Mentoring
What is mentoring?
Mentoring is when one person (generally more experienced) shares their time, knowledge, skills and experiences with someone (the mentee) so that they can then progress in their own life.
This relationship between the mentor and mentee may be formal or informal, and you can learn and progress using both forms.
A formal mentoring relationship is where you both agree to regularly meet and discuss things that will help the mentee. Generally a formal mentoring relationship is through a set program or if the mentee identifies someone they would like to work with in this way and goes and asks them “would you please be my mentor?” You work out to see each other on a regular and ongoing basis, sometimes there is even a set program to go through with your mentor.
An informal mentoring relationship is one where you as the mentee hang out with the person you see as a mentor, because you look up to them in some way, and learn from them through observation. You may go out for coffee every now and again and ask questions and chat about stuff, but it is not definite and regular.
A mentor is not a coach. They don’t generally sit with you and carefully go through your goals, or help you set your goals and then monitor your progress and help you achieve them. That is more the roll of a coach. A mentor is someone to go to for advice, guidance, inspiration, new ideas and to hear their own personal stories to then learn from yourself.
Read our article about the difference between a mentor and a coach.
If you are interested in being a part of The Frank Team’s mentoring & workshop program check out our Young Entrepreneurs Stepping Up Program.
What is business mentoring?
Mentoring is used to help people progress in many areas of their life. There are mentors for students who have trouble reading in school, mentors for young people from challenging home environments, mentors for people who care for a sick relative, mentors for executives in companies, mentors for professionals who want to progress their careers…….for everything really!
Business mentoring is where the mentoring centres around helping the mentee progress their business.
The mentor needs to have business experience, particularly experience having run their own business. This really helps the mentee, who runs their own business, to learn from the mentors direct experiences.
What you can gain from mentoring?
Why mentoring is so popular is because it is full of rewards for the mentee and the mentor, if it is a good match!
As a mentoree you will gain:
- Focussed attention on you and your needs. You get your questions answered directly and straight away.
- Advice from someone who is experienced.
- Guidance around some tough issues you may be facing.
- Inspiration from someone who has achieved great things and who believes in you and your ability.
- Lessons and learning from the mistake of the mentor. Hear their war stories and what they have learnt and then apply it directly to your own experience, so you are maker wiser decisions.
- Contacts through the mentor. They will introduce you to people in their network that can be highly valued, and you come to those contacts with a direct introduction.
- Opportunities as your mentor looks out for you and provides you with opportunities they know will be of benefit to you. Make sure you take those opportunities.
- Friendship with someone who you admire and trust. Some mentoring relationships last many, many years.
As a mentor you will gain:
- Skill development in the areas of motivation, people management and communication.
- Satisfaction in playing a part in helping someone to achieve.
- From seeing that all of your experience and hard work is not only useful to yourself, but also to others who wish to achieve similar things in their life. This is when you will see your hard work paying off.
- Experience working on a business that is totally different to yours. This is great to keep your mind sharp and be innovative, and bring your experience across into a new business area.
- Friendship with your mentee as you build your relationship over time.
WARNING: But you will only gain these things if YOU and your mentor are well matched, committed to and putting into the relationship.
What makes a great mentoring relationship?
Not all mentoring relationships work. Some are amazing and continue for years, and others fizzle and die! To be sure yours is one that FIRES UP for you and your mentor you need some of these core elements.
Trust & Confidential conversations:
Both sides need to know that what you discuss will go no further than between the two of you. This builds trust. You can sign “mentoring contracts” that outlines what is confidential and what is not, if you want that, otherwise just a verbal agreement from the beginning that you want your conversations to be confidential is enough.
Openness:
A mentor will not be able to help you fully if they don’t know the whole story, and a mentee will not be able to fully trust a mentor if they are holding back. Being open doesn’t mean you have to confess your sins to each other, it just means you are being open and honest with each other about the issues being discussed.
Goals:
Get clear really early about what you want to achieve through the mentoring. This may be business or personal goals. Be specific and ensure the goals are measureable so that you can track your progress. These goals will then help to focus your mentoring sessions, questions and advice.
Clear roles & goals:
From the beginning you work out what is the role and aim of the mentoring for both the mentor and mentoree. Plus you work out exactly how the mentoring will work – how often will you meet, how will you meet (in-person, online through MSN, over the phone), how long will your sessions be, and just generally what you both want to get out of it.
Commitment:
Both the mentor and mentee are committee to the relationship and are willing to b e involved. You are both committed to the time required and willing to clear your schedule to make it work.
Open mind:
You both come in with an open mind, rather than with any pre-established viewpoints. As a mentee you are open to listen to advice and implement it, and as a mentor you have to be ok if the advice is not implemented or agree with.
Mentor with good experience:
You want to be sure the mentor does have the experience that the mentee lacks and this comes down to good matching. Ensure the mentor lists their key skills and experience and the mentees list what skills and areas they are lacking in, and then match from there.
Active listening on both sides:
Be sure you are not just waiting for your turn to speak but that you are actively listening to each other. This takes patience and time, so invest that time and get really good quality conversations.
Encouraging:
It is important, especially for the mentor to be encouraging and positive. This doesn’t mean you don’t have to be honest in your advice, but ensure it is delivered in an encouraging and constructive way.
Flexibility:
We all have a lot going on in life and so it is vital that the mentor is flexible and work with each other’s schedules. It is still very important to commit to the times & prepare for each sessions together, but be flexible in either needing to change date/time/location as things can come up.
Mentoring Session Options
- In-person meeting at a place and time that is convenient to you both
- Over the phone
- Online using technology that allows you to communicate easily and instantly like MSN Messenger, over Skype or webcam
How to chose a mentor
With formal programs often your mentor is chosen for you through matching skills and experience to gaps.
With informal mentoring it is a matter of finding a mentor yourself. Look for someone with:
- The experience and knowledge that you lack and would like to learn
- An interest in helping others and sharing their knowledge
How to find a mentor
There are many mentoring programs out there on offer, it is just a matter of finding one for your needs and location.
Do a search online and you are sure to find some – especially through government departments and industry groups.
The Frank Team has a great 2 month mentoring program for young entrepreneurs that we do in partnership with the NSW Department of State & Regional Development. It is formal mentoring where we carefully match the mentors and mentees, we run an opening goal setting session together and then allow the matched pairs to work together in their own way over the 2 month period. The young entrepreneurs also attend 3 workshops with the Frank Team, as well as a legal workshop.
If you don’t want to go through a formal program where you are matched with a mentor then have a think about someone who you admire and approach them to be your mentor. Keep the above information about mentoring relationships in mind and set about creating your own. Go to networking events and conferences to find people who you admire and want to learn from. It may feel kinda weird to ask someone to “be my mentor”, but most people find it totally flattering and will generally only say no if they genuinely don’t have the time, and it does take time.
If you are interested in being a part of The Frank Team’s mentoring & workshop program check out our Young Entrepreneurs Stepping Up Program.
