How to be an Impactful Mentor | by Rachael Kelly
The role of a mentor is a rewarding one and one that will require you to wear many hats. These hats may range from those of coach, motivator and cheerleader to detective, advisor, and sounding board. It’s hard to judge when to wear which hat and how to make the biggest impact as a mentor. After all, each mentoring relationship is unique and it’s vital you tailor your mentoring approach to suit the needs of your mentee. Below are some thought starters for new or aspiring mentors when embarking on a mentorship.
1) 70/30 Ratio
A common misconception of the mentor role is that the mentor is the person with ALL of the answers, doing ALL of the talking. That is not the case and can often be to the detriment of the mentorship. In order to be able to provide appropriate support and guidance, you first need to understand your mentee’s professional circumstances, ambitions, desires, and concerns. Put on your detective hat and use your first session wisely to find out all about your mentee. Aim for the golden ratio of 70/30, with the mentee doing 70% of the talking and the mentor doing 30%. Conversation prompts are a great way to guide the conversation and keep your mentee on topic!
2) Be Adaptive
Before your mentorship begins you’re likely to have some preconceptions of your own about what your mentee will be like and what they’ll expect from the mentorship. Get ready to be adaptive and switch between the different hats you’ll have to wear. If your mentee seems unresponsive or unenthused, question what their expectations of the mentorship are and define what format or structure would be most effective for them. For example, if your mentee is time-poor, it may be useful for you to prepare a short agenda or slide deck to run through in each meeting, capturing comments and actions that can then be referred back to.
3) Be SMART
Be SMART! That’s right - we’re talking about setting specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound goals with your mentee. One distinguishing factor of an impactful mentorship is the ability to demonstrative measurable progress. At the start of the mentorship, take the time to set a few SMART goals with your mentee. But don’t go overboard! A limit of 3 goals should be advised so your mentee doesn’t stretch themselves too thinly. By setting these goals you’ll have something to reflect on each time you meet, giving structure to your meetings.
4) Know Your Limits
Start your mentorship off by sharing what you can bring to the table in terms of your professional experience, skills and knowledge areas. In this way, you can align with your mentee on what they want to learn from you. On the flip side, it will also help you identify what they can’t learn from you! But don’t panic - this is useful information and shouldn’t feel like a blocker. If a question or subject is beyond your expertise, reach out to your network or research other resources that may support your mentee in this area.
5) Don’t Try To Move Mountains
Another misconception about mentors is that they’re there to move mountains. This, quite frankly, is hard work and often a waste of effort. You don’t need to deliver a ground-breaking revelation or reinvent the wheel. Sometimes it is the smaller insights that make the biggest difference. For example, a suggestion on how to be more organised or guidance around time management may feel like teaching someone to suck eggs. However, what seems obvious to you may not be apparent to your mentee. Focus on providing advice that your mentee can put into action and benefit from right away; you’ll make an immediate impact!
Hopefully the above has given you some inspiration for your future role as a mentor. Remember, this is a partnership and both mentor and mentee will need to work collaboratively in order to make the mentorship impactful! Having previously been a mentee myself in 2020, I found the transition to mentor in 2022 really rewarding and encourage anyone curious about trying a mentorship to give it a go.
Would you like to try mentorship yourself? Become a Multiverse mentor and make an impact on someone's life! Click here for more information.
Rachael Kelly is a Multiverse alumnus and former Project Management apprentice and is writing for the Apprentice Lens as part of the Blogging Team. Here’s more about her:
"Rachael has enjoyed writing from a young age and dabbles in everything from children’s fiction to topical articles. As a former Multiverse apprentice and mentor, she hopes to champion on-the-job study and support current and future apprentices through the creation of useful blog content. She was awarded the ‘Extra Mile’ award for her 2022 mentoring and hopes to provide useful insights for new and aspiring mentors."