on track. Try to plan your next meeting at the end of every meeting.

The relationship should be mutually beneficial.

Most of your questions can be answered by Google. Therefore, come up with questions that you cannot find online. Questions that require some on-ground experience. Your mentor might even learn new things by answering your questions. Make sure that you are keeping both your goals and your mentor’s in mind during each meeting. After all, that is the purpose of this partnership, working towards and achieving those goals.

Avoid impersonal, transactional exchanges.

Remember that your mentor genuinely enjoys connecting with you, hence the reason for volunteering their time, so ask their advice, listen to their stories, and be authentic. They are there to help you.

Circle back and follow up.

Please remember to follow up. Let your mentor know what resulted from your conversation and how their advice worked out. This is an important touchpoint to show appreciation and that what they did had a major impact on you. This is a key behaviour to building a solid, sustainable network.

Be gracious.

Thank your mentor often for their time. Be punctual for all meetings and keep your interactions/emails concise and straight to the point. Always put your mentor’s convenience in mind when arranging for a place to meet. Send regular follow up thank you emails after every meaningful interaction or discussion.

Be Positive.

Do not use the meeting time to air your disappointments or gossip. Your mentor’s time is precious, so use it well. Share your problems, strengths, and weaknesses and find solutions. Stay positive and professional when discussing a difficult co-worker or situation.

Wrap-up