WHAT EXCELLENT MENTORS DO

Being a good mentor begins with selecting the right person as a protégé. People with compatible personalities, career goals, and talents work better together, providing sound footing for the mentoring relationship. Beyond that, it is important to establish goals, guidelines, and methods of interpreting expected success and to agree on them.

Both member and protégé should be willing to commit the time and attention necessary to a successful mentorship. A mentor who is readily available for questions, instruction, and feedback and who gets to know the protégé well is better able to help that person as the relationship develops. The mentor must determine what it takes to motivate without taking over and how to best help the protégé set reachable goals that utilize talents and allay fears (which may naturally crop up along the way).

An affirming attitude that does not give way to frustration when things do not work out as planned encourages the protégé to feel safe during challenges, and that leads to growth and comfort in the mentorship. Good mentors are willing to offer counsel, share their own inadequacies and struggles, and promote their protégés within organizations by giving them high-profile assignments and introducing them to others who can also help them become successful.

Excellent mentors refuse to accept anything but the best efforts from their protégés. When a mentor lets a protégé know that he or she expects the best and has complete confidence in the protégé’s abilities, the protégé makes every effort to succeed and experiences increased self-confidence.

At times, a protégé may need protection against others in the organization who may be threats. A successful mentor provides this protection, while at the same time offering corrective feedback and encouragement when both are needed to keep the protégé on the right path to success. In a sense, the mentorship is like an incubator, providing a safe place for the protégé to experiment with developing skills before having to depend on them for survival. In the mentoring relationship, creativity is allowed to bloom in a somewhat protected environment.

Additionally, a good mentor sponsors the protégé within the company by providing introductions to people who are important to know and by creating projects that will gain the protégé recognition. Such experiences allow the protégé to develop a circle of colleagues and a history of accomplishments.

Other mentoring responsibilities include imparting insider knowledge about the organization, its history, the way it does business, and how best to navigate within the organization to be successful. Throughout the mentorship, and during regular meetings and discussions of goals and abilities, the mentor provides direction regarding how much progress is being made.

A mentoring relationship changes as the protégé becomes more confident and skillful. Because each partner in the relationship becomes more trusting and respectful of the other, and affection between them grows, it is the mentor’s further responsibility to ensure that the personal boundaries between them stay on a professional level.

Continual affirmation of the protégé’s personal and professional skills communicates trust and confidence on the part of a mentor–who must also be aware of the protégé’s talents, fears, and vulnerabilities so that he or she can apply praise, encouragement, and validation in the proper areas.