Boost Your Mentoring Touch: The 7 Ways to Fuel Meaningful Career Progress

Do your colleagues refer to you as a mentor? Do others invite you to mentor? Is mentor an identity that you claim?

If you're a new mentor or new to mentoring, you might wonder what successful mentors do.

In the next 25 years, social scientists predict massive employment disruption. We are already experiencing it in the form of the Great Resignation and the Big Quite. Within the next ten years, thousands of jobs will be obsolete. Office, administrative, manufacturing, and production jobs will significantly decrease. Emerging jobs will bring greater demand for talent in skill in several areas: critical thinking, problem-solving, people leadership, agility, and creativity.

Job change and mentoring are related topics. Mentoring relationships support the career development of both mentors and those being mentored. People involved in mentoring relationships are more likely to be promoted and have positive salary increases than their un-mentored peers.

Both individuals and their organizations agree on the value of mentoring. As reported in many sources, about three-quarters of the Fortune 500 have mentoring programs, and among program participants, most find value. Many studies indicate that mentoring programs encourage representational diversity, one approach to reducing and eliminating structured inequalities. Companies with mentoring programs report improved productivity, engagement, and talent retention.

People can discover mentors of all types in organizations. Some provide trusted advice on careers, while others increase the technical breadth and forecasting abilities of those mentored.

Mentoring relationships vary in duration, some as short as a few meetings, while others persist through marriages, children, and life's other milestones.

The design of mentoring opportunities and programs varies broadly. Some programs arrange for one-to-one interaction, pairing less-experienced leaders with organizational executives. Other programs are one-to-many, incorporating peer-learning techniques and reducing time demands on mentors.

For sure, age neither guarantees wisdom nor the ability to be keenly interested in others' development. Experience, interest, perspective, and skill are enough to establish yourself as a desirable mentor.

Beyond the Baseline: Seven Actions the Elevate Mentor Effectiveness

When you're fortunate to have the baseline experience, interest, perspective, and skill to mentor, seven actions will elevate your mentoring experience.

Acknowledge the person as someone with concerns and hopes

Every mentoring relationship requires acknowledgment of its unique properties. First, there are the uniquely talented individuals in the relationship (including you!). Secondly, the special relationship between the mentor and the person being mentored is characterized by its own learning property. To the extent they exist in mentoring, teacher and student roles operate in bounded fluidity.

Develop and clarify expectations routinely

Clear objectives assist in driving desirable outcomes. Be clear on what's at stake to be gained and how discussions and meetings contribute to a reliable learning cadence. Programs solely created to access the influence of senior leaders are usually ineffective, as they become more of a burden than an adventure.

Ask before offering advice

.As a mentor, take the stance of a learner. Listen to the interests expressed by the person being mentored. It's a mistake to enter a mentoring relationship with unfounded assumptions. Exceptional mentors get to know those being mentored, moving beyond title, rank, and tenure. Interest in others underscores every fruitful mentoring relationship. Mentors develop skills in asking questions that cause mentees to reflect, strategize, and act. When information

Interact with your heart and head

Effective mentoring relationships require multiple intelligences. Skilled mentors are emotionally intelligent, curious, and invested in the success of others. Mentors have large hearts and operate with abundance. They are firm in their belief in multiple approaches to working and effective targeted solutions.

Cast a wide net of opportunities

The best mentors help to generate alternative pathways and futures. They realize that "their way" isn't "the way." Mentors make you feel like an insider, introducing you to new people and ideas. In addition to stimulating fresh ideas, mentors are expansive with their networks, always ready with a referral or reference.

Honor and celebrate progress

Mentors often teach from failure and shortcomings. They expose their moments of anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. As those being mentored develop, grow, and change, the road won't be any less rocky than yours. Everyone has a journey, and as a mentor, you help create and shape the vital pathways that can ignite achievement and accomplishment beyond expectations.

Show you care by being accountable

Mentoring is a commitment of resources, including time and psychic energy. Many struggle to find time to mentor. The mentor and person being mentored take care to be accessible, available and deliver on commitments.

Moving to Next Steps

Those who have been mentored often become mentors. Mentors often provide spillover benefits to others with whom they work, usually in the form of leadership and being better helpers. Research reports that company mentoring programs increase teamwork by helping others to build strong internal colleague networks.

Successful mentoring relationships underscore the human desire to help others. Mentoring provides a priceless opportunity to engage in a potentially profound experience, regardless of whether you're a mentor or a person being mentored. Mentoring not only enhances a person's career but also helps to build corporate citizenship and engagement. While it takes time and commitment, it's likely to be a constant source of satisfaction and pride.