{"id":19992,"date":"2021-06-16T11:13:29","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T11:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/?p=19992"},"modified":"2021-06-16T11:13:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T11:13:29","slug":"the-mentor-and-mentee-relationship-should-be-a-two-way-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/the-mentor-and-mentee-relationship-should-be-a-two-way-street\/","title":{"rendered":"The mentor and mentee relationship should be a two-way street"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine you\u2019re stuck in a lift with a bunch of geniuses. Maybe Microsoft magnate Bill Gates is leaning against one wall, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki is by the other and in between are the world\u2019s best scientists, lawyers and authors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once the nerves wear off you\u2019re ready to start picking their brains and ask a few of your burning questions – but to your surprise, they\u2019ve got almost as many things they want to ask you! Why? Because mentoring<\/a> isn\u2019t just about learning from the most experienced and successful people, it\u2019s a tool for those mentor figures to see things from a different perspective\u00a0 – hence why we\u2019re no longer accepting that it\u2019s a simple one-way street.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, 87% of mentors and mentees feel empowered by their mentoring relationships and have developed greater confidence – highlighting that it\u2019s really bringing value to both parties (<\/span>source<\/span><\/a>). And that\u2019s what we\u2019ll hopefully cover in this article, how you can build a mentor and mentee relationship that still respects those traditional roles but brings value to everyone involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mentor and mentee roles and the changing dynamics<\/b><\/h2>\n

The mentor<\/b><\/h3>\n

Mentors<\/b> are people in the know! They\u2019ve either been around the block or built up a wealth of experience and skill in a particular area – meaning they\u2019ve got plenty to teach someone hoping to develop similar traits and talents.<\/span><\/p>\n

But great mentors don\u2019t simply spoon feed the answers to their protegees, they ask great questions, prompt the mentee to bring ideas to the table and help them set out plans they can put into practice. We\u2019ll have more on that later, but it\u2019s worth pointing out that a mentor should give them the time and space to try these solutions independently and in the right moments. That\u2019s all part of this process of helping them develop the way they think about things to arrive at the right conclusions and actions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bob Mosher made this point when we caught up with him in a podcast episode<\/a>, but we have to start building learning with the moment of application in mind and that\u2019s another way the mentor-mentee dynamics are changing. It\u2019s no longer enough for a mentee to ask a question and a mentor to prescribe the answer – they need to go back to first principles, discuss the desired outcome and dismiss any preconceptions about the best way to get there.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Mentee<\/b><\/h3>\n

And while we\u2019re on the subject of that evolving relationship, let\u2019s move onto the role of <\/span>the modern mentee<\/b>. We often talk about how important curiosity is as a learner and this is a great example.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When a mentor is sharing their experiences, the mentee can hold up a mirror and help them reflect on why they\u2019ve done it that way and if there\u2019s still some room for improvement. Especially if that mentee is coming armed with probing questions around how they got to that technique, when they refined it and the outcomes it produced. Typically, you\u2019ll see this happening organically when the mentee comes from a different generation or culture – their perspective can be really useful for their mentor.<\/span><\/p>\n

If that wasn\u2019t a big enough argument for the evolution of mentoring at work, we\u2019ve got the idea of helping a group of people reach new heights. Something that\u2019s really driven by the advancements in learning technology and platforms – especially in a period where classroom training has become almost non-existent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Group mentoring<\/b><\/p>\n

And, unless you want a <\/span>group mentor<\/b> tearing their hair out, you\u2019ve got to give them a tool to connect, monitor and measure how their mentees are progressing. In HowNow, it\u2019s as simple as creating a learning group for your mentees – allowing you to share resources with every relevant person in a matter of clicks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s more than that, it\u2019s about creating courses where people can come together and share their thoughts, all while having a reporting dashboard that lets you check in on individual performance. It\u2019s those insights that give you that personal touch despite the group element, allowing you to see pain points and address them individually.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s <\/b>everything you need to know about mentoring and coaching using HowNow<\/b><\/a>, and you\u2019ll see the trial and demo buttons at the top of that page if you want to know more!<\/b><\/p>\n

\"Why<\/p>\n

Creating an effective mentor-mentee relationship<\/b><\/h2>\n

Connecting the right people\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

