Unlocking Your Potential: The Mentee’s Journey

On By Magda MiuIn 1. Leadership & Personal Development

Being a mentee is like having a seasoned explorer by your side, offering invaluable insights and tips as you navigate your career journey. It’s a chance to learn from the wisdom and experiences of someone who’s been there, done that, and is eager to share their knowledge.

This article, just like the one about being a mentor, is a guide with insights and inspiration, carefully curated from diverse sources. The goal of this guide is to help you understand the benefits of mentorship, learn how to find a suitable mentor, build a strong mentoring relationship, and ultimately become an exceptional mentee. Hope you will enjoy it!

Benefits of being a Mentee

  • They can enhance their skills, develop their fullest potential, and advance in their careers.
  • Mentorship programs are a great way for mentees to expand their network.
  • They can develop their problem-solving skills as they get insights into the mentor’s experiences.
  • Get access to the years of wisdom a mentor has to offer. New hires also get an idea of the expectations, vision, and goals of the organisation.
  • It is an opportunity for a new hire to learn and adapt to the workplace culture.
  • They can develop a meaningful and trusted professional relationship.

What makes a great Mentee

  • Define their objectives and establish meeting cadence, commitments, objectives.
  • Schedule all meetings, have an agenda, and follow up on action items. Showing up on time and prepared.
  • Committed to expanding their capabilities.
  • Clear about their career goals and focused on achieving them.
  • Clear about what they hope to get from mentoring.
  • Willing to ask for help and receptive to learning.
  • Open to exploring new perspectives.
  • Able and willing to seek and accept feedback and act upon it.
  • Be regular and consistent in interacting with mentors.
  • Follow up: talk about when you’ll next meet and what you hope to discuss.
  • Express appreciation for mentor’s help.

How to be a good Mentee while remote

Here are the best practices for mentoring in a remote workplace:

  • Frequent check-Ins
  • Share resources with one another
  • Talk about things outside of work
  • Learn how to have effective conversations
  • Be empathetic to each other’s situations
  • If comfortable, go on camera

Building the relationship best practices

The most successful mentoring relationships are mutually beneficial, stemming from reciprocal generosity and respect. Mentees receive support and accountability, while mentors gain the satisfaction of giving back and helping someone else to succeed and flourish.

Who drives the relationship? The mentee drives the mentoring relationship

The following best practices help to create the most effective mentorship relationships:

  1. Respect the other person and their time.
  2. Express gratitude.
  3. Collaborate on projects and solutions.
  4. Be open, honest, and fully authentic.
  5. Spend time getting to know one another.
  6. Always follow up.
  7. Commitment is key.
  8. Identify your strengths, weaknesses, and biases.
  9. Give your full, undivided attention.
  10. Maintain clear and appropriate boundaries.

The process

*This process is a recommendation, feel free to use any process that works better for you and your mentor.

RISE – Development Plan

RISE (Review Identify Systemize Evaluate)

This is a development plan that the mentee could follow during this mentorship experience.

STEP 1 – REVIEW

Review – Assess yourself to understand where you are right now

  • Knowing yourself is very helpful
    • Knowing your strengths, interests, values, experiences, skills and abilities —these are what you will bring to the workplace
    • These are your unique talents
  • The mentee could also do the following activities to know herself better:

STEP 2 – IDENTIFY

Identify – Define (SMART) objectives and pick up the necessary resources to achieve them

  • Define 2-3 SMART objectives that are achievable during the mentorship experience
  • Collect resources
    • Seminars, webinars, or workshops
    • Learning and development resources
    • Professional networks
    • Social media platforms

STEP 3 – SYSTEMIZE

Systemize – List the concrete steps you will take to achieve your goals

  • For each objective have a list with concrete steps to achieve the goals, including actions, timelines, and deadlines
  • Identify the possible obstacles/impediments and plan to overcome them
  • Identify supporters and sponsors – who could help you in this activity

STEP 4 – EVALUATE

Evaluate – Review what you achieved and focus on continuous improvement (start – stop – continue doing)

  • Keep notes of your accomplishments – have a journal
  • Score your results
  • Get 360 feedback
  • Continuous feedback ⇒ continuous improvement
  • Make a personal retrospective – Start, stop, continue doing
  • Did I accomplish all of my objectives?
    • YES => what contributed to my success?
    • NO => what obstacles did I encounter?
  • Repeat the process

What’s next for you after the mentoring is done

  • Keep notes of your accomplishments and track your objectives
  • Take time to reflect on the mentorship relationship
    • What worked?
    • What was challenging?
    • What have I learned?
  • Ask for feedback from your mentor
  • Reflect on any final questions you may have
  • Create an action plan moving forward
  • Discuss how you will continue to work to/refine SMART goal
  • Determine cadence and structure in which you will continue to collaborate (if it is the case)
  • At the end of the program, send a thank you note to your mentor

Notes from “Being a Good Mentee” by Ellen Ensher, Professor of Management at Loyola Marymount University Source

“Research shows definitively that having a network of various types of mentors can help you feel more engaged, drive a greater meaning, and enhance your success through a bigger paycheck and more rapid promotions.”

Characteristics of a successful mentee

  • Trustworthiness: use self-disclosure to share things about your life
  • Confidence: in the sense that you believe you are worthy of being mentored. You should consider your strengths, and build your awareness about what you are good at
  • Valuable: successful mentees add value to their mentor’s life
  • Appreciative: show your mentor appreciation (this is just a list with some samples)
    • nominate your mentor for an award
    • bring your mentor a small gift or token
    • endorse your mentor on Linkedin
    • write your mentor a thank-you note
  • Bring your positive energy to your mentor

“Being successful as a mentee is not about being perfect. It’s about paying attention to these five characteristics that you can easily incorporate as you go forward in a relationship with a mentor.”

