As part of a mentorship program officially sanctioned by your workplace, or perhaps just a helpful set of tips and directions provided by someone with more experience to someone starting their career, sheltering a newbie under a wing happens in all kinds of industries. Of course, it’s important for this to be appropriate and for professional distancing to be maintained, and forcing such a training relationship on someone who doesn’t necessarily want or need it is not the right approach.
In the right circumstances, however, you could possibly help someone flourish in better circumstances than you had. Perhaps you can help them learn from your mistakes, or feel more confident getting themselves out there. Maybe this relationship can flourish, and as you launch your business in the future, this becomes someone you’d be happy to hire. Perhaps you directly manage them right now, and that means their development is fully your role to take.
Before we get that far though, it’s worth thinking through how to properly mentor someone, ethically and with attention. Consider the following:
Set The Parameters
Have an honest chat about what you both want from this relationship, or if you think you could help them. This might happen naturally, but once it’s clear you’re helping them, talk about how often you’ll meet, what kind of help you can offer, and where the boundaries lie. Maybe you’ll grab coffee once a month, or set aside an hour each week for questions. Write down your goals together if you have to manage them. This keeps things focused and helps avoid misunderstandings later on, as well as shows you the direction you’re going to train them in. Your mentee should feel comfortable asking questions but also understand when they need to find answers on their own.
Don’t Oppress With Information, But Guide
Many people confuse being a mentor with being something of a dictator. It’s better to share your knowledge in digestible pieces and let that stew for a while. Think back to when you were starting out and what would have helped you most, especially with complex tasks. Tell stories about your real experiences, including the times things went wrong to humanize yourself and the task. Let your mentee discover some things for themselves as we mentioned, but you can always point them toward good resources and introduce them to helpful people in your network.
Sometimes the best teaching happens when you just listen and ask good questions, so help them develop in that way, and let them work out solutions while you steer them away from major mistakes or issues. This is often at the heart of new Flow learning methodologies for career development in fields like hospitality, for instance.
Assign Tasks & Give Opportunities
Ultimately you can only tell so much before someone has to learn by doing. Mentorship isn’t necessarily about telling them the perfect theory but letting them go. Find small projects where your mentee can test their skills and build confidence, then, especially if they work in your department and you can assign tasks. Maybe they can help with research or sit in on meetings to observe. Then you can reflect on mistakes or poor impressions so they learn too.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to take another employee under your wing, but appropriately, and with their needs in mind.