A strong mentor and mentee relationship begins by understanding which people have particular skills and knowledge to share, and working out what people in your teams want to learn. The big conundrum for a lot of companies is measuring skills and keeping a record – otherwise this all important first step feels a lot like guess work. <\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>That\u2019s our belief anyway! And it\u2019s why we offer you the tools to create a dynamic skills profile for each person, based on self and peer review.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Adding<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the basis for a strong relationship but it also ensures that crucial relevance between the mentee\u2019s issues and the mentor\u2019s strengths. All of which play their part in setting clear expectations and goals that focus on solving problems…<\/span><\/p>\n

Establish clear goals and expectations<\/b><\/h3>\n

Following on from that skills theme, you might decide that improving their proficiency in a certain area is one of the goals from your relationship – measuring their skill level before and after would be a clear and tangible outcome. But the relationship might be centered around completing a certain project or initiative – in which case you might choose to break it down into smaller tasks and set out a clear timeline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, with your mentor hat on at this point, it might not be as cut and dried. Your mentee might come to you with a goal or problem and it\u2019s tempting to simply prescribe something based on what they\u2019re demanding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s better to have consulting conversations and get to the heart of their problem. Asking the right questions can help you work out the bottlenecks or the true goal they\u2019re trying to achieve – talking it through might actually reveal a different challenge that requires a different approach. What we\u2019re really talking about is clear communication. Luckily enough, that\u2019s our next tip.<\/span><\/p>\n

Managing communication and ensuring structured mentoring<\/b><\/h3>\n

A good mentoring relationship<\/a> requires commitment – both parties have to agree to regular check-ins and ensure they\u2019re covering all the key goals and milestones. You\u2019ll see an example from HowNow below, but these are tips you can apply when you\u2019re creating any mentoring course. You need to have a structured process, with established goal-setting sessions, meetings, assessments and relevant resources – it\u2019s just better if that\u2019s all in one place \ud83d\ude09.<\/span><\/p>\n

And hosting it all within one course allows you to add notes and ideas following each session, to turn on our Discussions feature and communicate directly on your resources and to add new sections as and when you need to.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mentorship<\/p>\n

Tapping into flexibility for an evolving relationship<\/b><\/h3>\n

It would be really simple if the process went something like: brainstorming, mentor advice, mentee success and wrap-up celebrations. But nothing worth having is ever that simple! You might try something that fails or needs a little more time in the mentee oven before it\u2019s ready. More hurdles might pop up that require a change in approach – and that\u2019s fine too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both mentors and mentees need to be flexible and willing to divert course if it appears a new route is required. It\u2019s important, however, that they document their successes, failures, goals and tactics as that evolution happens. Why? Because it may well help others further down the line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharing what you\u2019ve learnt with everyone else<\/b><\/h3>\n

Now, one of the key reasons we\u2019re arguing that it\u2019s no longer a two-way street is that you\u2019ll typically find lessons learnt through mentoring are useful to other people within the team. And it\u2019s why it\u2019s important that all your learning lives in one platform, where everyone has access to it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, a senior sales figure mentoring a more inexperienced person on how to reopen seemingly closed doors might provide everything needed for an employee cheat sheet – something that would help everyone in the sales team. So, alongside the platform, it\u2019s important that everyone has this mindset as they enter mentoring relationships. When knowledge sharing<\/a> becomes part of culture, it can extend the reach of coaching throughout the company.<\/span><\/p>\n

Measurement and tangible outcomes<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s something we\u2019ve touched on already, but measurement is a key part of mentoring – especially if you\u2019ve established clear goals. From a mentor perspective, reporting can help you understand where a mentee is stuck in the learning journey or which content they\u2019re engaging with most frequently.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This not only helps you gain a better understanding of the mentee and build a better relationship, it can help you determine which resources are most useful to someone hoping to build a certain skill or learn a particular topic – which links back nicely to that idea of sharing relevant knowledge with others and making mentoring more social in the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But who do the people building mentoring programs go to for advice!? We\u2019ll happily lend you an ear to discuss your mentoring and coaching needs, just drop us a message here<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine you\u2019re stuck in a lift with a bunch of geniuses. Maybe Microsoft magnate Bill…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":437,"featured_media":20021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3113],"tags":[1645,3121],"yst_prominent_words":[1075,1180,9,3007,349,224,791],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19992"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20054,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19992\/revisions\/20054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19992"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}