Understanding what you want out of a mentoring relationship

Preparation is the key to most successful interactions.

  • Step 1: develop your self-awareness conduct a 360-degree audit to understand how others see you in terms of strengths and weaknesses
  • Step 2: write goals determine hopes and dreams for 6 months to 5 years
    • consider various areas of life
  • Step 3: visualize your ideal mentor
    • Think about where your ideal mentor works?
    • What type of industry or organization?
    • Think about connecting with your mentor. Is it over coffee, email, a networking event?
    • How do you feel when you connect with your mentor?
    • Imagine a typical conversation
      • In what ways does your mentor help you?
      • What skills will you learn from your mentor?
      • What new accomplishments will you have achieved as a result of this relationship?
      • What does your ideal mentor look like?
      • Do any specific people come to mind?

How to connect with mentors

Connecting with a mentor

  • Step 1: know and believe in yourself. Identify the first 3 items you believe that you can offer to a mentor
    • Benefits mentors gain from a mentor relationship
      • expanded network for a mentor
      • appreciation
      • enthusiasm
      • friendship
      • exposure to new ideas
  • Step 2: reflect on who to reach out
  • Step 3: research possible mentors
    • demonstrate your interest in the things you researched about that mentor
  • Step 4: connect courageously with mentors
    • decide to have a courage ritual (samples here)

Researching mentors and networks

  • Step 1: research the rock stars or the thought leaders in your organization, industry, or profession (TED talks, books, blogs, talks). Create a target list with these people
  • Step 2: determine who is already in your primary network. Write down a list of 20-30 people who might be good mentors or will know to whom to introduce you
  • Step 3: go deeper and explore your secondary network.

Using informational interviews to connect with a mentor

“An informational interview gathers information about a person and their career. It’s never about requesting a job, although if you build rapport with your interviewee, they might volunteer to open some doors or become a mentor to you.”

  • Step 1: Prepare. Show that you are sincerely interested and also show that you have done your research
  • Step 2: Respect your interviewee’s time (20 to 30 minutes)
  • Step 3: Communicate your desire to reciprocate. How can you help?
  • Step 4: Turn the interview into a mentoring relationship.
    • show appreciation for the interview
    • asks the potential mentor if it’s ok to stay connected
    • take the initiative to plan your next meeting.

Approaching a potential mentor

  • avoid using informal language
  • be specific when contacting a potential mentor
  • communicate that you want to give and not just take
  • use self-disclosure gradually
  • ask for a short meeting as a way to connect with the potential mentor

Good sample:

Establishing and developing your mentoring relationship

Establishing your mentoring relationship

  • Get to know each other and look for similarities. Use the templates provided in the folder.
    • Make your communication styles, mood, and expectations visible
  • Notice and appreciate your differences
    • Workstyle, personality, values, interests
  • Determine goals for yourself and the mentoring relationship. Try to work with your mentor to have a deliverable item at the end of mentoring.
  • Determine logistics and communication
    • How do we feel about connecting and communicating on various forms of social media?
    • How often will we meet?
    • How will we make plans and adjustments to meeting times?

Be sure to set your next meeting with your mentor before you conclude the meeting, and always follow up and express your appreciation.

Building trust with your mentor

  • Assess the trust in the relationship with your mentor (available on the folder)
    • Do I communicate honestly with my mentor?
    • Do my actions match my words when I am working with my mentor?
    • Do I share personal stories with my mentor?
  • Build trust by taking a risk and self-disclosing
    • using self-disclosure will help to accelerate mutual trust
  • Keep secrets sacred and be your mentor’s best advocate
    • based on research, failing to keep your mentor’s confidences private is one of the most damaging acts you can perform.
  • Be a truth-teller to your mentor
  • Set and communicate boundaries
    • listen to your gut and speak up

Overcoming obstacles with your mentor

  • Obstacle 1: determine your mentor’s expectations. Check-in regularly:
    • What are your expectations or hopes or wishes for this relationship?
    • What is your recommendation for my next steps before we meet again?
  • Obstacle 2: tale initiative and follow-up on your mentor suggestions
  • Obstacle 3: manage a missing mentor. Don’t berate your mentor. Choose a different communication channel. Show you care.
  • Obstacle 4: make time to meet with your mentor. As a mentee, you initiate the meetings.

“Just by being aware that these obstacles exist can help you. Navigating through an obstacle can be a good challenge as it can make your relationship with your mentor even better.”

Building confidence as a mentee

  • Technique 1: positive affirmations (a phrase you repeat to yourself that describes how you want to be). Affirmations can change habits and boost confidence based on research. Write down 30 positive statements that positively reflect how you want to feel. Begin with “I am…” Identify the phrase that resonates with you and make it a mantra.
  • Technique 2: Mental imagery or visualization (a cognitive tool that enables you to imagine yourself having the desired experience of being in a desired state of being). The idea is to have a mental image of success and to rehearse it. Imagine the challenge, what will you wear, what do you feel? Imagine telling someone how amazing you did.
  • Technique 3: Personal courage ritual (a physical practice that gets you pumped up mentally). Check the files from the folder for ideas.

“Knowing how to connect with mentors when you’re required to learn a new set of skills, whether professional or personal, will help you navigate through your challenges more easily and gracefully.”

Resources

About mentoring

About objectives

About feedback

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