Often in our lives we need someone to support us and show us the right way when we lose track in our personal or professional life. To fix back our track in the right way Mentors play a crucial role. Similarly, at workplace, mentor is a person who is have the caliber and is able to communicate the knowledge and from his abundant experience to the a less-experienced employee, the mentee.
Edward Morgan Forster who was an English fiction writer, essayist and librettist of which many novels examining class difference and hypocrisy, including A Room with a View, Howards End and A Passage to India said truly that , ‘Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.’ E.M. Forster
Forster highlighted a prominent mistake committed by many mentors in temptation to direct the mentee to higher ranks in the organisation or prove themselves as good mentor which basically translates into favorsim or nepotism. As there is a hairline between teaching and mentoring. Due to the fact that mentoring is about making them self reliant and self sufficient.
So to avoid such mistakes and become a good mentor at workplace here are 5 Keys ideas to follow.
Being intended:
An ideal mentor is the one who is dedicated to his mentee and has interest in teaching them. Understanding mentee’s abilities and disabilities and helping them out accordingly creates a great impact on their minds as well as the mentee also enjoys acquiring knowledge from us. Being a great mentor needs investing quality time for the students, this helps developing good relationship with them.
For instance we can look at Reza Satchu an entrepreneur, the creator of University of Toronto’s most highly rated undergraduate course, “Economics of Entrepreneurship,” Founding Chair, Co-Chair and Co-Founder of The Next 36. Reza Satchu is a Managing Partner of Alignvest Capital Management, an investment management company based in Toronto and New York. Mr. Satchu has co-founded, built and managed four successful operating businesses all from inception.
Recognize:
Not everyone is bold enough to share their weak points, so to understand our mentee in the best possible way we should be sensitive towards them so that they open up. Give a keen attention to them in order to recognize their pros-and-cons. Try sharing personal experience about the challenges faced by us in our life to promote good communication. This develops a sense of trust between us and the mentee.
Being a good Listener:
This is one of the most important and a must have ability in mentoring. We are very much aquainted with the saying that “for effective conversation , to be able to communicate (talk) convincingly is of an utmost importance” .but if we are not a good Listener the conversation wont real benefits. So listening and talking go hand in hand. If we adopt the listening skill then a regular conversation with the mentee atleast once a month will work well. This way will be good in boosting the self confidence of the mentee .He/she will feel free to open up and give his/her views on the particular topics. Asking open ended questions is also a good way to help them speak freely. At the end of the day, doing something with great efforts and not learning from it does not make any sense. So, constantly try to learn from your conversations.
Being Humble:
Attitude is everything. An attitude can change the way the mentees think about you while being in a conversation. Good mentors treat their mentees with kindness and empathy. If we are humble with them, it’ll buy us respect. We should avoid pointing out their flaws and humiliating our mentees in group discussion, this will plant hatred for us in their hearts. So in order to gain respect we should learn to give respect as well.
A Knowledge hub:
A mentor’s role is to provide guidance and knowledge to his juniors. So to provide knowledge, one must possess enough knowledge. An ideal mentor should be well acquainted with the deepest expertise in his field. He should have a great command over his sector, only then he will be able to convey the right kind of knowledge to his mentees.