Top Ten Tips to Be a Successful Mentor
There is no template for being a great mentor. However, you may find the advice on this page useful as you craft your own mentoring approach.
- Complete your profile: A complete profile gives you the best chance of being found by a suitable mentee, so please take time to complete it in detail. It is particularly important to make sure that the checklist of the mentoring 'services' you are able and willing to provide is kept up to date and the number of simultaneous mentorships reflects your capacity.
- Be credible: The most effective mentors are those that have credibility and experience in the area where the mentee is looking for support. Most people will seek the guidance of different mentors to help them develop specific skills or qualities, or to help them reach important decisions. Make sure you list your skills and expertise within your mentor profile. Being credible doesn't mean you need to have all the answers.
- Be genuinely interested in your mentee as an individual: It's important to show the mentee you see this relationship as important and reciprocal. Make sure that you respond in a timely, professional, and appropriate fashion to inquiries. Even if it is just a few emails, it demonstrates that you are giving them your full attention and are interested in helping them progress and develop.
- Share your experiences and insights: Choose stories that you feel are appropriate and helpful. Be open to sharing your mistakes and failures too, as these are often where our biggest lessons are learned.
- Be objective: It's important to make sure your advice is objective and provided in good faith, so that mentees can separate and compare it to other advice they have received. In this sense, it becomes all the more valuable to them.
- Let the mentee take the lead: Mentees are encouraged to take the initiative and to drive the mentoring relationship. Encourage your mentee to take initiative. Ask them what they want from mentoring and what they hope to achieve. Be a guide, not a supervisor.
- Set objectives together: Work together with your mentee at the beginning of your contact to define some SMART (Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related) objectives. Encourage them to make a simple plan for working towards those objectives and review the progress they are making.
- Encourage them to reflect: Encourage your mentee to be open-minded and to reflect on their more basic preconceptions about their future: What do they really want from their career? What do they want their daily life to be like? Why do they want to take this path?
- Be a critical friend: Your mentee will have many questions and preconceptions about your field, and they may have unrealistic expectations. Do your best to clarify, demystify, and prepare your mentee for the realities of the career path they are interested in, in a tactful and constructive way.
- Encourage them to access more help: All Trinity students have access to their careers consultant as well as supports for other issues such as finance, personal counselling, and/or disabilities.
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