Mentorees make a courageous choice every time they divulge aspirations, goals or obstacles and difficulties. They put their confidence and trust in the mentor to treat them with respect and preserve confidentiality and privacy.
For mentors, it can take courage to embark on the role. After all, it usually the brightest and the best that want to be mentored, smart people who want to advance their career and professional development. Those that understand mentoring also recognise that there is a paradox in mentoring: you offer your ideas and experience and seek to inspire your mentoree, yet you encourage them to make their own decisions, knowing that their choices may not be the ones you’d make.
Both mentor and mentoree may find that their assumptions and normal way of interpreting the world are challenged as they gain different ways of looking at things. Both need to have the ability to give and receive feedback and that takes courage too.
To get the best from mentoring you need to step up and accept the challenges offered by this kind of relationship. Mentoring is a unique chance to look at yourself honestly. It is an opportunity to open your mind, question your thinking, consider alternatives and choose actions.
Mentoring can literally change your mind. Because it is an adventure into the unknown for both the mentor and the mentoree, it may be a bit scary. You have to prepare and build confidence before you jump into mentoring.
You need to create a safe space for your mentoring conversations. This means building trust in one another. That’s how mentoring works.
Don’t forget to register for the final Webinar 4: Mentoring – The Art of Feedback
Date: Tuesday 30 June 2015
Time: 7:30pm EST
Registration: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5559610543939154178
By Ann Rolfe, Mentoring Works